皇家华人

Former Derby College Group student Charles Thompson is on a BA Honours degree in games design at the College of Esports, the world鈥檚 first university-level institution dedicated to the business of esports.

He is in his first year at the specialist college 鈥� based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford 鈥� and he鈥檚 enjoying every minute.

Charles, 25, has always had an interest in video games but was unaware that courses in esports existed until a relative sent him a link to Derby College鈥檚 Level 3 National Extended Diploma in Esports.

He said: 鈥淚 had a look at the course and saw that part of it involved games design, so thought 鈥榃hy not? Let鈥檚 go for it.鈥�

鈥淢y teachers, Ami and Josh, were fantastic, and the friends I made at Derby College made my time there all the better.

鈥淭he course content was quite challenging but that made it possible to aim for higher grades. I left with a distinction star.

听鈥淚鈥檇 enrolled at my local FE college when I first left school but had to drop out for health reasons. Going to Joseph Wright Centre got me back into education after that earlier hiatus in my studies.鈥�

Through the esports college鈥檚 strong links with the gaming and esports industry, Charles has the opportunity to work on commercial projects, give feedback, help host events and design models.

He added: 鈥淚t gives you the chance to gain industry experience and get your name out there. I’ve always been interested in how video games work; the how and why companies create them the way they do.

鈥淚 eventually want to be a games designer with one of the big companies, designing games that people will love to play.鈥�