[MUD-Dev] Dinner, Conference and BBQ

[J C Lawrence]

(Updated information, locations, pricing, scheduling, etc.  Please
spread the word and invite your friends and coworkers The more the
merrier!).

			http://www.kanga.nu/MDC/

			The MUD-Dev Mailing List
			      Presents the
		    First Annual MUD-Dev Conference

		       Saturday, March 8th, 2003,

		      09:45 AM - 6:00 PM, San Jose

		      Location: The De Anza Hotel

(preceeded by the fourth annual MUD-Dev dinner on Friday March 7th, and
followed closely by the Second Annual MUD-Dev BBQ & hot tubbing
competition, March 9th, 2003).

MUD-Dev presents the MUD-Dev Conference, a daylong conference about MUD
game design, development and implementation and related topics. As MUD
gaming has grown into both the premier style of online gaming, the MUD
continues being one of the most intimate methods of online role-playing
and adventuring, this conference will be of interest to game developers
of all kinds who work in the online media. For more definition of what a
"MUD" is, please see the MUD-Dev charter at
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev). The conference is
scheduled to take advantage of the number of game professional and
hobbyist developers who will be in San Jose for the Game Developers
Conference.

The MUD-Dev Conference will be a real-time, face-to-face complement to
MUD Dev, a well-known email list that covers MUD game design and
development and is distributed to a large and growing number of game
developers in multiplayer online games. It will provide a tight feedback
loop between presenters and audience for discussing MUD development, and
will include peer review, presentations, technology and system
demonstrations. The MUD-Dev Conference will continue to build and widen
the MUD-Dev community by providing the informal discussion, socializing
and networking that we have all been asking for.

The speakers schedule may change without warning:

    9:45 - Organising Staff
        Opening Remarks
    10:00 - Adam Martin
        An Evolving Architecture for Evolving MMOGs
    10:30 - Matt Mihaly
        Managing PvP
    11:00 - Nathan Yospe
        Matching Words to Meaning: A Retrospective Look at the PhysMUD
        Formed Text Output and Natural Language Input Models
    11:30 - Dave Rickey
        Better Game Design through Data Mining
    12:00 - Lunch
    13:00 - Gordon Walton, Scott Jennings, Damion Schubert
        Less is More? -- A debate on the number of characters per server
    14:00 - Lee Sheldon
        True Multiplayer Quests
    14:30 - Brian Green
        Redefining the PvP Flag
    15:00 - Break
    15:30 - Dr. Cat
        What ELSE Are These Things Good For?
    16:00 - John Arras
        Generated Worlds and Meaningful Activities
    16:30 - Larry Dunlap
        Is There Intelligent Life Beyond Massively Multiplayer for
        Online Games?
    17:00 - Elonka Dunin
        Steganography, Terrorism, and Multiplayer Games
    18:00 - David Kennerly
        Better Game Design through Data Mining
    18:30 - Organising Staff
        Closing Remarks

The First Annual MUD-Dev Conference is in response to the community's
demand for better and more thorough coverage than the tracks presented
at GDC and other game industry conferences. The conference will promote
knowledge sharing by providing participants a daylong forum to speak
directly with others in their field. You have asked for and the MUD-Dev
Conference offers all MUDers the opportunity to participate in the group
that forms and defines their field.

The MUD-Dev Conference is modeled after Chris Crawford's original Game
Developer's Conference (which later became GDC). The format will be a
simultaneous main presentation of a talk at one end of the hall, with an
array of smaller, lower-key demos at the other end. Talks will be
focused and tightly timed, followed by brief Question and Answer
sessions. Our goal is to have good, fast-paced, stimulating conversation
regularly interrupted by the start of even more fascinating speakers
fighting the end of a Q&A from the last speaker that doesn't want to
stop.

The MUD-Dev Conference is presented by the MUD-Dev list with the help of
Brian Green, David Kennerly, Eli Stevens, J C Lawrence, Jon Leonard,
Larry Dunlap and Randy Farmer.

Summary:

    * Dinner:
          o Location: Teske's Germania
          o Costs will be approximately $25 per head plus any drinks.
          o We'll meet in front of the conference center by the fountain
          at 18:30 on 7th March 2003 before walking up to the restaurant
          o Reservations: email dinner-reservation at kanga.nu

    * Conference:
          o Starting at 09:45 and ending at 18:45.
          o Location: De Anza Hotel
          o Costs:
                + Student pass: $30
                      Attendence only
                + Basic pass: $50
                      Attendence only
                + Premium pass: $70
                      Attendence and a CD of all conference materials
                      and MP3s of all presentations at the 2001 and 2003
                      conference
                * A very limited number of hardship tickets will be
                available.

          o Reservations: email conference-reservation at kanga.nu

    * BBQ:
          o Location: 1264 Albion Lane, Sunnyvale, CA 94087
          o Cost: Free
          o Please bring drinks, snacks, and/or food for the grill.
          o A jacuzzi will be available.
          o Thank your hosts Jon and Beth Leonard.
          o Reservations: email bbq-reservation at kanga.nu

Places and tickets are limited.

--
J C Lawrence
---------(*)                Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
claw at kanga.nu               He lived as a devil, eh?
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/  Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live.

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