If you could study Game Design

[Fallen Seraph]

Neither is spending your youth qualifying for a profession it turns out you don't enjoy. Balance is important. And if there is something you really love, go for it, and worry about how you're going to make the big bucks later on. Plenty of people get "food money" with no degree at all... in fact, it takes college kids a number of years to catch up, when you count the time they spend in school.

Ahh, I love George Brown, 2 year course, diploma, full certification as a Social Worker, on-job placement all for the total cost of $5,400 It is nice being basically guaranteed a job straight out of college.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

It makes very little difference what your Bachelor's is in, unless you are trying to get into Harvard Law School or somesuch.

I'll have to disagree here too. I don't think I would have gotten a job as an engineer with a degree in liberal arts. I think it's the reverse. If you're going to grad school, you have some flexibility. If not then your degree had better be relevant to what you want to do.

As a counterexample I'll mention my friend with a degree in german literature who ended up not being able to find a job in his field at all.

I'm not going to disagree on getting a degree in something you enjoy. Life too short to spend it doing something you don't like. There are enough options out there that anyone ought to be able to find something that they can enjoy and get paid for. Lots of people change majors several times until they find something that works for the.

 

[mmadsen]

It makes very little difference what your Bachelor's is in, unless you are trying to get into Harvard Law School or somesuch.

It doesn't matter what your undergrad major was (much) if your goal is law school or (later) business school. It does matter what your grades were though.

If you want to get an entry-level job in the real world, then your major could matter tremendously -- in, say, engineering or the sciences -- or not at all -- in most other fields.

Unless you're working in a technical field or in academia, your four-year degree is primarily a credential that says you're competent and can follow the rules for four years. It doesn't really matter if you studied Sociology or German Lit, since you'll be working out of your field anyway.

If you are changing gears in a really big way, getting a second Bachelor is not a big deal, either.

There isn't much point in getting a second bachelor's degree. There's rarely much point even in staying an extra year to finish off a double-major. You can often get a master's degree in another two or three years.

I'd say four years getting a degree in Awesome Fun is a great investment; you can always spend a year learning Accounting down the road. The reverse is much harder to pull off, especially once you have kids.

I disagree completely. I'm able to learn all the "absolute fun" stuff I want in my free time. Getting a technical credential in my free time would be much harder and much less fun.

 

[mmadsen]

I'm not sure I'd recommend getting a degree in game design, but I can suggest some areas of study:

• Probability -- Not generic statistics as much as probability and combinatorics; the computer scientists tend to take a few classes in this.
• Game Theory -- Which bears little resemblance to game design, but is still useful, both for designing game mechanics and for designing interesting game scenarios.
• Military History -- Most games are about violent conflict, and reading about real-life campaigns can't help but inform you as design fictional campaigns.
• Economic History -- Games are about choices, and economics is the study of the trade-offs people make. Peasants and kings faced very different choices from each other and from modern office-workers and politicians.
• Architecture -- Level-designers for computer games could use this more than writers, but understanding architecture and urban design is important for designing a plausible setting that feels right.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

RE: Education

I'll just point out:

1) If you work hard, its possible to complete a double BA in 4 years. I almost did it, but I dropped 3 courses (because they weren't accurately described- one of which was being taught by a pair of 1st year teachers without a clue!- not because I was in any kind of academic trouble).

2) There are certain fields in which, if you don't have the right undergrad degree, you can forget about employment. Example: If you want to be a Patent Attorney, you pretty much need an Engineering, Math, Biology, Chemistry or Physics degree before you get your Law degree.

OTOH, big business is finding that people with well-rounded educations are generally easier to train for particular tasks and have better communications skills than those who don't. A buddy of mine just shy of a Masters in English lit had a high-level job for Zales- something from every part of the company passed her desk daily. Another friend of mine has a Masters in Jazz and is currently the lead programmer for a company in the D/FW metroplex.

3) Modern educational institutions have a variety of structures that cater to both directions of education (fun stuff first vs practical stuff first). Texas Wesleyan has a Law School that caters to those who are seeking their law degrees while living in the "Real World" with job/kids/mortgage, etc.- and a member of their first class of graduates post accreditation produced that year's highest scoring Bar Exam score. University of Dallas (and others) offer online courses that are perfect for the modern way of life, and don't skimp on quality, either.- their MBA program, for example, has a Sports & Entertainment Mgmt section that is ranked #2 in the country (behind Ohio State).

 

[MichaelSomething]

I would just like to point out that I got a Liberals Arts degree and have been underemployed for over 2 years now.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Its the economy- I'm a lawyer who has been underemployed for some time. I have clients, but not nearly enough to be comfy or feel safe about my future.

I went and got an MBA at UD in 2005 (see above) to help rectify that, but due to family circumstances, haven't been able to do a meaningful job hunt until now.

 

[pawsplay]

I'll have to disagree here too. I don't think I would have gotten a job as an engineer with a degree in liberal arts.

When I was in the Internet biz, I knew one engineer with a Bachelor's in Performance (Viola), a Biochemist, someone with a PhD in Communications, and high school dropout who had started his own Internet business which folded when the FCC figured out where his phone numbers were forwarding to. There was a guy in the department with an electrical engineering degree.... he worked under me, and after three years in the department, transferred to network engineering doing installations because he couldn't get promoted.

I'm currently studying Rehabiliational Counseling... one of my professors has a PhD in Philosophy.

 

[Clight101]

I'm actually quite touched by all the people who are fearing for my financial future. I appreciate it greatly and just so you all know my degree is in creative writing and I'm going to get my masters in Editing . I'm an adult learner and have a job that puts food on the table, I just happen to have the opportunity to pursue a dream job. Besides a wise man once told me you don't work in the industry to be rich you do it because you love it. Just so everyone can see what I got going on and then add to it here's what my concentration looks like at the moment:

Creative Writing: Creative Process
Creative Writing: The Novel
Creative Writing: Fantasy
Creative Writing: Screen writing
Creative Writing: Non - Fiction
Studies in the Short story
Studies in Post Modern Literature
Studies in the Novel
History of RPG's
Theory of Game Design

So I guess you could say I am kind of taking a degree in Creative writing with a minor in Game Design. I've already taken a lot of calculus classes as I was once a Engineering major. I hated it. I also have a broad background in music as I've studied all of it from Antiquity all the way through to Modern music, Jazz, Rock and Pop.

One of the best idea's I've seen so far is this by RougeRouge:

I'm not a game designer, but I'd think that History of Media Arts would be a good idea for you. First, it gives you an introduction to genre theories, which are about the forms and functions storytelling types (e.g. noir, horror, mystery, speculative fiction, comedy, melodrama, experimental, and others.) Second, as a performing art, you'll need the background on where related performing styles come from, namely radio narrative, TV serial narrative, and video games. Third, it will help you understand the gaming industry based on how other entertainment industries have evolved. Finally, the content control debates and media effects theories are DEEPLY relevant to the gaming industry.

A lot of the philosophy, Improvisational theater, ethics and classes such as that are interesting to think about but they don't handle the base problems of being a true game designer which I feel is being able to tap creativity. These classes and subject areas are all fascinating and would make for well rounded education to enhance ones creativity but don't foster creativity in and of itself. Game design is art. Besides the statistical side of games isn't really complicated as anyone with half a brain can understand the systems mathematical base if they take five minutes to really think about it. I just think it is important to understand Game Design Theory at it's most basic levels and how systems are built from the ground up. Anyway this conversation has been exceptionally helpful and I appreciate it greatly. It's given me some great ideas as I move forward with designing my program. Feel free to keep the ideas flowing if you have them and I'll definitely keep checking. Thanks all.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Besides the statistical side of games isn't really complicated as anyone with half a brain can understand the systems mathematical base if they take five minutes to really think about it.

That depends upon the game & designer. Some games are almost as simple as Rock-Scissors-Paper, others, like Classic Traveller, don't even use a standard decimal system (as I recall, its in Hexidecimal). Other games don't use linear progressions for everything. Remember, it was 3Ed D&D that ushered in uniform bonuses for all of the stats- Strength's ever increasing damage bonus versus a slow to hit bonus after a certain point made a significant statistical difference.

(A last note on education: I have a buddy without a college degree whose programming skills are such that since leaving a programming job in NYC shortly after 9/11 (yes), he's making a NYC level salary in North Carolina. It is so rough for him, being forced to decide whether to by a third Rolex, or what car to buy as his weekend ride.)