Valve has launched a community website aimed at helping high school students who are seeking a career in the video game industry.
Pipeline was created by a group of high school interns working at Valve, and aims to "establish a connection to the world of teenagers that are asking many questions about getting into the gaming industry," according to the site's FAQ.
"This website was created entirely be teenagers," said Valve's managing director Gabe Newell, in the service's accompanying promotional video.
According to the Pipeline FAQ, Valve's management wants to find a way to connect with young, aspiring game-makers. "Traditionally Valve has been a very good place for very experienced video game developers, and not so good at teaching people straight out of school," reads the FAQ. "The reasons for this and the tradeoffs are covered in the Valve employee handbook. Pipeline is an experiment to see if we can take a group of high school students with minimal work experience and train them in the skills and methods necessary to be successful at a company like Valve."
Valve says more information that will help students will be released in the next month. "We are frequently asked questions by teenagers about the video game industry," states the FAQ. "'What is it like to work on video games? What should I study? What colleges are best for preparing me? How do I get a job in video games?' Pipeline will be a place where those questions can be discussed."
