Worlds in Motion Summit Reveals New Panels, Speakers

As the January 16th deadline for early registration fast approaches, the organizers of the inaugural Worlds in Motion Summit at the 2008 Game Developers Conference have revealed three new panels for the event. The Summit, which is organized by the editors of WorldsInMotion.biz, will be held on Monday and Tuesday, February 18-19th 2008, 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 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 will delve into online worlds, social gaming and media and player created activity. These will provide 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." The new panels are: Is Asia The New Hollywood? Many of the biggest and most permanent trends in online worlds have come out of the explosive Asian market, and now developers, investors and publishers alike are wisely looking East for the next wave of evolution. Asia just may be “the new Hollywood” of online gaming, and Outspark's Susan Choe, Tencent's David Wallerstein, Three Rings' Daniel James and VinaGame's Bryan Pelz are all experienced in this arena, and in this exciting panel, they'll discuss the appeal, the issues, and the future out of Asia's innovation hotbed. Beyond Ads: Building A Brand In A Virtual World In community-driven online spaces, advertising is more than an image in the background. There.com parent Makena Technologies’ partnership with Metaversatility and Trilogy Studios to build, from the ground up, a thriving and persistent, fully interactive campaign for Toyota’s Scion vehicles is one of the most visible and widely-known 3D virtual world campaigns, leading the charge to create in-game advertising that actually adds entertainment and social value for users and encourages their participation. Makena strategic partnership leader Ben Richardson, Scion's Adrian Si, Trilogy CEO Michael Pole and Metaversatility Co-Founder Matt Daly will discuss the process, goals and considerations in building a brand experience in the virtual space – and how to measure its success. Learning To Love Virtual Item Sales Virtual goods that have real value to online users are here to stay. In fact, these items are so valuable that they’re often bought and sold on the black market, upsetting in-game economies and endangering players. Live Gamer recently launched its publisher-sponsored transaction network, along with major partners Funcom GMBH, Sony Online Entertainment, 10Tacle Studios, Acclaim, GoPets and Ping0 Interactive. Player-to-player item sales are bound to remain a controversial issue, but Sony Pictures Digital veteran Andy Schneider, president and co-founder of Live Gamer, will discuss some possible solutions, and explain why legitimizing such transactions and gaining the support of publishers might help. He's joined by Steve Goldstein, co-founder and President of Ping0, distributor of Flagship Studios titles like Hellgate: London, and one of Live Gamer's first publisher partners. The Worlds in Motion Summit has previously announced participation from Club Penguin CEO Lane Merrifield, Disney Online senior vice president of premium content Steve Parkis, Nick.com senior vice president Jason Root, and Neopets senior vice president Kyra Reppen, Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson, Ph.D, in-world economist for EVE Online, Gaia Online CEO Craig Sherman, John Bates, director of business development for Entropia Universe, Multiverse's Corey Bridges and Rafhael Cedeno, MindCandy's Michael Acton Smith, Turbine's Jeffrey Steefel, Areae's Raph Koster, Relic Labs studio head Adrian Crook, Nexon's Min Kim, Millions of Us' Reuben Steiger, among others. The Summit is available to attend via several different Game Developers Conference 2008 passes, and more information on the event plus the speakers announced so far is available on the Worlds In Motion Summit webpage. The deadline for early registration is January 16th, so register today!