Monday was the final session of my first-ever Writing & Editing for Gaming course. Grades have been submitted. My students are finishing final exams in their other courses. I am at home reading through the final reflection papers my students submitted as a review of the course. Because there is interest in the course being taught again, I asked my students to honestly reflect on the course, and I promised to not look at the papers until after grades were submitted. This evening I am reading their reflections and feeling overwhelmed with gratitude for these students and for the Professional Writing Department and Taylor University allowing me to teach this course.

Excerpts from their reflections:

“The course did a wonderful job covering the working side of the gaming world – both the writing and the editing of board games and roleplaying games.”

“I had hoped that this class would show me how to establish rules to a game, find out how to structure writing with rules, and how to go about preparing it for the publishing world. That was not what I got out of this class. But what I did get was so much better than what I expected.”

“You made the class easy for someone who had the bare minimum of experience with games to learn more and do more with the industry. This year was my first experience with RPGs and writing one would have been out of the question last year. But it was fun. It was hard and I had to force myself to write, but it was great to finally force my thoughts and stories onto the paper. … Thank you for introducing and pushing me deeper into the gaming world.”

“I was expecting this class to be fun—or at least interesting—but I wasn’t expecting to learn nearly as much as I did. I loved our discussions…The interviews were a wonderful opportunity to talk to professionals, and gave us a number of thought-provoking perspectives on the gaming industry.”

“On top of all this, you brought us snacks every class period, and that just made class even better.”

“The nuts and bolts discussions about how to communicate on deadlines, how to meet people, or what to look for in a contract all helped make the leap into the writing world seem actually, tangibly possible.”

“The interviews were delightful and enlightening, and really the heart of the class. Talking to people in the industry provides a lot of good insight, but it also helps cure the intuited suspicion that writing and getting paid for it is just an abstract, platonic concept rather than a real career path.”

“Continuing on the subject of guest speakers, it was great being able to hear from so many people who are actually in the gaming industry. Experience may be the best way to learn, but second best is definitely talking to the people who know. The people we talked with were relevant, informative, and helpful.”

“For this year’s class of students, it was exactly what each of us needed for where we were (and are) in our gaming careers. The class had a good balance between resources that were a good fit for beginners in the industry and also provided further discussion for someone with more experience.”

“Thank you, T.R., for introducing me to a brand new hobby, industry, and community of people I never knew I loved so much.”

“We were exposed to not only real-world jobs, but we were spoken to weekly by people in the line of work that we were being trained in. Through these connections, we learned about every aspect of this industry—the good, the bad, and the ugly—and were left to draw many of our own conclusions about the desirability, importance, and limitations of the field.”

“This wasn’t just a one-and-done class. We were getting real experiences, real training, and forming real relationships within the industry. “

This course and these students developed me as a professor, challenged me as a freelancer, expanded my knowledge of the game industry, increased my passion for gaming, and grew exponentially my love for teaching at Taylor. To all my first Writing & Editing for Gaming Students, “Thank you so much for making this an incredible semester, one I will cherish.”

I so look forward to watching where these talented and passionate students go as writers and editors, whether they work in the game industry or not. They have touched my life. Perhaps someday I will even be blessed to work on a writing or editing project alongside one or more of them.

Previous Blog Posts about the Class:

Writing & Editing For Gaming Course: Advice For Young Writers And Editors?

Writing & Editing for Gaming Course: First Class

Writing & Editing For Gaming Course: Videos on Game Design and Manufacturing

Writing & Editing for Gaming Course: Final Projects and Teaching RPGs

Writing & Editing for Gaming Course: Teaching RPGs (Part 2)

Writing & Editing For Gaming Course: Final Reflections

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