Michigan State to offer master's in ``serious'' video game design

Associated PressPublished February 12, 2007, 5:34 AM CST

DETROIT -- A new academic program in the works at Michigan State University will allow students to focus on their true passion -- video games. The school will launch a graduate-level program in so-called "serious" video game design in the fall. Rather than encouraging students to design the next generation of Xbox games, the degree program will teach them to design games that help educate, train or present messages in a fun way.

Concepts for the games range from programs that allow emergency workers to practice making real-time lifesaving decisions to games that teach adolescent girls about self-esteem and maintaining a healthy body. Carrier Heeter, the professor leading the program, said video games make for good teaching tools because they can be sequential, teach patterns and offer progressive levels of challenge. "Any video game you play, you're learning," Heeter told The Detroit News for a story published Monday. "It's just with most games, you're learning fiction or inconsequential information." The program will build on the school's undergraduate video game design specialization and its Games for Entertainment and Learning Lab, both of which started in 2005. ------
On the Net: Serious Game Design program: http://www.seriousgames.msu.edu ------ Information from: The Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com
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