Master’s of Entertainment Technology
Concentration in Transformational Play
Starting in Fall 2026, the Entertainment Technology Center will be offering as part of the Master’s of Entertainment Technology (MET) an optional concentration in Transformational Play.
A graduate concentration is a specialization within a field of knowledge. It lets students focus on a specific area of interest and engage in more depth. The concentration in Transformational Play connects knowledge about how humans think, feel, and behave with the intentional design of playful systems that address real-world challenges.
About the Program:
- Concentration students will complete their immersion semester as part of the main ETC cohort.
- Concentration students must choose their electives from a list of approved concentration courses.
- During project semesters, concentration students will be assigned to concentration-specific project teams. These teams will be hosted on main campus to be near key collaborators, and will receive explicit seminar-style instruction in addition to prototyping and design support.
- For concentration students only, there is a required summer project between the first and second years of the program.
- Students in the concentration will NOT be eligible for summer or semester Co-Op programs
- Students in the concentration will be housed at the Center for Transformational Play, located near the main campus, for the duration of their project courses.
Please Note: We cannot guarantee that you will be assigned to projects in a particular transformational area (e.g. learning, health). However, we will ensure that you learn generalizable transformational design principles that will prepare you to work in the field of your choice. For a full description of the ETC curriculum visit etc.cmu.edu/academics/curriculum.
To Apply:
- Begin the ETC application process at etc.cmu.edu/index.php/admissions.
- At the end of the application process, you will receive an email with additional information. That email will include further details about applying to the concentration.
- Follow the link included in the email to express interest in the Transformational Play concentration and provide additional information. You will be directed to a small number of questions to fill out, so we can evaluate your fit for the concentration.
Please Note: This is a two-tier application process. Students must first be accepted into the ETC master’s program. Acceptance to the ETC master’s program does not guarantee acceptance into the Transformational Play concentration. Applicants to the Transformational Play concentration will also be considered in the regular ETC candidate pool.
Application Dates and Deadlines:
- Applications to the ETC are due on January 1, 2026
- Additional application questions for the Transformational Play concentration are due January 30, 2026
If you have a specific question about the Transformational Play concentration, please send an email to ctp-info@andrew.cmu.edu with the subject line “Transformational Play Concentration.” Share your question in the body of the email. Questions about the full master's application process should be directed to the ETC.
About the CTP: Established in 2022, The Center for Transformational Play is an interdisciplinary research and design center under the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. The CTP’s mission is to bring together world-class expertise from across the university to design, build, and study transformational games that change how people think, feel, and behave.
About the ETC: The ETC, a joint venture between CMU's School of Computer Science and College of Fine Arts, is renowned for its interdisciplinary, project-based approach to creating engaging experiences. Founded on the principle that art and technology combine to create impactful interactive media, the ETC provides a unique "world's greatest playground with an electric fence" – a space for unbounded creativity within structured constraints. This position directly aligns with the ETC's ongoing commitment to "transformational games, innovation by design, and interactive storytelling," recognizing that play is pivotal to the future of learning and working in the 21st century.
