Thanks to everyone who happened to attend my GDC lecture. I’m really very flattered that we had standing room only, despite something like 25 other sessions taking place at the same time (several of which I would personally have liked to attend!)

For those who asked, please feel free to download my slides here.

Next-Gen did a brief writeup of the session, which is nice. They focused on the “in-game-ads” portion of the talk. One point that didn’t make it into the Next-Gen writeup, which I’d like to clarify, is that while highly-integrated ads are indeed very effective (when done right), non-integral ads (like virtual billboards) can also be effective when done right — just in a different way. The influence of non-integral ads is more subconscious, and is limited to “low information” messages (like logos and images.) Anyway, it’s all there in the slides. :-)

My GDC lecture has been scheduled for Wednesday, 2/20, at 9am in West Hall, room 2002. I hope to see some of you there. :-)

Advertising & Games – Opportunities, Pitfalls, and Competition: This lecture will explore some of the latest research in advertising (in general) and advertising in games (in specific), give tips on making advertising more effective, and share ideas around new ways to advertise with games. This lecture will not be another exercise in affirmation. Attendees will learn what is actually worth an advertiser’s dollar and what is not. Relatedly, attendees will gain some insight into the coming wave of advertising-supported games and “promogames” — i.e. the Xbox Burger King Games — that will change the competitive landscape of the entire game industry will also learn about new game/advertising models, as opportunities and competition.

A partial transcript of the session can be found at GameSpy.com.

The panel exceeded my expectations, for which I have to sincerely thank the panelists. PS. Ray Muzyka is a master of understated humor.

Today’s session went pretty well. I didn’t stutter uncontrollably, pass out, or embarrass myself in any other highly-visible manner. Oh, and the discussion was nice, too. Some of my favorite quotes:

“The people who have a $600 graphics card know how Bittorent works.” - Mike Capps, on PC games and piracy

“EA doesn’t understand that Kellogg is our competition.” - Rich Hilleman, on the broader consumer market

There was also a great moment, which I unfortunately could not capture in writing, during which we discussed the potential benefits of the PC as a forum for adult-only (or otherwise “risky”) game content, as compared to “family-friendly” consoles. Mike Capps inspired the discussion by noting that adult mods can’t thrive on the console. Soren Johnson shared a story about the portrayal of religion in Civilization, and how political sensitivities around that could have been even sharper on the console. And Rich Hilleman noted that online poker is already a massive success on the PC — in other words, adult-centric PC gaming is already a big market — and also that pornography typically goes hand in hand with advances in media technology. Basically, my panelists were telling the audience to consider an, errrrrrr, “hardcore” strategy for the PC game market.  ;-)

IMO, few things are as “newsworthy” as a major publisher declaring their real commitment to the pursuit of the serious game market — at least today, while declared publisher interest in serious games is still rare. And by “real commitment”, I mean more than just publishing another take on Brain Age. I was thrilled to attend Ichiro Otobe’s talk at GDC, a rough but relatively faithful transcript of which is copied below.

Background, for those who don’t know: Square Enix is developer/publisher of game franchises such as Final Fantasy, which has sold 75M units worldwide, and Dragon Quest, which has sold 41M units worldwide.

So why is Square Enix interested in serious games?

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The times/locations for my GDC sessions were just announced. I hope some of you will have the opportunity to attend and say hello afterwards.  :-)

Session: Sharing Control
Time/Location: 10:30am Friday, March 9, 2007, Room: 41

Session Description: This year’s GDC theme is “Take Control”, but this next generation of gaming should be equally remarkable for its emphasis on broadband-enabled social systems, multiplayer games, and user-generated content. This panel will grapple with the benefits and challenges of *sharing control* with gamers. Issues include: how can developers involve consumers in the design process, how can user-generated content help and harm a game, what are the best ways to prevent “low quality” UGC from frustrating the community, and how can user-driven marketing be encouraged?

Session: PC Gaming in an Age of Connected Consoles
Time/Location: 12:00pm Thursday, March 8, 2007, Room: 36

Session Description: The PC game industry is in flux. While sales of casual and massive multiplayer games are rising, sales of traditional AAA titles are reportedly declining. The panel discusses how PC games should evolve to compete with and complement console titles, and identify promising areas for ongoing PC game development. Issues include:
- Is the decline real (and, if so, what is behind it)?
- How will MMOGs continue to impact the market?
- Which business models are most appealing for PC game development and distribution?
- How should PC game design evolve in response to the capabilities of modern consoles?

The first iteration of the GDC 2007 schedule was just announced, and it looks like I’m on it (twice!) Check it out.  :-)

PC Gaming in an Age of Connected Consoles
Speaker: David Edery (Worldwide Games Portfolio Planner, Xbox Live Arcade), Warren Spector (President, Junction Point Studios), Soren Johnson (Designer & Programmer, Firaxis Games), Michael Capps (President, Epic Games, Inc.)
Track: Business and Management
Format: 60-minute Panel

The PC game industry is in flux. While sales of casual and massive multiplayer games are rising, sales of traditional AAA titles are reportedly declining. The panel will discuss how PC games should evolve to compete with and complement console titles, and identify promising areas for ongoing PC game development. Issues include: is the decline real (and, if so, what is behind it), how will MMOGs continue to impact the market, which business models are most appealing for PC game development and distribution, and how should PC game design evolve in response to the capabilities of modern consoles?

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A quick announcement, on behalf of MIT (reprinted from Henry’s blog):

The Comparative Media Studies Program is proud to announce an exciting forthcoming conference, The Futures of Entertainment, to be held at MIT on Nov. 17 and 18. The event is designed to bring together leading thinkers from across the entertainment industry to speak about core issues around media convergence, transmedia storytelling, user-generated content, and participatory culture. Speakers confirmed so far include The Long Tail’s Chris Anderson, Flickr’s Caterina Fake, DC Comic’s Paul Levitz, Warner Brother’s Diane Nelson, Big Spaceship’s Michael Lebowitz, social networking researcher Danah Boyd, television scholar Jason Mittell, and many others, including representatives from MTV, Cartoon Network, Bioware, and other leading companies in this space. The event is free and open to the public but we ask that you preregister since seating will be limited. The event is being hosted by the Convergence Culture Consortium.

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This is a partial transcript of the “Casual Games and Community” session. I’ve only included the quotes I considered interesting and/or amusing.

Moderator: Adeo Ressi, Founder and CEO for Game Trust
Panelists: Greg Mills, Director of Premium Games for AOL; Chris Early, Studio Manager for Microsoft Casual Games Group; Andrew Pedersen, Vice President and Executive Producer for Pogo (EA)

On knowing what the customer wants:

Andrew: Customers often don’t actually know what they really want when first exposed to a new experience. Pogo badges didn’t focus test well at all. Now, badges are so popular that we rolled out “premium badge albums” that you can purchase. Users are snapping them up like crazy. We’ve sold over 750K premium badge albums.

Chris: Everybody thought that the “gamer score” in Xbox Live would be a good thing, but nobody thought it would be a strong driver. But we’ve seen that people live by that score — they look to buy games that will significantly increase it.

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This breakout session was led by Chris Avellone (the brain behind Planescape Torment, which remains my favorite game ever.) Chris encouraged attendees to speak openly about their successes, failures, and concerns; the result was an interesting survey of the demons troubling many game writers. Producers, take note.

For starters, not a single person spoke up when Chris asked them to describe a success. But plenty of people were willing to toss out failures and frustrations.

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