Adventures at the Game Developers Conference
I arrived at the GDC to find I'd already established quite a presence as the 50 foot giant red-haired avatar head at the bottom of the escalator in the North Building at the Moscone Center. It was a bit of a surprise to find myself there, and more will be said about that at another time; for now, I want to mention the important stuff.
This was a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the most interesting and brilliant folks involved in all aspects of the gaming/VR industry as well as intriguing and innovative people searching for career and networking opportunities. I must have spoken with close to 100 people a day while we were present, however this seems insignificant when I consider the thousands and thousands of people I saw bustling around in every direction. I value each person I met and yet regret I didn't meet more. I've gotta start sorting and categorizing these business cards quickly!
As a therapist one of my particular fascinations lies in further defining healthy game play and I can say I had the most fun sitting in the round table discussion on two occasions with Dimitri Williams discussing "game addiction." Since I seem to writing a book on that topic with Neils Clark (I'm honored Neils), this was of particular interest - and I'll write more once I'm home and out of our charming-but-too-small hotel room. Perhaps one of the most important things I heard from several game development sources was how seriously the big companies are taking the issue of potential governmental regulations to restrict excessive game play (China was mentioned on several occasions) and are now taking steps to make subtle alterations in game structure so that players can accomplish something productive while playing with less of a time sink. It would be nice to think that this is motivated by concern for the psychological, physical, and familial health of their player base. That would be really, really nice wouldn't it?
There's a lot I'm curious about, and a lot of people I'll be following up with regarding issues I heard discussed.
