Virtual Worlds Forum – Postponed!
I wish I lived in London.
If I did, I’d want to go to the Virtual Worlds Forum that was originally scheduled for October 6 – October 8, 2008. Unfortunately, a shooting caused the event to be postponed until further announcement. Maybe someone can buy me a pass for when it’s rescheduled? Or, maybe I can go next year…you know, to speak (hah!)
(One thing: although I know that there are benefits to meeting in person and networking, isn’t it sort of “bad press” for the founders of sMeet or the Association of Virtual Worlds that they can’t coordinate a virtual meeting of the minds?)
Some of the scarier bios:
Craig Sherman
“During business hours, Craig Sherman lives in gaiaonline.com, the leading teen hangout on the web.”
Adam Martin
“His main advice to people developing new online games or virtual worlds is to remember that Hope is not a Strategy.”
Most surprising bio – if you think the “pioneer” in online games has thick, nerdy glasses and bad acne, think again:
Jessica Mulligan
“Jessica Mulligan is an online game professional with over twenty years of industry experience at all levels of management and is considered a pioneer of the online game/MMO space.”
At least us nerds in the United States have something else to do to bide our time…Neil Gaiman, of Sandman fame, posted video readings of his latest book entitled _The Graveyard Game_ (actual game also posted.)
If I lived in London, here are some presentations that I’d like to see (perhaps, youtube?):
- The Best of Both Worlds – How are Games/Social Worlds Emerging?
(“How are niche / microworlds developing as the next big opportunity?”) - Enterprise 3D Virtual Environments (“Philips case study – Exploring business opportunity domains with a view to new and increased value at lower cost”)
- Financial Perspectives (“Are we starting to see a difference between infrastructure providers (graphics engines, character AI, etc.) and the consumer front end?”)
- Global Trends (“Are virtual worlds built (intentionally or unintentionally) to reflect the societies they originate from or as global phenomena?”)
- Future of Virtual Worlds (“What is the future of proprietary and non proprietary virtual worlds?”)
- Monetisation and Business Models (“Subscription versus RMT debate – what are the pros and cons? How do you sell power-ups and performance boosts without spoiling the game?”)
- Web 2.0 Strategy and Virtual Worlds (“Will virtual worlds grow into social networks themselves? How good are they at supporting them?”)
- Legal and Regulatory Perspectives (natch) (“Legislators are concerned about protecting kids and teens from all sorts of dangers, and some of these laws apply to virtual worlds as well: issues are ranging from privacy protection to violent media content, from excessive spending to unfair advertising practices. Not all jurisdictions focus on the same issues, though, and sometimes the obligations imposed on the operators are contradictory.”)) (Although it’s a European Forum, they have this Texas dude speaking
James Bower
(“Dr. Bower lives on a ranch outside San Antonio where he breeds and raises Cleveland Bay horses, and plays polo.”) Why not any US lawyers? Do virtual worlds still have legal borders? Even from a comparative legal perspective it would be interesting. I nominate Michael Madison.)
- Business Issues for Entertainment Channels and Brands (“What new revenue streams are emerging? What is the value of content and what is the balance between professional content, premium content and user generated content – will it subside?”) (nonpretentious falls into the category of professional content, right?)
- Enterprise Virtual Worlds (“How to make the virtual environment part of the norm rather than being a bolt-on – integration strategies”)
- User Experience (“What is required for enterprise applications to achieve their full potential?”)
- Open Source and Innovation in Virtual Worlds (“Why the open source model makes sense for virtual worlds” and “Open source and cloud computing”) (We do cloud computing here!!)
Next year, I’m so there.
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