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Abstract: "The video game industry is a billion dollar industry with an ever-growing fan base. Massachusetts, along with other states, has begun to take an interest in further developing this dynamic industry. A problem facing many policy makers and economic developers is accurately defining the video game industry, determining the types of workers that form of human capital within its workforce and where these businesses are located. This study helps to solve this problem by converting video game credits, found in all video games, into Standard Occupational Codes to identify the types of workers who comprise the industry and by conducting spatial analysis using Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS). It also uses the Occupational Information Network to evaluate what forms of human capital comprises the video game industry. The results show the video game workforce comprises both creative workers such as artists and musicians, but also computer programmers, engineers, and business management and marketing professionals. This workforce tends to be concentrated not only in larger U.S. metropolitan areas but also in regions with a significant high-technology workforce, college towns, and government laboratories. Also, as this diverse workforce contains a wide variety of skills and abilities, a common theme is being able to work together as a team to develop a product. This study is part of a growing body of research and initiatives to identify and to locate new, creative industries within metropolitan regions. This research will contribute to future research using occupational analysis to identify new and growing industries."

Editorial by Timothy Loew, executive director of Mass DiGi, encouraging Massachusetts to tap the state's game workforce potential and avoid mistakes of Rhode Island in financing 38 Studios

"Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced the final winners of this year's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract awards-funds that are reserved for entrepreneurial small businesses using cutting-edge R&D to develop commercially viable technologies to solve tough problems. And there's something that may surprise you about the winning contracts: More than half-or 12 in all-are for games and game-related projects, more than in any previous year. That says a lot about the increasingly creative field of educational games, and the growing base of evidence indicating that games can be an important and effective component of our strategy to prepare a highly skilled 21st century American workforce."

The author reports data from a 2012 study on the diversity characteristics of students in game programs in the United States and future workforce implications.

considers career progression and barriers for men and women in game design and development

" Female consumers represent 40 percent of the market," but are underrepresented in industry

"Problem-based learning is a pedagogical approach which started in early 1970s. It is well developed and established until now. Aalborg University in Denmark is one of pioneering world universities in PBL and has accumulated a huge experience in PBL for many different study lines. One of them is Medialogy education, which was established in 2002. This paper presents transfer of experiences from Medialogy education in Denmark to Game development education in Serbia - a new (2 years old) study line successfully developed in the country where game development companies hardly exist, but a need for newly educated programmers is evident."