These University of Utah students had their graduation ceremony inside a video game they created
These University of Utah students had their graduation ceremony inside a video game they created
These University of Utah students had their graduation ceremony inside a video game they created
By Courtney Tanner
May 2, 2020
Summary
"Of course, because we're a games program, we needed to make a game."
The video game that came out of that looked and sounded much like a typical ceremony.
Undergraduates celebrated later in the day with a second video game commencement at 2 p.m. Family and friends could watch a live stream on Twitch, a popular gaming platform.
Sitting at home individually with their controllers, the graduates in the game did what they couldn't have in real life because of the virus: hugged their friends, walked across the stage and shook hands with their professors.
"It's been hard. We've been in this program for two years together and then we couldn't see each other any more," said Light Bates, 27, one of the master's students who helped engineer the game.
Bates and two other students, Doug Hawthorn and Jacob Nielsen, designed the game in less than three weeks.
Having a sendoff with his friends in the video game, he said, gave him some closure and made finishing college feel more real with everything going on.
Usually the separate commencement for the EAE program includes a party afterward where people can test out the games that the master's students made - instead of having the students be in a game for graduation.
Powers and her team made a kids' video game called "Strange Creatures."
Bates balanced making his final project and the graduation game.
Reference
Tanner, C., & Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. (2020, May 2). These University of Utah students had their graduation ceremony inside a video game they created. Retrieved May 3, 2020, from https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2020/05/02/these-university-utah/