[game_edu] Ph.D. in Digital Game Design

[Ian Schreiber]

There aren't a whole lot of PhDs in game design, probably because, as Mike says, the concept of "research" isn't all that well-defined. I'd avoid the temptation to draw analogies to physics - game design is most definitely NOT a hard science. If you must look for a model, I'd suggest looking to the softer sciences (think of what a Psychology PhD would have looked like just as Freud was starting to publish, that's approximately where we are in game design). But perhaps an even better model would be the other arts/entertainment/communications fields. If you want to study, say, scriptwriting for movies, what would a PhD look like (and I'm not talking about "media studies" PhDs where you're studying the end products of other people's work and putting it in a cultural context)? What about if you were studying painting, or UI/UX, or investigative journalism, or really anything where the whole point of the field is to create an end-user-focused product of some
 kind? (Okay, that's probably an oversimplification, but you know what I mean.)

The other question I would be asking, both for your program and for the theses of any students entering it, is what you do once you have research results worth sharing? There aren't a whole lot of academic journals of game design to publish in, and even if there were, no one who actually makes games reads them. If the goal of research is to gain some real understanding of the world around us, solve real problems, or gain additional tools to do so, that goal is lost if the research is put in a place where no one notices it so it never gets built on. Publishing on Gamasutra, presenting at GDC, and making a playable game all seem like appropriate venues for disseminating game design research; on the other hand, I don't think these would fit the traditional criteria or publishing requirements for a lot of PhD programs...

- Ian





________________________________
 From: Mike Sellers <mike at onlinealchemy.com>
To: IGDA Game Education Listserv <game_edu at igda.org> 
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2013 7:20 PM
Subject: Re: [game_edu] Ph.D. in Digital Game Design
 


As a non-PhD (but there's still time), one thing I would require is actual industry experience in designing and developing games (full cycle, from start to post-launch). I know this goes against a lot of what academia is about for some, but I believe this is crucial. Is there another discipline where it's possible to get an advanced degree without actually having experience in the subject area?

I guess the other question I'd ask is, what is a PhD in this field intended to indicate and facilitate? "Research" in game design is pre-Newtonian at best, so other than checking the "terminal degree" box for university appointment, this is one I'm not sure about.

Mike Sellers





On Mon, May 13, 2013 at 4:06 PM, George D. Phillies <phillies at wpi.edu> wrote:

Not at great length:

>

>We are preparing to offer a Ph.D. (we may well make a habit of this, but the local custom is that you start with a single degree to a single person) in Digital Game Design.  We do actually have a moderate idea of what we are planning to do, tuned to the particular credentials of the particular candidate, but I would be interested in hearing opinions as to what sort of things ought to go into a doctorate in the field.  I am deliberately being vague to encourage discussion.

>

>Now, of I were doing this in my home discipline (Physics) I would know with great clarity what I would propose, and most physicists at most doctorate-granting schools would I expect be in agreement. There seem to be rather fewer precedents in game design, so I thought I would throw out this very open-ended question and see what responses I had.

>

>George Phillies

>Professor, Physics, and

>  WPI Associated Faculty in Interactive Media and Game Development, and

>  WPI Associated Faculty in Biochemistry

>

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