The .game column in the Sept. 29 Business section incorrectly said that the University of Baltimore is in the process of developing a degree program in video game creation. The university's program in video game design is in its second year.
| Page 2 of 2 < |
Like Video Games? Now You Can Major in Them
Game art and video game design students at the Art Institute of California take part in a "game tourney."
(Art Institute Of California)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
"How can I prove myself?" asked Ahmed, who wouldn't share his last name because his current boss didn't know he was job hunting.
A degree seems to be a good start -- but no one should be fooled into thinking that a college degree in gaming is easier than trying to beat the next level. There is plenty of classroom work behind these degrees.
At Carnegie Mellon, students will have to take classes such as Intro to Entertainment Technology, Building Virtual Worlds and Game Design, as well as many others. But it's hard to measure the significance of these sorts of degrees. The idea of a video game education is so new that, even within the gaming industry, the jury is still out on whether these degrees are worth the sheepskin they're printed on.
Timonium, Md.-based Big Huge Games Inc. has hired a couple of programmers from Full Sail Real World Education, a tiny school in Florida that offers degrees in video game design. But founder Brian Reynolds said he's still surprised when he spots video game degrees featured prominently on the résumés he receives.
"It's like, 'Hey, this guy went to a games school -- let's talk to him!' " he said.
When Reynolds got started, the industry was made up entirely of self-taught wizards with tiny budgets and a passion for games. His degree, for what it's worth, was in philosophy, not game design.
Still, so high is the academic interest in gaming that talking to schools about building a games curriculum is becoming a mini-industry within itself.
Ernest Adams, a former game designer at Electronic Arts Inc. who worked on the early Madden football games, has since found a second career as a Johnny Appleseed of video game coursework. (Strangely, he's another former student of philosophy.)
"Even the biggest of big guns are starting to get interested," he said. He has lectured at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at schools based everywhere from New Zealand to Sweden. He has authored a book on breaking into the business and is, meanwhile, working on what might be the world's first textbook on making video games.
But Mark Jacobs, founder of the Fairfax-based game designer Mythic Entertainment Inc., said he finds the occurrence of video game degrees a "mixed blessing."
"Degrees are good," he said. "Experience is better."
Jacobs fears that students with such degrees will develop unrealistic ideas about how the real world works.
But who's to say what's unrealistic? There's always the chance that the next generation -- maybe the U-Md. grad Ahmed -- will change how the industry works.
For now, he can't do it on his own.
"I need a team of 100 people and millions of dollars," Ahmed said. "I don't have that."
But a company like Microsoft Corp. or Electronic Arts does.
