Just some other random thoughts from AGD.

The conference still has too many panels. Panels are good and all if the participants squabble (as Ted Castranova and the guy from IGE nearly did), but the best talks are when one speaker gets a chance to talk at length about some hair-brained idea he has. That’s actually how I sold my speech to the powers that be. In a panel, if someone says something totally on crack, the moderator steers things back on track, and too often you end up with a beginner’s course on any given field. To go off the deep end, a talker needs a chance to really be able to spout crack, and then have the time to back it up.

I wasn’t the only one who compared MMOs to Vegas – so did Daniel James, in his talk about player created content. He compared the big MMOs to Vegas, and small ones that center on player-created content to Burning Man, with Second Life being an example. Overall, I thought their take was very good, although they only danced around the central problem with user-created content – it only works as long as you’re small and under-the-radar enough that you don’t get the attention of copyright holders with much better lawyers than yours. Jim Purbrick, who was on that panel, wrote his own impressions here.

Richard Bartle gave a rousing and inspiring keynote, the mood of which was utterly destroyed when he took questions. Imagine, if you will, after the coach gives his rousing half-time speech, the linebackers start peppering him with questions such as, “When you say, ‘we must protect this house’, how do you define ‘protect’?” and “When you say, ‘win one for the Gipper’, do you mean this current game, or perhaps we could win the next one?” Richard seemed quite annoyed at it all, and because the questions went on so long, he never got the ovation he deserved.

At Corpnews, Megyn levels some pretty harsh criticism at AGD, conferences, and the gaming industry in general. It’s fascinating to see someone who isn’t in the industry be so bitter. I’ve responded to her criticisms over there.

While I didn’t hear it in person, Brian’s rant is good reading, and deserves being linked.

Overall, this was a very optimistic conference. Lots of activity going on, with lots of startups gearing up (a natural and encouraging side effect of WoW’s success). Of course, there are a couple of bombshells I discovered that are about a few feet from hitting ground, but mum’s the word on them until word comes out by natural means. Overall, good times, and it’s always good to catch up with familiar faces, and see what they’re up to.

Original comment thread is here.