DigiPen students penning deal with the IP devil?
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ May 7th 2007 at 9:05PM }
Here's a little tale of warning for all future attendees of "schools" like DigiPen: Read the fine print! As Kim Pallister, business developer for Microsoft Casual Games, was "shocked" to discover, the students who created Toblo don't actually own the rights to their intellectual property. Toblo, the 2007 Independent Games Festival Best Student Game winner, is actually the property of the DigiPen Steve Chiavelli, one of the creators of Toblo said in a post, "We knowingly (naively?) signed away the rights to everything we would make when entering DigiPen. Personally, it seemed like a good trade-off. I would be attending what I had researched to be arguably the best place for learning how to be a game programmer."
We wonder if the other "school," Full Sail, has the same policy? Poor students, in the words of Ursula from The Little Mermaid, "You've got your looks, your pretty face and don't forget the importance of body language." 'Cause your brain, your brain belongs to DigiPen.
[Via GameSetWatch]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2ez @ May 7th 2007 9:12PM
Going to any of these schools and taking part in a "Game design" or "Game programming" program is an absolute waste of time anyway. If you want to be a game programmer, go to school for computer science or something more broad and make a damn game. If it takes a class assignment for you to design and create a game, you probably don't have the passion it takes to get a job in the game industry.
Bluebreaker @ May 7th 2007 9:17PM
If nothing else just don't sign your name to anything blindly!! Read, Read, READ!! And if it's too complicated get someone else to break the legalese down for you.
Brian Ehlert @ May 7th 2007 9:37PM
Thank you for giving us another uninformed article that will surely cause unnecessary internet drama. There used to be a time when journalists would do research and deliver us an informed editorial about what may or may not be an issue. The fight for the reputation of gaming journalists and bloggers will surely benefit from this.
Did you ever think about contacting the school about the issue? Perhaps there are reasons behind it. What about contacting the guys who got hired to Valve, who found themselves in a situation where a company wanted their idea?
Might I suggest you do some research into copyright law. By DigiPen taking ownership for the game, they also provide the legal backing for copyright violations. The licenses for the educational versions of the software used for development of the game also prohibits it to be used for development of commercial products. These games are also not made by a single person, so who owns the rights to the idea?
While DigiPen may own the game you produced, did you bother to look into their policy of using the games in a portfolio to seek employment? Does DigiPen patent your game idea and prevent you from taking it elsewhere?
These all seem like valid questions I would ask if I was writing this article. Perhaps I expect to much from a gaming journalist.
Cory Alexander @ May 7th 2007 9:47PM
I don't know of any educational institution that allows students to keep any of the IP they develop while using institution resources or in the course of institution funded research/development. That goes for privately and publicly funded universities. There is no "fine print", it's just a fact of life in academia. For instance, say you're attending any random college, you discover how to turn lead into gold in your course as a Chemistry student while using university resources, monies, or equipment... they university owns it. Digipen is NO DIFFERENT IN THIS RESPECT. No sense on flaming them for this, as they're not unique in claiming rights to cool things developed or discovered by its “customers.”
Cristian @ May 7th 2007 9:49PM
I've been to DigiPen, at one of their summer game programming workshops. Yes, when you enroll, you sign away the right to anything you create. It does suck, but they knew what they were doing when they went into DigiPen. It's a pisser that they can't own the IP, but I think the training and experience they get from going to DigiPen is FAR better. It's definitely an amazing school and I'd gladly sign away the rights to what I create in there, just to be able to attend that school.
Heliophage @ May 7th 2007 9:51PM
At Georgia Tech, we lose intellectual property rights if resources provided by the school are utilized in creating said property. The only way we can retain the rights is for the IP to have been created completely separate from the school, as in, not an assignment, and only publically available (without payment) resources were taken advantage of.
Unfortunately, it's too cheap to use the school instead of doing things ourselves, so half the cool stuff we put out isn't owned by us.
It's a learning experience, I suppose.
mr shankly @ May 7th 2007 10:08PM
Does anybody do research before these "articles" are posted? DigiPen doesn't sell ANY student works. They are available FREE on the website. The reason they own the works is to protect themselves from lawsuits. Students make these games using tools licensed for educational purposes, not commercial purposes. If the students began to sell the game, they as well as the school could be sued. Also, if the students steal material (art, sound, or even code) and put it in the game, and DigiPen or the students sell it, they could be sued.
DigiPen isn't adverse to letting students take their game ideas elsewhere. Every hear of Portal? It started as a DigiPen student project called Narbacular Drop. Valve hired the students to make the game with the Half Life 2 engine, with the blessing of the school.
Also, do any research and you will find that DigiPen is a very serious school. It's all hardcore computer science and math. You will learn real coding and real computer science -- infinitely better than some crappy community college, and better than most big name schools. You will learn from the best in the business. To graduate with an undergrad degree, one needs 154 credit hours. That's a master's degree at most schools.
This is the most asinine "news story" I have seen on Joystiq. Perhaps somebody should do some research before posting things.
Matt @ May 7th 2007 10:09PM
I'm a "student" at Digipen, and the fact that you're signing away IP rights to anything you create on-campus is hardly a secret. Since we're using educational liscences for all of our software, you wouldn't be able to market anything you create here anyways- and neither could the institute itself. If you've got an exciting new idea, the school isn't going to prevent you from pursuing it under new IP; just look at Narbacular Drop / Portal.
It's not a buisness pretending to be a school. Less bile and more journalism next time, please.
Jim @ May 7th 2007 10:08PM
I used to go to DigiPen. They tell you during orientation that they will own everything you make and this is reiterated over and over in your game classes. I couldn't use some of my friend's artwork in my first game because he wasn't a student at DigiPen. They take IP really seriously. This is not a big surprise and no one ever complains when they're told this going in.
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ May 7th 2007 10:13PM
"As Kim Pallister, business developer for Microsoft Casual Games, was "shocked" to discover, the students who created Toblo don't actually own the rights to their intellectual property."
You know why Kim Pallister, business developer for Microsoft Casual Games was shocked?
She was probably trying to steamroll the kids with a crappy deal and "steal" the rights to the game for XBLA or Vista. Now her only choice is to offer to pay DigiPen a normal asking price for the game.
Shocking, indeed.
In what I must emphasize is brutal honesty, this was a horrible lack of editorial oversight. You guys here started to get better by actually trying to do some journalism work, something the games journalism industry is sorely lacking in. However, you posted this screed, and instead of your normal, "Could this possibly be a case of..." wording, you just outrightripped into DigiPen.
I'm not sure if this is a case of you or a friend being personally disenchanted with the place, but you can't call yourself a journalist without givng the other side a chance to respond to something as strongly worded as this.
dakotareese @ May 7th 2007 10:19PM
As another Georgia Tech student, I'll point out that Tech is great about working out IP rights with you. If you make something at Tech and someone wants to buy it, you get paid.
RE: DigiPen, their stance on IP is known. I briefly looked at the school and this is the one of the first things I learn from a Google search three years ago.
Yes it sucks for these guys, but this is something they knew going in. I'm not losing sleep over it.
Liraco @ May 7th 2007 10:22PM
From what I see and what I understand, while they may own the rights, you can definitely take your idea and make a game with it. Portal's already been mentioned, maybe these guys just weren't smart enough to go around the loopholes to sell their game.
This article's just giving off a bad image, it's missinformed and missleading. Shame on you!
Dan @ May 7th 2007 10:34PM
Everything has pretty much already been said. Yes, Digipen owns the rights to your code to protect their asses (and those of students). Yes, Digipen is willing to work out legalities so students CAN use their IP. No, Digipen is not like the jokes calling themselves "game schools" that you see on TV. Yes, this was a very misinforming article.
aegies @ May 7th 2007 10:35PM
As both an art major and an English minor, I'll add my two cents as well: it's standard practice at Universities to prohibit students from profiting from or selling or publishing work that was commissioned or completed for course credit. It's considered academically unethical. When you submit a paper in any major in college, you automatically grant some copyright priveleges to the school. This isn't just standard practice at Digipen, this is how it works in college in general.
http://eat-sleep-game.com/news
Ninegauger @ May 7th 2007 10:48PM
I imagine this is standard practice at all research universities regardless of field. I know it's the case at UCI (and most likely all UC schools).
Justin @ May 7th 2007 10:54PM
http://www.stevens.edu/iti/Technogenesis/
WhaleMenace @ May 7th 2007 11:06PM
All i know is FullSail is a scam and teach out of catalogues for products. They will burn in hell.
Jason @ May 7th 2007 11:08PM
As an instructor for Game Art and Design and Visual Game and Programming at a competitor to DigiPen, I can tell you first hand that their policy is common one. The work that students create at most private Art Schools are generally considered property of the school. This is usually considered a de facto rule and is almost never enforced.
I have a close friend and colleague who now teaches 3d modeling at DigiPen. He and many of his co-workers are fighting on behalf of the students to work out a deal where DigiPen gets a credit badge the same way co-developers of most games currently get. Primary ownership would remain on behalf of the students who created the game concept.
Cheezeman3000 @ May 7th 2007 11:15PM
I attend Biola University in Southern Cali and whenever a film is produced using our school's equipment, the school owns the rights to it. The same is true for the USC film school. So, if FILM students can't own the copyright, then why should videogame students be any different? If students don't use the school's equipment, then they own full rights to it. But there are very few students who have access to the thousands of dollars of equipment that is required to make professional-looking films, so most of the time they have to use the school's equipment and lose the copyright in the process. Bottom line? This has been happening for years in every medium in every school. Get over it.
Fabozz @ May 7th 2007 11:24PM
"See, what you create at a real school is your intellectual property and the school should be happy that they can promote your talent, thus promoting their reputation."
I suggest you research who owns the patent to Google's PageRank algorithm--intellectual property created by Sergey Brin and Larry Page--and then "revise and extend" your remarks.
Mr Dir @ May 7th 2007 11:34PM
I went to USC and they were very agressive about retaining the rights to the films students make. I think even to the extent of profiting on the films but not sharing the compensation with the students.
It's common but it's really unfortunate.
When you consider that most students exit with about 100K in loans, and an uncertain financial future - the fact that they are unable to profit from their creative endeavors so early in their career
When I left USC, I was on the verge of bankruptcy, and it has taken 5 years. One of the biggest misconceptions about film school is that you'll land a big job... it's quite a shock when people discover that they're at entry-level.
Not sure if the games business is the same... yet again the target salaries are not nearly as good as film.
Tim @ May 7th 2007 11:40PM
I know there's like some unwritten rule to put tons of self-referential links in articles, but what is the point of being lazy and adding a "Toblo" tag when there is, in fact, no posts marked with it.
Theoretically, a google or wikipedia link would have been more helpful.
cos @ May 7th 2007 11:42PM
"She was probably trying to steamroll the kids with a crappy deal and 'steal' the rights to the game for XBLA or Vista."
Your ignorance is showing, #11. Kim Pallister is a HE, not a SHE. Anyone in Game Development knows that.
HE has been influential long before HE worked at Microsoft, having spent most of HIS days at Intel and Matrox long before having set foot in Microsoft.
Care for some gravy with that foot in your mouth? ;)
Marco @ May 7th 2007 11:42PM
@2ez: You're a moron. Go look at what most CS degrees offer and then compare it to DigiPen. DigiPen makes some of the smartest people turn tail and run.
sheppy @ May 7th 2007 11:54PM
Bah, retaining IP rights is a common practice in schools, not an exclusive one. I know at my college, you retain the rights to what you created in the 3D program. Two friends of mine in Gnomon (consider it the REAL art school Digipen wants to be like in their graphics program) are able to retain rights to certain projects as well.
So yes, the article in question failed to realize this is not an uncommon practice but you guys also fail to realize that it's not an exclusive practice. The blogger needed to do a little more research. But also, you guys need to point this shit out without the constant questioning of someones worth and tone down the venom a bit. After all, someone is less likely to take your opinion seriously when it's coupled with "what the fuck is wrong with your moronic, so called researching ass? You fucking jew, BLARG! Dumb fuck!"
Remember, these sites are not you against the bloggers. Just point out the inaccuracies and ask for revisions.
Blacklisted @ May 8th 2007 12:00AM
#25
"Your ignorance is showing, #11. Kim Pallister is a HE, not a SHE. Anyone in Game Development knows that."
Way to attack the strawman.
Heliophage @ May 8th 2007 12:12AM
@12
Are you with the MTG? If so, I just saw your resume, and you make me want to kill myself. >.<
If you'll be around Atlanta after you graduate, our student organization would love to have you come talk to us about mobile gaming in the Fall. Though, I suppose, such arrangements would be better suited somewhere other than Joystiq. XD
lololol @ May 8th 2007 12:20AM
lol looks like someone didn't get accepted to DigiPen.
Dustin @ May 8th 2007 1:04AM
#1 and #18 and everyone else that doesn't know anything about Full Sail.
I'm a graduate in the fall of 2003. Although I took a different development route, I have many good friends I've graduated with that work for AAA companies in the industry. Raven, Big Huge Games, etc... I guess those companies must hire slums that don't know anything about game development and design....
Full Sail is very dedicated and fast paced. Its very intense and we learn directly from people FROM the INDUSTRY!
cos @ May 8th 2007 1:02AM
Hey, I'll attack whatever kind of man I want, #27.
And in this case, it was the kind of man going on a knee-jerk anti-microsoft rant without any kind of firm grasp on reality. That kind of man.
Unless - #11 decides he's really a she now. Which, wouldn't be surprising, given he apparently doesn't know he's from she's in game development.
Oh, sure, I could have been trying to poo-poo #11's anti-joystiq rant by simply exposing his/her as being knowledge-challenged. And - had that been my intent - I certainly would have been attacking a straw man instead of a doesn't-know-diddly-yet-wants-you-to-know-microsoft-eats-puppies kind of man (or woman?)... But had that been my intent I would have simply said "Hey, Joystiq's a BLOG site, not NEWS site. Enough said."
Anyways, as a wise man once said (or was it a woman? Melinda, perhaps?) -- Have a Nice Day :)
Blacklisted @ May 8th 2007 2:08AM
#31
Apples to oranges.
Full Sail places people in things like game design and testing, with a very light CS offering. How to use DirectX or OpenGL rasterizers...
DigiPen's RTIS program is geared towards graphics programming. Writing a software rasterizer from scratch etc... Your own hand-coded DirectX if you will. DirectX and OpenGL are never explicitly taught because once you know the horrible, algorithmic details of what's going on -picking up a new graphics API requires nothing more than access to the documentation and a day's time.
But don't take my word for it...
Dudeman @ May 8th 2007 2:17AM
#31
"Full Sail is very dedicated and fast paced. Its very intense and we learn directly from people FROM the INDUSTRY!"
Indeed, and this is also true of DigiPen which has guys who are currently working at Microsoft and Nintendo, among others, as part of the faculty, even if only part-time, as well as some kick ass guys with previous industry experience as full-timers. I agree that #1 is totally off base and obviously doesn't have the slightest clue what he's talking about.
#32
I really don't think this should be turned into a DigiPen versus Full Sail thing. I don't think that #31 intended it as such, though I could be wrong of course.
At any rate, the above article was incredibly poorly written, poorly researched, and needlessly antagonistic. I suggest a retraction, or at least corrections and amendments after the proper research has been completed.
Hakobus @ May 8th 2007 3:55AM
As was pointed out in quite a few posts already, this is standard practice in any school.
Velops @ May 8th 2007 4:28AM
This post completely misses the point of the GameSetWatch post. The controversy arose because DigiPen readmitted Toblo into the Slamdcance Festival after the students who made it removed it from the competition. The students were in protest of Super Columbine Massacre RPG being disqualified.
Readmitting Toblo showed no respect for the wishes of the students involved.
rokerovakero @ May 8th 2007 6:39AM
That's why don't pull out the big guns to impress the teacher. Learn, then apply what you learned in a simple project, and after a couple weeks you start making your cool stuff, not INSIDE THE SCHOOL. why? because even teacher might get jealous you are better than them and keep the insider secrets to themselves... Schools are businesses also, they are not teaching you something for the good of humanity...
SuperChuck @ May 8th 2007 9:32AM
Most accredited universities have the same policy.
However, schools are not in the business of managing IP and usually benefit more from saying "Cisco and Sun Microsystems were both started by students in this building" than they would from managing IP.
Employers are much more draconian. My first job out of school, my employment contract basically read that all my thoughts belonged to the company. It didn't matter if it was something I did at the office, after hours, or even if it was just an abstract idea. They owned everything.
Dustin @ May 8th 2007 11:14AM
The numbering stuff is off.
Dudeman had it right. I had no intentions of Full Sail vs Digipen. I think they are the top schools with what they do. I considered both heavily.
I only comment about Full Sail because its what I know. I wouldn't ever comment about something I have no knowledge of.
It just frustrates me with ignorant people that have no knowledge of our schools and think they are throw away degrees. I just wanted to prove otherwise. I have now 4 years of heavily large scale enterprise application design, development, and deployment. I guy the companies I've worked for (in millions of dollars) think I have a decent enough degree and skillset I learned from Full Sail.
:)
Hakobus @ May 8th 2007 11:23AM
Wow, just wow. Someone at Joystiq just removed part of my comment. Was it you, Alexander Sliwinski? If it was, please don't do it again.
And please update this article to show that the school owning the rights to anything the students create in school is standard practice in any educational institution. And maybe point out that the only problem there is, is the fact DigiPen readmitted Toblo into the SlamDance Festival without his approval.
Jeb @ May 8th 2007 12:16PM
I got accepted into DigiPen and Full Sail, but I chose to go to the Savannah College of Art and Design instead. I don't have to put up with crap like this under their Interactive Design and Game Development program.
Blacklisted @ May 8th 2007 12:33PM
I dont see any posts explaining why DigiPen does what it does, so here goes:
1) The stuff students make at DigiPen is made with educational licensed software. This might not mean much to software pirates out there, but if a student tried to sell their work and couldn't produce full licenses for all software involved, they open themselves up to litigation.
2) DigiPen was a sponsor of Slamdance when the Toblo team pulled out. The Toblo team basically overstepped their boundaries and messed with school business agreements.
3) The Toblo team never told DigiPen that they wanted to be pulled from the contest. Things probably would have gone much better had they.
4) DigiPen doesn't own what you make at home with your own programs. Be careful you don't get sued for stealing art/music/software, though.
5) Seriously did anybody really think that this was something new and horrible? Schools and companies have been doing this forever.
eakius @ May 8th 2007 3:37PM
This is nothing new, I have absolutes but i'm will to bet 100% of colleges do this. Mine did, they all do. Anything you create for a class is owned by the college. Just because it's a fun game and not some engineering invention doesn't make it anymore newsworthy.
Joe Bourrie @ May 8th 2007 1:49PM
And in one lousy article, Joystiq has lost a huge amount of credibility with me.
My DigiPen senior project (Rumble Box) has had a number of parties interested in buying the distribution rights, who then got turned off once they learned that we would have to remake the game from scratch. But the alternative is that we sell the rights to a game that we aren't legally allowed to sell. We didn't own the software used to make it, the software we used wasn't even a commercial license. Parts of our games, from art to sound to code to design and testing, came from non-team members who could come back and demand royalties. Even from members within the team, who owns the rights? There was no contract signed, so it's all up in the air. There are so many legal issues involved, and DigiPen would be thrust right into the middle of it all.
I respect the Toblo teams decision to pull from Slamdance (the real story, which Joystiq conveniently ignored when posting this "news"), but they knew exactly what they were doing when they designed Toblo at DigiPen. DigiPen did what they thought was best for themselves as a sponsor of Slamdance: they supported the festival with their own games.
We were told, numerous times, that we should NOT make our "big marketable game" at DigiPen. This is not news to anybody at DigiPen, and really shouldn't affect whether or not a person applies there. School isn't the place to develop commercial properties.
Ashley Bennett @ May 8th 2007 4:43PM
You keep the IP rights at Full Sail. They just have the rights to use your work in promoting the school.
Aariel @ May 8th 2007 4:59PM
Everything that I wanted to say about how uninformed and basely stupid this post is has mostly been said by other posters, so I'll *try* to keep this short.
I'm a student at DigiPen. Yes, the school owns all IP related to our games. Yes, we are all made fully aware of that. We willingly participate in this system, because DigiPen is a place where you go in order to receive an education, and not a place where you go to make the game that will make you rich.
The school is more than lenient with regards to ceding IP rights to students when it seems appropriate. Just look at Narbacular Drop - when Valve picked up the team behind that game, DigiPen gave up the rights to Narbacular Drop so that the team could make Portal at Valve.
Up until today, I respected Joystiq and its sister blogs as sites with integrity. This kind of muck-raking is no better than the crap you see on Bill O'Reilly, and all I can say is that your petty remarks are not worth my - or anybody's - time.
Sorry it wasn't short.
n_revolution9 @ May 8th 2007 5:32PM
Petty remarks not worth your time?? Then why did you take the time to construct a perfectly punctuated and grammaticized response?
Hakobus @ May 8th 2007 6:32PM
@45: Some people tend to pay attention to punctuation and grammar in all things they write. A rebuttal doesn't have to be crappy just because the article being rebutted is.
Burger @ May 8th 2007 11:24PM
This article is total crap, and the writer didn't do a minute of research before writing it. DigiPen does not pretend to be a school, you can check out their authorization information by following a link in the opening sentence of their main page, http://www.digipen.edu. I am a DigiPen student, and do you want to know what the school does with our games that they own? They research contests and festivals to submit the games to, they handle all the submission paperwork, they pay all the entry fees, and when the game is selected as a finalist, they email the students with the good news. Then they fly to the festival, they set up machines to play the games on, and they distribute copies of the game on disks from their booth. The students are the ones who go up on stage, shaking hands and being applauded. I don't think there has been a year since DigiPen began entering IGF that student games didn't end up as finalists, or win awards. As students we are told over, and over, and over again that DigiPen handles contest submissions for our games, and that we aren't allowed to try and to it ourselves.
In the case of Toblo, DigiPen submitted the game to the Slamdance festival as expected, which they do with every game deemed good enough. When the students who made the game heard about the Super Columbine RPG fiasco, they contacted Slamdance, acted as though they owned the IP, and had the game removed from the contest. They didn't contact DigiPen faculty and ask them to remove the game, giving their reasons, etc. What the students did was illegal, and they knew it, and all students are warned time and time again not to do it.
As far as DigiPen being "one of those fake schools," take a look at the course list and decide for yourself. Or you can accept the testimony of the all the graduates working at Nintendo, Valve, and all over the place. Nintendo Software Technology's technical department is 90% DigiPen grads, and the designers are 99% DigiPen grads, said Claude Comair when he was chairman of the board for Nintendo. He is the founder and president of DigiPen.
Duke @ May 8th 2007 8:26PM
Worst article ever, grats.
I don't care that everything I make at DigiPen isn't owned by me. Intellectual Property is a joke to begin with, at least this way every game coming out of DigiPen can be played for free by anyone. In fact, I prefer that DigiPen owns the games we make – it'll prepare us for when the capitalists take credit for our labor in the future.
Secondly, who are you to question DigiPen as being a legitimate school? DigiPen is the first school to actually challenge me intellectually. And yes, I do mean to be arrogant.
Aariel @ May 8th 2007 10:16PM
@45: When I said that these petty remarks were not worth anyone's time, I meant to indicate that though I might have once considered myself a loyal follower of this blog, I now feel little more than disgust as I read it. If the content of this article was totally misrepresented by its careless (or dare I say, malicious?) author, whose to say that similarly malformed opinions aren't being filtered to this blog's readers on a regular basis?
We all - not just DigiPen students - trust this blog to deliver credible information and well-informed opinions about the world of video games. Today, the blog we trust spat in the face of all its readers, and whose to say that this has not already become a commonplace practice for the contributors?
I wrote a lengthy post (now two lengthy posts) because it matters to me when something like this happens; my words are carefully chosen and my grammar is correct because it's important to me that you and everyone else understands me to the letter. I'm sorry that this insults you and your low standards so much.
Kyle Schwaneke @ May 10th 2007 2:33AM
Allow me to educate you ABOUT Digipen, since you obviously know NOTHING about this school.
First of all, everyone who attends Digipen knows full well that in order for us to use their software, programs, and knowlage(which includes teacher input), Digipen owns the games. They don't do this to whore off money from what we create, they use it to showcase what you learn at Digipen, and to get more people to attend. NO ONE I talk to has a problem with this. I don't persionally know the creators, but conicdering Toblo is playable in the lobby, and the voice actor for Toblo is a high ranking woman in the Student Association, no one is raising a stink but you.
Digipen is the premiere school for learning about the industry. People like Prof. Erhardt have FIRST HAND knowlage of the gaming industry, concidering he was actually IN it. Check out his credits some time. Until recently, our wounderful president, Claude Comair, was even the vice president of Nintendo Software Technologies NA. He, infact, doesn't just sit in his office all day. No, he teaches a class to Freshmen, and makes it his top priority to get to know as many students as possible. It is not a rare sight for me to see him in the halls chatting it up with one of the upper-classmen. He is ALWAYS supportive of us, and the biggest chearleader we have. Since retiring from NST, he is devoting all of his time to the school he founded, and continues to improve it.
I'll have you know that in the game industry, Digipen is the gold standard. Companies are CONSTANTLY stoping by to ask "how can we help get more Digipen graduates." I'll tell you a story. Know the awesome game Portals? It started as a Digipen game called Narbicular Drop. Gas-Powered-Games loved it so much, the hired the entire team and asked them to re-make the game for them. And clearly, they have with great sucess.
Digipen is an incredible opprotunity for anyone who can attend. Schools like Devry and the others can CLAIM to give RTIS degrees, but the quality of education one obtains at Digipen is on a level of its own. I laugh when I see comercials saying "Do you believe we play video games for a living" because of how totally false that statement is. Yet instead of going after these false schools, you went after Digipen. Shame shame shame on you.
I really wish you had taken the time to actually TALK to a Digipen student. It is clear through this article you didn't. Before this, I had never heard of your little blog, but from here on out I refuse to read any of it. You have just made enemies of the entire Digipen family, congrats. Thank god for sites like Penny-Arcade who bring this issue to light. What a worthless waste of time...