Candidate Statements

Candidate Statements presented in alphabetical order.

Mark Baldwin:
Hi, my name is Mark Baldwin, and I’m one of the old timers in the industry.   I would like to be elected to the Game Education Steering Committee because I bring a rich history in the game industry, in teaching games, and in supporting the game community.  

After a number of alternate careers including cook and Space Shuttle flight designer, I settled into game design and development full time in the middle 80’s.  In those days games were one man projects, so I became involved with all aspects of the game development process, from designer to programmer to artist.   Since then, I have designed and developed over 20 successful games, won Game of the Year, and had 3 games on a Best 150 Games of All Time list (and one game in a 50 worst games list). 

My game management experience includes being President and Vice President of several development companies.  I was also a founder of a publishing company.   Currently, I am a college professor teaching game design, and in addition I provide consulting and expert witness services to the game industry on design and the development.

I became involved with teaching games a number of years ago when I was asked to travel to New Zealand to start up a graduate games program.   Since then I have taught game design and development for several colleges and universities.   I currently teach for Westwood College and  DeVry University.

With respect to my work for the community, I co-founded one of the oldest local development group in the world (Colorado Game Developers), was on the founding board for the IGDN (half of IGDA) and was one of the original supporters for GDA (the other half).

What this adds up to is a huge amount of experience with both education and the game industry, both of which I believe are necessary for this position.   The industry has changed a great deal since I first became involved with it, and I have successfully adapted to those changes and hopefully even had a small influence on those changes.  Should I be elected, I will be bringing a long history of dedication, knowledge, skill, and vision that will allow the industry to move forward into the future.

Peter Border:
My goal for the EdSIG steering committee is to produce a place where game educators can meet other game educators and talk about teaching game design. I have been running the Game Design program at the Minnesota School of Business for three years now, and it would be very nice to have a way to talk with other educators. I continually find myself facing questions that I’m sure someone else must have figured out already, and some sort of forum where I could ask others about their solutions would be terrific. I run into problems ranging from the mundane (“Is book X any good?”) to the near-spiritual (“How do you tell a student that he realistically has no chance of fulfilling his dreams?”). I think the EdSIG is the natural place for people to talk about teaching game design, as distinct from doing game design, and so I am volunteering to work on the Steering Committee.

Academic programs in Game Design vary dramatically even in such basic questions as how many credits makes a degree, or whether everyone needs to know Photoshop and Java. Some programs are clearly outstanding, but many are not. Placement numbers in particular are just NOT a good topic at many schools. We really need some sort of central clearing-house where we can share information about our programs and learn what works and what doesn’t. I don’t intend to push for any kind of formal standardization, but many of us are working in the dark and need to share what little light we have. I love teaching my courses, and I think designing games is one of the most fun things I’ve ever done, but a place to discuss methods and techniques with other teachers would be wonderful.

My background is rather odd, like most people in this business. I originally acquired a Ph.D. in particle physics, and spent 20 years as a research post-doc at the U of Minnesota physics department. I started working on games as a way to make physics classes more interesting, eventually produced some physics teaching games, then finally bade physics farewell and now spend all my time teaching game design at the Minnesota School of Business. I bring a perspective of a very small (40-50 students) 4-year program.  I’m also starting my own company which should have something to show soon.

William Crosbie:
Greetings to my fellow ed-sig members.   I have been a member of the IGDA, North Jersey Chapter, since 2001, coordinator for the game development program at Raritan Valley Community College since 2007 and have taught game design courses at Teachers College, Columbia University and Rutgers University.

I am asking for your vote as a member of the steering committee for the education SIG so that we can work together to strengthen game development and design programs around the world. Academic game development programs that were in the first wave fostered excellence by forming strong ties to practitioners in industry. This was often done in person at GDC or the Austin Game Conference. Many of those early conversations have become part of our oral tradition, passed on from one to another over drinks or via email. The relative rarity of events in the early 00's made it possible for this to be the primary method of disseminating information. The landscape has changed.

My primary initiative is to leverage improved communication about specific elements of the revised curriculum framework from the point of view of developers and educators. Specifically, I would like the new online curriculum framework to include with it brief video interviews with developers and practitioners for whom that bullet point is extremely relevant.  (ie - this is why vertex ordering in a 3D model is important - artist perspective(s), engine programmer perspective(s) and then snippets recorded by educators about how they go about teaching that one topic.) Over time it will be possible to have as many curriculum bullet points covered by as broad of a range of the industry as possible, using both familiar names and folks 'in the trenches." 

To implement this vision requires 'rebooting' our communication, curriculum and the technical infrastructure for the SIG. This is not an easy task. The SIG already has multiple channels that currently exist and require greater curating and advocacy.  It will require significant planning and commitment from both the leadership and members of the SIG. It will not necessarily be completed in a single board's term.  If you agree that this is an important initiative, I would appreciate your support.

Suzanne Freyjadis:
My name is Suzanne Freyjadis and I want to be on the Steering Committee for the IGDA Edu SIG because I would like to help take this great organization and make it even better.  I am dedicated to the creation of an even stronger game education community that includes support for the educators as well as increased interaction between the education community and the industry as equal partners in the drive toward the future of gaming. 

Much dedication and hard work has gone into the Edu SIG and I am really grateful that Susan Gold was at the forefront to create this amazing group and the support she has given game educators over the years has been invaluable.

I want to be part of the Edu SIG Steering Committee to create an even more robust community of game educators with all educators included and heard. I would like to see even more discussion on the list-serv and more opportunities for educators to gather at conferences and events. I also think it is important to bring together all areas of post-secondary game education so that the wide variety of universities and colleges are aware of what is happening in the other programs.

I am also dedicated to increasing the conversations between game educators and the game industry.  I feel very strongly that active communication exist between the industry and academia so that programs have an understanding of what the future holds for the industry and the game industry is aware of the research and advancements being made within academia that can benefit it.

Another reason that I feel I would be a valuable member of the Edu SIG Steering Committee is that I have a master’s degree in Women’s and Gender Studies from the University of Texas at Austin where I spent most of my course time in the Radio-Television-Film department learning about developing technologies and how gender influences access to technology. My thesis was on gender and the game industry and I have written articles for several industry and academic journals and media.

Please vote for me for the Edu SIG Steering Committee. I promise to be responsive to the needs of the community and to do my best to make this great community even better.

Chris Swain:
I am interested in serving on the steering committee for the IGDA Education SIG.  One thing I am passionate about is helping talented student game makers from different game programs connect with one another to produce projects.  For example it would be great if enthusiastic engineering students without access to visual arts students could connect with them through an online exchange sanctioned by the IGDA.

I have 14 years of experience as a game developer and university faculty member.  My area of interest is in original play mechanics.  I have been on the faculty at the USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1999.  I co-founded the EA Game Innovation Lab at USC and currently direct the USC Games Institute which is a collaboration between USC's schools of cinema, engineering, and communications.  I have produced game research projects with funding from NSF, NIH, Rockefeller Foundation, Annenberg Center, US Army, and US State Department.  Prior to USC I created innovative games in industry for Disney Online, Disney Imagineering, Sony Online, Microsoft Network, MTV Online, NBC, Activision, and many others.  In addition to USC I taught game design at the School of Visual Arts in NY, City University of Hong Kong, UCLA Extension, and in workshop format at conferences around the world.  This past summer I chaired the Game Education Summit conference which we hosted at USC.