Well, another Game Developer’s Conference has come and gone, and this year I attended several really interesting summit discussions. Casual games got their fair share of discussion, of course, but the big money (and crowd) was in the Worlds in Motion panels. Every speaker I heard in that summit was knowledgeable, funny, and spot on with his or her analysis.

I won’t go into the details of each speaker, since that info is available on the GDC website and any number of recaps, but suffice it to say I was incredibly interested in the gameplay enhancements and revenue models in virtual worlds and MMOs. While the rest of the video game industry quibbles over which revenue model works best (answer: all of them and none of them), creators of virtual worlds have it pretty well nailed down. MMOs are mostly subscription-based, of course, and virtual worlds have tried several monetization schemes. The future seems to lay in microtransactions that allow for “fashion” enhancements rather than gameplay advantages, although in-game advertising should also feature in worlds where vandalism can’t easily occur.

Gameplay enhancements for MMOs seemed to revolve around the introduction of mini-games (or metagames) within the system itself, allowing for tight gaming options for casual gamers within the context of a shared world. Cosmetic enhancements and creative expression were actually offered up as a way to appeal to Socializers, with the instrumental music system from Lord of the Rings Online being the most compelling example. Wikis were also discussed as a way for people to interact with an MMO or virtual world without being beholden to a leveling system or quest-based gameplay.

I spent some time in the Casual Games, Indie Games, and Serious Games summits as well. Casual had some excellent discussion of revenue models for online games, and featured a consistent lineup of shit-stirring speakers. These guys and gals were really ready to mix it up, but I found a lot of the predictions and analysis too narrowly focused to be useful or accurate. The only Serious panel I attended was about using casual games to promote television, and all three presentations were very informative. There’s a great untapped market there, and not just for high-end 3-D games. I didn’t get much value out of the Indie panels, as they were much less broadly useful. That’s not to say it wasn’t a good summit, just that it didn’t meet my needs as a non-indie developer.

Next blog I’ll talk a little about my overall impression of the video games market, and why I think hobby games are in a better place at the moment.