Indie MMO Conference Due for Minneapolis

Conference organizers of the Indie MMO Game Developers Conference (IMGDC) 2.0 have announced some details of the upcoming event. The event, now in its second year, will be held March 29 and 30 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Speakers will include Richard Bartle, creator of the first MUD; Raph Koster, formerly of Sony Online Entertainment fame and now heading his own company, Areae; Gordon Walton, the co-studio director at BioWare Austin; and Brian Green, whose game credits include Meridian 59. The conference will present educational and business content tailored toward independent game developers making massively multiplayer online games, as well as community support for struggling indies. Most recently, organizers announced that Microsoft has signed on to support the event, an odd sponsor given the homegrown, non-corporate, and individualist appeal of indie games. Other sponsors (to date) are Areae, Multiverse, and IndieZen. Conference organizers stated that they are still accepting speaker paper submission for the conference. For more information, visit www.imgdc.com.