Gaming Education at College (2) - Why College?

posted in Master of None
Published March 21, 2023
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LAST: Industry Standards

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.

With the state of gaming being said, it is evident that you just can’t place a novice into a position. There needs to be someone who will train people to make games, and have the people who they train be competent before the first job interview. Due to high schools being run/heavily controlled by the government (yes, even the private ones), there will probably be no time in the near future that they will be the leaders in training. To be honest, most high school students are too immature and novice to understand the tricky concepts of gaming. They can make a game and have great ideas, but don’t understand how to build a great game in entirety. This is not a criticism of high school students; it’s just the nature of the beast. When I was in high school I loved video games and had many ideas about making them. I would have been mediocre (at best) at actually applying my ideas.

Trade and Tech schools have dabbled in gaming, but you rarely hear about much success from them. Being an instructor at various colleges, I hear many college teachers complain about non-collegiate, post-high school education. I’m not one of the complainers, but my colleagues have valid points. The trade schools usually cater to people who will pay tuition, in such a way that they don’t always present the most rigorous or useful courses. (As a community college teacher, I have heard this about my schools’ type of education as well.) This could change as the industry needs more specific skills in many cases. Trade and Tech schools could feed certain type of applicants into gaming. It will be interesting to see.

That makes the current front runner colleges and universities. To be honest, perhaps that is where it should be. The video game industry needs talented individuals. As an example, I’ve met many gaming programmers over the years, and it is apparent that these people could code anything. You would never say that a game programmer couldn’t hack it in another programming field. These people, as a group, are as impressive as any I know.

To take game making serious, you need to have well educated people feeding into the process. Sure, there are some who do it without a formal education just like there have been artists who never went to college. There are two things to entertain here. One, education never stole talent away from anyone. If you could make it without an education, you can certainly make it with an education. Second, I have a B.S. in Physics. I don’t know of any Physicist from the last 200 years who ever discovered any worthwhile theory without a college degree. Some fields you can be productive without a degree, others it is impossible.

NEXT: Why College (II) ?

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0 likes 8 comments

Comments

Tom Sloper

I think I see now. You already wrote all these blog entries, incorrectly using the term “gaming” to mean “game development,” and you can't change them because they're already queued up to appear on a schedule. Oh what a tangled web we weave.

March 21, 2023 09:42 PM
hagerprof

@Tom Sloper I'm not a big fan of using the term Game Development as a blanket term. First, not only is there not a consensus on what the term means, but Game Design would not fit under that blanket. Thus, if you are teaching more than development, I would say that you shouldn't use the term. These blogs will cover more than game development (although it will be included.)

March 23, 2023 06:24 AM
Tom Sloper

The primary responsibility of an educator is to educate, not to misinform.

  1. The term “gaming” is absolutely incorrect for what game developers do. It is commonly used for what players do.
  2. And game design is absolutely one of the specialized fields in the development of games. You seem to be implying that game development is limited to what game programmers do.
March 23, 2023 12:02 PM
hagerprof

@Tom Sloper Hold on! Before we argue the second point, I want to make sure you understand the title. Gaming can be used a a participle as in “the gaming world.” However, it can also be used as a verb as in “gaming the system.” Hence, the play on words. Get it?

March 23, 2023 04:35 PM
Tom Sloper

Preaching to the choir. Who ever said that there should not be game dev programs in college? Passionate students have been flocking to colleges to learn game dev skills for over two decades. Who needs to be sold on the concept of college game dev courses? Who?

April 12, 2023 11:33 AM
hagerprof

@Tom Sloper I feel like we've had this conversation before … In any event, the posts will support not just having colleges that teach game principle but also their place. They can't do it all as of right now.

More to the point, If students can get jobs without an express game dev/design/etc. degree, then there is not an obvious need. Moreover, you are looking at the student side. When companies are not hiring from these game programs, sometimes going out of their way to not, that would answer your “Who?”

April 12, 2023 05:32 PM
Tom Sloper

You said “They can't do it all as of right now.” Can you elaborate on that with specifics?

Then you said: ‘When companies are not hiring from these game programs, sometimes going out of their way to not, that would answer your “Who?”’ A lot of grads of game programs DO get hired. Most of my former students got good jobs in games. But if you're trying to preach to the game companies, is this really the way to get the message across?

April 13, 2023 01:07 AM
hagerprof

@Tom Sloper The point that I will get to is where I believe the place for colleges fits in to the whole scheme of game making. So, keep reading. These are post meant to stimulate discussion. They are not meant to produce a hidden agenda or get a message to the game companies.

April 13, 2023 03:22 PM
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