GDC08 Highlights: The future of Virtual Worlds and the end of GDC08
by Dan O'Halloran 
Mar 2nd 2008 at 12:56PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, MapleStory, Business models, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, Previews, News items, Free-to-play, Browser, Hands-on, Casual, Massively highlights, Academic, Education, Virtual worlds, Gaia Online, Kids
The Future of MMOs
The Future of MMOs panel liveblogTeam Massively was there to live blog one of the most anticipated panels of GDC08. On it were a few names you might have heard of, like Cryptic Studios' Jack Emmert, Nexon's Min Kim, BioWare's Ray Muzyka, and Rob Pardo (who has apparently worked on some sort of popular fantasy game). We blogged a blow-by-blow account of the jabs, cuts, and parries from these Massive genre heavyweights.
More sessions, news
We covered more panels and sessions focused on the theory of MMO design and implementation than you can shake a monthly sub at. But we've run out of room to individually spotlight them in this roundup, so if you're interested in other aspects of the convention, check out the list below.Sessions
- Why goal structures are important to MMOs and Virtual Worlds
- Raph Koster gets sentimental about Virtual Worlds
- Raph Koster on reinventing MMOs
- Entertainment content convergence in online worlds
- Get to know Worlds in Motion
- Facebook and the Social Gaming evolution
- Is Asia the new Hollywood of MMOs?
- Maplestory's road to the US market
- Thinking outside the virtual world
- An evening with Wil Wright minus friends plus video
- Gaia Online launching casual MMO
- SOE launching GIRL scholarship
- SOE takes voice chat to the next level
- Xfire client to include video capture
Can small teams build MMOs?
End of the road, beginning of a new eraWe said goodbye to a marathon week of back-to-back session coverage, dubious convention food and information overload and headed home to see if our respective guilds had kicked us for inactivity.
With a clearer picture of what's in development for our favorite genre, we're thrilled to see new titles on the horizon not blindly trying imitate existing successes, but embracing a vision to transform the market by appealing to new and old players alike.
We leave you with one last article that sums up much of the attitude of current game developers looking to make their mark in just that way: NetDevil's bigger isn't always better philosophy.
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