Help! Bsc in Gaming

[IWillSurviv]

I’ll probably get a lambasting here but I’m going to post anyway.

DS trotted off for his first open day yesterday, currently in L6. Subjects include Maths, Economics and Computing. For yrs he wanted to study engineering, but physics got too tough so dropped it after Xmas. He was adamant he wants to study Computing and artificial intelligence. I’ve tried to advise him that AI is a bit too narrow a field and should look at something like Computing in Business but been told firm, No! His short list of Unis so far (subject to change) include, Nottingham, Birmingham, Sheffield, and Sussex, Surrey, Kent.

Went to open day and texted to say he’s thinking about changing his course. excited I text back to ask what is he thinking of? His reply, ‘Gaming and Multimedia’’.

Gaming and multimedia! All I can hear is Mickey 🐭 . Are there enough jobs Inc this field? Will any employer ever take him seriously? I don’t mean the odd employer but really, are they loads of employers crying out for graduates with degree in Gaming? He seems he’ll bent on it.

Ooh kitty now- do you use Haskell?

But to answer- I don't judge someone's success by their bank balance, but louderthan suggested people were minting it in games companies...

I earn a pretty modest salary, btw, but am excellent at my job, given absolute trust and control over my projects, and well respected as if that pays the bills! anf love what I do, so I am successful in a different way
DB is a weeny bit snobbish about languages, but not DH... everything is ugly when compared with the elegance of pure mathematics

Echoing what previous posters have said about investigating links to industry, internship opportunities, employment rates IN RELEVANT CAREERS six months/a year after graduation. The basic rule of any vocational-type degree that claims to set you up for a specific field of work is to check whether this is really the case. Gaming is undoubtedly a huge field that seems unlikely to disappear anytime soon, but that does not mean this degree is the best way in.

20 years ago people thought the internet was just for nerds and now look where we all are - for his generation and those coming up behind a life lived at the intersection of online and the real world will be normal. So not so stupid to pursue a career that addresses this.

Thanks all. I’m still reading all your comments.

Haskell
I teach it briefly as part of the functional programming topic at A Level but apart from that, they only time I come across it is when a student applies to Cambridge and I help them with their interview prep!

If he wants to do something in this space of AI / gaming then I'd say do a maths and computer science with a fourth year option to get an MSc. that will keep his options very open and lay the foundations.

When I asked him what will you do with it? He just looked at me like I was mad and said, ‘i’ll Be designing games!’hmm

I hope he will prepared for the huge amount of theory involved, it won't be straight into designing x-box games. My daughter did a computing and multimedia degree and boy did she moan about the amount of theory. She graduated then decided she didn't want to work in that field. Tell your son to read the prospectus carefully so that he's fully aware of what he will be doing, particularly in the early stages of the degree.

If its anything like the game design course at Portsmouth ....
5 year employment = full
earning enough to repay loans = full
ending up in named companies = 3/4
seriously, the best courses are a meal ticket
they are just a bit odd for us oldies to comprehend

Hi Talkin - Sorry if i'm being a bit thick, but what do you means by 'full'?

full = 100% - all of them - ie its a course that MN snobs sniff at that full employment cos its what business wants

Thank you. I certainly agree with the 'oldies' comment. DH was just reminding me when i went to Uni to study Business Information Technology. Nobody including us knew exactly what it was or what you did with it after graduation, but we all plodded on anyway. A boy in our yr I remember said his brother told him we'll be employed to type using Wordprocessors .
Well guess who was laughing when the 90s IT boom happened and we were being head hunted everywhere.

I'm nearly 33 and only started uni for the first time last year studying Animation to hopefully get into games; my lifelong dream! As people have previously stated, it's a billion dollar industry and growing all the time. He could probably do many worse things.

"The stamper brothers!"

Love the Stampers!! 90s Rareware was a massive part of my childhood!

Never heard of the Stamper brothers, but a previous poster mentioned them. I'd love to have a meeting with them and DS.

Sadly in the dark days of the late 90s/early 00s when I was a teenager these kinds of games design courses didn't really exist, and when I told people it was an industry I wanted to get into, I was often met with blank looks. I was born 20 years too early!

I live in a hub for the gaming industry (although DH works in a far more lucrative area). I know plenty of people in their 40/50s still employed in gaming, and making enough to live here.
Yes they often work long hours, but they are often flexible about hours (late starts as well as late finishes). The culture is pretty young and fun, table tennis etc. Free art classes are not unusual. And the studios often change as employees start to have children.
But yes you need good coding skills,artistic ability helps as does maths skills.

Computing and business does sound boring in comparison to Gaming, and some of those degrees don't really offer the skills employers are looking for.

Well at least it seems he's got the right skills. Ds is a very skilled artist but decided not to pursue it for A'levels.