Viable as in...well, viable. It is probable that all the random vibrations in a ball would direct in one direction causing the ball to jump up spontaneously, a possibility just as probable as any other state of the ball, but that probability isn't large. Therefore, getting a ball to jump by waiting for the particles' random motion to align isn't a viable method.

For something more related, waiting for producer to fall from the sky on you one day while your holding your GDD isn't probable, so trying to break in by just carrying your GDD around all day isn't a viable method to get yourself into a game design career. I'm just a little skeptical the whole "break-in" method really is viable verses just being lucky.

I'm skeptical because I'd think just getting in anywhere won't help if you break-in to a very detached part of the industry--not anything like a janitor, mind you, but I'd wonder how being a UI programmer could help make it to game designer, etc.

I have over this past summer worked at a research project dealing with polymer particle synthesis. It looks good for a chemistry resume, but I doubt it will help me get into CERN or Fermilab because polymer science has less to do with particle physics than a research experience in, well, particle physics would. I'd think the game industry would be the same way.

But of course, I'm not claiming anything about an industry I've never even worked for, so I'm more asking from a viewpoint that seems reasonable from what I've experienced. I guess what you guys are saying by just breaking-in anywhere really gets you ahead, and getting to a game designer position is just as good then as someone who has a better portfolio or something-or-other but isn't part of the industry yet, etc. True?

(sorry for the long reply, but if you desire I be less vague, I can be as verbose as you wish :P )

EDIT: I don't see how spending countless hours doing what I love is going to be an issue for me. It's not like I don't enjoy programming and learning about physics and solving problems. Otherwise, I would have majored in business or something.

Game designers are usually hired from within the company and not from job postings. Your best bet at eventually becoming a game designer is to get a job as a programmer or in QA then work your way up.

In my experience with places I have worked for they have never hired a recent graduate from any of the 'game design' schools that are cropping up everywhere. The designers have almost always been former programmers. The one exception is the place I work at now where the lead designer is one of the founding partners.

It sounds like you are trying to look for some yellow brick road in to game designing. But there isn't one. There are multiple points of entry to a game design position. If you are a UI programmer you ask your boss for assignments outside your little field to show you can broaden your horizons. You ask to sit in on design meetings and make suggestions on how you think things may be improved or done differently. Eventually maybe they start taking more of your suggestions and putting them in the games. And finally they start having you make the main decisions.

You also don't have to be a 'designer' to have direct input into a game. I'm firmly a programmer but because I'm responsible for large swaths of the client and server code I have a lot of input into design decisions because I'm the one who ends up making it have to work. I have gotten major features changed because they weren't techically feasible.

Okay. Thanks, that's very helpful information.