Geek Gestalt

On March 23, thousands of video game developers will stream into San Francisco's Moscone Center for the 2009 Game Developers Conference.

This annual gathering brings together the people who make the games that have been so entertaining to millions of people--the Rock Bands, Grand Theft Autos, World of Warcrafts and so on. But as the leading developers conference in the world, it doesn't just focus on $60 games for the Xbox, PlayStation 3, or Wii. It also has summits that delve deep into the issues involved in making games for mobile devices, in creating virtual worlds, casual games, independent games, and more.

For the last few years, GDC was run by Jamil Moledina, who has now moved on to EA Partners, an arm of Electronic Arts. This year, for the first time, the conference will be run by its new director, Meggan Scavio.

For Scavio, her first time running GDC comes just as the general economy is nose-diving, presenting her and the conference itself with the challenge of staying relevant even as budgets are tightening and people are losing their jobs.

Yet, the video games industry has so far managed to stay strong, with companies like Microsoft and Nintendo, as well as some publishers, showing impressive holiday sales results, even as the rest of the retail economy suffered.

Meggan Scavio is the new director of the Game Developers Conference.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET Networks)

Now, with GDC just six weeks away, Scavio sat down with CNET News to talk about how she'll run the conference, about the state of the video games industry, and how GDC can keep its lofty position as perhaps the world's most important games confab.

Disclaimer: I am on the advisory board of the Worlds in Motion summit, one of the one-day events taking place at GDC this year.

Q: How do you expect that GDC 09 will be different than in previous years?
Meggan Scavio: I'm calling it a back to basics year. I want to return the focus to the developers. I want people to continue to find value in it, so we've made a couple of changes this year. We had a new process for submissions, where the GDC advisory board used a two-phase process. That made it a lot more difficult to get sessions approved, which hopefully improved the quality. We're also reducing the number of sessions a bit to create a shared experience for the community, so more people are attending the same sessions. Hopefully they'll be talking about the sessions, and feel that they've all experienced somewhat of the same thing at GDC. We're also adding meeting rooms where after each session is over, if they want to continue the conversation, they can move to this other room and they can keep talking. That just keeps building a community and making it feel smaller than it actually is, because GDC has gotten so much bigger over the years.

What has the attendance been?
Scavio: It was 18,000 last year, and we're hoping for 18,000 again this year. And all signs point to that. It's a little early to tell, and I'm not going to get too excited, and I'm going to knock on wood, but so far so good.

You're the first new official director after Jamil Moledina, who was in that role for several years. How do you imagine that you'll run GDC differently?
Scavio: I don't think I will, really. This is my 10th year working on GDC and there's a core GDC value that follows all of us. I believe in that, and I've seen it work, and I'll continue that. It really is about the attendees and the audience, and the advisory board, and I don't plan on changing that.

For the last couple years, GDC has been the biggest video game event in the U.S, because E3 reduced its size so dramatically. Now E3 is going back to a much larger format, so what does that mean for GDC?
Scavio: I don't think it's going to change. When E3 changed to its smaller format, some people gravitated towards GDC to continue that business here, but that business took place outside of the GDC campus. It was like they were satellite events that took place in hotels. But it didn't really change the format of GDC, or how GDC operated in any way, and the return of E3 as a large show shouldn't change that, either.

So you think there's still room for these two shows to stay independent?
Scavio: Absolutely. We operated independently before, and we'll continue to do so. There's definitely room. We have different audiences, and different agendas.

Can you define what those different audiences and agendas are?
Scavio: Ours is a developer audience, and E3 is more of a press and retail event. And they're showing games. E3 is what's happening now, and GDC is what's happening in two to three years.

But when E3 shrank, didn't GDC pick up some of the content?
Scavio: Not intentionally. We didn't seek anything out. We didn't change our format at all. I think the best example of how it affected GDC, more than attendance, was our business track, which got a lot more submissions, which meant a lot more business types were attending GDC.

So has that dropped off now that E3 is coming back?
Scavio: It has not.

Given the state of the economy today, can you imagine GDC growing?
Scavio: I would find it hard to believe that there would be growth this year. It's not to say that there won't be, since we've said that every single year since I've been here, and there's been growth every single year. But I remain optimistic, and by optimistic, I expect it to be very similar to last year. I don't anticipate a lot of growth, not with what's happening.

Have there been budget cuts or layoffs within your own organization?
Scavio: There haven't been any layoffs, and we've maintained the same budget as last year. The problem that I have with cutting budgets for GDC is that I still need to provide the same value to the attendees that we always have and I will fight for that as long as possible. So, so far, we've had no cuts.

Will you be addressing the recession at all at GDC?
Scavio: There's a new session on how to raise money in a recession and there's a start-up checklist, all the things that you have to pay attention to when you're starting up a new company. And there's a couple other funding talks. We definitely address it in the content.

People talk about the video game industry maybe being recession-proof, and while it does seem to be doing better than most other industries, there have been layoffs and studio closings. What do you see ahead for the industry, your constituency?
Scavio: I see the game industry reacting positively to all of these issues. They turn around and find innovations to get around the economy. So they start developing iPhone games, or they start developing Flash games. They find a way to get out of the hole and to succeed. I think they'll pick themselves up and succeed.

EA said recently that it was going to lay off 1,100 people. But is this going to be a situation where the strongest survive, and the small players don't make it?
Scavio: I'm not sure that's what we're seeing. I think EA's the strongest, and they're suffering. I think everyone's suffering equally right now, and I think the people who are able to manage their budgets and their teams and just ride through it and continue to find new ways to prosper, I think they'll succeed.

How far ahead do you start planning the next GDC? Are you already planning 2010?
Scavio: We have the venue through 2015. But we'll start really nailing down GDC 2010 in the summer, with our first board meeting, where we get together with the advisory board, and they talk about what the trends are for the following year, and where the industry is heading, and the things that they want to see addressed. And then we will call for papers in July. It all happens very quickly, starting about May.

Is it too early to know what might be different in structure, or in content, or theme, for future GDCs?
Scavio: It's definitely too early to say. I do know in 2010, we're changing our format, for one year, to Tuesday through Saturday, instead of Monday through Friday, because the venue is booked. There may be changes in the summits, but as far as our six main tracks, nothing should change.

What's the benchmark for you for success in your job?
Scavio: It depends, really, on whether you want the corporate answer or my personal answer. The corporate answer would be attendance. The personal answer would be attendee evaluations. So the attendees, they fill out the evaluation forms at every session, and we pay very close attention to everything they say, and everything that they grade. And we've had an average session rating of 4.1, out of 5, for a few years. Last year it was 4.2. So I always like to see that increase. That's my goal, to see the quality of the GDC content increase.

That's pretty good, though, 4.1.
Scavio: It can be better, and there's room for improvement. There's several points left that I can get it up.

That higher rating, would seem to be a function of really good screening of submissions?
Scavio: Yeah. The advisory board, these guys are insane. There were 800 submissions this year. They read every single one. They commented on every single one. And graded every single one. And this year, there was a second phase, where people had to submit actual PowerPoint submissions, and they had to read and grade and comment on every single one. It's a lot of work, and they're very passionate about it, and they argue about it. They debate, and they're very invested in GDC and I think they want that quality increasing even more than I do. Because they feel it all rests on their shoulders. I love the advisory board. They're a great group, and they're inspiring.

Emotiv's headset allows users some control over objects on a computer. It is possible to move things around, with limited application, with your mind.

(Credit: Emotiv)

I've just made a small orange cube disappear with my mind. No hands necessary.

I'm testing out the San Francisco company's so-called brain control interface, the latest iteration of technology it first showed off a year ago, but which, unlike last year, is now almost ready for prime time.

The idea is a blending of hardware and software: A headset that seems a little like the one from the James Cameron-written 1995 film, Strange Days, complete with a set of sensors that are built to read your brain waves.

The software then is designed to interpret those brain waves in such a way as to allow users to manipulate objects onscreen with nothing but their mind.

So that's why I've come to this office in downtown San Francisco, where I'm face-to-face with this little orange cube. It's kind of mocking me, daring me to make it disappear.

The headset is designed to fit snugly on a user's head. The data it produces can, in theory, be plugged into a wide variety of software.

(Credit: Emotiv)

Here's how it works: The software has several choices for actions you can take. So, taking the disappearing cube as an example, once you're hooked up to the headset, you're directed to run a short, six-second test, where you concentrate on doing something, anything, with your mind--relax, focus, whatever.

Then, once you've completed the test, it's you against the cube. And the challenge is to see if you can reproduce what it was you were doing with your mind during the test; If so, the cube slowly disappears.

In my case, it disappeared, then came back, then disappeared again and then came back. Repeat.

They also ran me through another example, this time trying to pull the cube forward. This one was harder because the brain function I chose to do to synchronize with the challenge was more concentrated. It involved me sort of tensing up my head and imagining the act of pulling the cube forward. It didn't work very well.

But with the disappearing act, I simply relaxed my mind, with much better results.

Of course, there's no relationship at all between brain activity that is consciously trying to "pull" the cube forward and what happens. That is to say, it doesn't matter in any way what you're doing with your mind, so long as what you do during the six-second calibration matches what you do when you try to enact the action.

So really, the software is just looking for a pattern match. It's not all that complicated a concept, though I'm sure it's a pretty difficult engineering feat.

Emotiv has also built technology designed to read your facial expressions and emotions. So while there, I saw a demonstration where someone wearing the headset would smile, frown, smile again, and so forth. And a goofy-looking face on the monitor would repeat the expression.

For now, this is all still just in prototype phase. But Emotiv promised me that the headset would be available in time for Christmas this year, at a price of $299. It'll come bundled with a game that is geared toward using the technology, and presumably, more games will follow. The success, I think, of this product, will be how easy it is for developers to build the technology into their games. And that, presumably, is why the product is being showcased during this week's Game Developers Conference, here in San Francisco.

Emotiv also said that the company is working on a partnership with IBM to integrate the brain control interface technology with Big Blue's virtual worlds projects.

To be perfectly honest, I think this technology is a ways from being ready for any hard-core application. Based on what I saw, it's very interesting and even quite impressive. But I just don't know if it can improve fast enough to make a real difference in the market in the next year. Perhaps it can, and if so, that would be fantastic.

Nintendo's Wii and Guitar Hero have opened people's eyes to all-new interfaces, and I'm sure that this would fit into that category. But the things that have made the Wii and the Guitar Hero controller so successful is that they are easy and intuitive to use. Whether Emotiv's technology is as well is something I'd have to reserve judgment on.

Still, I was able to make that cube disappear without using my hands. And that's something.

If ever there was a time for a famous futurist to be giving a keynote address at the Game Developers Conference, this is it.

When Ray Kurzweil, the author of The Singularity is Near and one of the most noted futurists around, takes the stage at GDC 2008 in San Francisco on Thursday to talk about "the next 20 years of gaming," he'll be weighing in at a moment in the industry's existence when the lines between games and Hollywood and advertising are blurring, when the term "gamer" encompasses 75-year-old grandmothers and when the barrier to entry to being a developer has never been smaller.

"I think the Kurzweil keynote should be very interesting," said Ron Meiners, community manager for the virtual world platform developer, Multiverse Network. "He's a very original thinker, and I'm curious as to his take on the gaming industry, how games fit into people's lives, (and) how games are changing people's lives."

One thing that strikes me about how video games are intersecting with people's lives in 2008, and it was made abundantly clear over the Christmas holidays, when it was simply impossible to find a Nintendo Wii for sale anywhere, is that finally, the medium is truly mainstream.

And while there will always be a significant segment of the industry that caters to and is serviced by hard-core gamers, what's becoming evident is that there's almost no one who is left out of what video gaming is today. And for those who are left out, that may not be true as the years progress. I suspect that that is something Kurzweil will touch on, at least briefly.

"It's a very exciting time in the game industry, in that we have this growing recognition of the important of casual and family-oriented content," said Jamil Moledina, the director of GDC. "You're seeing it in the $60 packaged (games) and in the $10 downloads. It's a perfect storm of factors poised to really expand the game industry."

One example of that, Moledina suggested, is the explosion of gamer-created content and social networking in online gamer communities like Microsoft's Xbox Live.

That rationale may well be why GDC's first keynote speaker, on Wednesday, will be Microsoft corporate vice president John Schappert, who will give a talk titled, "A future wide open: Unleashing the creative community."

For Moledina, organizing what is almost certain to be the biggest GDC ever--last year's event drew 16,000 people, he said, and it is expected to grow this year--is a huge job. There are hundreds of panel discussions scheduled, a huge trade show and, as always, GDC will actually be made up of several different events that are linked together throughout the week.

On Monday and Tuesday, the events will include several "summits," such as those on casual games, independent games, game outsourcing, and virtual worlds. As well, there's GDC Mobile, which focuses on games for mobile devices.

GDC: "Now there's a circus that goes on"
But with the demise of E3--formerly the world's biggest video game show--as a major event, GDC is now taking on an increasingly important role to publishers as a place to showcase their games, even if they do it outside the auspices of the conference itself.

"It used to be that GDC was just about going and listening to developers talk about the craft of making video games, said Brian Crescente, the editor of the influential video game blog, Kotaku.com. "That still happens, but now there's a circus that goes on, a halo, that surrounds GDC. It's essentially like a mini-E3."

That means many publishers and hardware developers are scheduling events in venues near GDC's home at San Francisco's Moscone Center that are unofficial but hard to ignore for game journalists or analysts who need to keep up on the latest and greatest.

"They're contacting me and saying, 'You're going to GDC,' they know journalists are going to be there, and they're taking advantage of that," Crescente said. "From my perspective, it's nice, because I get to see these things, but it also waters down the message of GDC."

For its part, he added, GDC organizer "CMP is sort of fighting to prevent that from happening, but it's hard."

Another interesting phenomenon, at least to longtime GDC attendees, is how the conference's now-permanent move to San Francisco has affected the social dynamics of the event.

For years, GDC was held in San Jose, Calif., at that city's convention center in the heart of its downtown. For the last few years, the conference has bounced back and forth between San Francisco and San Jose, but is now settled in the former.

"It still feels transplanted and uprooted after leaving San Jose," said Michael Steele, vice president of product development for C3L3B Digital (pronounced "celeb"), a start-up working on online games for the entertainment industry. "It will be a few more years until the new social patterns are established or settled. That makes it a little more exhausting and harder for the social connections to happen. (There's) no Fairmont (hotel) lobby, multiple buildings are far apart, multiple hotels are far apart, (and the) hustle-bustle of downtown (San Francisco) versus the relative quiet of San Jose."

And that's vital because GDC is always as much about the relationships and deals struck in the hallways and hotels as about what goes on inside the convention itself.

The Hollywood angle
Still, to Steele--who in addition to being a longtime GDC attendee is also among the guiding forces, as an advisory committee member, of the Austin Game Developers Conference, which is held in the fall--the content at GDC is very much indicative of the state of the video game industry.

"I see a trend that is continuing," he said, "the maturation of the game industry, and the cross-pollination with other industries as our target markets evolve...We used to have a lot of cross-pollination with Hollywood. It's still there, of course, but now we're seeing (that) with Madison Avenue...As games achieve more cultural relevancy in the West, we're getting the ad folks stepping in and learning about how we do things--e.g., how they can reach our audience. So GDC tends to be a nice place to see where those bellwethers are going."

To Moledina, two of the major industry bellwethers these days are Nintendo and Harmonix, the companies behind the Wii and Guitar Hero, which have both introduced new game controllers that have lured in huge new audiences.

"During the (recent Hollywood) writers' striker, we saw late-night hosts playing Guitar Hero," Moledina said. "There's certainly a greater knowledge and understanding that games can be a much more diverse art form. And that's the thing that the Wii has so successfully demonstrated....Harmonix and Nintendo are changing the perception of what hardware and casual accessories can do."

Yet some of the most impressive innovations on display during this year's GDC are likely to be aimed at the hard-core gamer market.

The one I think I'm most excited to see is LucasArts' forthcoming Star Wars: Force Unleashed, which is said to feature several ground-breaking technological advances that herald a future in which video games are more realistic than ever. Among them are technologies that make physics more life-like, as well as artificial intelligence that makes game play different every time.

As always, I'm also excited about this year's Game Design Challenge, a panel during which leading developers face off with concepts for a new game based on an unusual topic. This year, the topic is an "inter-species" game, that is, one that could be played by humans and another species. Past topics have included games about love, games that could win the Nobel Peace Prize and games based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson.

In some ways, it's hard to know before heading to the conference what will be the best events and content, as there is simply so much. This will be my fifth GDC, and I'm always excited to talk to the friends I've made during the event in years past, and to attend the best panels.

Of course, it is nearly impossible to attend everything, as many of the best sessions are scheduled against each other, and then there's the small matter of eating--and sleeping, since some of the best get-togethers are in the evening.

But as thousands and thousands of game industry people flow into San Francisco this week, there can be little doubt that the ideas that will dramatically change the way people the world over interact with games--and entertainment in general--will be in evidence. And that makes GDC among the most relevant conferences still going today.

Still, as the industry prepares to head to GDC, there's one well-known member of the community who won't be there.

To Peter Moore, formerly the head of Microsoft's Xbox division and now president of Electronic Arts' EA Sports division, GDC, while a vibrant event for industry innovation, is hardly the place for executives like him.

If you're the kind of person for whom every year is centered around Burning Man, then there's a certain problem you have with the calendar: you can't go to other Labor Day weekend events.

Not that I would know anything about this, of course, because I only go to Burning Man some years, and it's only coincidence that it's happened 10 years in a row.

But anyway, I noticed today that there's going to be a great Lego fan festival in Washington, D.C., next year, called BrickFair. "Fantastic," I thought, as I love attending Lego events.

And, then, sadly, I noticed that it was scheduled for Labor Day weekend. Sigh.

It turns out that there are always so many great, geek-friendly events planned all over the country during that weekend, and if you're a burner, you can't go to any of them. The same is true if something is scheduled immediately before or after Burning Man.

I think to myself any time I come across one of these things, "What were these people thinking? Don't they know that means that burners can't go?"

Well, I suppose the reality is that there is a whole world outside of Burning Man, and that there are even a few geeks who don't go, or at least who don't go every year, but who still want to do something fun that weekend.

Who knew?

Still, as someone who regularly finds myself in the sad position of having to skip one great event after another in order to go to Nevada's Black Rock desert, I'd really like to urge the folks organizing these gatherings to consider the calendar.

I mean, already from what I gather, we've managed to convince the organizers of at least two events I can think of, the Austin Game Developers Conference and the Second Life Community Convention, to move to different places on the calendar.

That wasn't that hard, right? Who's next?