Tenets of academic rigor spread to computer games
WORCESTER -- When college students stay up all night playing computer games, it's usually a waste of their time and their parents' money. At Worcester Polytechnic Institute, these all-night gaming sessions may soon be required to complete crucial academic assignments.
Next year, the university will launch a four-year undergraduate program in computer game design, aimed at giving students the technical and creative skills to compete in an industry that's become almost as lucrative as the movie business, and nearly as competitive. It will be the first major of its kind in the United States to combine training in both computer science and the humanities.
"We're coming out of the age where people used to get jobs as janitors and then move up to technical designer," said 18-year-old freshman Eric Sutman. "If you don't know someone in the industry who can get you a job there, then you have to have some credentials."
Sutman came to Worcester Polytechnic to earn a computer science degree. But his chief interest is art: He wants to design the creatures and environments that will inhabit future video games. Sutman has already taken some of the required courses for the new major, which will be called Interactive Media and Game Development. He hopes that his degree will prove that he understands the art and the science of gaming.
A number of major universities and technical schools have launched game design programs. Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and Southern Methodist University in Dallas, for example, have offered master's degrees in the subject for years. Smaller technical institutions have also taken up the challenge. Full Sail of Winter Park, Fla. runs a bachelor's program in game design, as does DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash. But Worcester Polytechnic officials say theirs will be the first program to require humanities course work, in addition to computer science training.
The new curriculum aims to give students a solid grounding in storytelling as well as in software.
The program will be jointly administered by WPI's Computer Science Department and its Humanities and Arts Department; students will be taught by faculty from both departments. There will be courses in narrative structure and art theory, along with training in the programming and design tools used by game builders. Students will also take courses in the social and ethical aspects of game design, considering topics like racial stereotyping and the ways in which games depict violence.
"I think probably the thing that woke us up to this was the big success of the game development club here at WPI," said computer science professor David Finkel.
Founded in 2000, the club has attracted dozens of students. It not only hosts gaming parties, but has spawned teams of developers who tackle challenging projects for fun and for the experience. Some have produced custom modifications of popular games, for example. Another student gaming group, in cooperation with State Senator Richard T. Moore, an Uxbridge Democrat, developed MassBalance, an Internet-based game that let citizens try their hand at balancing the state budget.
The groups' popularity convinced Finkel there was a place at Worcester Polytechnic for academically rigorous training in game design. When he proposed the idea during a faculty retreat, "there was a spontaneous demonstration of support," he said.
Much of the backing came from the humanities faculty. Patrick Quinn, professor of literature and head of the humanities department, said there was plenty of gaming expertise in the department. "It was just a manner of deploying it intelligently."
Dean O'Donnell, an instructor in drama and theater and an avid computer gamer, already uses game technology in his courses. "One of the things I do is use 3-D action games, because they all come with 3-D editors," O'Donnell said. "I take out the guns, I take out the fighting and we use that to make architecture for theater." In one of his classes, O'Donnell used game-editing software that is available for the popular action game Quake to produce "Quakebeth," a five-minute portion of Shakespeare's drama Macbeth.
O'Donnell said that future game designers need to know more than computer languages. "It's no less difficult to put together a compelling story than it is to program," he said. "In the industry now, stories are rudimentary. We haven't seen the great works of art in gaming yet....they're more like murder mystery dinner theater."
In addition to taking courses, students will have to work in teams to develop games of their own. It's a skill they'll need in the real world, where game design teams include dozens of programmers, artists, musicians and writers who must work together. "They need to speak a common language and they need to be able to coordinate their different talents," said Paolo Piselli, 28, a former computer game artist who helped design the new curriculum.
Jesse Schell, professor of entertainment technology at Carnegie Mellon and chairman of the International Game Developers Association, has his doubts about Worcester Polytechnic's approach. Carnegie Mellon's students have already earned bachelor's degrees in some other subject before entering the university's gaming program. Schell questioned the wisdom of combining humanities and technical training on the undergraduate level. "You run the risk of graduating people who are too broad and not deep enough," he said.
Finkel admitted "we have a lot of outreach to do to convince the rest of the academic world that what we're doing is legitimate," But while the scholars debate, the computer game industry booms, and software companies troll for new designers with new ideas--the kinds of people Worcester Polytechnic should begin graduating in 2009.
Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com.
