Perhaps contrary to popular belief, video gaming can be more beneficial than just having the opportunity to learn the secrets to World of Warcraft. In fact, the hours spent playing video games just might yield a future career path.
The University's Student Game Developers club recently has entered into a partnership of sorts with SRRN Games, a developer of iPhone apps. Chris Dodge, fourth-year Engineering student and president of Student Game Developers, explained that most University students run into difficulties when trying to acquire work experience in the gaming field.
"Most entry-level positions in the industry require one or two years of experience working for a game developer," he said.
So why did SRRN begin offering jobs to these students?
It might help that SRRN was founded in spring 2009 by Darden alumni Tyler Carbone and Aujang Abadi, along with University alumnus Nathaniel Givens. At the time, all three were still students, with Carbone and Abadi starting their first year at Darden and Givens about to commence his doctoral education at the University of Michigan. Thus far, the trio has produced two iPhone apps - iLib and Chimes - and currently is working on a third, Ash. Recently, Chimes was selected by Apple as a "Featured Application" and is now the No. 10 Music game and No. 55 Puzzle game.
To help develop these applications, SRRN is beginning to recruit University students, recently offering positions to several members of Student Game Developers. For example, Dodge himself built iLib, one of SRRN's applications, by taking material he learned on the blackboard of his computer science classes and applying it in a real world setting.
"So much of what we do in the [computer science] curriculum is small-scale, so to be able to put a few months into a project and turn out a high quality product is quite satisfying," Dodge said.
Clearly, he added, when Carbone and Abadi offered jobs to members of SGD, the mutual benefits were readily apparent.
"Things have worked out great for us because SGD works really hard to get opportunities for its members, but it's also been great for SRRN because they have access to really talented people who are passionate about making video games," he said.
These students, Carbone said, are not hired because of their r
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