Get Plugged In: Video Game Industry Panel

During the Spring 2018 semester, three professionals from the video game industry gathered at CSUDH to share their expertise with a group of eager students as part of a Deconstructing the Entertainment Industry panel focused on digital games. Hollywood by the Horns sponsored the event, which brought together three gaming industry professionals to discuss their responsibilities and some of the issues facing the video game industry and its workers today.

The panel included producer and voice actress Melanie Ehrlich, user interface designer and consultant Kylan Coats, and vice president of product for an indie game company Jasmine Bulin. Communications Professor Dr. John Vanderhoef co-organized the panel with Dr. Ryan Bowles Eagle. As a scholar of digital media, indie games, and the video game industry, Dr. Vanderhoef moderated the panel, offering questions and commentary along the way.

"I'm thrilled to have finally been able to connect some of our students with the local game industry," Dr. Vanderhoef said. "While our students are not game developers, many of them have ambitions to become part of the industry as game journalists, public relations professionals for game companies, game casters, community managers, and other roles one does not automatically think of when thinking about the game industry."

In the fifth floor space of Library North, the same space filmed for film and television shows like HBO's Silicon Valley, the panel guests spoke in front of a group of more than 35 students. The panelists discussed how they got into the industry, their day-to-day jobs, and some of the major issues that workers in the industry confront, such as sexism and precarity of employment.

"One of the goals of the event was to illuminate some of the labor issues that need addressing in the industry," Dr. Vanderhoef said. "My plan is never to scare students away from careers in the entertainment industries but instead to arm them with the knowledge of problems they can help fix by joining these industries."

Hollywood by the Horns' Deconstructing the Entertainment Industry events are designed to provide CSUDH students with an overview of potential roles across a number of entertainment and media industries. Events have been held with professionals from the film, television, and music industries. These events contribute to the mission of Hollywood by the Horns to bridge CSUDH students with the local southern California entertainment industries and provide them with the knowledge necessary to pursue careers in these fields.