African American boys play video games more often than any other group.  Yet African Americans have dismal representation in the games industry and their interest in video games is not leading them in to computer science fields, as research would suggest. We believe there are many social and cultural factors that influence the transfer of interest and skills developed through video games to academic and employment success. 

To address these factors we propose to develop a game tester job-training program. Game testing is sometimes considered an entry point for careers in the games industry. But more than just careers in gaming, by developing game testing skills participants will look under-the-hood of the games, seeing the structure of digital media, learning vocabulary, and understanding basic job skills and the value of their opinion in the field of computer science.  We seek to develop and begin prototyping introduction to game testing workshops this spring.