RE: [DL] Rpg classes

["Matthew M. DeForrest" <mmdeforrest@worldnet.att.net>]

> -----Original Message-----
> I've been scouring the net for college web pages trying to find a
> college or
> universities that have classes related to or that focus totally on playing
> or creating roleplaying games.  I figured that lots of people on the list
> are in college maybe they know where one is.  So it's totally OT but I
> really want to know.

Ron,

I thought I would take a crack at this one, given that I am on both sides of
the question (Adjunct Professor of English and Freelance RPG writer).  All
the advice is in addition to what John Goff and Steve Long have already
written.

My first advice is not to narrowly define what you want to major in before
you get to school.  I've seen a lot of unhappy students who are majoring in
what they think they should rather than what they enjoy.  This is a bad
approach for two reasons:

1) If you are going to invest 4 years (give or take) in a field of study,
you should find it personally rewarding and fulfilling.

2) Your success at college/university will be measured by your GPA.  If you
hate what you are doing, you will be less likely to approach the work with
interest or passion.  That will result in doing less well than if you
enjoyed what you were doing.

Next, you need to change your approach to the question.  Instead of asking
yourself what you want to spend the rest of your life doing and get a degree
in that, ask yourself what skills are needed to perform that job.  Then get
them.

No matter what, however, you need to learn to write well.  Even if you don't
want to work in RPGs, most stats indicate the average worker spends half
their time reading and writing.

Learning to write well is not as easy as it sounds.  Find out who the most
difficult grader is in the English department at the school you are going to
attend and take that prof's classes.  Go to his office, introduce yourself,
and tell him (or her) you want him to tear apart your work.  If you have the
option, meet with him to go over rough drafts.  Think of this as an
apprenticeship.  All writers tend to go through one.  Some of their masters
are not alive but the writers that they have read through imitation.

Take at least one course in poetry.  Poetry demands careful word choice.
Learn to do the same.

Memorize the rules of English.  If you haven't done so before, diagram some
sentences.  This will give you the discipline -- because writing is a
discipline.

LEARN TO PROOFREAD!  I can't stress this one enough.  While everyone makes
mistakes, your profs will not think highly of your work if you do not give
them the sense that making sure your paper is clean of simple errors (giving
them the time to work on style and logic).  If you give the impression such
a process isn't worth your time, they will wonder why looking at your paper
any longer than it takes to mark an F upon it is worth theirs.

Read everything you can get your hands on -- especially the classics.
Tolkien, for example, based his work on the Pearl Poet, the writer of
Beowulf, the Dream of the Rood, and other Old English works.  Study the
Greeks, who developed the way the West thinks about thought and man.  Take a
religion course -- I would personally recommend a course that deals with the
Eastern figures (Lao Tzu and Chuang Tze are two personal favorites).

Just some thoughts.  I'd be happy to "talk" more off-list, if you would
like.

Matt