Why work in groups? Why assigned groups?

In this class, many of the activities will require you to work in groups.

We do this for several reasons, including:

1. Actual game development is done (almost always) in groups.
2. Almost all work is done in groups.
3. Learning to work in a group is an important skill, and one that you can always get more practice in. Giving you group project experience is an explicit goal of the class. (see “What is This Class”).
4. By working in a group, you can do more substantial projects. Three people can do more than one (admittedly, not three times as much).
5. By working in a group, you will have access to a more diverse array of skills than you would have working alone, which leads to cooler projects.
6. Teaching others is a great way to learn.

The groups you work in will be assigned. You don’t get to pick who you work with. We will take requests, but the instructors will ultimately make the assignments. (see collaboration policy). We do this for a number of reasons, including:

1. Some people in class don’t know that many other people, and its unfair to them.
2. In the real world you don’t get too much control over the group you work in, so assigned groups are good practice.
3. We may try to balance skills and interests.
4. In the real world, stuff happens. Group members get sick or quit, turn out to be unreliable, etc. On the other hand, people often rise to the occasion.
5. We can make sure no one falls through the cracks.
6. We can respond to unexpected situations (problems and opportunities)

If your group really isn’t functioning, discuss it with the instructors. Often, a mal-functioning group is an opportunity to learn to work together better. We have ways to respond to unexpected situations.

We have done this for the 3 previous offerings of the class. We have never had to split up a group. We have never had a catastrophic failure (where some group issue prevented a team from completing a project).

There are downsides: you might have a group whose schedules (or personalities) clash, or where people have very different levels of motivation, or have different amounts of time they can devote to this class. However, even if this does happen, the process of learning how to deal with it may be good for you.

The upsides of assigned groups (in terms of fairness, learning opportunities, better projects, …) really does outweigh the downsides.