Charles Hudson, Gaia Interactive’s senior director for business development, and former Trident Capital senior associate David Sachs will be hosting the Social Gaming Summit on June 13, another conference on the intersection of gaming and social networking, but with an added focus on immersive worlds.

The one-day San Francisco event will take place at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center and bring together leaders in the social networking and gaming spaces, such as Mochi Media and the Zynga Game Network, to provide insight into the convergence of the two worlds.

Some of the programs scheduled for the Social Gaming Summit include Asynchronous Games on Social Networks, Casual MMOs and Immersive Worlds, and Monetization and Business Models for Social Games.

You can register and find more information on speakers and panels at Social Gaming Summit's site.

Registration is now open for the 2008 Austin Game Developers Conference (Austin GDC). Presented by Think Services, organizers of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference (GDC), the Austin GDC is a three-day event taking place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas September 15-17, 2008.

The conference brings together the best sessions, speakers and networking opportunities for developers of online games, game writers, and audio professionals. The conference's "Evolve to Win" theme reflects a forward-looking focus on the technologies and methodologies that game developers will need to acclimate to in order to survive in the fast-paced games industry.

This year's addition of the Worlds in Motion Summit (WiMS), an Independent Games Festival (IGF) showcase, and access to the "myGDC" social networking portal further round out the conference and community networking opportunities. Registration information and details for the event, including track descriptions, are now available at the Austin GDC website.

In a panel at the 2008 ION Game Conference titled Real Money, Fake Money and Loot: Designing Economies for MMO Games, participants representing a variety of MMO developers, including Big Fish Games and Sulake, discussed the game design and economics issues that can make or break a game.

"Set it up from the beginning so it doesn't hurt you that people will pay someone in China to farm your game," advised ArenaNet skill balancing designer Isaiah Cartwright. "You'll always have a black market conversation rate for your game, so bring it in and use it to your advantage. The game demographic is growing up and having more money than time, and you should take that on from the start."

AristoDigital's Jay Minn, moderator of the panel, agreed: "You need to know the economics from the beginning or you'll get stuck on design decisions about encouraging certain player behaviors over others."

On the topic of the need to plan an economy before the community develops its own, Big Fish Games' Toby Ragaini pointed to Asheron’s Call as an example: "In Asheron’s Call, they made money weigh something, so rich people couldn't carry their money around. So players came up with their own exchange for a small, lightweight item (shards). Everyone traded based on these items."

Habbo Hotel developer Sulake Corporation's CTO Osma Ahvenlampi noted, "In Habbo, at first they made the currency non-tradable, but players were trading everything else. They finally decided it would make it easier for everyone concerned and made bags of gold etc. When that happened, it reduced eBay transactions because it was easier and more trusted by players to do it internally."

"You can't create a complex game without an economist on board, or pretend to be one," Ahvenlampi added, pointing to Habbo Hotel's 10 million transactions per day.

Cautioning designers on the dangers of not planning economies, Cartwright said, "The gold farmers aren't trying to use the in-game money, they're trying to turn that into real money as soon as possible. Anything you do to benefit the casual player, you're also benefiting the gold farmers 24 times, because they're playing 24 times as long" -- to which Ahvenlampi concluded, "This is why game design is turning into economic balancing."

[The preceding article by Wendy Despain originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

In a 2008 ION Game Conference panel held yesterday, a group of MMOG developers, including Nexon America and Turbine, talked about the differences in culture and expectations between Western and Asian markets that should be considered when localizing a game. The discussion, titled "Creating a Global Marketplace for MMOGs: Can East and West Really Play Together?" gave the developers an opportunity to discuss the difficulties in adapting games for either markets.

"One thing North American developers are still learning that players need to have is a stage on which to show off their achievements," said John Young, manager of John Romero's Slipgate Ironworks. "Sure I can get unique items, but how do I show my friends that I have unique items? It's a social experience. North American developers tend to think of those things as not being 'fair,' which may work best for North America, but it doesn't work in Korea."

Added Min Kim, director of gamer operations at Nexon America: "The difference is the experience players had as they were growing up. In Korea, video arcades were the way to play games from the get-go, so it has always been a social experience."

"In the US market," Kim continued, "it's a personal experience, as players bought a console and brought it home. Asian companies don't even really consider the single player experiences until they localize to the US, although that is changing now somewhat."

Business development Robert Ferrari from MMORPG publisher Turbine's suggested changes were imminent in the future, saying "one way the East and West will learn how to work together better is by studying successes. As we see more success, we'll learn how to do it better."

Neowiz's Won Il Suh clarified the idea of the "Eastern style of gaming," saying that the term is too simplified: "The Koreans play differently than the Chinese, than Japan, and so on. We had to change the gameplay completely for a Korean game that was released into China. And that's important, he concluded. "You should think about localizing gameplay and not just language and culture."

[The preceding article by Wendy Despain originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

As online game worlds continue to develop and evolve, so do the legal issues and liabilities affecting developers -- and in this session at the ION conference, Steve Augustino, a United States-based attorney, and Andreas Lober, a German attorney, discussed the differing approaches of the U.S. and the E.U to virtual world law.

The presentation focused on some (real) cases to illustrate legal liabilities in the U.S. and Europe: Bragg v. Linden Lab as an examination of enforceability of EULAs (End-User License Agreements); Blizzard v. Peons4hire as a case where the EULA was of no use; and Familles de France vs. Linden Lab as an example user generated content issues.

With MMOs, community is everything – so how can you ensure your community remains happy and healthy with content changes, server down time or even just a developer misspeaking able to lead to a full meltdown?

They can happen no matter what is done to prevent them, and in this panel at ION the best methods to employ to avert disaster were explored.

Moderated by Craig Dalrymple (Sony Online Entertainment) panelists included Victor Wachter (Cryptic Studios), Katie Postma (FireSky), Alan Crosby (Sony Online Entertainment) and Meghan Rodberg (Turbine).

Speaking with designers at a 2008 ION Game Conference session, Spacetime Studios’ Brandon Reinhart, lead designer on the developer's forthcoming space MMO BlackStar presented his ideas for storytelling techniques in game design in a session titled “Narrative Design for MMOs: Using Storytelling to Craft and Convey Vision.”

Ineffective Design Documents

Reinhart began the session dismissing design documents as massive productions that poorly convey their message: “The reason I think these ‘visionary designers’ are different from us ordinary designers is that they understand the design doc is not a good way to get people to believe in what you're doing.”

He continued, “Design docs are great for making plans and scoping projects, so we can't throw them away entirely, but when you're telling your buddies -- or team mates -- about the game, you tell them about it in a story, not a wall of text.”

With the 2008 Austin Game Developers Conference coming this September 15-17 and registrations now open for the Austin, Texas event - which includes both 'Online Gaming' tracks and a special Worlds In Motion Summit for businesspeople and brands looking to get into virtual worlds, it's time to start highlighting a few of the already-announced lectures:

- Flying Lab's director of development Joe Ludwig will be presenting 'Pirates of the Burning Sea: A Post-Partum', with the cheery refrain: "Well, it took five years, but Flying Lab Software has finally launched its Age of Sail MMO! Come hear the ups and downs of the project and all the things the team learned along the way". The project has some interesting in-game lessons - will be interesting to hear Joe dissect them.

- Internet marketing research company comScore's Edward Hunter will be speaking on 'Measuring & Metrics: The Online Gaming Audience', one of our advanced Business & Marketing sessions, covering the shift in the online gaming audience demographic and where those audiences are headed - important stats within!

- Finally for now, Disney Interactive senior designer Patricia Pizer is debuting 'Everything I Need To Know About Virtual Worlds, I learned at Disneyland', in which one of the masterminds behind Disney's DGamer project (effectively a Nintendo DS-connected online world!) discusses a cute and relevant real-world comparison point: "Walt Disney and his team built Disneyland on a foundation of thoughtful, deep and careful design choices, each made to deliberately address issues such as quality of experience, narrative flow, party-dynamics, crowd control and user retention."

For more information, including a number of other key already debuted lectures that we'll be highlighting weekly here on WorldsInMotion.biz, alongside further new Worlds In Motion Summit/online keynote specifics as they happen, check out the official Austin GDC 2008 website.

With the 2008 Austin Game Developers Conference coming this September 15-17 and registrations now open for the Austin, Texas event - which includes both 'Online Gaming' tracks and a special Worlds In Motion Summit for businesspeople and brands looking to get into virtual worlds, it's time to continue highlighting a few of the already-announced lectures:

- Nexon America's director of game operations, Min Kim, will share his experience from working with immensely popular MMO MapleStory and other games in a session titled From Development to Launch: the Keys to Building a Successful Free-to-Play MMO. The 101 discussion will cover everything from useful tips on making games to how to work with publishers - professionals working in the free-to-play MMO environment shouldn't miss this one.

- BioWare Austin lead combat designer Damion Schubert is inviting mid and high-level designers to attend his session on "elder gameplay," Endgame: How to Build High-End Gameplay for Your Most Devoted Players. This informative session will focus not only on the importance of "elder gaming mechanics," but also on the subtleties that should be considered when designing them and the dangers of overthinking them - hopefully with some tangential references to BioWare Austin's yet-to-be revealed MMO.

- Cryptic Studios director of publishing Grant Wei plans to evaluate the customer’s relationship with creators in Engaging Customer Service – an MMO perspective, a session on the many channels through which customers interact with MMOG developers - and how companies can take each interaction as an "opportunity to provide a flawless and enjoyable customer experience." With experience from the relatively successful City Of Heroes, and looking forward to Champions Online, this should be an intriguing perspective.

For more information, including a number of other key already debuted lectures that we'll be highlighting weekly here on WorldsInMotion.biz, alongside further new Worlds In Motion Summit/online keynote specifics as they happen, check out the official Austin GDC 2008 website.

Organizer Tandem Events has announced a special day-long addition to its July 29-31st Brighton, UK Develop Conference focusing specifically on online gaming, with representatives of Linden Labs, Jagex, Blitz Games and more set to headline sessions.

Tandem says the July 29th special conference will consist of "ten enlightening sessions and one inspirational keynote address" that will "address the real world – and virtual world - challenges and solutions facing online game developers globally."

Currently confirmed speakers include representatives from Guild Wars developer ArenaNet, EVE Online creator CCP, Second Life developer Linden Labs, RuneScape creator Jagex, and more.

The online session will be in addition to the Develop conference proper, which recently announced sessions from four Japanese developers behind recent Sony releases Patapon and Echochrome.

Said Tandem managing director Andy Lane, “Online gaming is booming in Europe... The creation of Develop Online recognises the increasing importance of the online gaming sector and addresses the technical issues currently faced by online developers, giving a unique opportunity for European developers to come together to share their insights for a day."

According to organizers, September 16-17, 2008 will mark the return of the Think Services-created Worlds in Motion Summit, taking place at the Austin Game Developers Conference in the Austin Convention Center.

The event, which saw its successful debut at the Game Developers Conference 2008 in San Francisco this past spring, will map the broadening of the worldwide business market through the expansive and growing social game networking space.

The Worlds in Motion Summit, presented by Gamasutra sister weblog WorldsinMotion.biz, is of particular value to those looking to successfully leverage their content and brands into interactive online worlds.

For the first confirmed keynote, Stephen Andrade, Senior Vice President, Digital Development and General Manager, NBC.com will be joined by Rajat Paharia, Founder and CEO of Bunchball in a first-of-its-kind presentation, titled “Dunder Mifflin Infinity: A Case Study in Using Game Mechanics to Drive Community Behavior.”

Participants will hear how Bunchball’s Nitro meta-gaming platform is being used to drive user behavior and increase engagement on Dunder Mifflin Infinity, a social networking and user-generated content site for fans of NBC’s hit TV show, The Office.

Additional confirmed speakers for the upcoming Worlds in Motion Summit include:

- James M. Bower - Founder of Whyville parent company Numedeon.

- Teemu Huuhtanen - President, North America of Sulake Inc, creators of popular online world Habbo.

- Jonathan Epstein - CEO of in-game ad firm Double Fusion, who will be presenting alongside Huuhtanen on placing ads in Habbo.

The conference will examine the results that both independent start-ups and established Fortune 500 companies can derive from actively participating in the virtual world space. The Worlds in Motion Summit will map the intersection of games, business and entertainment in virtual worlds, and provide a look into where these virtual worlds are headed.

Beyond traditional notions of linear gameplay experiences, the Worlds in Motion Summit will delve into the increasing socialization of games and online worlds, and the integration of personalization and player-generated content into gameplay.

Additional information on the event and confirmed speakers can be found at Austin GDC's Worlds in Motion Summit page.

Organizers for the Visual Web Convention, a two-day London conference (July 9 - 10) encompassing four industry and entertainment-related events, have announced that VastPark CEO Bruce Joy will deliver a keynote at the convention's Virtual Worlds & MMOs summit.

Based in Australia, VastPark is a developer of virtual world platforms, offering tools for creating virtual worlds which can be shared, monetized, and remixed by users, developers, and corporates. Joy will lead a discussion on the opportunity and direction of virtual worlds and the visual web for the next 6-12 months.

Other speakers scheduled for the convention include Lord David Puttnam and representatives from developers, such as CCP Games, Codemasters and Avaloop, as well as representatives from leading media developers and brand agencies.

With the 2008 Austin Game Developers Conference coming this September 15-17 and registrations now open for the Austin, Texas event - which includes both 'Online Gaming' tracks and a special Worlds In Motion Summit for businesspeople and brands looking to get into virtual worlds, it's time to continue highlighting a few of the already-announced lectures:

- Playfish CEO Kristian Segerstrale will be sharing 10 Key Ingredients for a Successful Social Game with her session's attendees, using data and design examples from Facebook hit Who Has The Biggest Brain? Casual game developers with an interests in social games will appreciate her insights on structuring a social games team and avoiding development process problems.

- SOE Austin senior community manager Em Stock, Flying Lab Software director Troy Hewitt, and EA Bioware community manager Sean Dalberg will hold an intriguing discussion on The Psychology of The MMO Gamer. Joined by University of Texas's Department of Psychology staff, including professor Dr. Samuel Gosling and department head and chairman Dr. James Pennebaker, the group will share proven practices for better interpreting and dealing with online communities behaviors, behaviors and feedback which should be dismissed or examined, and tips for not letting player behaviors affect and manipulate developers emotionally.

- Drakeford & Kane LLC attorney Sean Kane will deliver an informative lecture for our Business & Marketing track titled Managing Copyright Issues in Videogames and Virtual Worlds. The presentation will discuss the various forms of work subject to copyright protection as they relate to video game and virtual world environments. Kane will also cover the differing treatment of the interplay of player and developer rights as have been decided by the US & Asian courts.

For more information, including a number of other key already debuted lectures that we'll be highlighting weekly here on WorldsInMotion.biz, alongside further new Worlds In Motion Summit/online keynote specifics as they happen, check out the official Austin GDC 2008 website.

Is there an easy way to explain what makes games fun? Is it even possible to explain what fun is? At the Social Gaming Summit, a panel including Ian Bogost (Persuasive Games) and Nicole Lazzaro (XEODesign) discussed what fun is in the context of social gaming, looking at Facebook gaming to argue that social context is key.

Nicole Lazzaro, president of XEODesign began the panel by stating that "The most important quadrant for this conference is what we call social fun - people will play games they hate just to hang out with their friends. In social games, amusement and social bonding are the emotions that you are going for."

Facebook And Social Gaming

"Parking Wars is definitely the best game on Facebook," offered Persuasive Games' Ian Bogost. "Why is that? You're playing as yourself, but a different version of yourself. When we play as ourselves in a game like Parking Wars, it's us, but it's also slightly not us. We get to suspend the normal roles of our social life and try new roles. Also, it's about something. The something is parking, which sounds boring, but it's meaningful - it's a context."

He continued, "By taking advantage of knowledge you pull from Facebook, like other's schedule, you're leveraging your knowledge of your network of friends and exploiting it in ways you might not usually do. I know there's a great obsession to hook people and get them back as soon as possible, but it can reduce the meaning of a game to ask for that kind of regularity. You want a meaning behind the time between each session, which Parking Wars has. Another example of that is Animal Crossing."

With YouTube disruptive to the movie and TV industries, a panel at the recent Social Gaming Summit, including Daniel James (Puzzle Pirates) and Cary Rosenzweig (IMVU) looked at the idea that that the games industry should understand user generated content before it's too late, with the intriguing proposition that game developers should think virtual "spaces" not virtual "worlds."

"The more tools that you provide can lead to richer behavior, but often it's the simpler things that people enjoy most," began Daniel James, CEO of Three Rings. "As designing games constraints can lead you to designing better games, constrained environments can lead to more fun."

"The simplest games are the ones everybody can join in and play," expanded Ted Rheingold, founder of Dogster and Catster.

Cary Rosenzwieg, the president and CEO of IMVU, described their take on user-generated content. "Almost 100% of the content in IMVU is user-generated. They have collectively created the world's largest catalog of virtual items."

"Much like eBay, we introduced buyers and sellers within the game, and last year we estimate our top developer made $1 million in income, and our top 10 made over $100,000 each. We've never issued a press release in our history and people have come primarily through word-of-mouth."

Rosenzweig continued, "Of most people who create items, most of them create one or two items. People do what they do mostly for affirmation; because being a creator is cool and they like the status -- it's their choice if they want to turn the credits to cash."

Howard Marks is a big believer in brands. In 1991, he and Bobby Kotick invested in ailing publisher Activision, parlaying the strength of the company's name into an industry giant again; Kotick still serves as CEO.

Now, Marks is hoping to do the same with defunct publisher Acclaim, using that company's name and image to bolster a new publisher whose stock in trade is free-to-play MMOs catering to a number of audiences, including its PonyStars (pictured). During the ongoing Paris Game Developers Conference, the CEO spoke on the rise of the free-to-play model, and why he became involved in it.

The Revolution

Opened Marks, “I’m fascinated by the idea of people playing together. This is a multi-billion dollar industry, and it’s all free.”

“What is a revolutionary?" he asked, drolly revealing a slide of Che Guevara and answering that he is not one. "But some people in Asia created this free to play model, and it is some sort of revolution,” he added.

He pointed to the recent example of Radiohead, whose free release of the album In Rainbows spurred web traffic and awareness, and then led to sales.

Marks described how the free-to-play model can supplant subscription- or time-based models. At one point, he explained, games in China frequently operated on time-based point systems, but that system quickly became obsolete when free-to-play games were imported from countries such as Korea. Those time points quickly became repurposed into microtransactions.

Talking as part of a keynote Q&A at the Paris Game Developers Conference, Blizzard SVP Rob Pardo has been discussing the history of world-leading MMO World Of Warcraft, revealing the game was originally planned as a free-to-play title.

Speaking as part of an in-depth conversation with GDC executive director Jamil Moledina, Pardo commented: “When were first going to make World of Warcraft, we wanted to make it free and advertising supported.”

However, the Blizzard exec noted: “We didn’t want to charge a subscription, but as we researched market conditions, we realized that wouldn’t support us.”

Elsewhere in the talk, Pardo discussed how the firm powered forward into the MMO genre with the PC MMO.

He quipped: “Very naively, or else we might not have done it.” Early inspirations were Ultima Online, and then Everquest - but Blizzard felt they could see the elements that made those games less accessible.

The full Pardo conversation at GDC Paris is now available on Gamasutra, including the Blizzard exec's thoughts on a whole host of major issues, from user-generated content through the Activision/Vivendi merger and beyond.

Organizers for the Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2008 have announced three virtual world conference sessions for the event, which will take place August 10 - 12 at the Edinburgh International Conference Center.

The first talk, "Inline Transactions," will be delivered by Karl Mehta, CEO of of publisher-sponsored in-game commerce network PlaySpan. He plans to discuss how virtual world economies impact real-world economies through real money transactions.

Hemisphere Capital's Matt Rothman will host a session on “The 3 MMO’s– from Content to Community,” in which he will moderate a panel looking beyond technology to address "what it takes to build these new forms of entertainment." Redbedlam (RomaVictor) president Kerry Fraser-Robinson, Monumental Games (Football Stars) CEO Rik Alexander, and NiceTech CTO (Tronji-The Happy Lands) Toby Simpson are scheduled to participate.

For the third session, “Real Politics invade Virtual Worlds– dealing with social and economic issues in EVE online,” Redbedlam executive director Fred Hasson will interview Eve Online's lead economist and head of research and statistics, Eyjlfur Guâmundsonn, on the social and economic consequences of in-game communities.

Think tank Virtual Policy Network intends to hold a two-day event titled Virtual Policy ‘08: A conference on innovation and governance in virtual worlds. The conference aims to define the virtual policy agenda for UK and Europe.

Scheduled for July 22-23 at the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform’s conference center in London, Virtual Policy ’08 will bring together industry veterans, policy makers, and academics to discuss the public policy implications of virtual worlds from a European perspective.

Key themes which will be examined at the event include intellectual property rights, financial transactions, governance frameworks, issues regarding kids in online spaces, and new models and tools for learning in virtual worlds. The conference will also cover innovations in brand promotion, virtual meetings, and online learning.

Designing Virtual Worlds author and University of Essex professor Richard Bartle will deliver a conference keynote, as will Technology Intelligence Group CEO Christian Renaud. CCP's (EVE Online) Eyjolfur Gudmundsson, Linden Lab's (Second Life) Dr. Jim Purbrick, and Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's Leigh Jackson will also be speaking at Virtual Policy ’08.

Said Virtual Policy Network founder Ren Reynolds: "This is the ideal time for a mature debate about the relationship between public policy and virtual worlds. Virtual Worlds are not new, having been invented in the UK almost 30 years ago, but today’s scale of use is unprecedented. With figures such as Habbo Hotel’s 90 million registered users and World of Warcraft establishes itself as a pastime for millions people around the world - virtual worlds are forcing themselves onto the policy agenda. This unique event will focus on the whole range of policy implications of this fascinating and rich global cultural phenomena .”

With the 2008 Austin Game Developers Conference coming this September 15-17 and registrations now open for the Austin, Texas event - which includes both 'Online Gaming' tracks and a special Worlds In Motion Summit for businesspeople and brands looking to get into virtual worlds, it's time to continue highlighting a few of the already-announced lectures:

- Turbine Business Development VP Robert Ferrari, CCP CEO Himlar Veigar Pertursson, Funcom Business Development VP Nicolay Nickelsen, Nexon America director Min Kim, and ImaginVenture SA COO Jessica Mulligan will all come together for an assuredly enlightening panel on Evolving Business for MMOs. The all-star talk will cover what has changed with the business of MMOs, what has worked, and, most importantly, where the business is going.

- Continuing the discussion on our evolving market, K2 Network CEO Joshua Hong, Crossover Technologies managing director Eric Goldberg, and ImagineVenture SA COO Jessica Mulligan will be discussing MMO business models, specifically Subscriptions Versus Free-to-Play. The moderated panel will look at the rising trend of MMOs shifting away from monthly subscriptions to free-to-play models and whether selling virtual items can make up the difference from a lack of subscriptions. Anyone interested in the future of MMO business models is invited to attend.

- Kaneva game producer Jonathan Hanna will deliver a lecture on going beyond just testing your product and features with an online game beta. Titled Online Games Under Construction: Run Your Beta Right, the session will describe how companies can turn their betas into an effective part of their marketing and community building efforts, helping grow the game's potential audience more than traditional marketing alone.

For more information, including a number of other key already debuted lectures that we'll be highlighting weekly here on WorldsInMotion.biz, alongside further new Worlds In Motion Summit/online keynote specifics as they happen, check out the official Austin GDC 2008 website.

The organizers of the Worlds In Motion Summit at Austin GDC have announced the full schedule outline for the market-leading conference on virtual worlds and social gaming, to be held on September 16th and 17th following its successful debut at Game Developers Conference in February.

The Summit will take place at the Austin Game Developers Conference in the Austin Convention Center, and will map the broadening of the worldwide business market through the expansive and growing social game networking space.

The Worlds in Motion Summit, presented by Think Services’ leading media outlet in the space, WorldsInMotion.biz, is of particular value to those looking to successfully leverage their content and brands into interactive online worlds.

The schedule for the two-day Summit is as follows:

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16th

First Day Keynote
The Worlds In Motion Summit’s first day will be kicked off by a signature, yet to be revealed keynote from a major, high profile online world provider – watch for an announcement soon.

In-World Advertising Case Study
Speakers: Teemu Huuhtanen (President, North America, Sulake Inc), Jonathan Epstein (CEO, Double Fusion)
Advertising in online worlds is an increasingly important part of monetizing games – with possibilities including in-game billboards, contests, and more. In this case study, we’ll hear from the creators of Habbo and their advertising partners at Double Fusion, uncovering how in-game advertising works for them, how to reach your audience without turning them off, and all the advantages and pitfalls of advertising in this new medium.

Panel: The State of Facebook/Social Network Gaming
Speakers: Frank Lantz (Creative Director, Co-founder, Area/Code), Charles Wetmore (Development Manager, Zwinky), Shervin Pishevar (CEO, Social Gaming Network)
Facebook and social network-based gaming are a rapidly burgeoning market segment. But what’s the reality of making games that fit into the infrastructure of existing social websites? What are the benefits and difficulties with creating social games on Facebook and other sites? The creators of standout Facebook title Parking Wars and other notable market experts weigh in.

Procedural Inc., a spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, has announced that it will exhibit its CityEngine software with a 3D recreation of ancient Rome at the Rome Reborn booth in computer graphics conference SIGGRAPH 2008 (August 11-15; Los Angeles, CA)

CityEngine is targeted for use by a wide range of markets -- interactive and filmed entertainment, architecture, simulation, archeology and the "3D internet." According to Procedural, the software allows developers to create buildings and city scenes ten times more efficiently than existing solutions, saving overhead costs and enabling 3D designers to focus on their creative creation process.

The Rome Reborn project seeks to bring together content providers, graphics technology vendors, and interactive display researchers to recreate a full-scale, high-detail, and historically accurate 3D model of the ancient city. The representation is meant to provide an engaging and educational tour of ancient Rome.

Said Rome Reborn director Bernard Frischer: “The CityEngine is a perfect match for the Rome Reborn project. Our project involves the complete virtual reconstruction of the city at its zenith under Emperor Constantine, when it had about one million residents. To build by hand the corresponding 7,000 apartment buildings, family houses, public buildings and temples would have taken us forever; but CityEngine's power and flexibility made the process amazingly quick without sacrificing detail or quality. This allowed us to concentrate on modeling the unique monuments. The CityEngine also helps to quickly change the model as new scholarship or discoveries warrant.”

Virtual worlds marketing firm TheSLAgency has announced that it will present a panel titled "A New Life for Online Government," discussing innovative ways governments are using virtual worlds at this week's 2008 National Conference of State Legislatures in New Orleans, Louisiana, which runs from July 22nd to July 26th.

Utah State Senate chief deputy Ric Cantrell and experts from the Alabama Department of Homeland Security will join the panel. Governing Magazine editor and deputy publisher Mark Stencel will moderate.

TheSLAgency's vice president of interactive marketing Leigh Rowan intends to focus on how governments are currently using virtual worlds to provide services for and to collaborate with citizens on health, education, public safety and civic life. The presentation will also cover the potential for virtual worlds for interactive job recruitment, emergency planning and scenario training, and virtual collaboration.

The marketing agency has previously worked with The World Bank and The Ontario Public Service to reach new audiences through interactive events and presences in Second Life. Rowan's presentation will cover case studies of their work with both clients and its future plans. TheSLAgency is also launching an associated government-focused microsite for government entities.

As demonstrated at Microsoft's recent E3 conference, one of the key features of its forthcoming dashboard refresh is the expansion of current group chat into a full 'Xbox Live Party,' allowing users to form groups that expand seamlessly across all aspects of the new dash -- from chatting to photo and video sharing to games.

At Microsoft's ongoing GameFest, Xbox platform engineer Eric Heutchy gave more insight into the Xbox 360's forthcoming Xbox Live Party features, explaining how it would function both in and out of games.

"What is Xbox Live Party?" Heutchy explained, "At its core the feature is eight way group voice chat. It works over all Xbox 360 experiences - all existing games, all new games, the dashboard, movies, media center, everything you can do on the console. The members of your party can each be in a different experience."

"The party members are always connected by voice, and voice chat persists over any experience," he continued, "and it persists over title switches."

Heutchy further explained that "it also has features to help players get together in multiplayer games. There's one button in the guide that allows a player to send game invites to everyone in his live party."

"It is not a replacement for in-game parties that a number of triple-A titles have," he admitted. "Live party is about having a social connection prior to entering that game's party."

Please take care to note that early bird registration for the September 15-17 2008 Game Developers Conference in Austin, Texas ends on July 31st. Registrations for all-access conference passes, which include the Worlds in Motion Summit, submitted before the deadline will receive a 20 percent discount.

The Worlds in Motion Summit has previously announced participation from Sulake president Teemu Huuhtanen, Neopets SVP/General Manager Kyra Reppen, Double Fusion CEO Jonathan Epstein, Area/Code co-founder and creative director Frank Lantz, Zwinky development manager Charles Wetmore, Social Gaming Network CEO Shervin Pishevar, Areae president and co-founder Raph Koster, Multiverse co-founder and executive producer Core Bridges, Three Rings CEO Daniel James, IBM 3D Internet manager Michael Rowe, Whyville/Numedeon founder James Bower, NBC.com SVP of digital development Stephen Andrade, Bunchball CO and founder Rajat Paharia, and Electric Sheep Company CEO Sibley Verbeck.

The Summit will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday on September 16 and September 17 as part of the 2008 Game Developers Conference. The Summit will focus on the intersection of online worlds and games, and the official description of the event is as follows:

The Worlds in Motion Summit at Austin GDC, is geared for those looking to bring their content and brands into interactive worlds. This summit is presented by WorldsinMotion.biz and made its overwhelmingly successful debut this past spring at GDC 2008 . Now back by popular demand, the Worlds in Motion Summit will provide new insight to the next steps in virtual worlds. This movement is powered by game technology and development, and offers a broadening of the worldwide business market through the wildly popular interface of social game networks.

The Worlds in Motion Summit features candid sessions detailing the state of the art in leading virtual spaces, and the results that businesses – from small start-ups to Fortune 500 companies – have derived from them. The goal is to provide a realistic and in-focus snapshot of the intersection of games, business, and entertainment today, and where it's trending for the future. Topics include the viability of promoting your brand in Second Life and other immersive environments, the business of kids' virtual worlds, and the future of the Metaverse.

It takes place alongside Austin GDC itself, which includes an Online track packed with high quality technical and other talks from MMO and online companies such as BioWare, Sony Online, NCSoft and many more.

Please visit the official Austin Game Developer Conference site for more information on sessions, speakers, and registration details.

Sony Online Entertainment announced that president John Smedley will provide opening opening remarks at 2008 SOE Fan Faire, the company’s annual Fan Faire social gathering event, which will be held this year at the Las Vegas Hilton from August 14th to 17th.

Now in its sixth year, the event allows for players of SOE’s various MMO titles, such as EverQuest II and Star Wars Galaxies, to meet in person, as well as talk to developers and preview forthcoming games and updates.

In addition to tournaments, panel discussions, in-game item giveaways, this year’s event will include previews of “three monumental new games in development”, with the comment confirming “something that has to do with capes,” likely a reference to the company’s forthcoming DC Comics title.

Smedley's community address combines a live presentation with a streaming video broadcast online. According to SOE's announcement, Smedley will give Fan Faire attendees an inside look at the company's products "usually reserved for industry insider events."

Organizers for the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe 2008 announced that Jagex CEo Geoff Iddison will deliver a keynote at the event, as will Mel Guymon, Google's Lively product manager and head of 3D operations.

Scheduled to take place during October 6th to 8th, the conference will be held in London at urban venue The Bridge. In addition to featuring several dozen speakers representing the virtual worlds industry, the expo will have developer booths, technology and virtual world demos, and hands-on workshops.

Though Iddison hasn't yet revealed the topic for his keynote, it's likely he'll mention RuneScape, Jagex's Java-based MMORPG and flagship title claiming 5.4 million active users. The company recently launched a beta for RuneScape HD, a version of the game featuring higher definition graphics.

Early bird registration for Virtual Worlds Forum Europe 2008 ends tomorrow. Attendees will receive a free 3-month subscription to the Financial Times and a complimentary copy of Gartner report 'Virtual Worlds: The Grand Challenges - what to expect in 2009.'

Think Services, organizers of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) have announced that Mel Guymon, product manager for Google Lively, will be presenting the opening keynote to the Worlds in Motion Summit taking place at the Austin GDC from September 16-September 17 at the Austin Convention Center.

In his keynote, Guymon will provide a full overview of Lively, including the team’s vision for this product as a tool to enrich social interaction on the web. Guymon will also offer a historical perspective on how the Lively online world evolved from inception to its recent launch.

As a co-founder of the IMVU, the 3D avatar-driven instant messenger and chat experience, and as an early director of online 3D world There.com, Guymon is an authority on virtual world development. Guymon earned a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering and has served as both a submarine officer in the US Navy and a contributing editor for Game Developer Magazine.

His multitude of experience lends a unique voice to the lineup of speakers for Worlds in Motion Summit, which also includes Stephen Andrade, NBC.com's Digital Entertainment general manager, who alongside Bunchball founder and CEO Rajat Paharia is providing a talk on The Office's 'Dunder Mifflin Infinity' gaming-influenced social networking site.

Other topics being addressed at the Worlds in Motion Summit include the future of the metaverse, in-world advertising, and kids' virtual worlds -- with notable participants from Gaia Online, Three Rings, Electric Sheep, Samsung Electronics, Cartoon Network, Rebel Monkey, Sulake Labs, Intel and many more.

The Worlds in Motion Summit is a two day event taking place at the Austin GDC on September 16-17 at the Austin Convention Center. The emphasis of the summit is the careful integration of content and brands into interactive worlds by companies both large and small. The summit marks the intersection of games, business, and entertainment, and seeks to mark the path towards the future.

For more information on the Worlds in Motion Summit at Austin GDC including a list of confirmed speakers and sessions, please see the official website.

Organizers of the GC Asia Conference (GCAC), which will take place in Singapore from September 18 - 20, announced that Nexon Corporation (MapleStory) and Nexon Mobile CEO Joonmo Kwon will deliver a keynote speech titled "Online Game as Social Interactive Entertainment Media."

Kwon is also currently president of the Korea Association of Game Industry. He has previously served as chairman of the Korea Game Award's screening committee and as a member of the Committee of Korea Media Rating Board.

The convention will feature several other notable industry figures as panelists, including as Lucasfilm Animation Singapore's Games Division project lead Feargus Carroll, Electronic Arts' Asia Pacific vice president and general manager Christopher Thompson, and IGDA Singapore coordinator Allan Simonsen.

Said GCAC conference director Frank Sliwka: "Joonmo Kwon is a veteran in the online and mobile games industries and his knowledge of online games and entertainment will be very valuable to the GCAC attendees. His keynote is a great addition to the conference program, which intends to bring together industry specialists from around the globe to share their ideas and strengthen their business relationships."

With the 2008 Austin Game Developers Conference coming this September 15-17 and registrations open for the Austin, Texas event - which includes both 'Online Gaming' tracks and a special Worlds In Motion Summit for businesspeople and brands looking to get into virtual worlds, we're highlighting one of our upcoming Worlds In Motion lectures.

Rebel Monkey CEO and founder Margaret Wallace will answer the important question of how to ensure that people will come to your virtual world once you've launched it. Titled "If You Build It, Will They Come? ," the session will cover what considerations need to be made to elevate your virtual world business on a world-class scale.

Before launching the casual games studio Rebel Monkey, Wallace served as CEO of Skunk Studios, also a casual games developer, and worked at Shockwave.com and PF Magic. She also serves on the Steering Committee for the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Casual Games Special Interest Group (SIG).

For more information, including a number of other key already-debuted lectures that we'll be highlighting weekly here on WorldsInMotion.biz, alongside further new Worlds In Motion Summit/online keynote specifics as they happen, check out the official Austin GDC 2008 website.

Ahead of its presentation at internet dating conference iDate 2008, Omnidate predicted that online dating sites that include virtual worlds will keep them competitive against social networks.

Omnidate's own "plug and play application" integrates with online dating sites, allowing users to select from a group of premade avatars and meet with others in different date settings -- such as lounges, restaurants, or resorts -- to chat, play games, and listen to music.

The company claims that adding its application to dating sites could potentially result in increased traffic and revenue, as well as higher conversion rates and increased retention.

Omnidate CEO Dr. Igor Kotlyar and co-founder Ravit Ableman will present their session, "Virtual Reality: New Opportunities for Online Dating in Europe," at the event on September 22nd. iDate 2008 will run from September 22nd to the 23rd at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in London.

Said Abelman: "... virtual reality creates opportunities for online dating sites that will keep them competitive with social networking sites. The gaps in service that allowed social networking sites to compete for the online dating market can be addressed by adding virtual reality to personal dating sites."

With the 2008 Austin Game Developers Conference coming this September 15-17 and registrations open for the Austin, Texas event - which includes both 'Online Gaming' tracks and a special Worlds In Motion Summit for businesspeople and brands looking to get into virtual worlds, we're highlighting one of our upcoming Worlds In Motion lectures.

For his session, "Microtransactions in North America -- Lessons Learned," Klei Entertainment president and founder Jamie Cheng will present an insightful discussion on what North America can learn from Korea's successes and failings with the microtransaction business model. He will also cover how his Vancouver-based studio developed its relationship with Maple Story's U.S. publisher Nexon America.

Klei Entertainment, which previously released 2D puzzle game Eets for PC and Xbox Live Arcade, is currently developing Sugar Rush, Nexon's first MMOG developed by a western studio and targeted specifically for North American audiences. The title will allow players to fight against each other while trying to collect virtual coins.

For more information, including a number of other key already-debuted lectures that we'll be highlighting weekly here on WorldsInMotion.biz, alongside further new Worlds In Motion Summit/online keynote specifics as they happen, check out the official Austin GDC 2008 website.

The organizers of 2008 Austin Game Developers Conference (Austin GDC) are reminding possible attendees that the final early registration deadline for the September 15th-17th event - which includes keynotes from Bruce Sterling and Club Penguin co-creator Lane Merrifield - ends tomorrow, August 27th - full rundown inside.

Austin GDC 2008 is presented by Think Services, organizers of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference (GDC) and the parent of Gamasutra.com.

The event is a three-day, multi-track game conference taking place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas September 15-17, 2008, and continues a multi-year tradition of an Austin-based game event appealing to a nationwide and worldwide game community.

The Austin GDC this year consists of the following elements:

- Austin GDC Online Summit - Austin's signature summit, with four parallel tracks on business and marketing, technology and services, design, and social networking and community for online games. Major speakers from Bioware, Cartoon Network, Disney, EA, NCSoft, and Sony Online Entertainment are participating, with Club Penguin's Lane Merrifield keynoting.

- Worlds In Motion Summit - specifically concentrating on virtual worlds, and expanding from the successful GDC Summit, this business-focused two-day event includes sessions on Facebook gaming, user-created virtual world content and the future of the metaverse - with speakers from IBM, NBC.com, IAC, and more.

- Austin GDC Writing Summit, featuring a keynote from futurist and science fiction writer Bruce Sterling on 'Computer Entertainment 35 Years From Today', plus notable lectures from leading writers from id Software, Carbine Studios, Red Storm Entertainment and Ubisoft.

- Austin GDC Audio Summit, with a keynote from Sony's Jason Page on next-gen audio, and other speakers including Austin Wintory, composer of fl0w, Slipgate Ironworks' Kurt Larson on adaptive music for MMOs, and a special 'Iron Composer Texas' to be fought out on site.

- Game Career Seminar, including notable lectures and panels for those wanting to get into the game biz, such as 'The Game Job Interview RPG', the ever-popular 'Pitch Your Game Idea' panel, and 'You're Hired! How to Get HR to Notice You' - featuring speakers from Vicarious Visions, Nexon, Ghostfire Games, and more.

In addition to an Expo show floor with many game technology companies in attendance, Austin GDC will also showcase the recently announced winners of the 2008 IGF Showcase for Austin GDC, picking the very best examples of 'local flavor' in terms of indie games from Austin and the Southern U.S.

Those interested in registering for the event can visit the official Austin GDC website to purchase their pass - final early registration ends on August 27th, although passes will still be available following that date and on site.

Damion Schubert, lead combat designer for BioWare Austin, argues that your endgame – what happens when MMO players have finished all the lower level quests and “made it” in the game universe – realizes the true potential of MMOs.

“People talk about massively multiplayer online games – whenever they gravitate to one of these games, they always gravitate to one of the big ideas,” says Schubert. “What would happen if you could burn down another guild? What would happen if you had a boss that needed 25 people to kill? What if you had a battle that was 100 ships versus 100 ships?”

“The most important thing about your endgame, about elder gameplay, is that it’s one of the few things in your games that’s actually massive. And at the end of the day, that’s what we’re talking about here.”

“Whenever you’re talking about things with your producers, (the endgame) looks like something to cut,” he says, “because maybe nobody will even get to that level. I think a lot of producers underestimate what happens at the endgame.”

Anyone who has played an MMO or participated in any online forum or service knows that anonymity creates problems -- and large groupings of people invites those with psychological issues to act them out on the larger populace. A group of MMO community managers and psychologists from the University of Texas came together at GDC Austin to examine common scenarios -- and take a peek into why these problems persist, and maybe come up with new ways to solve them.

The panel was comprised of moderator Sean Dahlberg from BioWare Austin, Troy Hewitt of Flying Lab Software, Meghan Rodberg of Turbine, and Dr. Sam Gosling and Dr. James Pennebaker, of the University of Texas.

Though both of the psychologists admitted that they are not personally gamers, they clearly find the subject of MMO audiences fascinating -- and not in a clinical way. They showed empathy for the issues, but worried that some of the tactics commonly undertaken by the community mangers are "just attending to the symptoms," in the words of Dr. Gosling.

Multiverse's Bob Moore, a sociologist, says games have always been social -- even Pong had a two-player mode. But most of the sociability that occurred happened around the game. With MMOs, sociability has moved further into the virtual environment itself, where players interact avatar to avatar instead of face to face. So how can we design environments for sociability?

Moore defined sociability as: "A distinct social form that distills out of social life the pure essence of association, the sheer pleasure of the companies of others." Currently, that's what MMOs do best, he says.

He clarified that there's a difference between sociability and socialization, and the two are not equal -- "Sociability is a term that is routinely misused in this world to mean socialization," he says. "Newbies learn the culture of a game -- there is social vision going on, but that's not the same as sociability or socializing."

So what facilitates sociability in MMOs? So far, gameplay has the most accessible way to do it.

Bay Area headquartered, John Romero-headed MMO developer Slipgate Ironworks has developed a robust system for its music, which audio director Kurt Larson considers the only viable way to move forward with MMO soundtracks -- which he presented with programmer Chris Mayer and composer Jim Hedges.

The presentation began with Larson presenting rough financials on traditional music creation for games. At $1,500 minute, most single player focused, 30-hour games would cost $45,000 to score. "$1,500 is not an unusual figure," says Larson, before pointing out that his EverQuest character has logged 70 hours over its play life -- which he jokingly noted would translate to $630,000,000 at that rate.

Instead of generating completed music, Larson proposes using "supplied composer sounds to generate music, completely unique. Think of it as wind chimes. Recognizable, familiar, non-repeating."

While he admits that the system is unsuitable for generating a "highly-structured intensely-composed warfare game opening" he believes it to be an extremely effective solution for ambient background music. "Like the wind chimes, it creates a mood, and supports the emotional experience you want the player to have. This is the best way to go about music in a massively multiplayer game. This is my message."

Tutorial design may create one of the largest barriers to entry in an MMO, according to Sheri Graner Ray, who spoke during Austin GDC about ways tutorials can welcome in more players by speaking to a broader variety of learning styles.

The veteran MMO creator and consultant's presentation highlighted the fact that many gamers of both genders, but particularly women, are shut out from understanding games due to the way tutorials are generally designed in games.

Graner Ray discussed the three traditional learning styles generally accepted by researchers -- defining 'learning style' being how people choose to receive and process information. Says Graner Ray, "These things are pretty much hard-wired. The way you learn is particular to you. You can learn the other ways, but you have a preferred method."

These styles are visual (learning from reading or seeing), aural (learning through hearing, such as from presentations and speeches) and kinesthetic (learning through movement). While anyone can learn in any of these styles, most people find one to be the most comfortable. In the United States, 65 percent of people are visual, 25 percent are aural, and 10 percent are kinesthetic.

But alongside these are two other "learning acquisition styles," according to Graner Ray, methods of learning independent of the other three methods: explorative and imitative. These are generally (but far from exclusively) male and female traits, respectively.

The end user license agreement, or EULA, is essentially what protects an online game from players – but not necessarily the reverse.

In this panel, Raph Koster from Areae, Scott Hartsman of Ohai, game lawyer S. Gregory Boyd, author Erin Hoffman, and moderator Erik Bethke of GoPets discuss how to improve the EULA for all – with significant conversational travel into real money trading (RMT) territory.

As part of the session, Koster revealed that the Metaplace EULA and terms of service (TOS) will be an exceptionally wide-ranging document including freedom of speech and IP ownership aspects.

Erik Bethke started thinking about EULAs during a talk he gave with some other folks at Stanford about virtual items. The talk covered the gap between what is owned by whom in virtual worlds – and in general, nothing is owned by the player.

In the Worlds In Motion Summit keynote on Tuesday, Google Lively's Kevin Hanna explained the genesis of the search engine giant's online world space, along the way revealing an upcoming API to embed playable games inside Lively.

In a key announcement, Hanna, who worked on the project since its inception and now works as creative director at X-Ray Kid, which built the core content for the title and was formed in association with Google, explained: "We're going to update the API for game development - I think that opens up the world for possibilities."

The game-related APIs for the title will take both a short-term and a long-term perspective. In the short-term, Google Lively is opening up the platform so that the Google Gadgets API will work on surfaces in the game, meaning that people can embed and play casual games on polygonal surfaces (such as TV screens) in the world, much like Sony's Home has been experimenting with.

Further into the future, Hanna says that the company intends to open up a more general API to game developers to potentially create 3D multiplayer games using Google Lively's technology and back end -- though this is intended to be a long-term goal, and neither of the two plans have specific timeframes on them now.

Speaking in an Austin GDC panel on the art of upcoming Sony Online Entertainment MMO DC Universe Online, noted DC comic artist artist Jim Lee shares some insights on translating 2D characters and designs from comic books to fit an online 3D game's style and needs.

The DC Universe sponsored talk began with a “moderator” showing a couple of videos, and then opening the floor to questions. After a brief awkward silence during which attendees realized they would be running the panel themselves, a number of interesting topics came to light. Here, we’ll focus on Jim Lee's collaboration with SOE.

Lee began by discussing the difficulties of translating 2D characters into a 3D space. “You tend to draw these female characters with really long legs,” he said by way of example.

“They look better on the page, but when you animate them they look less graceful, kind of clumsy. So the big thing is figuring out what looks good in 2D, and how that translates to 3D. Really figuring out the length of something like Batman’s cape, which in comics is really variable, in games it’s not nearly as variable as I’d like it to be.”

In an entertaining AGDC panel, ZeniMax Online president Matt Firor took the "subscription MMO" end of a subscription vs. free-to-play debate, explaining the current state of the triple-A MMO space, and discussing World Of Warcraft's "perfect storm" and why there will be million-subscription games post-WoW.

Firor, who runs the sister online company to Bethesda Game Studios (The Elder Scrolls series, Fallout 3), and is working on a high-budget unannounced MMO title, was appearing on a panel alongside K2 Network's Joshua Hong (WarRock, Sword Of The New World), who was representing the free-to-play end.

The ZeniMax executive explained of his contribution, "In many ways I'm going to do the tried and true side of this conversation," but offered a lot of relevant information on where he thinks the MMO market is going over the next few years.

As he noted, the current monthly subscription price for core MMOs is $14.99, up from $9.99 or so when the modern MMO was birthed with Ultima Online, and he noted that, inevitably, "Publishers will probably try to stretch that further as time goes on."

When Min Kim of Nexon, a company famous for popularizing the free to play MMO, asked his Austin Game Developers Conference audience how many people were developing or interested in developing free-to-play MMOs -- and roughly 70 percent of the audience raised their hands.

Some hands went down when Kim asked how many audience members had played Nexon's Maple Story; by the time Kim asked how many had played the company's Kart Rider, only about 20 percent of hands remained.

His point? "The first step to developing free to play MMOs is to play the games. People think they know how to make these games, and yet they’ve never played a FTP MMO before. I think it’s really irresponsible," Kim chided. "If you can’t do it, get an intern to do it and tell you what it’s like."

Nexon currently has 1,900 employees, and 15 concurrent games globally, with investments in some others. According to Kim, many people criticize the North American free to play business, saying it’s not actually popular.

To counter this, Kim revealed the company’s North American numbers for 2005-2007, based on the three games running in the U.S. during that time - MapleStory, Audition, and Mabinogi (Combat Arms was released in 2008).

In a unique keynote for the Worlds In Motion Summit, Bunchball's Rajat Paharia and NBC.com's Stephen Andrade discussed the creation of the Dunder Mifflin Infinity website, a promotional website for 'The Office' TV show which has surprisingly detailed and game mechanic-inspired social website.

Paharia explained the concept behind his firm Bunchball, that "gaming should be multiplayer".

The firm originally developed a synchronous game-related set of websites, and gradually built 'level up' mechanics into their business model, and have essentially "turned game mechanics into a service" for multiple websites - rewarding achievements.

Thus, Bunchball and NBC Universal created the DunderMifflinInfinity.com website, which is essentially a 'level up' centric social website, including lots of in-game game challenges and competitions to win 'Schrutebucks', with teams competing against each other to be the best 'branch office' in the game.

The project started with 100 'branch offices' recruited, each consisting of viewers banding together -- later increased to 200 offices. In total, they had 160,000 people playing the game - but why did people do this?

Margaret Wallace of venture-backed startup Rebel Monkey -- itself developing an MMO -- was at Austin GDC's Worlds in Motion Summit to discuss user retention in multiplayer spaces. The question she posed: If you build it, will they come?

It's an area of particular interest, as Rebel Monkey's situation isn't unique. Many panel attendees raised their hands when asked if they were developing an MMO -- but only one hand stayed up when these participants were asked if they had yet launched.

As many new companies hope to launch successful online products -- and as their investors watch eagerly for their success -- retention becomes not just interesting and important, but crucial.

By 2008, it's estimated that the casual games business will be worth $2.1 billion dollars, and some 150 million players average 28 hours of gaming per month. Virtual worlds have seen rapid revenue growth from $5.9 billion in 2006 to $14.3 billion by 2009.

"It's a catch-all phrase; it can mean anything from Gaia Online to Club Penguin, stuff like that," says Wallace of virtual worlds, an area where new revenue models are quickly gaining traction through microtransactions and in-game advertising, the latter of which is expected to reach $1.8 billion dollars by 2010, according to DFC Intelligence.

In a Worlds In Motion Summit panel at AGDC, Area/Code co-founder Frank Lantz has been discussing the creation of Parking Wars, the Facebook game sensation created as a promotion for the A&E TV show, and pinpointing the "core values of good games" along the way.

Area/Code, the New York-based developer which recently made Gamasutra 20 list of Breakthrough Developers, saw Parking Wars turn wildly popular, with 400,000 people signing up in two months.

Another Area/Code-designed title, Sharkrunners, promoted Discovery Channel's 20th Anniversary of Shark Week by having a game where the shark movements in game were determined by the actions of real sharks out in the ocean using GPS.

Lantz, who formerly worked at Diner Dash creator Gamelab, explained of the company's philosophy: "We make games for the cloud", explaining that games are really a "stylized form of social interaction".

Thus, gaming on social networks -- as Parking Wars is -- is in many ways "a return to what gaming has always been about", primarily about interacting with other people.

The Virtual Goods Summit has announced its 2008 conference, to be held on October 10th in San Francisco. A one day conference focused on the emerging market for virtual goods and economies, the organizers have established an intent to "build on the success of last year's event" by "diving even deeper into some of the key themes facing industry participants today. "

The conference is to feature panel discussions and expert-led breakout sessions covering topics including "What Users Want - Branded and User-Generated Virtual Goods", " Making Virtual Economies Work - Lessons from the Leaders" and " Generating Real Revenue from Virtual Goods".

Confirmed speakers include Karl Mehta of Playspan, Amy Jo Kim of Shufflebrain, David Perry of Acclaim, Cary Rosenzweig of IMVU, Daniel James of Three Rings, Paul Thind of Habbo and Gene Hoffman of Vindicia.

"This year's conference will bring together leading entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, technologists, and industry participants to spend the day discussing the present and future of this exciting new space," said an organizer. "We encourage you to join us at this year's event and participate in what promises to be a lively conversation."

Many MMO developers are moving away from large packaged releases and toward the web as a platform for development -- including Raph Koster of Areae, Dan Ogles of Conduit Labs, and Scott Hartsman of Ohai. But why?

The group convened at Austin GDC to discuss. Ohai CEO Susan Wu brought some of the confusion about the evolution of the online marketplace to the forefront when she asked the panelists: "So what's the difference between a social game, a multiplayer casual game, and a social MMO?"

Ogles suggested that "the term 'social game' is largely meaningless," while Hartsman discussed a conversation he'd had with other developers.

"We came up with 10 different attributes that 'casual' means, whether it's budgetary, time of gameplay, ease of gameplay," Hartsman said. "What I am all about is trying to make accessible games, and that doesn't necessarily mean shallow."

Koster pointed out that keeping in mind how web users engage with services is more important, in this space, than defining games in a traditional way. "Those terms all suck, don't they?" He said.

"The big thing is that, on the web, you do see different definitions than you expect to see in the game industry for 'social' ... it's asynchronous... the engagement is there... but it's a different definition of 'social' or 'casual' or 'immersive'."

When it comes to focus testing, the recent climate has favored evaluating the process closely to ensure it's done at the right time -- beginning focus testing too early can compromise a developer's vision and clutter the pipeline with too much feedback too early.

But working on LEGO Universe, NetDevil's bucking the trend -- it's been focus testing the online world for two and a half years, using the same group of 19 kids and families from day one.

LEGO Universe lead producer Ryan Seabury favors a broader term for the process -- "consumer testing." And as part of the wider-lens view, he says that who you have conducting the test process makes a big difference.

"You need experts that know how to set up the research the right way -- people that know how to ask the right questions," he says. "Just bringing people in... isn't going to be useful. That's one big thing I think a lot of people mess up on."

And it depends on the interpretation, too. Others, says Seabury, take the result of focus testing far too literally. "You have to read between the lines and trust your gut," he advises. "Early focus testing, if misinterpreted, can take you in a bad direction."

Right now, the MMO industry is in flux, with much discussion over whether the subscription or free-to-play model is the correct one for ongoing projects. When you figure in the world market, things get even more complicated.

Gamasutra was at a panel at last week's Austin Game Developers Conference which featured Robert Ferrari (VP Business Development, Turbine), Hilmar Veigar Petursson (CEO, CCP), Nicolay Nickelsen (VP, Business Development, Funcom), Min Kim (VP of Marketing, Nexon America Inc.), and was moderated by Jessica Mulligan (COO, ImaginVenture SA). It delved into the complexities of the two models -- how are they performing, and what do users want this year?

Can one business model work in the west and the east? Nexon's Min Kim, coming from the massive success of Maple Story, said, "Yeah, we do feel it's possible to have one business model... but I feel you have to tailor it to both sides. We're finding more and more that business models are not exactly the same -- but they're very similar."

Nickelsen, on the other hand, believes it "depends on the game." And Petursson noted that it's not just the location of your players that matters -- server tech is a consideration, too.

"Since EVE Online is centrally hosted in London for all of the world, we have to have multiple business models that work on the same server," Petursson says. "You have to build multiple different business models people can choose... it's part of the game designer's toolset in building a complete service."

Defining the future of virtual worlds is difficult when clear guidelines for what they are and what they can do have not really been established -- hence, the formation of the Virtual Worlds Roadmap Special Interest group, which plans to have its first formal workshop next month in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The group, which is formed by high-placed members from a variety of technology companies, aims to meaningfully define what is required from virtual worlds in a variety of social and technological contexts, hoping to grow the nascent space beyond just a group of children's online hangouts (like Habbo Hotel) and game-related MMO applications (such as World of Warcraft).

In a Worlds in Motion Summit session at Austin GDC named 'The Future of the Metaverse', The Electric Sheep Company CEO Sibley Verbeck summed it up: "the vision for virtual worlds is much broader than games."

Though no truly 'mainstream' virtual world applications have yet debuted, Samsung Electronics technology vice president Victoria Coleman explained that her "personal frustration, and I think all of us share that, is that we see a huge potential in virtual worlds and we so many people not getting it, somehow. Somehow we have not found, yet, that vocabulary to make it clear to the wider community."

The call for submissions to present lectures and case studies at the Worlds in Motion Summit at the Game Developers Conference 2009 is now open, and interested parties are being asked to submit their proposal by Thursday, October 30th.

The Summit will take place at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California on March 23-24, 2009.

The Worlds in Motion Summit at GDC 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 are to 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.

If you have an idea, vision, innovative concept, hard-earned wisdom or urgent industry issue you'd like to share with your colleagues, then the board of advisors would like to hear from you.

In a Tokyo Game Show Forum keynote attended by Gamasutra, Turbine CEO Jim Crowley spoke to an overwhelmingly Japanese audience on the collision of social networking, virtual worlds, and online games, revealing a Facebook-style social network plans for its games such as Lord Of The Rings Online.

Crowley started by discussing the history of Turbine, which currently produces The Lord Of The Rings Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online, and Asheron's Call, noting that each game "is an evergreen property" and suggesting that their worlds could conceivably each be around for "more than a decade."

He then focused on the "born digital" generation, which he defined as those born from 1995 onwards, and explained that those people are living their lives publicly in the digital space.

As a result, the customer has become the company, and the community is the brand, says Crowley -- and so worlds "will have to turn themselves out," creating an open ecosystem.

Sulake's online world Habbo recently partnered with American Idol, and at the Gamasutra-attended Engage! Expo in New York City, brand manager David Luner of Fremantle Media said it's a great fit. Next, Sulake EVP of marketing and business development Teemu Huuhtanen presented the developer point of view.

American Idol is the #1 ranked TV show in the U.S. while Habbo is the largest virtual world for teens. With overlapping demographics, Luner said of the combination: "It’s a great formula for success." American Idol has had successful co-branding partnerships in the past with Disney, Barbie, McDonalds, Dreyers, iTunes, and Konami, makers of Karaoke Revolution.

However, Luner warned: "There’s a myth out there that two successful brands automatically equals runaway success." There are a number of companies and people involved, from on-air and off-air sponsors, licensing agents and managers to other divisions of FremantleMedia that need to be coordinated in order to work with the American Idol brand.

In addition, because other people own the rights, a developer wouldn’t be able to use animations of judges, current and past contestants or use show and theme music without further wrangling.

"We did honestly put this on the table from the get-go so you can know the landmines and work around them," said Luner.

2008 was a good year for Habbo. It's seen about 40 percent growth in the number of users, according to Sulake lead designer Sulka Haro -- from 89 million total signups last year to 126 million today.

The online virtual social world for teens sees about 8.5 million uniques per month, Haro adds. So the numbers seem to suggest Habbo is thriving, and although its financials aren't published, "there's probably good news coming up," Haro says.

Haro was at the Worlds in Motion Summit at GDC 2009 to discuss applying game mechanics within the context of a social game, an effort he described as "pretty successful" thus far.

Since an online product is persistent, he dubbed his presentation more of a "mid-mortem" than a post-mortem, as it was originally billed.

At the MI6 game conference in San Francisco, Laura Naviaux-Sturr of Sony Online Entertainment discussed the impending launch of SOE's free-to-play MMO title FreeRealms.

Part of SOE's goal, Naviaux said, was “expanding our reach from our core 34-year-old male fantasy enthusiastically, whom we affectionately call our geeks,” The 5-to-12-year-old demographic is actually shown to be the fastest-growing online demographic.

The company wanted to build a world as engaging as that of EverQuest, but delivered much faster. “You literally need to deliver the game in less than 30 seconds,” she said.

Early SOE executives like John Smedley are “visionaries,” Naviaux said, but he also owned over 10,000 Magic: The Gathering cards, and the company was staffed up with those in the same mold. She showed a series of photographs from SOE fan events, with a largely adult audience, weighted towards male, with a strong interest in fantasy.