GDC Online is due to get underway next month down in Austin, TX. GDC Online, in their own words, is a 'community meeting point for developers and business professionals looking to distill best practices, exchange ideas, and take full advantage of the opportunities of connected gaming'.
We had the chance to chat with Rich Vogel of BioWare and Brandon Beck of Riot Games on some of the conferences major themes as well as current trends in the online gaming industry. Read on for the full interview with Rich and Brandon!
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Curse: What are some of the main themes and trends that will be prevalent at this year’s GDC Online?
You know, games are all about the players and as developers, we are growing increasingly connected to our players and player communities. So this track explores how we manage our communities and how we view responses to our players and those kinds of things. So, I think that’s just an emerging trend in games in general and it’s going to be reflected at the show. So there’s a whole series of talks that revolve around that. So, yeah, I think you’ll find that interesting.
Curse: Yeah, that’s very interesting. You know, last year at GDC Online there was a big focus on the rise of social gaming. Are we going to see trends like that in the industry represented at this year’s GDC?
BB: So, you’re definitely going to see representation from the social gaming industry. There’s some interesting talks from a variety of socal gaming players. We’re going to get a behind the scenes look at the engineering of Cityville, which will be interesting given the size and scale of the game. So, yeah, absolutely; a big portion of the conference’s content is related to social gaming.
Curse: Cool, so this next question goes back to the customer experience. Over the past few years, the face of the ‘typical gamer’ has been changing. How does that affect how developers approach developing their games?
BB: I think developers are increasingly building content for the gaming audience as it expands. I think that’s been evident in a lot of the content that has emerged in the some of the new growth areas. So, a lot of the social gaming content is targeted at audiences who really didn’t consume games in the past. You know, I think a lot of the mobile game audience consists of new gamers as well as old gamers, so there’s new content being created for those new segments as well.
At this time, Rich Vogel of BioWare joined the call.
BB: Hi Rich! Just to finish that thread really quick: we are still going to see plenty of content for traditional online game audiences as well. So, there’s going to be no shortage of MMO content, in fact there’s going to be a pretty exciting lineup from the usual suspects.
Curse: Great! So, just to tie Rich in; Brandon was talking about how he felt a major theme at GDC Online this year would be Customer Experience. Do you have anything to add to that?
Rich Vogel of BioWare: Yeah, Customer Experience is one [major theme]. I think ourdesign track is really shaping up to eb pretty broad in a sense of what it appeals to. Both social design and traditional MMO or online design. So, i think we have a good mix this year versus the last few years. We’re a lot more even on our presentations this year which I think is very good. And the different types of online experiences; microtransactions, free to play, social or subscription, we have that pretty well covered.
Curse: Okay, great, that’s really interesting. So, this Fall, the gaming community is really excited over a lot of new releases over the next few months. What are you guys looking forward to and how do you see them changing the face of the industry?
RV: I think that, you know, I’m looking forward to playing my game, Star Wars: The Old Republic. But yeah, there are some really cool social games that are coming out -
BB: Rich, does that mean your game is coming out this year?
RV: I said soon, I didn’t say this year!
BB: I’m looking forward to Rich’s game, too, when it does come out.
RV: I mean, yeah, I can’t comment on that. I’m looking forward to playing the game I’ve been playing a long time when it comes out. I think there’s also some cool social games that are more aimed at not necessary the casual social gamer but more the traditional gamer. So, it’ll be very interesting to see how those work and how those come out, and see how they play.
And certainly, the great game that has been out over a year now, League of Legends. It’s doing really well which is awesome to see. Like I said, there’s a few titles I’m looking forward to; I would say Diablo as well as Star Wars: The Old Republic.
BB: Yeah, I think a lot of gamers are looking forward to Star Wars. I mean, it’s gotta be the most hotly anticipated game in the MMO space. And then I think Diablo III is certainly the 800-pound gorilla as well and I think there’s a huge amount of enthusiasm for both of those. And I know I’m excited.
Curse: Definitely. Since we’re on the subject of MMOs, what direction do you see the genre heading in the future in terms of pricing models, microtransactions, etc?
RV: Well, I think there is still room for subscription-based or ‘premium games’ as we call them. And there’s definitely more that I see angling towards free to play with microtransactionas as we go forward. I think there will be a lot more of those coming out than traditional subscription models coming out, to be honest with you. And I think there can be hybrid models where you have both subscription with microtransacations.
BB: Yeah, I think the real key is taht there is a lot of diversity and there really is no ‘perfect model’. monetization should and needs to vary from game to game. The most important thing is getting the game right and the good news is that there’s a lot of options in terms of how to come up with the best model for your users.
And as a show (GDC Online), there’s exploration across just about every one of them.
Curse: With customer experience taking on a big role at this year’s GDC Online, do you think developers are changing the way they’ve traditionally interacted with customers?
RV: Well, I mean, it depends on the type of model that you have and what type of game you’re building. But the customer experience can be how you treat someone as they support the game and also customer experience is how you design the game, to make sure that your user experience is well done, right? That you’re into the game, ease of play and all that has to go towards customer experience. So there’s different avenues of what you mean by ‘customer experience’. There’s a whole new field called ‘customer relations management’ or CRM for short. And that has to do with both marketing and support getting together and figuring out ways of monetizing or figuring out ways of building their community; anything like that, how they manage their communities.
Communities are becoming more and more important, especially with online games and MMO’s because they have connected communities. And that’s the big difference between social games and MMO’s, there really are connected communities.
Social games are sort of connected in the way of user individual connectivity but to the developer and the user, it’s a little different dynamic.
BB: And the way players are interacting with games, you know, is interesting. As we all know, in the various games where we’ve been hardcore community members, the game becomes a big part of your lifestyle. You’re spending a lot of time in your game but the game is such a big part of your life that you’re spending a lot of your time around the game, as well.
You’re on the forums, you’ve got relationships within the community and I think that that whole experience has to kind of be wrapped up and addressed as part of the overall ‘customer experience’. So, customer experience is more than just customer support, player support. It’s more than your community management. It is ‘how does it feel when I patch the game?’ How is the experience when the servers go down for maintenance? How is the experience on the forums? And so on and so forth, that is all wrapped up in this idea of ‘customer experience’.
RV: I think hit the nail on the head. Customer experience and why it’s so big, it’s being able to connect to this player inside and outside of the game. And that to me is a lot different than before because you have mobile, you have web and then you ahve the game. And how does that all work together?
Curse: Definitely. For someone who is interested in online games like our readers are, what are the major keynotes and tracks that you think they want to see at GDC this year?
BB: Well, you know, I think for your users. The Curse audience to me is a good chunk of the hardcore MMO audience. So there’s going to be some exciting talks from Blizzard, Valve, Sony Online, from BioWare, CCP, Red 5, from Carbine. So, you know, I think those collectively - all of our favorite games are going to be addressed in some form or another.
Curse: Okay, great. So, just one last question. What kind of feeling about the gaming industry do you think attendees will leave with, and the future of gaming?
BB: Well, you know, I think this conference has a unique place in the industry in terms of its dedication to the online and connected experience. So, I think people will get a really palpable feeling around the dynamicism of the industry and how much its changing and how much momentum is moving towards online experiences.
And I also think it’s interesting to see how online games have evolved beyond the conventional MMO. And there’s going to be a lot of games that feel like more session-based experiences and certainly social games, mobile games and whatnot have all embraced the online trend. So I think the diversity of game categories is going to be impactful.
RV: Yeah, I think that the diversity is what they’re going to - the big thing is how much has changed in the ten years of this conference. And how it’s gone from the hardcore, traditional MMO online experience to a wide variety of online experiences that are offered out there.
I think you can see that in the scope and variety in each one of our tracks.
BB: There are some really interesting summits. I’m particularly excited about a game narrative summit that has some really cool content lined up including a cool round table with all of the writers at Valve.
Curse: Thanks so much guys!
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Special thanks to Rich and Brandon for chatting with us. GDC Online is set to take place between October 10th to October 13th with a host of really exciting summits, panels and more being held during that time. Online registration is currently open but will be closing on October 7th so don't hestitate!
GDC Online is a must-attend event for industry professionals as well as diehard online game fans. For more information, you can visit http://www.gdconline.com/.
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