I’m not sure how the education folks at Microsoft were able to convince management, but they succeeded at getting themselves and 200+ academics and industry folks onto a cruise ship to Cozumel! Boondoggle quips aside, they had us working hard with daily sessions starting at 8am and tech labs running up until dinner. Sure, I’ll admit that I skipped a few sessions in order to get some R&R…
Anyway, the whole premise was to get academics talking about how to leverage games in spicing up existing curriculum (eg, using games as an application area for a course on artificial intelligence) along with discussions on how universities can best meet the growing workforce needs of the game industry. Kudos to Microsoft of driving this agenda - beyond their obvious motive of propagating Windows everywhere, they are simply keen in finding ways to improve enrollment in computer science programs and helping the industry move forward.
I was on hand to run the “industry panel”, which turned out to be a lively discussion of how we can all best work together. Of note, EA’s head of university relations, Colleen McCreary, lamented on how they had such massive difficulty with integrating 300 straight-out-of-college hires (within their 6000+ workforce). They’d certainly want (and need) to hire more, but the industry itself is so ever-evolving that it becomes hard to absorb rookies. This leads to the classic need of gaining work-like experience before getting to work, highlighting the importance of team projects during school.
I’m hoping that someone will write up a more thorough report, as my above ruminations really do not do justice to the breath/depth of what took place…
[Update 1: An academic who attended offers up his (anonymous) feedback and thoughts (97kb pdf) on the conference.]
[Update 2: Forbes writer Leah Hoffmann writes up an amusing summary of the event (her father was one of the faculty attending the conference).]
Here are a few pics from the trip:
Not your usual convention center welcome sign…
Ken Perlin (NYU) sporting his life vest during the “muster call” emergency drill. A game industry first, no doubt.
A room with a view… Brings new perspective to discussions of fluid dynamics!
Dave Luehmann (Microsoft Game Studios) talks about the realities of industry in the opening keynote.
Cory Ondrejka (Linden Labs) challenges the current education system (stating that universities are just places to store books) and provides compelling examples of education taking place in Second Life.
Tara and husband Mark Rein (Epic Games) enjoy the captain’s dinner with Ian Parberry (U. of North Texas). Formal attire mandatory!
A shot of the ship from the docks in Cozumel, which had been badly damaged from recent storms.
Van Eden (Microsoft), Jon Schwartz (Kids Programming Lab) and ? on the tender boat back from Cozumel.
Mike Zyda (USC) outlines the wide ranging work of USC’s GamePipe Lab.
Ironically, just outside the conference center was an area designated for playing games. Sadly, no Xbox in sight ;)
Following Kim’s example, here’s my 2005 in cities:
- New York City, NY (biz conference)
- San Francisco, CA (GDC)
- Los Angeles, CA (E3)
- Vancouver, BC (DiGRA and Vidfest)
- Baltimore, MD (non-profit orgs conference)
- London, England (GDC Europe)
- Denver, CO (journo conference and chapter action)
- Lansing, MI (Future Play)
- *Montreal, QC (Game Summit)
- Seoul, Korea (G* and KGC)
- Chicago, IL (board of directors “retreat”)
One or more nights spent in each place. * I included Montreal since I actually stayed at a hotel in town during the Summit ;)
I’m sure I would have gotten in a few extra trips, but I blacked out my schedule for most of July/August in anticipation of my daughter’s arrival…
Not sure how to best interpret the “pivotal moment” theme, but the Graphic Impact art contest being presented by CG Society at GDC sounds pretty cool.
Admittedly, I’m a digital art junky - especially those works drawn pixel-by-pixel! Anyway, they are still accepting entries (although deadline is fast approaching).
If they can pull things off as well as E3’s Into the Pixel, it will be a nice addition to GDC and a great opportunity for artists to show off their skills.
The IGDA is working on a “bill of rights” style project to establish the rights of individual game developers. (This is different from Eric Zimmerman’s recent article, which was more about studio rights.)
It is pretty easy to come up with rights that are related to employment status, stuff like:
- right to be fairly credited and recognized for work done
- right to a healthy work-life balance
- right to equitable compensation for work and rewarded in success
- right to move freely (ie, from company to company)
- etc, etc…
But, what other rights should developers have that are not specifically related to employment?
I think something like the right to freedom of expression/creative freedom would apply. This would mainly be in relation to stuff like government censorship and that game developers should have the right to express their ideas.
Any thoughts on other non-employment related rights for game development professionals?
Feel free to leave a comment to this post, pop me an email directly (jason at igda dot org), or dive into the forums (where I posed the same question).
I have no shame in claiming that the IGDA (with big help from GDC/CMP) runs the best damn game industry awards. Period. While we’re still finding our way in terms of putting on a consistently enjoyable ceremony, the credibility and integrity of the Game Developers Choice Awards and the significance of their meaning is without question.
To me, a defining moment was back in 2003, during the posthumous presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Gunpei Yokoi’s family. The emotion was palpable and 2000+ developers were pretty much in tears. Graeme Devine, who came up right after to present the Best Game award, could barely speak…
Anyway, all that to say that the 6th annual Game Developers Choice Awards are now open for nominations. All developers should get over to the site and submit their nominations for the most worthy (deadline is January 13th).
