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 Forum index » Diversions » Social Interactions
GDC / San Francisco trip report
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imbri
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Joined: 21 Sep 2002
Posts: 1182
Location: wonderland

 		GDC / San Francisco trip report
I have returned home from San Francisco today completely exhausted and wired from the week. Steve is right that ARGs & Pervasive games generated a lot of interest. Heck, I was even approached for more info on the genres while waiting for my flight to depart in SF. It's so very cool to see so many people interested in learning more and even more exciting to hear strange brainstorms on how many of our techniques could be used to enhance their player experiences. I spoke with people from a variety of backgrounds (sometimes it's good to be an evil smoker type... met tons of people outside the conference center attempting to borrow a lighter Smile) and they all starting some live brainstorming on how ARG & pervasive game conventions could be used to enhance their own games. With my interests not focusing on the more traditional pc & console games, I expected to be quite the outcast at GDC and found that was just not the case.

I heard a bit of a buzz after Katherine Isbister's "Perform or Else: Why (and How) to Include Extroverted Play Design in your Game" session. She and Jane have collaborated on the presentation and there will be more of it at DIGRA (a more academic game conference coming up in June that I would kill to attend... anyone want to fund a poor grad student's trip to Vancouver Wink). Personally, it was my favorite session of the week as it referred to some social psych research which really complimented my undergrad and made me realize that my move to Game Design actually does make sense (now if I can only convince my family that I've not lost my mind... heh). ARGs & pervasive games were only mentioned briefly (most of the examples focused on Groove & DDR) but it was enough to whet a few people's whistles just in time for...

The Game Developer's Choice Awards! It was incredible to see ARGs (Elan & ILB) and pervasive games (Matt Adams of Blast Theory for Uncle Roy All Around You) get attention in the heavy video game environment. As most know by now, ILB won an Innovation award and Blast Theory won the Maverick award. Elan gave a great speech, thanking everyone at 42 and the players. Ariock has video of it and I have a few pictures that I'll post when I get a chance.

On Thursday, I met briefly with Wraith, Steve, Elan Lee, & Sean Stewart. It was my first time meeting Elan and Sean and it was, frankly, very cool. They are genuinely nice and it wasn't long before I had my glassy eyed fangirl bit in check. Unfortunately, perhaps not in time for the meeting to end, as we only had a half an hour or so before it was time to head back over to the conference as Jane was presenting during the Experimental Gameplay Workshop session.

She really did a fantastic job and it was a treat to hear her speak, especially after using so much of her work in my own research. The crowd was very responsive as she played some of the audio while various pictures flashed on the screen. When the audience wasn't laughing, they seemed very intrigued by it all. What sticks out most in my mind from the presentation was her explaining ARGs & Pervasive Games and how she/they wanted to create a sort of balance between the two by making the ARG more pervasive by moving it into the real world space and providing a longer persistant world & narrative for pervasive games. If you follow her presentations and such, keep an eye out for the ppt either on her site or the [url=]Experimental Gameplay site[/url]. (the other game that seemed to captivate people there was Rag Doll Kung Fu)

Steve & I went to dinner on Thursday with Wraith/Dan Carver (a Beast PM) and had some good thai and great discussion on games, game design, and hopes & dreams for the ARG genre. Having not seen Wraith since the Orlando ARGfest and Steve since the first fest in Vegas, it was great fun to see them both and catch up a bit. We met up again on Friday afternoon before meeting with up with the larger crowd at the Thirsty Bear. It was such a trip meeting up with Jane, Kiyash, and a few of the beekeepers from the SF area (including Ariock, hmrpita, DarkForge, Ranger D, catherwood, & LeftBrained).

On Saturday, Wraith and I headed over to Berkeley to see the ILB exhibitin hopes of getting a bit of a sneak peek. After getting slightly lost (it would have helped if I had remembered where the exhibit was supposed to be!), we called Ariock for a hint or two and he just happened to be standing outside of the exhibit waiting for Ranger D. We were able to get in and see what they had up but, unfortunately, we weren't able to see it in its full glory (lights off and exploring with flashlights). I took lots of pictures and, if they turned out, I'll post small versions here once I get a chance to get them off my camera and send the big pretty pictures to Bill & Steve to post on deaddrop &/or argn. It's a cool exhibit and those of you in the area are required (required, I say) to go and check it out. Afterwards, we stopped for a quick bite and spent a long time talking about the beast and the bees and, even, running play by mail games.

All in all, I had a blast. It was fun meeting new people, reconnecting with old friends, and coming face to face with people that I've admired from a far. I'm definitely heading back next year.

- brooke

PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:00 pm
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vpisteve
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Joined: 30 Sep 2002
Posts: 2441
Location: 1987

 		I've put up some pictures here.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:49 pm
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imbri
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Joined: 21 Sep 2002
Posts: 1182
Location: wonderland

 		For those that don't visit the archived threads unless prompted... the video of Elan's acceptance!

ariock wrote:

ok. Be gentle.

Thanks to RangerD, whose skillful video manipulation has shrunk the file from 60 MB to 9 MB. That is still a lot, so be careful. The torrent thing is a little too complicated at the moment, so I am going to attempt direct downloads.

1. The file is a quicktime .MOV, so you will need that to view it.

2. Try right clicking and Saving the File As, rather than viewing it in your browser.

3. If you would like to help and mirror the file, please post a link below. Thank you!

http://www.ariock.org/images/elanacceptance.mov

I hope this works!


Steve has also mirrored it here

and for those that wish to read along (or are unable to access the video), ariock posted a transcript

ariock wrote:

Transcript below.

!init transmit proc
!transmit transcript

Presenters:
Ok, so the first awards given out are the innovation awards. Innovation is the lifeblood of our industry. It is what challenges the status quo and pushes the boundary of what a video game should be. Without it we wouldn't be in the room here tonight. We recognize three titles for their outstanding contribution to innovation.

Our first innovation recipient is a perfect example of how the best games don't have to come from cartridges or DVD-ROMs. In 2004, I Love Bees transcended being just an appetizer for Halo 2 and became a phenomenon long before Bungie's game was released. Players worked out clues using payphones, became web sleuths, and did strange things in public, just so they could hear the latest episode of an engrossing radio drama in the spirit of "The War of the Worlds."

Please welcome to the stage, creative director, Elan Lee.

Elan Lee:
Wow I feel like I should tuck this under my shirt and bolt out of here before someone wants to take it back. Um, it is...wow there's so many people here...it's really flattering that you guys would choose to give this to an alternate reality game...a viral entertainment piece. It is something we've all been working on for a really long time and that you guys would honor it with an innovation award is just unbelievable to us. I wanted to just quickly walk you through a hypothetical scenario. Let's say you've got one of the best selling games of all time. You've got a rabid fan base. You're about to launch a sequel that's bound to break a bunch of records...and this sloppy group of guys walks into your office and says, "So we want to change around with your narrative a little bit, invent some new characters and rework your back story, and you're not going to be able to approve any of it until it goes live in front of a few hundred thousand people." That's exactly the scenario we put Microsoft and Bungies Studios in and it is a testament to their commitment and bravery that they allowed us to build this project. We really hope that we did you guys proud.

I wanted to especially thank Chris DiCesare, Cameron Payne, everyone at Bungie Studios for trusting us with your baby. It's also important to note that you are not just giving this to me and I am the talking head up on stage here, but we've got all of 4orty2wo Entertainment, and in particular, I just wanted to really acknowledge Sean Stewart, my partner in crime, Joe DiNunzio, Susan Bonds, Jim Stewartson, Jane McGonigal, Bob Fagan, Jesse Trott, George Cook, Markus Roskothen and of course, our founder, our leader and our inspiration, Jordan Weisman. And last, but certainly not least, this stage would be filled with a whole bunch of other people, and those would be the players, and they would fill the stage, and they would fill the auditorium, and they would pour out into the hallway, and these are the guys whose enthusiasm, whose dedication, whose creativity forced us to make the game better than we ever thought it could be. You guys made the girl real. Thank you.

!end transcript



PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:39 pm
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Tonamel
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Joined: 06 Oct 2003
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 		I wish I could have been there, but I was too busy guarding the door and passing T-Shirts out afterward Smile

Did you get one? We had tons left...

PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:18 pm
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imbri
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Joined: 21 Sep 2002
Posts: 1182
Location: wonderland

 		one, yes. two, maybe Wink

Wish I'd known you were there!

- b

PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 1:33 am
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colin
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Joined: 13 Oct 2003
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 		thanks for posting this. It's a little hard for me to get to these things :/ Smile

PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 3:46 am
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bill
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Joined: 25 Sep 2002
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 		Re: GDC / San Francisco trip report
imbri wrote:
On Saturday, Wraith and I headed over to Berkeley to see the ILB exhibitin hopes of getting a bit of a sneak peek. [snip] I took lots of pictures and, if they turned out, I'll post small versions here once I get a chance to get them off my camera and send the big pretty pictures to Bill & Steve to post on deaddrop &/or argn.


Imbri's pictures are now posted on deaddrop.us.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 8:36 am
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krystyn
I Never Tire of My Own Voice


Joined: 26 Sep 2002
Posts: 3651
Location: Is not Chicago

 		OMG, the exhibit has the definition of the word enhottenate???


YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jetpack Jetpack Jetpack

PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:54 am
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vpisteve
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Joined: 30 Sep 2002
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 		Jason Della Roca, who is the Executive Director of the IGDA, has a nice comment about ILB and its Innovation Award in his blog.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:45 pm
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catherwood
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee

Joined: 25 Sep 2002
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Location: Silicon Valley, CA

 		poked around and followed some links to another blurb about ILB, with props to Jane.
http://www.experimental-gameplay.org/2005/index.html
(i think this is new, but delete me if it was already posted.)

PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 8:11 pm
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imbri
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Joined: 21 Sep 2002
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 		Thanks for that Cath, I've been wondering when they'd have that up.

The experimental gameplay session was fantastic... lots of cool stuff was shown. The coolest, of course, was ILB (not that I'm biased or anything Wink) and Jane gave a great presentation on it. Rag Doll Kung Fu was a close second... man, is it bizarre & wonderful looking!

Despite it's lack of ARG goodness, I want to plug the Butterfly Effect game that is mentioned in the last section. Marleigh Norton, the creator, is at Tech with me and showed us her work last semester in our Game Design course (she worked on it for her final project). It's an innovative augmented reality game where players see the butterflies in their real environment and have to capture them. The butterflies aren't flying all about, but some may be beyond the player's current reach. To retrieve them, the options are to walk up to them or manipulate them in a fashion similar to a rubik's cube until you are able to get to them. It is really very cool and I'm just in awe of what all she's done with it. You can read more about it here

- b

PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 9:24 pm
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