Obama Extols Benefits Of Gaming

[Cookie Monster]

Figured this would be relevant to the section.

Talk about gaming and programming begins at the 27:29 mark.

A passion for video games could be a good way to attract children to computer programming, President Barack Obama said in a recent Google+ Fireside Hangout.

In a group interview, President Obama said that it "makes sense" to introduce computer programming requirements in schools because children are interested in the Internet and video games. Introducing them to programming early will also prepare them to be job-ready after high school, especially if they do not plan to seek an additional four-year degree.

"Part of what I'm trying to do here is make sure that we're working with high schools and school districts all across the country to make the high school experience relevant for young people, not all of whom are going to get four year college degree or advanced degree," he said.

Obama used Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg as an example of someone who has been successful through self-taught programming, stating Zuckerberg told him he learned programming because he was interested in video games.

"There are a whole bunch of young people out there who I suspect if in high school are given the opportunity to figure [that] out — 'Here's how you can design your own games, but it requires you to know math and requires you to know science,' or you know, 'Here's what a career in graphic design looks like, and we're going to start setting those programs in our high schools not waiting til community college' — Not only does it prepare young people who are not going to a four-year college to be job-ready, but it also engages kids because they feel like, 'I get this,'" he explained.

Obama noted that the pervasiveness of the Internet in our world and young kids' interest in it could be a good way to start them down a career path with the necessary training earlier.

"Given how pervasive computers and the Internet is now and how integral it is in our economy and how fascinated kids are with it, I want to make sure that they know how to actually produce stuff using computers and not simply consume stuff," he said.

After the Sandy Hook shootings last December, President Obama called for further research on the relationship between video games and real-world violence.

Source

 

[Dumb Apple]

Going to be leery and cynical about this for a hot second, so excuse me.

1. Learning programming is great, if you want to be a programmer. I couldn't pass "Intro to C++" despite multiple attempts. I don't have the mindset for it, nor the will to really learn it.
2. Developing video games is hard work. Hard, technical work, regardless of the aspect or the field. And you need to truly care about creating them, not just playing them.

I know so many people, who took video game design courses at colleges or university because they have it in their head that because they like video games they figure they're going to make a living making them, and then drop out because they realize its hard work. At my school we had a teacher/class we collectively referred to as "The Gatekeeper" - he was the only one who taught the course, and you need to pass it to get into the higher level development courses. And if you weren't dedicated, if you didn't study, and work your ass off, you wouldn't pass, no matter how many hours you spent playing CoD or Smash Bros.

Worse, are "design" courses, or degrees, that students can graduate without ever having worked on a game project from start-to-finish, concept to playable client. There is such an over-saturation of designers, even artists, who have no idea what it's like working on an actual project.

And the irony of it, with a few notable exceptions [Unreal], so many tools are developed in-house that even programmers are going to have to learn a new programming language, or artists/designers the editors that a lot a time a degree is little more than an accredited referral. You're going to need a portfolio with viewable/playable projects to make any sort of real impression, and you're going to have to learn a lot of shit on the job.

But I appreciate the spirit of it. It's nice to see a politician look at video games, the development of them and think "Hey, we can use this. This can be a positive incentive for kids to learn powerful, highly demanded skillsets."

I just hope the kids realize that it takes more than "knowing what makes a good game" to make a good game. That programs are designed to actually prepare students to work in the industry, and not cater to the idea of high class enrollments and interest in the field.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

^^This. I took a Basic C programing class, and did well in the class, and never took another programing class. I love problem solving, but I'm not cut out for the dry type of problem solving you need to make computer programs, or at least, it can't be my job. The fact is that programming is like calculus and physics, it's a dry subject that most people won't get no matter how early they start learning it and the people who do get it were probably doing it before there were classes about it in the first place.

Speaking of game design, it doesn't really help that some game developers release the programs that are used to design the game in the first place (Bethsda for example). That's what high schoolers think of when they think of game design, not programing. And designing things like people and locations doesn't require programing...

Also, since when do most people think designing video games has anything to do with computer programing. I know I didn't until I opened up Oblivion's Construction Kit and started modding games. I think when people think of video game design they think of the art style, story-line etc. As far as how you get the computer to do all that... not so much.

 

[Shademp]

Excellent posts, Dumb Apple and Obsidian Fire.

On the topic of game design, I'll just leave this here.

Extra Credits is awesome beyond words.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

^^ bool This.cool = true;

sorry, I couldn't resist...

 

[Cthulhu]

I'm a programmer,

I did a minor game design during college (or whatever I went to), a 20-week project building an FPS game, where the code was mostly based off of a demo / example game from a 3D engine.

Personally, I thought programming for a game is pretty much like other fields of programming; it's not that distinctive for me to go "zomg, game programming is liek so much betterer". There's some considerations in terms of performance and specialized knowledge like the maths involved and specific libraries (engines, operating systems, etc), but in the end, it's fucking around with pointers and shit, .

I look at the credits, and usually, AAA video game titles have only about 15 programmers or so in their team. The bulk of the work is in creating the assets (models, textures, environments, animation) and the actual content. I'd argue that most programming involved in games is the scripting part, as in, pick conversation option X, do Y, give 10 points. Sounds very boring, too,

 

[Obsidian Fire]

I'd argue that most programming involved in games is the scripting part, as in, pick conversation option X, do Y, give 10 points. Sounds very boring, too,

It is, I've poked around in Skyrim's Creation Kit and all the quests boil down to that. Only that's a lot more complicated because it also handles scenes and everything. There's a very good reason why video game quests limit themselves to: get this object, kill that person, and escort that person; it's easy to program. Get more complicated then that and the programing gets way more complicated.

 

[HylianMogget]

While it's definitely nice to see video games being talked about positively (as opposed to being Satan's tools to corrupt our precious youth) I agree with the points made in this thread. Also, games have the potential to get kids into stuff like art, but that isn't as viable as programming... so I guess we're back at the corrupting our youth point . Like I know Obama says a bit about graphic design, too, so the general point seems to be getting kids more job-ready in high school, but you still can't assume an interest in games is gonna lead to an interest in programming.

Some type of computer science requirement in schools sounds like a really good idea, though. I know when I was in grade school computer classes stopped being mandatory after middle school (and I hope the curriculum's been updated since that was only stuff like learning Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Paint - wish I was kidding about that last one ), which is really pretty silly in retrospect.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

^^My high school did have a computer science requirement, but it was the type of class that anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Word could pass as long as the did the course work. Somehow I don't think that what's he was talking about.

Your point about graphic design is interesting though. I'm studying graphic design now, and there are a few people who want to be video game designers who are in my classes.