my first professional response!

Ok, so I'm sure you'll all be excited to know that I received my first posted comment on this site (among a scant two), and it was quite special: it was from an industry professional! I'm already making contacts, can you believe it? It reads as follows:

So, I've read your first two blogs. Quick note right quick: I work in the industry, and no, you do not need a computer science degree to be a designer. I certainly don't have one. In any event, designers don't do a whole lot of programming, anyway. Maybe in some companies? My experience is a little limited. Anyway, the designers I know don't really do much coding. It's all fairly easy stuff, and for the most part you can teach yourself as you go.

That said. No. You are NOT more qualified than the people already in the industry. Not only is your information WILDLY off-base, but there's not really any theory here. Maybe in the third post, which I don't see myself reading. I would suggest reading blogs from established and knowledgeable designers.

http://brokentoys.org/

That's a pretty good resource for starting out. I would delete this and just try again a few years later.

Also, I'm not trying to be a dick here and troll your blog. But, you aren't going to get anywhere doing this. You have reasonably acceptable grammar, though.

tl;dr? Nice effort, but ultimately useless/misleading. I Read two out of three entries, and found no "theory" only some vague nostalgia-fuel and anecdotal trite.

It's too bad they didn't read my third entry ;) (sarcasm)

Now, since I anticipate this kind of sentiment to be quite common among amateur designers/programmers reading this site, I thought it would be good to go ahead and respond to this one in a general sense so that we can avoid such, well, nastiness in the future.

First off, I'm fairly sure I actually know who posted this, being that the number of places I advertised this blog was extremely few, and (unbeknown to their participants) I actually shadow those sites frequently and recognize the very distinctive arrogance and writing style of the above. I will let that be, however. After all, such arrogance has shown itself to be quite common in “the industry” and I may be wrong.

To this kind of nonsense in general: First off, if you are going to tell me you work in the industry, do not be like this person - provide at least minimal background. This goes double for anyone who, like the above, is going to simultaneously admit that they have limited industry experience, as well as summarily reject everything I've written (with attempted authority no less). Additionally, what is "the industry?" Is it single player game design, text-based MMO design, or perhaps MMORPG design? If you don't specify I will always assume that it is not the latter, and thus won't take your criticism as seriously as I otherwise may.

Second, do not assume questions that I have not asked. For example: I already know that a degree in CS is not needed in order to be a game designer. In fact, this entire site is based on that premise; indeed the premise of this site is that no degree at all is necessary per se. Just because you spend your day trolling/moderating an amateur-filled forum does not mean you should assume I am yet another misguided soul full of misinformation. Further assumptions will only make you look increasingly silly. For example, I've known about brokentoys.org for some time now, and frankly it rarely impresses me.

Thirdly, if you are going to accuse me of being wrong or "wildly off-base," at least have the kahunas to be specific. Where is it that I'm off base, and why? Failure to at least attempt this only further degrades your credibility, particularly if you are posting under the guise of an industry professional.

And lastly, do not make assumptions about me, my profession, or my expertise. Simply take my statements and thoughts for their face value. Making a statement such as to say that I have "reasonably acceptable grammar" makes you look like an ass. This goes double if you are going to write: "I certainly don't have one. In any event, designers don't do a whole lot of programming, anyway. Maybe in some companies?" There are gross grammatical errors in all three of those sentences (among several others). There isn't the time in a day to unsplice every comma and shorten every run-on within my side-hobby blog. I wish there was, but there simply isn't and probably never will be.

I am not your standard modern apologetic male, so if my confidence offends you then either get over it or get back to reading your kitty site. Suggesting I should “delete this and come back in a few years” undermines the purpose of this site. Any fool should know that (as with all blogs) my purpose here is as much to flesh out ideas as it is anything else.