LAST: Why Colleges II
This is part of a series of same titled blogs that focus on the teaching of gaming above the high school level. As a professor who taught (and sometimes still teaches) gaming, I’ll share my perspective on the pros and cons. I’m going to try to go in depth on what to expect and what we shouldn’t. I also will answer common questions by students and prospective companies who wish to hire. I teach at community colleges in the United States, so my experience may differ from other parts of the world. Take my opinion for what it is: the most authoritative. No, just kidding, but I wouldn’t mind hearing any opinions for or against my own.
Piggy-backing on my list from last post, here are several things that I learned through a good college education:
- How to learn
- Being confident trying new things/ways
- Advanced problem solving
- Ethics
- Broader understanding of material (that only comes from varied classes)
- A desire to truly understand things not just get results
- Advanced technology
- Responsibility and working hard
There are more than mentioned above, but let’s look at how these pertain to gaming. Learning how to learn and problem solving can go hand in hand and are the soft skills all game companies want. In general, these two are what most businesses want. The second in the list goes in that same direction. Your boss is going to be much more impressed with you if you tackle something without being asked, especially if no one in the office has done it before. That practically goes without saying.
Ethics are invaluable, although most colleges and universities are shying away due to fear of overstepping their bounds and offending. (By the way, what a crock.) Good ethics goes hand in hand with good business. In gaming, ethics has many effects. One such is teamwork. Teamwork is a cornerstone of a successful company. If people are getting mishandled, how willing do you think they are to share? And, how much does a person with bad ethics share in the first place?
Advanced technology has been the bread and butter of schools. Ever try to purchase a commercial license of Adobe CS, 3DS Max, a good game engine and tutorials that will help you understand the software? Then you have to put the software on a good computer with other support programs and hardware. At school, we can bargain with companies to get the student access to top notch software and hardware. We then can walk you through the process of using these tools.
The fifth and sixth bullets go together. Some may not see it this way, but those people usually don’t see the need for them either. These two elements nonetheless are extremely important. My first degree was Physics, and while working towards that major I often wondered how four English courses and four Philosophy courses fit in with my knowledge of Science. Now, it is a clear as day to see. Unfortunately, most don’t see it until after they have gone through it and placed themselves at a distance away from it.
To perhaps put it into simpler terms, when you devote yourself into one pursuit, it is easy to have gaps in your understanding of a large amount of material. Let’s use gaming as the material. You may understand how to create a level, do a build of the level, and be able to debug simple problems in that level. With all that knowledge, you may still not understand how your engine places instances into your level or why it is important to have positive normals of the instances. These gaps are prevalent for anyone in any job.
Where the fifth comes in, is that it helps you grasp those gaps quicker. Usually, the gaps in your understanding come from your weaknesses. If you aren’t a mathematically inclined person, your gaps will probably be related to … Math. This is true for English, etc.
This argument also shows where the sixth fits, too. Understanding things is more than just being able to finish a project, just like debugging is more than just putting out fires. A person who truly understands code can debug and fix a code much better than someone who knows a couple of tricks or patches. Feel free to think of your least favorite software publisher here.
The fuller understanding of material and, perhaps even better, the desire to truly understand can make you a more robust problem solver and more valuable to a game developer (or publisher.) It’s hard to do this on your own. As we used to say in engineering, “Don’t reinvent the wheel.” Having someone to guide you and give you the benefits of their experience can be invaluable.
Next: Good and Bad Colleges
If you like to try out one of my free apps (for copying and moving bulk files,) please go here:
https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/filesnatch-free/9NTT08T64GLF
If you’d like to pay me $2.79 for roughly the same app without ads, please go here:
https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/filesnatch/9P6WGSGHCN67
If you like to see me post silly things from my company, try this:
https://www.facebook.com/people/Digital-Tumult/100057555664875/
If you’d like to see me in action:
This article resonates with my experience as a college student. It's eye-opening to see how subjects seemingly unrelated to gaming, like English or Philosophy, can actually enhance problem-solving skills in game development. I've found platforms like https://gradesfixer.com/ incredibly helpful in accessing top-notch resources for my assignments. They have free essay samples, which helped me with topic ideas and research papers tremendously. The emphasis on learning how to learn and developing a genuine curiosity for understanding not only benefits our gaming projects but also shapes us into more adaptable problem solvers. Mentorship and guidance along the way are invaluable, and I'm grateful for the insights shared in this article.