[MUD-Dev] MUD-Dev conference

[J C Lawrence]

<<Sorry about the hype marketing -- this is an early draft toward a more
general press release for audiences that need/expect that sort of
cruft>>

	       The MUD-Dev Mailing List Presents the
		  First Annual MUD-Dev Conference

		     Saturday, March 8th, 2003,
		    09:45 AM - 6:00 PM, San Jose

			      Location TBA
		   (near San Jose Convention Centre)

			http://www.kanga.nu/MDC/

  (preceeded by the Fourth Annual MUD-Dev Dinner on Friday March 7th,
  and followed closely by the Second Annual MUD-Dev BBQ & hot tubbing
  competition, March 9th, 2003).

MUD-Dev presents the MUD-Dev Conference, a daylong conference about MUD
game design, development and implementation and related topics. As MUD
gaming has grown into both the premier style of online gaming, the MUD
continues being one of the most intimate methods of online role-playing
and adventuring, this conference will be of interest to game developers
of all kinds who work in the online media. For more definition of what a
"MUD" is, please see the MUD-Dev charter at
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev). The conference is
scheduled to take advantage of the number of game professional and
hobbyist developers who will be in San Jose for the Game Developers
Conference.

The MUD-Dev Conference will be a real-time, face-to-face complement to
MUD Dev, a well-known email list that covers MUD game design and
development and is distributed to a large and growing number of game
developers in multiplayer online games. It will provide a tight feedback
loop between presenters and audience for discussing MUD development, and
will include peer review, presentations, technology and system
demonstrations. The MUD-Dev Conference will continue to build and widen
the MUD-Dev community by providing the informal discussion, socializing
and networking that we have all been asking for.

The schedule and speakers list is still in flux, but we expect talks by
experienced online game luminaries as:

  Adam Martin   - An Evolving Architecture for Evolving MMOGs

  Brian Green   - Redefining the PvP Flag

  Dave Rickey   - Better Game Design through Data Mining

  Dr Cat        - What ELSE Are These Things Good For?

  Elonka Dunin  - Steganography, Terrorism, and Multiplayer Games

  Gordon Walton - MCS vs SCS in the trenches

  John Arras    - Generated Worlds and Meaningful Activities

  Larry Dunlap  - Is There Intelligent Life Beyond Massively
                  Multiplayer for Online Games?

  Lee Sheldon   - True Multiplayer Quests

  Matt Mihaly   - Managing PvP

  Nathan Yospe  - Formed Text Output and Natural Language Input

(Next year well (Next year we'll get names starting with the other half
of the alphabet)

The First Annual MUD-Dev Conference is in response to the community's
demand for better and more thorough coverage than the tracks presented
at GDC and other game industry conferences. The conference will promote
knowledge sharing by providing participants a daylong forum to speak
directly with others in their field. You have asked for and the MUD-Dev
Conference offers all MUDers the opportunity to participate in the group
that forms and defines their field.

The MUD-Dev Conference is modeled after Chris Crawford's original Game
Developer's Conference (which later became GDC). The format will be a
simultaneous main presentation of a talk at one end of the hall, with an
array of smaller, lower-key demos at the other end.  Talks will be
focused and tightly timed, followed by brief Question and Answer
sessions. Our goal is to have good, fast-paced, stimulating conversation
regularly interrupted by the start of even more fascinating speakers
fighting the end of a Q&A from the last speaker that doesn't want to
stop.

The MUD-Dev Conference is presented by the MUD-Dev list with the help of
Brian Green, David Kennerly, Eli Stevens, J C Lawrence, Jon Leonard, and
Randy Farmer. 

To reserve a place at the MUD-Dev dinner, email:

  dinner-reservation at kanga.nu

To reserve a ticket at the MUD-Dev conference, please email:

  conference-reservation at kanga.nu

To reserver a place at the MUD-Dev BBQ, please email:

  BBQ-reservation at kanga.nu

Places and tickets *are* limited (we have several whole teams intending
to attend so this warning is meant in earnest).

--
J C Lawrence
---------(*)                Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
claw at kanga.nu               He lived as a devil, eh?
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/  Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live.

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