So I had an audition last week for voice-over work for a video game project. I've worked with this gentleman before on some other video game projects, and he's a stand-up guy. I'm glad he gives me work every so often, but the more work I do, the more I think that maybe I should focus on this avenue a little more than I have been, especially once coursework is done next year. I realize I'm very lucky to have received the work thus far, but I think maybe I could get more with just a little more effort. Of course, it takes time and money to get a professionally-made demo reel, two things that I won't have in great supply in the near future. I suppose I'll just have to wait and see for now.

So I found out this week that a couple of the new Ph.D. students in my program are interested in studying video games as well. Thank goodness I'm not the only one anymore. I mean, it was interesting being the only person with such research interests for a little while, but I would rather truthfully have more people to talk with and bounce ideas off of than to be alone. After all, that's what school is all about. I can finally have some in-depth discussions about things we may have been exposed to in classes, and not feel like the red-headed stepchild.

Now that I'm in my last year of coursework for the Ph.D., I have to start trying to figure out what aspects of video gaming I want to focus on with my research. Some people choose purely theoretical stuff, but that takes all the fun out of it for me. Some people focus on specific games, but I think that might be a bit too narrow. There's one gentleman I met this past spring who did some research into haptic interfaces of video games, specifically the controllers and how they operate and how this relates to game play. That's good, but I think I want to go in a slightly different direction. I'm doing an independent study this fall, most likely examining issues of morals and ethics in video games. If it goes well, I may decide to turn it into a dissertation. I just hope that a lot of people don't start publishing books on this same topic at the same time...