[game_edu] Where to post academic job offers?

[Simeon Peebler]

Hello,

 

I will throw my thoughts into this important discussion, which I have
found to be incredibly valuable and useful. It may very well impact our
institution's future approach in teaching this important subject.

 

In the introduction to game design course of study at Flashpoint in
Chicago, my philosophy has been that relatively few studying game design
in our program will become game designers - at least right away - in
their careers in this field. 

 

In fact, many of them will end up doing other valuable things in game
studios or in other interactive media production work. The job titles
they will have over the course of time will be wide ranging, and if they
have the vocabulary and the exposure to everything that is for example
documented in Tracy Fullerton's book (coupled with coursework that
requires that they build physical games, do critical analysis and
iterative development and playtesting), they will be able to communicate
really well with the members of their teams, understand the importance
and value of implementing the difficult new features and content vital
to a product's success, and very likely be in a position to offer more
salient and valuable suggestions in this process. 

 

So, I believe that it is possible that an experienced game developer
(producer, artist, programmer), who has many years of experience of
being a great communicator and collaborator (preferring good managers),
will be able to guide a class through introductory material. If
coursework is team-based and project oriented, I believe that the
outcome will be fruitful.

 

To wrap up my own points, I believe that it can be appropriate to offer
production-oriented game design, where everyone knows going in that
realistically a small fraction will end up being  "game designer" in
title, and that it is possible to lead this type of class without being
a designer in title (or perhaps "designer" by degree, although I don't
believe that is a bad thing) as long as one employs methods of making
students discover for themselves the key points that will allow them to
work successfully with designers or lead them to more advanced study.
No designer really works in a vacuum, and it takes a team to bring good
ideas to life -- why not make that an important part of this whole
educational process.

 

Simeon

 

-- 
Simeon Peebler
Chair of Game Development
Flashpoint Academy
http://www.flashpointacademy.com
312.332.0707

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_edu/attachments/20080320/aae2b024/attachment.html>