GIRL
2010-01-29
SOE's Gamers in Real Life game design scholarship is now in its third year. MMORPG.com reports on it.
Don't get me wrong, this is an admirable initiative focused primarily on promoting proper inclusion of women in a male-dominated industry (it's especially good compared to PSN's reprehensible 'The Tester'. GameMonkey has a post that sums up my opinion of that very well).
Thing is, the initial application needs a piece of original artwork, and if you make it to the next stage the art emphasis only gets heavier. That's fine, but the official page refers to it as a 'game design competition scholarship program'.
I understand that in some corners of the industry you can progress from level design to game design (and crucially that may be SOE's preferred approach) but that's certainly not the be-all and end-all of design (and let's not forget, design isn't all of development). SOE describes the art submission as '...more of a "creativity requirement"', but that closes the door on all of those who have creativity better demonstrated in (e.g.) writing samples. The industry people I know probably aren't the norm (or anything like it) but in general the dedicated designers and the designer-programmers I've met aren't from a graphics background, and the graphics artists I know tend not to be all that interested in design besides aesthetics.
I'm not suggesting SOE is wrong to offer its scholarship as it stands, but it would be nice to see a parallel version for those who could reach design through written creativity and appreciation of other game issues (fun, balance, etc.).
Don't get me wrong, this is an admirable initiative focused primarily on promoting proper inclusion of women in a male-dominated industry (it's especially good compared to PSN's reprehensible 'The Tester'. GameMonkey has a post that sums up my opinion of that very well).
Thing is, the initial application needs a piece of original artwork, and if you make it to the next stage the art emphasis only gets heavier. That's fine, but the official page refers to it as a 'game design competition scholarship program'.
I understand that in some corners of the industry you can progress from level design to game design (and crucially that may be SOE's preferred approach) but that's certainly not the be-all and end-all of design (and let's not forget, design isn't all of development). SOE describes the art submission as '...more of a "creativity requirement"', but that closes the door on all of those who have creativity better demonstrated in (e.g.) writing samples. The industry people I know probably aren't the norm (or anything like it) but in general the dedicated designers and the designer-programmers I've met aren't from a graphics background, and the graphics artists I know tend not to be all that interested in design besides aesthetics.
I'm not suggesting SOE is wrong to offer its scholarship as it stands, but it would be nice to see a parallel version for those who could reach design through written creativity and appreciation of other game issues (fun, balance, etc.).
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