Topic Area: Pandemic Pivot
Presented by: Ryan Thompson, Andrew Dennis, Valeta Wensloff
Abstract:
When MSU’s campus activity closed due to COVID-19, units and departments across campus sought solutions to transition to remote learning and maintain student engagement. The game development program in the Department of Media and Information turned to a familiar source; a video game communication platform called Discord. While we were already using Discord for casual links and outside of class communication, the quarantine put our server into overdrive. Now, our community Discord is a thriving community spanning 30 classes, 10 faculty, and over 800 members. It is helping game developers of all stripes learn, share, and communicate in a screen dominated era, and keeping faculty, students, and alumni connected and collaborating.
Join three Media & Information faculty as they discuss their experience building, fostering, growing, and maintaining this online community consisting of hundreds of game and interaction design students on Discord. By involving alumni and forthright peers, they found a natural balance between professionalism and creative expression.
