Game Developers Conference 2008 - (Page 55) Worlds in Motion Summit MonDAY & tuesDAY The Worlds in Motion Summit is a definitive event tailored for the growing number of industry professionals and Fortune 500 companies developing interactive online spaces for both entertainment and commercial purposes. Discussion forums will delve into online worlds, social gaming and media and player created activity, providing insight for developers of all backgrounds into how the game industry is collectively building socialization into games and integrating personalization and player-generated content into gameplay—while widely accessible Web and networking tools are looking to the game industry for their way forward. The summit will also debate the future of gaming, which may lie in the convergence of these new frontiers. (304) Worlds in Motion summit 10am-6pm • room 2018, West Hall Worlds in Motion Summit ADVisor Leigh Alexander WorLDs in Motion Leigh covers virtual worlds extensively as editor of Worlds in Motion. She is a staff writer for Gamasutra, and examines the philosophy, psychology and pop culture of games and gamers in reviews, features and editorials for GameSetWatch, The Escapist, Paste Magazine and at her workblog, Sexy Videogameland. With clients including HBO, WB, Intel and Microsoft, and a team comprised of game industry veterans, founder Reuben Steiger has seen a significant trend that will only continue to gain in momentum. He’ll discuss the ways online worlds converge with the production of TV, film, music and gaming, as diverse entertainment media dissolve their boundaries to meet in these persistent worlds. at hand, and the evolution of business models for all online play. Funware: gaming the Web gabe Zichermann (rmbr.com) 2:30-3pm 10-year industry veteran Zichermann developed the concept for rmbr in early 2007 after realizing that he had stopped enjoying the process of dealing with his friends’ online photos, and that a game-centric approach might fix the problem. Zichermann now presents a series of inventive and entertaining ideas on revolutionizing traditional, static web concepts with game-like content, and discusses how 2D virtual worlds are the dominant paradigm. MonDAY, FebruArY 18 Heeding the Lessons of bartle in socially-Driven spaces erik bethke (gopets.com) 12-12:30pm While developing goPEts, an online world of virtual pets and games, CEO Erik Bethke realized that Richard Bartle’s research on the “four gamer types”—Achievers, Explorers, Socializers and Killers—still holds quintessential lessons on user engagement in the open-world, socially-driven environment of virtual worlds. By heeding the lessons of Bartle, Bethke was actually able to double GoPets’ revenue, and now shares this and other key concepts essential to informing a new medium through established methods. Why gamers should care about Virtual Worlds raph Koster (Areae) 10:05-11am Virtual worlds may be a nascent medium, but already lessons on user behavior, open worlds and content democratization have begun to surface, promising to provide new insight and evolution on the way we play and socialize. Industry pioneer Raph Koster, whose company, Areae, is set to join the revolution in a big way, saw these new insights coming before wider adoption had even begun, and he will discuss why virtual worlds and online spaces are more than a fad—and why you absolutely should care. is Asia the new Hollywood? ideas from the east susan choe (outspark), Daniel James (three rings), bryan pelz (Vinagame), David Wallerstein (tencent) 3:15-4pm Lunch coffee break 11-11:15am Sponsored by: 12:30-2pm the power of Free to play Adrian crook 2-2:30pm Free-to-play is here to stay, and the advent of this new model raises a number of interesting questions about monetizing online worlds and games, and meeting the needs of users. A champion of this business model and owner of the freetoplay.biz blog, independent producer Adrian Crook will discuss the essential issues entertainment content convergence in online Worlds reuben steiger (Millions of us) 11:15-11:45am Millions of Us is an innovative agency, building worlds and supporting content for entertainment mega-brands in online spaces. Many of the biggest and most permanent trends in online worlds have come out of the explosive Asian market, and now developers, investors and publishers alike are wisely looking East for the next wave of evolution. Asia just may be “the new Hollywood” of online gaming, and this panel convenes experienced companies to discuss the appeal, the issues, and the future out of this hotbed. coffee break 4-4:15pm Sponsored by: Visit www.gdconf.com for daily coverage of GDC 2008 55 http://www.gdconf.com/?cid=GDC08_showguide http://rmbr.com http://www.gopets.com http://freetoplay.biz http://www.gdconf.com/?cid=GDC08_showguide
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