Gaming Education at College (1)

This is part of a series of same titled blogs that focus on the teaching of gaming above the high school level. As a professor who taught (and sometimes still teaches) gaming, I’ll share my perspective on the pros and cons. I’m going to try to go in depth on what to expect and what we shouldn’t. I also will answer common questions by students and prospective companies who wish to hire. I teach at community colleges in the United States, so my experience may differ from other parts of the world. Take my opinion for what it is: the most authoritative. No, just kidding, but I wouldn’t mind hearing any opinions for or against my own.

Industry Standards

There are a lot of pros and cons to college gaming education. Like it or not, it is here and sometimes thriving. The industry is becoming too demanding of talent to let people wander in off the streets into their cubicles. It’s too cost prohibitive to have a mentoring system for people who are just beginning. The industry wants talented people, who are hard working, and they want them to hit the ground running.

These attitudes may seem harsh and unfair when you hold them up to other careers. The gaming industry holds this position for two reasons. Firstly, they can. There are a lot more people who want to grow up and make video games rather than go into sanitation. Industry can hold a high bar, because they know people will pass out trying to jump over that bar in order to have a fun career. That career works well with their hobbies and personal fun. It’s much like the film world in that way.

Secondly, the industry holds this attitude out of need. Making games is a high risk venture. Many companies want to do it. The competition can be such that your game may not even be seen by the general public, let alone tried out. The statistics are around 20% of games made actually get come to fruition, and of those, only 20% make money (That’s 4%, total.) You usually have to put out a lot of money to make competitive games. Therefore companies trim the fat in many areas. They hire fewer, more efficient, more talented employees such that they don’t go broke on the way to making their games. As one of my friends once told me about his gaming company, “It’s a lot of pressure to feed 150 mouths.”

Next: Why colleges?