I’m not sure if I totally get this article in the Escapist on How to Become a Game Designer.
Parsing the article, the idea is, as best as I can tell, in two parts:
1) Study and read a lot of things about game design and/or take classes.
2) Put your nose to the grindstone and one day your talent will be recognized.
While it’s good advice for moving up in the industry, I think there’s an important step which is once you understand what design is, actually make sure design is what you want to do. I’d hazard a guess and say that ninety percent of people who think they want to do the job don’t really understand what the job is. Of the remaining ten percent only one percent of those people really have the talent to do the job well.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t get into the industry, but I’ve seen many people who couldn’t design their way out of a box* desperately cling to the idea that a designer is what they want to be. Or worse yet, get the job and the proceed to do it poorly for years.
* Did you remember to add the box cutter specs into the design document?
