[game_edu] Getting information about game education to those interested in it

[Lewis Pulsipher]

Some time ago there was a discussion here about how to help potential video
game students make good choices about their education.

The problem is not so much to create that information, as to make it
available where those folks might actually find it.  Unfortunately, the IGDA
Web site is not likely to be a high traffic method of distribution; a great
many wannabe students don’t seem to be aware of the IGDA at all.  Further,
the minority of game students who actually come to IGDA looking for
information is the group who least need what IGDA might tell them.

So I prefer to use GameCareerGuide.  At 200,000 page views a month, it
probably gets a lot more traffic from potential students than do IGDA
education sites.  My latest take on what students need to do is at:

http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/757/industry_hopefuls_prepare_.php

You may know that the company that runs Gamasutra/GameCareerGuide etc. laid
off some people some time ago, including the editor of GCG.  Jill Duffy did
a good job of answering student questions about game schools, but now no one
on staff has time to do that job.   This is an opportunity, then, for
educators to take a more active part by contributing to GCG.   If you
disagree with my article, or have more to say (I know I have), then write
something and send it to Gamasutra (cnutt[usual symbol here]gamasutra.com,
the C stands for Christian).

Using this venue avoids another problem which was becoming obvious during
the discussion on this listserv, that any IGDA-approved recommendations
would be quite unlikely to “tell it like it is”, that is, would be something
like lowest-common-denominator (in this case, that most of us teach
game-related topics).

But more than just students need information.  Three other groups need
information:

Administrators who have no idea what a game creation program entails.

Those who may teach in a new game creation program.

Parents and councilors/advisors of those students.  (Because in many cases
it’s the parents who ultimately decide what their children do---both a
matter of financial resources and of the initiative to find out what’s
what!)

How do they get this information?

Administrators will likely get it from people (teachers) at their school who
are interested in the new curriculum, most likely.  Very few will have the
time/interest to search out the information themselves.

Teachers may go to IGDA to get the information.  They may also read sites
such as GameCareerGuide and Sloperama.

Parents?  Maybe from the Web, but where?  I really have no idea, I’m
afraid.  Are there sites for parents whose children are about to start
college?  That’s where the information would need to be.

What would they want to know?  Administrators want to know software and
facilities costs, level of student interest, likelihood of students getting
jobs, difficulty of finding teachers. Teachers want to know what they should
do.  IGDA already has one set of advice, the recommended curriculum topics.
Parents want to know the likelihood of their children getting jobs, not just
in the video game industry but more generally, if they decide to do
something else.  What useful things will the student learn (many parents
aren't going to regard "making video games" as very useful!)?

So if IGDA produced this kind of information and distributed it, some people
would enefit.  The interested teachers at the school could provide the "Info
for administrators" to the administrators; they might also need a brief
"what is IGDA" so that the administrators will realize that the source is
probably reliable.

Lew Pulsipher
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