This is part of an interview series I’m conducting with games professionals who also teach part-time as adjunct faculty. Leon is one of the first interviewees who I didn’t already know personally, so it was especially great getting his perspective!
Leon Perniciaro (he/him) is the editor of Haven Spec Magazine, a PhD student at the University of Connecticut, and a member of the Game Design and Development faculty at Quinnipiac University. You can find out more about him and his work at his website: www.leonperniciaro.com
Interview
This interview was conducted on August 28th 2023, and has been edited for length and clarity.
So first off, where do you currently teach?
So in game, design, or generally? I teach in Game Design at Quinnipiac. And I also teach first year writing at UConn, at the University of Connecticut. I’ll say that more clearly for your transcription. I did an interview recently and the transcripts ended up being like 72 pages long, and they’re basically gibberish. I have not turned them into actual English yet because it’s so much work!
And have you taught anywhere else in the past?
I taught English as a second language for seven years in Germany. I started doing that through Fulbright, the Teaching Assistantship program. That was only supposed to be for a year, and then after I started freelancing basically. And yeah, we were there forever.
So how long have you been teaching then?
So if we count the English as a Second Language, since 2012. I started in the Game Design department at in 2021, I think. And last year was my first year teaching at UConn. I think that’s it.
I want to talk about how you started teaching, and I guess maybe we can do both, like you mentioned a teaching ESL in in Germany? And then how did you eventually come to be teaching Game Design at Quinnipiac?
Well, I originally did my undergrad degree in Biology. And I worked as a lab tech for a couple of years. And then, during the recession in ’08-‘09, I decided to go back to school. And then I did my masters in English. And then, after I did that, I applied for Fulbright, for the teaching assistantship, and then I went abroad. And then I did that for a long time, and then when we got back, I planned to finally start a PhD program, which is what I’m in now, in the English program at UConn. And then I just happened to meet the head of the department at Quinnipiac for Game Design. And she needed someone to teach Game Design and we had a long talk about it, I guess, and I fit the bill. Because I have a background in narrative stuff, and I’ve played D&D since I was very young, and I checked the right boxes there, I think, and I think she needed somebody.
And then that was right before the pandemic started. So then I was late a couple years on that. And then I finally started the PhD program, and as a requirement there I have to teach. Yeah, that’s the whole story. If that’s too much information or not enough information, I’m sorry.
No no, that’s perfect. And it sort of answers the next question I have, which is what keeps you adjuncting? Like, why do you teach? And ‘it being a requirement of your PhD Program’ is a funny reason. But I assume it’s not the only reason.
Well, at UConn I’m not actually an adjunct, I guess, I’m a graduate assistant. It’s a technical distinction, but I guess that’s important. But the reason I still am adjuncting at Quinnipiac for Game Design is that I like it. You know, it’s fun. It’s a creative class. We don’t really advertise it as a creative class, but it’s almost a creative writing class in some senses. But also, like, maybe one day I’ll be on the faculty, you know. I harbor this secret hope. After I’ve finished my PhD.
Oh, gotcha! At Quinnipiac specifically?
Exactly. Yeah. So I’m building my profile there. And also just, if it doesn’t work out there, somewhere, you know.
You’ve also spoken to this a little bit, nut what is the work you do besides teaching?
So I’m a PhD Student. That’s like my full-time job. And teaching is half of that. The other half of that is research. And I was taking courses, but I’m done with my coursework, and now I’m sitting for my for my… I’m studying for my… How can I not remember the word for this? The big tests I have to take. We don’t call them quals. We call them something else. My comps! Yes, I’m studying for my comps. Which are going to be in the spring. And I also run a Science Fiction / Fantasy magazine called Haven Spec.
Like New Haven? Or is it unrelated to…
It’s not related to the city, but I guess it’s part of the inspiration. Like haven in the sense of a safe place.
Very cool! And you’d mentioned you doing narrative work, and is there past writing work you’ve done? Besides your magazine I mean.
Yeah. So you know, I edit the magazine. I don’t really write for it, except for, like the letters from the editor. But I also do writing. I’ve published some short stories, and have still not finished my novel that I’ve been working on. But you know, short fiction writing, stuff like that.
And how, if at all, does teaching impact the other work that you do? Well, I guess your PhD, you’ve spoken to, but your writing work. Does your teaching kind of influence that in any way?
I think so. I think being in a classroom with people where I’m encouraging them to be creative, also encourages me to kind of participate in that creative process, and exercise those parts of my brain. That’s the positive. I think the negative is that it’s kind of a big time commitment. And so there’s less time to actually work on my own writing stuff. But, you know, you take the good with the bad.
Well, yeah. But maybe can we enumerate what some of those good and bad things are? What are some of the things you like most about teaching?
I think just… What’s the nice way to say it? I think that for the most part my students are great. You know, people who are there who are excited to be there. Who want to learn. Want to do this stuff. Actively working with these sorts of people is really enriching and really interesting. You do occasionally get the person who doesn’t want to be there, who’s not participating in good faith. Actually, I feel like I’m really lucky this semester. I’m teaching three classes overall. One at Quinnipiac, two at UConn, and I feel like all of my students have been good so far. Which is definitely not the case for a lot of semesters.
But yeah, so like, just being part of that creative process is, I think, the biggest pro. I don’t know what else. I don’t really work on my own stuff in class, so I don’t get any direct benefit from it. We can make some cheery answer about, the next generation, the future, education, et cetera. But I don’t know. I guess I don’t really think that way.
Well, but yeah, implicit in these questions are that your honest answers are appreciated. You don’t have to play up anything!
What do you then like least? Are there any kind of big annoyances that you have in in teaching?
I think the only annoyances are, I mentioned like I occasionally get students who are difficult. For example, a few years ago I had a student who didn’t participate in one of the major projects. And you can’t really pass the class if you don’t do it. And so, he doctored things to try to prove that he had been part of the decision-making process of the group project. And he sent it to me like, “Oh look, here’s my text message chain.” And it’s like, I’ve already talked to everybody else in this group. I know that you didn’t do this. It was a whole mess. But so stuff like that, I think, is… The interpersonal stuff can be the best stuff, but also it can be the most challenging stuff.
I also think, the bureaucracy of the universities is difficult to navigate. You know. And of course, job security stuff as an adjunct is terrible.
What do you mean by that? Yeah, the bureaucracy of university. That’s something that multiple people mention, so it’s not an uncommon sort of thing, but I’m curious what that kind of means to you, what does it mean there being bureaucracy and you having to interface with that?
Well at Quinnipiac, it’s not too bad. The only kind of stuff that I think is a little difficult is reimbursement stuff, like I have to go to this spot to submit some receipt, and I don’t know if I’ve ever actually navigated that, but also, I don’t spend that much money out of pocket per class. But you know, for example, at UConn (where I don’t teach Game Design, but it’s still, I think, a little relevant), I have to submit teaching material to the department. And, I have to like, fill up this form on this week and that form and that week, stuff like that. The good thing about Quinnipiac is that it’s a really small department. It’s just a handful of people for Game Design. And so it’s much more like, Elena texts me and is like, “Hey, do you want to teach this class?” But I can appreciate that at UConn we have a hundred instructors or something, and that would be much more difficult to do. But just stuff like that can be kind of a pain, and hard to keep track of.
Yeah, we get a lot of that at NYU. I was joking with someone in the accounting department because I was missing a receipt for getting a travel reimbursement. And I had all sorts of documentation. But I was missing the actual receipt, and so it got rejected because I needed to fill out a “missing receipt form”. And so I was joking with them, because they rejected my form because it was missing the missing receipt form, so I asked if there’s a “missing ‘missing receipt form’ form” that I could then submit instead. They didn’t think it was funny. So that’s what I that’s what I learned about bureaucracy.
It’s ludicrous, yeah, of course. But there wasn’t one, that’s what you found out?
No no, yeah, no eventually we worked it out. But yeah, it’s just such a pain. And so you also mentioned job security as well- What do you mean by that?
Well, I think that like, as long as I do a good job at Quinnipiac, Elena will always text me and be like, “Hey, do you want to teach these classes?” But, it is very much at the will of whoever’s in charge of making these decisions, whether or not you’re going to be teaching the next year. And also, even the pay is not bad at Quinnipiac, but you couldn’t live off of it, you know. If you taught four classes, you could maybe live, if you had five roommates. But you know, stuff like that, I think, is the biggest challenge around the move from tenured professors to having classes all taught by adjuncts.
Do you know more than a semester in advance what you’re going to teach? Or do you know the full academic year?
So I knew I was going to be teaching, as of maybe January/February for this semester, and I just talked to Elena, who’s the head of our department, a few days ago, and about classes I’ll teach in the spring. So, yeah, so about a semester in advance, I guess, is the actual answer to that question.
And I’m guessing, at both UConn and Quinnipiac, the adjuncts aren’t part of a Union, or anything like that, there’s no collective bargaining?
At Quinnipiac, no, as far as I know, at least I’ve at least never heard of anything about a union. At UConn though, we have a strong union, which actually I really appreciate. It keeps our class sizes lower, for example, we only have 16 people in our classes, where I teach first year writing. You know, we get pay increases. We have like, childcare benefits, stuff like that. But at Quinnipiac I don’t think that exists.
Oh, that’s great, to be able to contrast the two places.
Yes, I’m a United Auto Worker. Just don’t ask me to fix your car.
Oh no way, cool! Oh, are you region 9A? Do you know what your regional is?
I’m not actually sure but I could look.
Because I’m in UAW Local 7902, we’re the New School and NYU, so yeah, also in UAW. Over the past couple of years I’ve been getting more involved with our local.
Very cool! Yeah, they do good work. Ours does, you know. Let’s see… we are local 6950. Yes, now you know. Put in your records.
Yeah, that’s cool. Yeah. I didn’t know. I mean, there’s yeah, there’s so many, it’s hard to know each other. But I’m trying to get to know at least some of the other [unions] in the in the city.
You said you were 9A? Yeah, we are too, apparently. I just looked it up.
Oh, cool! Awesome. Well yeah, I didn’t even know what the regional was before I started getting more involved with the with the union. So it’s a yeah, new to me as well.
Okay, what was I saying? So given your experience teaching, if there was someone who is thinking of picking up a class for the first time, like a Game Design class, would you have any advice for them? So I guess in this, in this scenario they’ve already gotten the job, they’re being offered the job, is there any advice you might give?
Hmm. For me, I think, I don’t want to be cynical, but: Get as much information on stuff as you can from the department upfront, to minimize the amount of upfront work, or out of class work you have to do. That would be my biggest thing. Like, if someone already has slides, if there’s already a syllabus that exists, if there’s a set progression to the class that you could start from. This is ideal.
Otherwise I think the biggest piece of advice I would say would be about managing the class. Managing expectations for the students and also for the department. To be wary of being asked to do things outside of the purview of teaching the class in terms of the department. Just like, “We have a student showcase that’s like three hours, once a month.” You know, all the stuff that’s like, if you were part of the department, and you had both feet in the department, it would make sense for you to be participating in. But if you are just getting paid four grand a semester for a class, don’t let them double the time that you have to dedicate to actually being there.
But I do do some of that stuff. Historically we have had a Magic [the Gathering] tournament, and so I’ll go one of the one of the evenings that they do that, all my students will come, and we’ll have a big Magic tournament. But I never go to the showcases, and I try not to go to the faculty meetings if I can. Just stuff like that. It eats up your time, if you let it. But it also depends on the relationship you have with department. So stuff like that.
I would also suggest specific kinds of grading systems. Like we use, or I use, a labor based grading system rather than more traditional grading systems. And this is what most people at UConn also use, I think.
Oh, really. I haven’t heard that that term before. What is that labor based grading? I think I can guess, but just to hear you describe it.
You probably just know it under a different term. It might just be what we call it at UConn. But basically, I could assess things based on like, “is all the grammar right in this thing that you wrote, all the commas in the right places?”, and like, there’s a point off there, point off there. And like, that’s the grade. But that doesn’t really work. There’s a lot of problems with that. There’s issues of systemic classism and racism and these things that come into a standardized English. But there’s also, you know, it’s boring, and there’s a lot of work, like tedious work, for everybody involved.
Instead, what we do is we use the iterative process. So, like, we are going to make something, and then we are going to get feedback on it, and revise it, and then remake it, and we’ll do that a bunch of times, and the process of actually putting in the work, the hours that are required to take this from the first idea to the final version. That is the labor you have put into it, and the amount of work you have put into it constitutes how well you do in the class. So if you meet all of the benchmarks, all of the requirements- number of playtests, the depth of information in the playtests, the commitment put into it that’s required, then you get an A in class. Right? So it’s not about quality necessarily, because people could spend all semester putting their heart and soul into something that is still terrible at the end of it. You know, like, ‘objectively’, whatever that means. But it’s the process of learning and improving. That is really what we’re focusing on, if that makes sense.
And that’s what we do in the department at UConn too. Not everybody. Some people still use like an old fashioned rubric, but it’s pretty rare. I don’t know if anybody else uses labor based stuff at Quinnipiac. But I think it’s like it’s the future of creating in college classrooms.
Yeah, I don’t think that that’s so dissimilar to the kind of like, art school style grading, which is often more about the process than the than the end result.
About that, or any of the other advice you had, are there any resources that you’d recommend to somebody who’s just starting to teach, either books or just anything that you’ve found helpful?
Hmm. I don’t know if it’s a little simple or simplistic, but something that’s useful for me, and something that my students like is Extra Credit videos. I’m sure you’re familiar with them,
The YouTube Channel?
Exactly. Yeah, so for a lot of concepts we cover in class, we’ll watch those. And so, yeah, I found that helpful just for getting a handle on Game Design material. I don’t really… We have some books that we talk about in class, that are part of the syllabus, but I couldn’t even bring them to mind right now, I’d have to look at the syllabus.
Do you use Rules of Play, by Salen and Zimmerman?
Yeah, it sounds familiar. But also, I feel like we have that stuff on our syllabus just for the sake of having something more academic. But I see the class really as like, it’s not about…. Wait, what am I trying to say. There’s a stronger practical aspect to this class than there would be if it was a, like, a calculus class, or a chemistry class. The concepts are important, and we can learn those concepts, but we don’t have to unpack every single tiny aspect that somebody has teased apart from an academic perspective. This class is more about like, how are we putting these ideas into practice, and incorporating them into our own process so that we can improve our game design stuff. You could become an expert in like, random number generators or something, but at certain point, you don’t need the depth that you might expect for another, like if you were going to become a chemist in your life. This class is about doing the work. Here’s my paper prototype, that we’re testing it, we’re learning how to do this process. You know what I mean? Maybe that’s bad, but that’s at least how I see it.
Shifting gears a little bit, and thinking about how the class sits into the wider department, something that comes up in a lot of these interviews is kind of feeling isolated from full-time faculty. I’m wondering if that’s something you’ve experienced?
Yeah, I mean, I basically don’t know any of the faculty members in the department, except for one, who we sometimes will meet and play board games. Him and a couple of the other adjuncts. But he’s also not in the department fully. He’s in the business school, and he has a dual appointment. But otherwise, I couldn’t even name most of the people in the in the department, except for the head and one or two other people.
You know, you mentioned how going to faculty meetings and things like that is just unpaid labor for you, right. So that’s part of the reason. Is there anything that the full-time faculty could do to support you, or adjuncts in general, better? That isn’t just asking you to come to meetings for free.
I’m not sure, honestly. I think that… I think the problem with the meetings is that, none of its actually relevant for me, you know? They’re making decisions, not like I would have a vote or anything, that we would be discussing, and it’s just not relevant for me. They’re speaking from a departmental level, and I’m just teaching a class. I don’t really have any idea otherwise how to like fix that besides, like, a complete overhaul of university system in this country.
Well, that can be the solution as well.
Yeah, revolution.
Is there anything you wish the full-time faculty knew about adjunct professors. Is there anything that you wish they better understood about how a part-time professor teaches or operates?
No, I can’t think of anything. I think that the good thing about Quinnipiac is that they’re very hands off. I could basically make the syllabus whatever I want. And now that I’ve gone through some training at UConn about how classes are supposed to be put together, and things like that, I feel like I can make a really good class for Game Design. But yeah, I think the department head is basically like, as long as the building doesn’t burn down and no one complains too much at the end, you’re golden. But maybe it’s just that she trusts me to put together a good class, that I shouldn’t be cynical about it.
You’ve mentioned that after completing your PhD that you would want to join a full-time faculty at one of these universities. Do you think you‘ll do anything differently when you’re a full-time member of a department to work with the adjuncts that that would be in your department?
Yeah, it’s good question. I guess I’d have to think about it. You don’t want to shut the door behind you, right? I have to think about it, but I don’t think that… what can be done? The adjunct system exists now, and it will only grow and grow until it’s the department head and a hundred adjuncts. The business schools won the battle of the university. And now everything’s optimized for business, and that’s what it is.
I think that organizing, like if Quinnipiac had a better labor organization or some kind of union for adjuncts, it would be better, right. But also like, it’s kind of peripheral to my life. I do the class there because I like it, and they pay me, and I don’t rely on it for my life. So. If I did, probably I would have much stronger opinions about it. You know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, I mean. That’s this funny place that adjuncts are. That on one hand, yeah, obviously every adjunct cares a lot about education, and teaching, and things like that, but it’s also not anybody’s full time… Well, I mean, except, like there are fulltime adjuncts. But most people who are who are adjuncting, it’s a side thing to some other work. And so, yeah, it’s not anybody’s full time work.
You’re adjuncting now?
Yes. I teach at The New School and NYU. But yeah, it is a funny like, I don’t think of myself as a full-time educator, I’m always hedging like, “Oh I’m not an educator, I’m a game designer… and I teach some classes.” It’s funny, that distance.
I’m a writer, and I teach some classes. So yeah.
Right, exactly! Well, my last question that I have is what else should I ask about in my future? Like, is there anything you’d be curious to know about other people who are adjuncting, or anything like that?
I really can’t think of anything. I don’t know. I don’t have a contract or anything, I would be interested to know, I guess just like the job security stuff. You said you have something that’s in your contract, that you’re guaranteed a class? But is that like because you’re a PhD student? Or, you’re not a student at all?
No, no, not a student at all. The way our contract works… I’m going to get this wrong because we have a new contract and the terms changed a little bit. But it’s basically like, if you’ve been teaching X number of years, I want to say it’s like 4 semesters in a row, something like that, then whatever you’re teaching, that then becomes a baseload that has to be given to you going forward.
Yeah, it’s like, I often say that with all of our employment terms, we’re saving the university from themselves. Because if the business people had their way, they would just drive it into the ground. Because even in the programs I teach in, which pay well and have all these protection stuff, it’s difficult to get people who are willing to do it. Because, you know, it’s not that great, the perks aren’t so good that anyone would do it for that reason. And so it’s hard to staff classes. I’m often being asked at the last minute like, “Do you know anyone who can teach this class?” kind of thing, and that’s their fault, right? That’s the university’s fault for making these positions not that attractive.
But I guess it’s best for their bottom line. You know, it’s like, we have to save our save our pennies, you know. Yeah, that’s crazy. Actually made me think something similar kind of happened at Quinnipiac, something you said a little earlier. One of the weird things was, I had a class that didn’t have full enrollment, and so they’d prorate how much they pay you, if it’s under a certain number of students.
Whaaat?
Yeah.
I’ve never heard of that. That’s crazy. So what, like, so if it’s 8 out of 16, you get half pay!?
I don’t remember. It was it was a couple years ago. Now, it’s it only happened the once, but and she asked me, do you still want to teach it, or we can cancel it. It’s like, I guess I’ll still teach it. You know, the two grand is better than nothing. But yeah, so that was really strange.
Wow, that’s crazy! As if, as if teaching a class was all a variable, like…
Like, there’s a linear progression of the of the difficulty of it. Yeah.
If you over enroll class, do you get a bonus?
Right, yeah, like, “We got 25 in here. You owe me ten thousand dollars.”
Yeah, wow that’s crazy. No I haven’t heard that one. Yeah and I really feel bad for every department director that I’ve known has been great, is always trying to make the best of a worse situation. You know it’s never the department themselves who want to screw anybody, it’s always coming from on high.
Yeah, exactly.
Well, I don’t have anything else to ask about. Is there any other advice that springs to mind that you might want to share?
I guess the only other thing, I mentioned being careful of your time from the department, but also like, with students. This is something else. Especially if you’ve never taught before. It’s easy to like fall into a trap of being on call for your students. To make sure that there are boundaries and things like that. That’s just really general advice.
No, it’s that’s really good. And yeah, definitely, you’re not the first person to share that, because it’s hard, you want to do the best for all of your students, and so you can end up kind of over committing your time.
Yeah.
Okay? Well that brings us to the end of my interview questions. So Leon, thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience and your advice. Every one of these has been of these interviews has been amazing, because asking about people’s work, you said a bunch of things that I’ve heard before, or that I feel like, and I’m like, I totally agree with that. But you say it a different way. And it’s just strangely validating to, you know, hear this kind of common experience that people have.
Should we make a game about being an adjunct in a Game Design department?
Absolutely, a hundred percent.
Yeah, like a game design adjunct game.
Yeah! I’m trying to think of the non- really cynical dystopia version. I think it would be easy to make it like it’s like a Darkest Dungeon, like a horrible management sim, I think would be my default guess.
It makes me think of, what’s the name? What’s the game where you’re crossing the border? And you have to get your stuff stamped?
Oh, Papers Please?
That’s it. I imagine, like a game like that for adjuncting.
Too real, too real.
I’m happy to happy to chat. I always feel awkward talking too much. I’m sorry I didn’t ask you any questions. But I try my best.
No, no, I’m here to talk to you. So yeah. So thanks again for your time. Great to speak with you, and have a have a great semester as well.
You too, I will talk to you later.
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