Game On. Cumberlands launches degree in gaming

A bona fide, 100 percent authentic college degree in developing video games.

Aka, a dream come true. (Come on, everyone knows it.)

University of the Cumberlands is making that dream a reality for all undergraduate students ready to pursue it. Beginning May 2023, students will have the option to pursue an associate or bachelor’s degree in gaming, either on campus or online. It is also available as a concentration within a bachelor’s degree in IT. The curriculum includes object-oriented programming, game development, interactive/UX design, and video game programming, among other topics.

As video gaming has grown from a fun hobby into a college sport (like Cumberlands’ eSports team, *ahem*) into a well-paying livelihood for gamers around the globe, it follows that this pastime would become a college degree.

What careers can someone with a gaming degree successfully pursue? Since it’s a broad career field, there are many aspects of game design and development that skilled graduates can utilize as entry points in the workforce. Coveted careers include positions as a video game designer, programmer, video game artist, quality assurance tester, or software developer.

Gaming isn’t only for killing time, or even for intercollegiate competition. As the course description for Cumberlands’ class ITGS 233, Essentials of Gamification, says, “Gaming lessons and theories apply outside of mere entertainment purposes… Gamification can be leveraged to help solve some of the modern world’s most complex problems surrounding our climate, poverty and hunger, or world peace.” Gaming students will learn how to “better organize the selection, design, implementation, and use of technologies” (ITGS 330, Human-Computer Interaction) and will “use game technologies to apply learning theories to develop games for educational and simulation purposes” (ITGS 431, Games for Learning & Simulation).

From planning effective visual organization, to optimizing a user interface, to solving complex performance problems, students in Cumberlands’ gaming program will learn how to think creatively, work in a team, and find viable solutions to various problems. Upon degree completion, graduates will be equipped for jobs as software developers, programmers, and many other important roles in the gaming and IT industries.

To learn more about this new academic program, visit www.ucumberlands.edu/academics. To apply, visit www.ucumberlands.edu/apply.