NY Games Conference, Day 2: Panels, and Pirates, and Pros— Oh My!

Despite the torrential downpour outside of the venue, umbrella-armed crowds slowly but surely trickled into the Museum of Jewish Heritage at Battery Park last Friday morning to attend the second and final day of the NY Games Conference, myself included. It was an earlier commencement than the previous day, and if it weren’t for the vastly interesting panels, I probably would’ve nodded off in my complimentary coffee.

John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment, kicked the conference off with a keynote speech entitled “Reinventing the Online Game.” Before delving into the “reinventing” aspect of Sony’s future, he had a retrospective moment, reflecting upon Everquest and the impact it had upon its players. A video montage of Everquest romance ensued to demonstrate how much this online game was able to bring people together, and how MMOGs are not just for competing. After bearing witness to the “Everwedding” footage, which was equally endearing as it was dorky, “Smed” proceeded to get down to business and reveal the main attraction.

One of the primary issues with current MMOGs is that they draw a mostly male crowd. John believes Sony has the answer to even out the playing field. Set for a January 2009 launch, Free Realms is an online game that will be the stalwart pioneer for a new generation of online games. The preview shown of this game was impressive, to say the least. The sky is pretty much the limit regarding what kind of character and adventure you choose. You can be everything from a fashion designer walking your dog to a (brace yourselves) ninja battling yetis. It’s equal parts Sims as it is WoW, making it incredibly versatile in regards to gameplay. The age demographic for the game appears to be 18 and under, but that won’t stop the big kid in me from giggling in delight as I dress my virtual cat in a vast array of sweaters and tip cows in my virtual farm.

John continued on to a panel called “Games of Tomorrow and the Future of MMOGs.” Joining him were names like Matthew Bellows, VP of Consumer Strategy at Vivox, and Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer at Turbine. When asked how healthy the panelists believe the market is, the consensus was that there were “high risks” involved, but also “high rewards.” Jon Radoff, CEO of gamerDNA, does not believe the subscription-based market of games is healthy, citing how non-WoW MMOGs have about 100,000 users, as opposed to the millions of users that WoW has. He also believes people need to go head-to-head with WoW and add some diversity within the top tier.

Min Kim, VP of Marketing for Nexon America (responsible for the well-received Maple Story), had a great deal of insight for this panel as well. He believes that they are on the ground floor right now, and they need to innovate in others way so they can expand what they already do. In regards to the market, he believes that the demand for players is small, not necessarily the market itself, and that “people need to know what value they’re getting out of these games” in order for this to change. When asked what he believed the next WoW was, he brilliantly quipped, “World of Starcraft?” Basically, the gist of the panel can be summarized with Parks Associates moderator Michael Cai’s reference to Chairman Mao: start in the villages, then conquer the cities. This is what the MMOGs will do.

“Games as a Marketing Tool - Connecting Brands With the Favorite Medium of the Millennial Generation” was another noteworthy panel. Manny Anekal, Global Director of In-Game Ad Ops at Electronic Arts, seemed especially well-versed regarding this topic. Don’t believe me? See for yourselves in this video of him discussing everything post-panel at the conference:

Other highlights of this discussion included a prime example of what they were discussing—one that I am still laughing about. Aaron Lassila, Senior Director of Branded Entertainment over at Double Fusion, was explaining how the brands being advertised have to “fit” with the games they are being placed in: McDonald’s could not appropriately fit their intellectual property into Grand Theft Auto, for example, “unless people shoot at Mayor McCheese and Grimace.” Now, what’s the problem with this, exactly? I would personally love to shoot the Hamburglar and foil his burger-stealing schemes, but to each his own.

The “admired, idolized, and stalked (sometimes)” pro-gamer Kyle “kSharp” Miller of Team 3D New York also made a guest appearance at the conference for a short but “sharp” interview with Michael Kane, Entertainment Features Writer for the NY Post and writer of Game Boys. Kyle, years into the pro-gaming circuit with many accomplishments under his belt, was as down-to-earth and bright as ever, discussing his Counter-Strike legacy and brief “retirement” at the ripe old age of 22. Having traveled all over the world, annihilating every contender in his path, he explained that despite the great money he was making and how much he loved the tournaments, that he felt it was time for him “to get out into the real world.” He vowed never to return to gaming unless something big changed, and then—ta-da! It did. Television called. The Championship Gaming Series, broadcast live on DIRECTV, lured him back to the mouse. Let’s hope he doesn’t really retire for a long time!

Last but not least, I learned about pirates. No, silly, not that kind (I already learned about those from Johnny Depp). Matt Mason, author of The Pirater’s Dilemma, discussed gaming piracy, and how to not criminalize pirates in the way that the music industry has. He made the excellent point that America itself was founded on piracy, and how pirates are essentially innovators. He actually encourages companies to keep codes unlockable, and cited Wolfenstein in this context. After the original game’s release, somebody parodied the game and changed all of the Nazis to Smurfs, creating the underground masterpiece Smurfenstein, and presenting us with an even more serious question than the morality of piracy: what’s scarier? Nazis or Smurfs? Pressing issues aside, the most interesting aspect of this anecdote was that when Wolfenstein 3D came out, the developers got such a kick out of those militant Smurfs that they purposefully left the code unlockable. To this day, I keep my fingers crossed for somebody to come out with an Ewokstein, but alas…no dice. In any case, I highly encourage everyone to go out and buy Matt’s book; if his presentation was any indication of how good the book is, then you’re in for a treat!

The NY Games Conference: I came, I saw, I scribbled lots of illegible notes. I soaked in a great deal from this two-day event, much like my hoodie soaked in massive amounts of rain in transit. It was worth it, though. New York is the hub of innumerably memorable places and happenings, and this was no exception. Thanks to Digital Media Wire for hosting this event; here’s to many more NY Games Conferences to come!