Online Games SIG/Conference Calls/November 8th 2006
International Game Developers Association
Table of contents |
[edit] Notes from Conference Call 11/08/2006 4pm PST / 7pm ET / 8am KST
[edit] Attendance
[edit] Present
James Hursthouse,Peter Freese,Elonka Dunin,Gordon Walton
[edit] Apologies
Michael Steele,Brian Robbins,Jonathan Greechan,Daniel James,Paul Kim,Larry Mellon,Jay Moore,Michael Welles,
[edit] Next Call
It is clear that we need to re-establish a regular call in time slot. The general rule is that our call will take place on the third Wednesday of every month, with the exception of December, which will take place on the first Wednesday. Time is 4pm PST / 7pm EST / 8am KST (Nov 2nd)
Forthcoming calls are as follows:
December 6th, 2006 January 17th, 2007 February 21st, 2007 March 21st, 2007
Our AGM will take place at GDC as usual.
[edit] Problems with Yahoo Mailing List
JH will conduct another test of the Yahoo mailing list. It is paramount that people respond to this test. We need to know if the recent inertia is as a result of communication problems or otherwise. Please ensure that you have checked the Yahoo group account to ensure you are receiving email.
[edit] Lack of Progress on SIG Goals
The comment was made that this has been one of the worst years for progress within the Steering Committee. JH will become more active in chasing up people who volunteer for tasks and do not perform them as promised. The Whitepaper remains our primary focus. JH will phone people who a) do not respond to the test mail through the OGSC list b) contact people with specific project responsibility to assess why little progress is being made.
[edit] 2006 Whitepaper
NOTES FROM 10/6/2006
Action: Jay Moore will upload the skeleton document supplied by Larry Mellon to the Wiki asap. In addition, he will create a sandbox page for the committee to post comments on the skeleton in the following key areas:
- Areas missing from the skeleton - The second level (i.e. sub section headings) - Potential contributor names assigned to each section
As an example, we discussed the topic of 'MMO Middleware' which will be one of our sections. It was agreed that we want, at least for the main whitepaper, an independent expert to provide an overview of the state of the industry with regards to middleware as opposed to representatives from middleware companies providing the content. An opportunity for middleware vendors to provide information may happen when the 'bible' / industry directory phase is reached.
JM will mail the group as soon as the sandbox is ready to accept comments. The aim is to have this completed so that the next meeting can be a review of the skeleton and an approval of it for going forward.
Other comments:
We want to include comments and opinion from the industry's leading players. How can we have an MMO whitepaper without comment from Blizzard, for example? It was decided to pursue these comments after finally establishing our main skeleton and approaching these companies on specific topics. i.e. Microsoft on in game ads after their acquisition of Massive, for example.
We noted areas in the industry, such as the lack of standard terminology for and independent validation of user statistics (Game Ratings??) that might be things that the SIG can address. We agreed that the Whitepaper should not shy away from industry areas that are problematic. Brian Robbins was suggested as a person who has been interested in user metrics (at least from the Casual Games perspective) and who might be willing to write on this topic in the OG Whitepaper.
E-Zine, Podcast and new Webpages will be informed by activity on the Whitepaper so the Whitepaper remains our primary (if not sole) focus.
[edit] Website
PF committed to updating the page at www.igda.org/online as an interim measure to at least bring the content current.
[edit] AOB
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