Taking a love of games and creation to the next level, a UWL graduate and senior lecturer has joined global giants to represent the industry as a director of the ‘voice of the gaming industry’ nationally. Jay-Won Shin, Course Leader for UWL’s Games, Design and Animation BA (Hons), has been elected to the UKIE board to join the biggest names in gaming from Tencent, Sega, Nintendo, and Sony to make her mark on the future of the growing industry. Looking back at how far she has come from her own time as a music student at UWL when she set up her independent games development studio, Arrogant Pixel, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to shape the future for others. Jay-Won, who has been teaching the next generation of developers at UWL for the past six years, said: “Gaming has always been a part of my life. I started making games and found I had a new passion and found a home in building new worlds.
The industry is so vibrant, and a hot topic at the moment is ensuring it is safe for young people, that is one of the important topics I will be looking at with UKIE. I was a musician, studying music at the university while I made games in the background. Even now, music plays a huge role in my life and is central to my games. To me, education is so important, and I have an incredible opportunity to show students here the realities of working in gaming as well as playing a role in debating and discussing the future in the sector.” UKIE is made up of representatives, working with the government and other bodies to help grow the UK’s interactive entertainment sector and helping to support a cutting-edge thriving sector.
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