遊戲學位的爭議
興趣等於工作嗎? 今年有好幾家大家新開了幾個”遊戲學位”, 吸引了不少高中畢業生去讀. 連一些成績好到可以讀醫科律師的學生, 也被吸引去讀遊戲. 不是說成績好就一定要讀”專科”, 只是聽起來有點”可惜” :o 我覺得, 讀書這回事, 最重要是要讀的時候有興趣. 不然就算成績好, 跑去讀不喜歡的科目還是會很辛苦呢.
Anyway, 現在大學在怕學生以為可以整天玩遊戲, 而不懂固中真正要學的是什麼. 要寫遊戲, 當然就等於要學電腦, 要學 programming 囉. 可以說是 major 寫遊戲的 IT course. 大學還有一個月就開學了. 再過半年應該就知道有多少學生繼續讀下去囉.
Concern at rush for game degrees
Lisa Macnamara
JANUARY 29, 2007
(from australianIT.com.au)
AMAZED at the rush of enrolments for new degrees in computer games, Queensland academics are “terrified” that some students believe they will spend three years finessing their PlayStation skills.
The Queensland University of Technology’s Bachelor of Games and Interactive Entertainment has been so popular with school leavers that the head of the campus’s IT faculty fears students have been misled by a catchy course title.
“One of our terrible fears is that we’re going to have this cohort of students who imagine that they’re going to be allowed to play games 50 hours a week for three years and then be handed a degree,” the dean of information technology, Simon Kaplan, said.
“This is something that terrifies us because computer games at university is no more about playing computer games than aeronautics is about flying fighter jets.”
Although students will learn the technical and creative aspects of design, animation and software development, QUT’s decision to market the course via computing magazines and FM radio has resulted in a flood of interest, with some of the state’s top students applying.
School leaver Douglas Cook passed up a chance to study law and medicine to sign up for the games degree. “I could have possibly been a doctor or lawyer (but) I just wanted to do something with my life that I would enjoy for a long time,” the 17-year-old said after winning a scholarship into the course.
“I’ve always loved playing games and I just thought the next best step was to be making them for a living. I would prefer to create them myself.”
Professor Kaplan said there was a risk that student interest would decline once classes began.
“We are very concerned that a lot of the kids have signed up with the complete misapprehension and that we’re going to suddenly find ourselves with a huge attrition rate,” he said. “It’s our hope of course that students are intelligent consumers. An ad is intended … to pique someone’s interest and we hope that they do something between hearing the ad and signing up at the tertiary admissions centre.”
More than 700 people applied for the 163 places on the QUT degree, which added to a growing list of computer games courses on offer from universities including Bond, Southern Queensland, Charles Sturt and Swinburne, which this year recorded its highest growth in first preferences for a BA in games and interactivity, increasing by 128 per cent.
The universities take advantage of Australia’s $110 million interactive entertainment industry. “The two hubs for games development in Australia are Melbourne and southeast Queensland,” QUT’s director of undergraduate studies in IT Ruth Christie said.
Companies have gone from employing five staff five years ago to employing up to 70 or 80 people, she said.
Professor Kaplan expected more universities to cater to the demands of the games industry. “They’re not looking for an average programmer,” he said. “They’re looking for the superstar designers and animators.”
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