Career related reasons for JET in essay

[Famout]

The problem is rather simple, my degree and career is in video game development, a topic that can sound rather simple and childish.

Culture is a major driving force behind how each game is made, for example games like Call of duty, The elder scrolls, and for the most part nearly all first person shooters tend to be filled with tales of self glory and creating ones own story. While many games from Japan tend to focus much more on large scale stories of self sacrifice and even often hints of fate having a hand in it like Final Fantasy, Okami (A game I recommend highly for anyone signing up for JET by the way), most RPG's series, and others.

In regards to the JET program, I want greatly to be accepted so that I can first hand experience a different culture so I can better experience the mindset behind such creations, and so I can better attempt to create ideas that are a mix of influences and tend to stand out more as a result while being enjoyable to a wider set of people.

For the most part my trouble is coming up with a method to explain this within a short amount of space the first time in an medium that I cannot just click reply to answer any questions or try to defend myself from misconceptions is there any tips for this that anyone might have? And for people who stay away from games and the like, what sorts of questions would you like to have answered that I might not even think of?

Thanks for any help here!

P.S. Check out and donate to http://desertbus.org/ for child's play. Video games and the internet at its most noble and entertaining!

[ladama]

I think a lot of applicants get a bit hung up on this bit of the application, but don't think about it too much. There's only so many careers that directly correlate to JET, for the rest of us that aren't planning to be teachers, work in ESL, or work in or with Japan, JETs going to have a more indirect effect on our careers.

Honestly, I think this passage:

In regards to the JET program, I want greatly to be accepted so that I can first hand experience a different culture so I can better experience the mindset behind such creations, and so I can better attempt to create ideas that are a mix of influences and tend to stand out more as a result while being enjoyable to a wider set of people.

is really all you need to say about how you hope JET will impact your future career.

[merkypie]

That was a bot.

[ladama]

That was a bot.

Dang, they're getting more legitimate sounding!

[Famout]

A bot? If the thing at the bottom is what makes you think that then just google child's play to see it is very real. As for the advice so far, thanks!

[Namisuke]

Bots never have good English and don't relate themselves with the JET Programme...lol

I would suggest stating your goals and how you plan to acheive them in the Programme while also helping the Programme achieve its goals. For example, you would probably want to converse with people in your community to learn about culture and language more in-depth. You might join a group in your community to learn a new skill that can apply to video game creation, such as learning Kendo for the physics of swordplay, or taiko for music development. You can also use your love of video games to help relate to your students, or even make an RPG with your kids! You can even use games in the classroom for lessons. For example, my kids like zombie shooting games, so I cut out a bunch of zombies, stuck them to the board, and let them shoot them off if they answered Halloween trivia questions right. Stealing concepts from games is a GREAT way to get kids motivated, and you can mention how you can do it in your classes in your SOP.

Where did you get your degree for video game development? I looked into it once and it was mega expensive (in Vancouver).

[Famout]

Bots never have good English and don't relate themselves with the JET Programme...lol

I would suggest stating your goals and how you plan to acheive them in the Programme while also helping the Programme achieve its goals. For example, you would probably want to converse with people in your community to learn about culture and language more in-depth. You might join a group in your community to learn a new skill that can apply to video game creation, such as learning Kendo for the physics of swordplay, or taiko for music development. You can also use your love of video games to help relate to your students, or even make an RPG with your kids! You can even use games in the classroom for lessons. For example, my kids like zombie shooting games, so I cut out a bunch of zombies, stuck them to the board, and let them shoot them off if they answered Halloween trivia questions right. Stealing concepts from games is a GREAT way to get kids motivated, and you can mention how you can do it in your classes in your SOP.

Where did you get your degree for video game development? I looked into it once and it was mega expensive (in Vancouver).

Wow! Thanks for the detailed reply and very in depth thoughts, and already I am thinking of ways to better relate using my talents to make such education fun in ways it sounds like you have. Also adding in details about joining groups sounds like a wonderful way to better express the focus, while true I had not thought about listing it.

As for degree, Bachelor of computer science in video game development at Full sail university at Florida.

[bryanthorne]

God, I have been agonizing over the same thing. I'm an Audio Production major, so I talked about how Sound/Audio/Music is a world wide industry with lots of international projects. I said that the international experience will prepare me for such interactions with my industry.

Should you include those sorts of teaching examples in the SOP? I could talk about teaching through music...

[merkypie]

A bot? If the thing at the bottom is what makes you think that then just google child's play to see it is very real. As for the advice so far, thanks!

My bad.

Bots never have good English and don't relate themselves with the JET Programme...lol

Bots can copy paste stuff together to make sense. The post was a bit disjointed and the link didn't help at all. Which is why I assumed. If that is in fact his essay, I really think he should take it down because people will probably take it and flip it for their own.

[Famout]

God, I have been agonizing over the same thing. I'm an Audio Production major, so I talked about how Sound/Audio/Music is a world wide industry with lots of international projects. I said that the international experience will prepare me for such interactions with my industry.

Should you include those sorts of teaching examples in the SOP? I could talk about teaching through music...

Sounds like we are in the same boat! Hope this topic can help you out as well.

[bryanthorne]

God, I have been agonizing over the same thing. I'm an Audio Production major, so I talked about how Sound/Audio/Music is a world wide industry with lots of international projects. I said that the international experience will prepare me for such interactions with my industry.

Should you include those sorts of teaching examples in the SOP? I could talk about teaching through music...

Sounds like we are in the same boat! Hope this topic can help you out as well.

Yeah, I think we are. Thanks for posting the topic!

I just remembered a workshop I did with my teacher where we taught HS kids how to create sound for cartoons. Considering I don't have any education in teaching, I would think this counts as relevant.

[cookiedough]

That was a bot.

Omg. That was my exact same thought as I did not understand the original post initially as it rambled on and on just like a bot!!!

[hi12345]

I agree, it(sorry, he or she) did ramble on. So I was thinking the same thing.(bot?)

In any case, to the original poster as regards the essay, for what it's worth:

In regards to the JET program, I want greatly to be accepted so that I can first hand experience a different culture so I can better experience the mindset behind such creations, and so I can better attempt to create ideas that are a mix of influences and tend to stand out more as a result while being enjoyable to a wider set of people.

If I was reading a pile of essays, I'd get fed up with the ones that try to sound intelligent.
Keep your sentences short and to the point.
example 1 "I want greatly to be accepted so that I can"= I want to be accepted so that I can...
example 2 "so I can better attempt to create ideas"= so I can create ideas...

To the OP, that's my honest advice about the essay, as for relating it to your job.
Japan+video games development=
I will learn if I really do like living in Japan, learn some Japanese and in future possibly put my JET experience to use in a Japanese games company. (in America or in Japan)

I majored in computing science and that's pretty much (if memory serves correct)what I said in my sop.

(I'm applying again to work as a CIR, so if I get an interview I'll know my advice was good )

Good luck.

[teabot]

wow, OP is apparently a real person? i'm shocked. tbh... i think if that's true, OP has to work a lot on more natural sounding grammar. like... really. i still don't really believe it...

(unless for some reason OP is not a native speaker of English and i retract above statements...)

[zerowolf87]

The problem is rather simple, my degree and career is in video game development, a topic that can sound rather simple and childish.

Culture is a major driving force behind how each game is made, for example games like Call of duty, The elder scrolls, and for the most part nearly all first person shooters tend to be filled with tales of self glory and creating ones own story. While many games from Japan tend to focus much more on large scale stories of self sacrifice and even often hints of fate having a hand in it like Final Fantasy, Okami (A game I recommend highly for anyone signing up for JET by the way), most RPG's series, and others.

In regards to the JET program, I want greatly to be accepted so that I can first hand experience a different culture so I can better experience the mindset behind such creations, and so I can better attempt to create ideas that are a mix of influences and tend to stand out more as a result while being enjoyable to a wider set of people.

For the most part my trouble is coming up with a method to explain this within a short amount of space the first time in an medium that I cannot just click reply to answer any questions or try to defend myself from misconceptions is there any tips for this that anyone might have? And for people who stay away from games and the like, what sorts of questions would you like to have answered that I might not even think of?

Thanks for any help here!

P.S. Check out and donate to http://desertbus.org/ for child's play. Video games and the internet at its most noble and entertaining!

I know Okami is a game about wolf that is supposed to be amaterasu the sun god, but the word okami meaning wolf is how everyone here learned my last name lol