IMGDC and massive brain trauma from an influx of awesome information
by Ted Southard · 04/22/2009 (8:13 pm) · 0 comments
This blog should have been written Monday when I got back home, but I've been playing catch-up ever since...
Basically, I dropped into Vegas late Thursday night not really knowing what to expect. I mean, sure, there were plenty of people at last year's conference, but we all had money (and day jobs) then. Not so much the case now. Come Friday morning, I realized two things:
There were fewer people at the conference...
and
A large number of them wrote books that I have on my bookshelf...
If you don't see the opportunity in those two facts, you need to go waterboard yourself until you get it. It's fine, the rest of us will wait...
Back? Okay. So, now that I realized that the smaller population of attendees made it possible for me to have "more time" with these big names, I did my networking thing, and got awesome information in return. Honestly, IMGDC always turns up a lot of great feedback and information, but this year yielded information like South Africa yields diamonds.
For those who didn't go, there is just no substitute for hearing Richard Bartle speak about what MMO's need to do, or Brian Green and Bobby Thurman talk about the do's and don'ts of creating and running an indie MMO, or Greg Boyd's session on legal issues, or Jessica Mulligan or Sara Schubert's sessions, and the other sessions and roundtables that occurred. Or even the times between where you get to hang out with them and others and talk about all sorts of things and forge business relationships that can get you a deal or a day job (I'm okay with either).
I learned invaluable information about planning out my content pipeline, detailed PR tips, and feedback on my game's features from top people involved in MMOs. The kind of stuff you can't find anywhere else, even in experienced and helpful communities like this (or else there wouldn't be a need for conferences). It was like that scene in the Matrix when they downloaded Kung Fu into Neo's brain for the first time. Except, it happens to me at IMGDC every April...
So, I'm a bit disappointed that more indies weren't there, but then again... I didn't have to compete as much for people's time, and that benefited my team and my project directly in ways that we actually put in motion during tonight's dev meeting.
Some of that information will trickle down to the community, because I don't believe in keeping it all to myself. But I can't possibly give it all back either or else I'd be doing nothing else, and that's not my job. My job over the past few months has been to get the contacts and information I need in order to reduce my project's chances of failure, given it's aims and lack of funding or business support, and I believe that I have succeeded to about as much a degree as I can at this point.
So instead of trying to boil everything down for everyone again (really, it's just the same lessons as before- there's no secret to success), I'll just take this chance to thank Jonathon Stevens and his crew for pulling the conference off despite the economy, despite Murphy's Laws, and despite the AAAs thinking that indies can't do it. For the last three years, he's been helping to shape the movement that is starting to change the game industry's game, and I'm just glad to be a small part of it.
Basically, I dropped into Vegas late Thursday night not really knowing what to expect. I mean, sure, there were plenty of people at last year's conference, but we all had money (and day jobs) then. Not so much the case now. Come Friday morning, I realized two things:
There were fewer people at the conference...
and
A large number of them wrote books that I have on my bookshelf...
If you don't see the opportunity in those two facts, you need to go waterboard yourself until you get it. It's fine, the rest of us will wait...
Back? Okay. So, now that I realized that the smaller population of attendees made it possible for me to have "more time" with these big names, I did my networking thing, and got awesome information in return. Honestly, IMGDC always turns up a lot of great feedback and information, but this year yielded information like South Africa yields diamonds.
For those who didn't go, there is just no substitute for hearing Richard Bartle speak about what MMO's need to do, or Brian Green and Bobby Thurman talk about the do's and don'ts of creating and running an indie MMO, or Greg Boyd's session on legal issues, or Jessica Mulligan or Sara Schubert's sessions, and the other sessions and roundtables that occurred. Or even the times between where you get to hang out with them and others and talk about all sorts of things and forge business relationships that can get you a deal or a day job (I'm okay with either).
I learned invaluable information about planning out my content pipeline, detailed PR tips, and feedback on my game's features from top people involved in MMOs. The kind of stuff you can't find anywhere else, even in experienced and helpful communities like this (or else there wouldn't be a need for conferences). It was like that scene in the Matrix when they downloaded Kung Fu into Neo's brain for the first time. Except, it happens to me at IMGDC every April...
So, I'm a bit disappointed that more indies weren't there, but then again... I didn't have to compete as much for people's time, and that benefited my team and my project directly in ways that we actually put in motion during tonight's dev meeting.
Some of that information will trickle down to the community, because I don't believe in keeping it all to myself. But I can't possibly give it all back either or else I'd be doing nothing else, and that's not my job. My job over the past few months has been to get the contacts and information I need in order to reduce my project's chances of failure, given it's aims and lack of funding or business support, and I believe that I have succeeded to about as much a degree as I can at this point.
So instead of trying to boil everything down for everyone again (really, it's just the same lessons as before- there's no secret to success), I'll just take this chance to thank Jonathon Stevens and his crew for pulling the conference off despite the economy, despite Murphy's Laws, and despite the AAAs thinking that indies can't do it. For the last three years, he's been helping to shape the movement that is starting to change the game industry's game, and I'm just glad to be a small part of it.
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