I'm heading up to Liverpool today to kick off a week or so of speaking engagements. Tonight I'm addressing a public audience at FACT during their Darkly Comic series on the topical topic of the social life of virtual worlds. I'm following in the footsteps of journalist-cum-virtual trader Julian Dibbell who wowed audiences with tales of his 12 months as an Ultima Online eBayer, selling in-game items (currency, property, armour, weapons) for real dollars, earning the approximate equivalent salary of a US secondary school teacher. How's that for real value from virtual trade? I won't be stepping on his toes, however. The crux of my talk will focus on personal identity in gameplay and the social systems which have emerged from years of in-game interaction.
While I'm there, I plan on seeing a bit of game-inspired artwork courtesy of Eddo Stern.
Unfortunately Friday's DigiPlay 4 event in London is already sold out, but it's taking place at the Institute of Education, with some of the same group who released the October 2004 report arguing for the benefit of games in the classroom. The topic of the panel I'll be speaking on? Gender, games culture and games education. This will be a good starting block to consider the role games-related degrees have in the industry, a topic which will be covered in detail at the Academic Insights session at the Game Developer's Conference (the thinking person's E3).
Finally, I'll be revising the social life of virtual worlds topic at the Animex animation festival in Teeside on Monday 31st. This is the second year they're running their Game strand and the lineup looks great. Lots of women reprazenting, as well as games design luminaries Chris Crawford and Ernest Adams. Plus plenty of animation to satiate my hunger for moving animated image!
After that, I have a PhD to do...
