Giovanni Morales
Why be an Experience Designer?
At first I thought I was wrong to come to an engineering school. In highschool I was in APs and I was “pretty good” at calculus. Math and science never really spoke to me though. Admittedly I almost failed out of RPI my first year, hence the decision not to show my GPA on my resume. (I was on the Dean’s Honors list this past semester if that helps to suppress any doubts about my work ethic).
I spent my four years of high school working with kids and teaching Taekwondo, developing a sense of leadership and teamwork. I was head counselor for a group of 30 kids, constantly coming up with ways to “entertain” them.
It’s all connected.
My old boss once explained to me that when I teach Taekwondo I’m not working for the students, I’m putting on a show for the people paying to ensure them they are getting their money’s worth. It did not matter how much the students complained, they were not the ones paying. The parents were my target audience. The essential experience was Taekwondo.
When I first applied to be a Games, Simulations, Arts, and Sciences major I had not realized how much of my work at Taekwondo was going to carry over. I had already learned how to lead a group and win over the target audience. I was good at it. Finding exactly what it is that the “consumer” wanted out of the product.
My high school counselor used to say I was a “Renaissance Man” that could not sit in one place for too long. He explained to me the meaning of being multifaceted and that is why it was so difficult for me to choose a career path. Video games however combined all these different elements in order to make one final product.
I chose to have a concentration in writing so I would have a more overarching role in the development of games, being responsible of knowing my teams capabilities and what is possible in the given time. The writing concentration gave me a lot of electives that allowed me to become knowledgeable in every field of Game Design (just do not ask me to make an AI).
This has given me a very strong sense of detail that I realized is not just for building games but anything. I enjoy building experiences for the masses and I hope a company will give me the opportunity to change the world one day.
