File this one in the Evolution of America’s Educational System Department: you now get a college degree in video games — which sounds as lucrative s being a philosophy major, right?
WRONG:
“Be lame or get game,” boasts one advertisement that promises to train students in the arts of animation and visual effects. “Without guys like me, you’d still be playing Pong,” is the quote from an alum of another college, an industry veteran who graduated all of one year ago.
Suddenly, the idea of a degree in video games is one that might even persuade the parents who grumble about the high cost of video games to write a tuition check.
These days, there are companies that pay big bucks to computer science geniuses who can develop the next big thing — a Grand Theft Auto sort of game that will generate a big following and big sales.
What’s the big thing about a Grand Theft Auto game? I have kids in my neighborhood who know how to do the real thing…MORE:
Carnegie Mellon University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, for example, now offer master’s degrees in game development. The University of Southern California offers a graduate degree in interactive media and an undergraduate program in game design. Locally, the University of Baltimore is putting together an undergraduate degree in video game development.
The Entertainment Software Association, an industry trade group, puts the number of colleges and schools offering some sort of gaming-related coursework at over 50.
“Just like students went to school in the ’60s and ’70s wanting to study the works of Hitchcock, students now want to go to school to study the work of [Sims designer] Will Wright,” said Dan Hewitt, a spokesman for the ESA.
The big difference is Hitchcock used better theme music. But some of his stars weren’t as lifelike.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.