All my life I have had one encompassing goal: to inspire others to greatness. The problem, however, has always been how.
Through public school the how was Art; people have been moving others through various classic mediums for centuries. I would then go off to college and study as the old masters did, creating revolutionary masterpieces in such a way never before seen. But "college" quickly became "community college", and "study as the old masters did" became "study as everyone else did", what with their expensive supply lists and special erasers. Maybe art is not the how I have been looking for.
Then I actually started (community) college. The how quickly became Writing; entire religions and belief systems are based off of the written word for it's unbeatable ability to hammer out the nuances of expression. I said, "Yes! Philosophy! Fiction! This, this is how I will inspire others out of the mundane and the flash frozen. This is how I will change peoples lives! I will be the next Socrates, living off of the generosity of others as I tear their wit to pieces with my all encompassing ...right-ness! And they will put up with me, and give me shelter and food because they love being told that they're wrong all of the time, about everything, but deep down they know I make them better people." Yet, that soon fell through, but I had already devoted my educational resources to this path. Soon I was saying dejectedly, "Well...I will write some books, or something."
Then I fell in love, and my life changed forever. First, and most importantly to the context of this post, it was my priorities in life that changed. My number one went from, "CHANGE THE WORLD", to "Settle down, raise beautiful children, and spend every second possible with this woman." But since "CHANGE THE WORLD" is definitely a close second, my ever fleeting how has transformed: How will I inspire others...while building a sound foundation to raise children and provide for a family? ...Crap.
So there I was, about to start at The University of Texas at Dallas to finish my degree, and I had a big problem: I had no how. So I said, "Will, what has inspired YOU to greatness?" And, I'm not joking, it was actually video games. Yes...flippin' video games.
See, in the background through all my artistic endeavors, I also played games at least 6 hours a day. I just never thought a career in games was the right how, until I had this realization that games are the highest form of art ever created; sculpture, acting, writing, drawing...all in one sweet little package that the (here's the kicker) user/reader/viewer can CHANGE at his/her own will.
Specifically it was Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation. That was the first of many games I encountered that made me think of games as something higher than a mere distraction/toy.
I enrolled in the Arts & Technology program at UTD, with a focus on game design, and have yet to look back. It is now two years later, and I have one giant year ahead of me before graduation. This is the crunch year, and I would like to document it for all the other would-be "inspiritors" out there.
My name is Will Burgess, I am a senior student game designer at UTD, and I have found my how.
