Play The Game? Make The Game! Essential Skills In The Industry

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Growing up, geeks all over the world share a common dream. Having spent a huge portion of your life with your eyes glued to a screen and a controller in your hands, it would be selling it short to say that you like to play video games. When you enjoy something this much, it only makes sense that you would want to tie it into your career, but this is where a lot of people stop with their aspirations. Becoming a game developer doesn’t have to be as hard as you think, though. To help you out, this post will be exploring the sort of skills you’ll need to be able to make it in this industry, along with some of the ways to earn them.

Programming

Of course, any video game has to start with some code, and you will need to start working on programming skills as early as possible. There are loads of systems out there which are designed to make the process of learning something like this easier. In reality, though, this can often take longer than simply going in as deep as you can. Systems like Unity make it very easy to get started with professional-grade tools which will force you to learn to code in useful languages like C# and JavaScript.

Creativity

While a lot of people see the life of a programmer as one filled with mathematical problems and other logic-based issues, a lot of the solutions you come up with when you’re coding will be creative ones. A huge portion of the jobs you want your game to do simply won’t exist yet. This means that you have to be able to find ways to simulate events and other actions, and this isn’t a problem reserved for game developers; it’s found in all programming work. Small puzzles and games can help a lot with this.

Dedication

Development companies often have to run on incredibly tight schedules, producing games much faster than they should be able to. To achieve a goal like this, they often have to work their employees into the ground, and this means that you will spend a lot of time working when you shouldn’t have to. This will take a lot of dedication, but will be worth it once you are rewarded upon the game’s release.

What Will You Get?

As a gamer working in the gaming industry, it’s easy for most people to see what they would get from a role like this. Not only will you have the chance to focus your life around gaming, but you will also be able to start learning more about the games you play. While it may take away some of the magic, sitting down and figuring out how a game was built is very entertaining, and will open your eyes to the shortcomings of even the largest development companies in the world.

With all of this in mind, you should be feeling excited about the prospect of working in an industry like this. It will take a lot of effort, but getting a job in video games is a dream come true for a lot of people, and you are probably one of them.

Skills Video Games Can Help Develop

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Video games have had a bad rep since they first came out. They were considered to be time-wasters which played no role in developing any real-life skills. However, studies have been conducted to the contrary of this, showing that video games can enhance certain abilities. Of course, like all media forms, if you play them too often, there are various detrimental effects out there as well. But here we will focus on the positive side of things.

Patience and Perseverance

The most complicated games, in particular, require a great deal of patience and perseverance if you are going to see them through to their conclusion. For example, in role playing games, you need to be patient for your characters to develop the skills that you require to complete them. And this has an obvious link to growing and developing a career. You can’t expect to skip to the finish line without first putting in the necessary work to get there.

Strategic Planning

Many of the most interesting video games out there require you to take the time to pursue a successful strategy through them. And forward-planning is also a skill which will stand you in good stead when you are moving through life as well. The ability to think a few steps ahead can help you out in social situations as well. And just like you are rewarded by being able to progress through the game, the same is true of experiencing rewards in real life too.

Social Skills and Leadership

Perhaps the most common and lasting negative stereotype about gamers is that they are antisocial loners. But video games have always been developed with an idea of interactivity in mind - just think back to the early days of arcade games. In today’s online multiplayer gaming world, people interact with each other via voice and video chats. And since a lot of games involve cooperation, you can also develop your leadership skills through this medium as well.

Mental Abilities

There are plenty of games out there which are directly linked to improving brain functionality. And there are the ones which are indirectly linked. So, casino games like kaszinohu.com can end up boosting mathematical abilities. But all sorts of games can play a big role in your hand-eye coordination, memory, strategic planning, thinking outside the box etc.

A Sense of Empathy

As video games have become steadily better with their graphics and more cinematic, creators are working hard in creating characters with whom you can have some empathy. And there are also many games in which your decisions directly impact the fate of the characters. So, far from being emotionally numbing, video games can also elicit all sorts of different emotions.

Unlike watching TV - which is a largely passive activity - video games play a role in developing all sorts of different skills. Are you a gamer yourself? What sort of life skills do you think video games have helped you out with?

Finding Yourself & Geek Identity Theory

During my first semester of graduate school, I took a course on theory development within college students.  I learned about theories grounded in career development, religious development, and personal identity development.  Within personal identity development I noticed a commonality between all the theories.  I was taught to use theory as a base knowledge to understand a student better, being able to assess where each person was on the developmental level.  As a self-named geek, I was determined to find other applicable identities for students to develop.  Here is the "Wagner Geek Identity Development Model" (WGIDM) as seen through my own development.

Stage 1: Non-geek

During this stage, students do not consider themselves to be geeky.  This was reflected during my first year of college.  My interests were of movies and not much else.  I did not have an overt affection towards video games, superheroes, or anything deemed “geeky” by society.

Stage 2: Open to Geek Culture

During this stage, students are opened up to the geek culture.  In my second year of college, a fellow resident assistant took me to a comic book store and opened my mind to my favorite superhero, Green Lantern.  This moment sparked an internal revolution into geekdom, leading into stage 3.

Stage 3: NooB

This stage is when geeks begin to make meaning of their identity.  This can be seen through a new variety of one’s Netflix qeue, frequent trips to comic book stores or GameStop, and enhanced research on the geek culture.  It is during this stage that individuals seek out groups of fellow geeks to validate their feelings and share in experiences.

Stage 4: Leroy Jenkins

During stage 4, individuals dive into the culture in an attempt to figure out what type of geek that person wants to be.  For me, that resulted in watching YouTube videos about video games, downloading podcasts about Star Trek, and buying midnight premiere movie tickets.

Stage 5: Geek Chic

This stage revolves around individuals refining the type of geek they want to be.  Folks have searched every outlet in an attempt to whittle down what geek really means to them.  I finally decided that I did not know enough of World of Warcraft to try and become a level 70 goblin, however I knew I enjoyed superheroes and video games, so I stuck to where my true passions were.

Stage 6: Live Long and Prosper

This final stage can only be accomplished when a person fully admits to their geekdom.  This stage occurs when one has accepted that they are a geek and has begun to integrate their geeky tendencies into their personal life.  I was finally able to walk into the comic book store without feeling like an outsider, using superhero inspirations for door decorations for my residents.

Obviously with this theory comes one major critique: what does it mean to be a geek?  This notion is relative for each individual person.  To someone, a geek can only refer to science fiction novels, however to others being a geek can mean they are excited about woodworking.  The term geek is open to interpretation.  My own definition is that a geek is a person that understands a topic incredibly well and has become a true passion.  No matter what the definition, this theory can serve as an opportunity for folks to assist their students in the development of their identities.

Remember, with great power comes great responsibility, so use it wisely.

Hey y'all!  My name is Julie Wagner and I am a current graduate student in my second year of the College Student Personnel program at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.  Currently I am working in Campus Activities and get to work with fantastic students and their organizations.  I began my obsessions with higher education and geek culture in the fall of 2012 and have not stopped since.  My bookshelves are equal parts graphic novels and development theory books. Connect with me on Twitter!

Self-Reflection: Moving Forward by Looking Back

So I write to you all tonight a month after my last post, fresh from my summer work and thrown right into the thick of training for the next academic year. Not having a break to speak of at all was frustrating on some levels but I am thankful for the opportunity to be doing some great work consistently with even greater people. That being said, I wanted to get some more thoughts down as I sit here in my apartment after a long week of training.

Something I think a lot about is the past. I was a history major as an undergraduate student so I appreciate the story that every person has and the fact that everything that happens around us has some sort of context through which it happened. A professor shared a fun anecdote that explains this. He described the discipline of history as a "turtle on a fencepost", as to say that turtle could not have gotten up there on it's own so there is some story there to explore. History is the same way. Whether it is something that happened yesterday or two hundred years ago, there is a story there to learn and grow from.

Another great quote is "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." It applies to the history of us as humans but also our own personal stories. To simply forget whatever came before deprives us from an amazing learning experience. Granted, one has to be comfortable enough to take a hard look at themselves, but I think the results are very powerful. Being able to analyze and scrutinize our own behavior and choices, especially with the help of a trusted confidant, is really one of the only ways to constantly grow and develop to be the most good, prudent, and self-aware person we can be.

So, in order to be the best professionals and best people we can be, I think we all need to stop every once in a while and take a look back at where we've been in order to better get where we're going.