by RawrStar

Created on: May 02, 2008

The big question; is a video game degree worth doing?

I'll say no. As someone who has played games for a good few years (12 to be precise and at least an hour a day) it is a passion that comes a close second to cue sports and art, I feel I have enough knowledge of the gaming industry to put forward a decent argument.

Video games are very complex animals. Thousands of hours of work goes into each and every game (although, with some of the poorer efforts you would never notice)! A game used to be five blokes sat around a few drawings/character sprites with just about enough technical know-how to put together a few pixels that move. Things have changed dramatically. A video game now comprises up to 100 people, male and female, working together as experts in their field. Combining passion and a desire to be the best with the expertise that allows them to create something millions worldwide will crave.

This is brilliant for the industry. Innovation, design, graphics and technology as a whole have all come a long way since the "good old days" where Pacman and Tetris were king and Mario was an 8-bit wonder that, unknown to us, would move with the times.

But it isn't good for video game degrees. Every person on that team of developers is an expert. They all know what they are doing, why they are doing it and how to do it best to achieve their personal objectives. A video game degree may allow you to become a "Jack of all trades" in the gaming industry but is it not better to be a master of one?

Another reason video game degrees aren't good is the common misconception that you get to play games for many hours a week. This isn't true! Video games degrees are more like computer science degrees than anything and probably more specific. If you choose to take a video gaming degree for the sole purpose of playing games, I'm afraid you're going to get a very large shock.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, each video gaming degree has around six applicants per place; minimum! It is a very popular course (most likely due to the above perceptions) and the majority of those people who do get a place won't see the course to the finish. It is a great worry when even the universities are scared due to the popularity of the course. Unfortunately, they are.

Maybe, the biggest worry, whilst you and I can make an informed decision about this, is that the graduates of the future don't have the necessary knowledge to do so.

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