ABSTRACT
Introduction to Game Design was a first year, first semester course taught in the fall of 2010. Whereas game design classes at Indiana University were predominantly upper class, with a smattering of second year students, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, almost the entire class were first year students. There were other differences as well. Instructors qualified to teach anything about video games were thin on the ground at Indiana University in the first decade of this new century. Apart from a few hardy pioneers, university-wide there was mild curiosity, but more overt skepticism about the need for video game classes. To many, they felt inconsequential, best left to trade schools, and not worthy of serious study. This was in large part due to the ideological struggle between professors who felt their mission was pure research, regardless of practical application, and those who thought teaching students the skills necessary to obtain jobs building things might be a valid pursuit as well.
