Penny Arcade Scholarship now accepting applications

Well, he makes a lot of money, so I don't think you should say "exact" opposite...

If that is a career path you are really looking to go down, I'd say start off by honing your writing ability, and building a portfolio of work (just like an artist). Assuming that studios will be hiring dedicated script writers in the future (compared to the current practice of letting game design dictate story instead of the other way around), you'd also probably need a degree in a related field (creative writing for instance). We're talking years of school for a degree that doesn't qualify you to do much more than write (which is a difficult field to break into, whether it's game writing, film script writing, or TV writing).

The source for this information is myself. I looked into video game careers when I was still in high school (which is three years removed now) and came to the conclusion that it might be easier to get a business degree and then break into the video game industry that way. My logic is that even if I can't get a job in the industry, the degree would still qualify me to do other things. It's worth noting here that all of the in-state video game courses (at respectable universities) required Trig, Calc, and advanced physics. They definitely aren't designed to churn out artists (3D modelers, texture artists, etc which is what I wanted to do) that actually have the skills to land a job in the industry after graduation (in my experience, they're designed to churn out programmers, not artists). Your state may be different (or you could pay out of state tuition...ouch) but if you really want to go that route, you could try to get into one of the more selective media schools. Again though, it's years of your life wasted if you can't eventually get a job.

It's definitely not an easy field to break into, and it's not even a fully defined field at this point. I believe that writing will be taken more seriously by studios in the future, but it would be hard for me to say it's a good idea to spend two to four years of your life in hopes that it will. It's a big commitment.

Yes, because they should throw away good money after bad.

Low sales are the reason PAA and Shenmue will never see the third game.

Doesn't stop every other company from pulling financial mistakes.

As cliched* as it is, just because everybody jumps off a bridge doesn't mean Penny Arcade should.


*Yeah, I'm not messing with accent marks with Joystiq's commenting system.

You wouldn't happen to know anyone in particular who has this problem, would you? You know, just wondering.

Well if you can make a valid claim that the bodyguards are for your education at your university, then you can use the scholarship money for that. It's not restricted to just tuition. That's how some students eat and sleep.