• LOGIN 2011 Call for Speakers Is Open!
• Advice on Submitting Sessions for LOGIN
• Meeting of the Minds: Oklahoma to Citizens: ‘There Is No Facebook in the Hereafter’
• Industry Highlights
• Google's Chrome Online Store Launches With More Than 200 Games
• EA Games' President: Single-Player Games Are on the Way Out
• John Smedley Bullish About Online and PC Games
• Does the Console Game Industry Need to Reset the View of Its Business?
• In Online Worlds, the Only Constant May Be Change

LOGIN 2011 Call for Speakers Is Open!

The call for speakers for LOGIN 2011 is open. Speaking at LOGIN is a mark of distinction and accomplishment in the game industry — but it's not necessarily easy. Speakers and their abstracts are vetted through peer review and are carefully matched to our attendees' needs. The call for speakers is open to all online game industry experts worldwide, whether for console, PC or mobile platforms. Candidates are asked to review the topics of interest and session submission tips on the LOGIN 2011 website and then submit a completed session proposal form with 1,000 word abstract and biography before the deadline of Feb. 13, 2011.

Top 5 tips for getting your proposal accepted

1. Submit a proposal on one of the many identified areas of interest. The advisory board has put a good deal of thought identifying areas we feel are relevant to attendees. If your proposal is the only one for an area we are interested in, it will have priority over all the proposals outside our identified topic ideas.
2. Avoid any marketing slant in your proposals, particularly if you represent a service or technology vendor. LOGIN will host no sponsored or commercial sessions, and proposals that appear to be sales pitches in disguise will be rejected.
3. Focus on areas of your expertise. The audience of LOGIN consists of experienced industry leaders who want to hear from experts. Avoid areas where you aren't experienced or recognized as an expert. Give stories about your own experiences, rather than theoretical ideas.
4. Spend time writing a quality abstract. A poorly written or overly terse abstract indicates that you aren't willing to prepare in advance. The abstract is the most important part of your proposal and the basis on which it will be judged.
5. Submit your proposal well before the Feb. 13 deadline. By the end of the call for speakers, we will have selected many of the sessions already, and your proposal will be competing with every other proposal for a shrinking number of speaker slots.

Visit the LOGIN Speaker Submissions Page.

Advice on Submitting Sessions for LOGIN

As we open our call for speakers, we asked a few of our past speakers to offer advice on how to get a session approved for LOGIN.

James said there really are only three main things to remember:

1.) Keep your pitch topical and concise. 

Think of what you’d want to read if you were looking at the program. If people don’t know you by name, this is the place to show them you can put together interesting, entertaining thoughts that will help their business in an efficient and engaging way.

2.) Be forward-looking.

LOGIN is a forward-looking conference in which industry luminaries go to discover what’s next. If you’ve got something that’s on the bleeding edge and you’ve got the data to back up why it’s going to revolutionize the industry, submit it! Is there something the industry at large needs to know that you’re an expert on? Tell us! Don’t be afraid of being bold. If anyone is going to do anything with what you’ve told them, they’re going to come to you first ... after all, you’re the expert.

3.) Nobody wants a sales pitch!

We’re as excited about your company as you are, and we’d love to hear about what you’re doing, but this isn’t a place to pitch how awesome you are. If you want to do that, sponsor the conference.

Oklahoma to Citizens: ‘There Is No Facebook in the Hereafter’

In what is believed to be the first statute of its kind, Oklahoma passed House Bill 2800, effective as of November 1, 2010, dealing with probate procedures in the state. Title 58, Section 269 of the Oklahoma Probate Code now reads:

“The executor or administrator of an estate shall have the power, where otherwise authorized, to take control of, conduct, continue, or terminate any accounts of a deceased person on any social networking website, any microblogging or short message service website or any e-mail service websites.”

The Bill’s author, retired state Rep. Ryan Kiesel (D-Seminole), stated that he was concerned that the state’s current probate procedures did not adequately address the virtual property of its citizens after they die. “We’re not just leaving a couple of shoeboxes full of mementos behind,” Kiesel said. “We’re leaving behind potentially thousands of photographs and all kinds of aspects of our lives online.”

Although a bit morbid, the new statute does make sense. With so much of our lives spent online, what happens to all those assets when we die is important. However, the single sentence undoubtedly will lead to future legal squabbles. First, while the Oklahoma statute gives executors the power to take control of certain “accounts,” the statute does not specifically declare that virtual property is part of a deceased’s estate. Contrary to a number of bloggers who have discussed the statute, this is a huge hole. Second, and this ties back to the first point, many social networking sites (such as Facebook) are subject to End User License Agreements that specifically state that the user has no ownership in the accounts themselves. If Facebook owns the accounts, it is questionable whether they will have to comply with the Oklahoma law and turn control over the executor of the estate.

Third, and most important, the statute is woefully vague and underinclusive. While it may include Facebook, Second Life and other “social networking websites,” it is unclear whether it would apply to an MMO such as World of Warcraft. While WoW does have “social networking” aspects, if I were Blizzard I would argue that WoW is no more a “social network” than the local pub downtown, and therefore WoW is not subject to the law.

Post your comments

James E. Dunstan Mobius Legal Group

Industry Highlights

Google's Chrome Online Store Launches With More Than 200 Games

Google's Chrome Web Store, which was first announced in May 2010, has officially gone live, offering apps, software and extensions for browsers, including 200 game titles available. Companies providing browser-based online games include Electronic Arts, Zynga, Digital Chocolate, Jagex, Spryfox, Bigpoint and Namco. Google's Web store is definitely steeped in technologies Google has thrown its weight behind, including HTML 5, and operates on top of Google's Chrome browser. Currently, access to the store is in the United States only, but that is likely to change in the near future.

Story at Gamasutra

EA Games' President: Single-Player Games Are on the Way Out

As Electronic Arts suffers — after layoffs and production schedule cuts — through the growing pains of gaming's shift to online distribution, EA Games' President Frank Gibeau acknowledged the changes with a new focus.

"[We're] very comfortable moving the discussion towards how we make connected gameplay — be it cooperative or multiplayer or online services — as opposed to fire-and-forget, packaged goods only, single-player, 25-hours-and you're out," Gibeau said. "I think that model is finished. Online is where the innovation, and the action, is at."

Multiplayer content for EA could take on different forms, like the addition of a multiplayer mode in the upcoming multiplatform shooter Dead Space 2 or online distribution of Battlefield 1943 on Xbox Live Arcade as a $10 game.

Article at Wired.com

John Smedley Bullish About Online and PC Games

Sony Online Entertainment's President John Smedley feels "something very big is happening in online play." Whether from the console, mobile or PC angle, Smedley sees connectivity and accessibility playing a major role in online games for the future. From Sony's perspective, its product line seems to reflect this thinking from the top. Take the shooter MAG for the PlayStation 3, which involves players in 256-person battles and is online only.

"Now an MMO just needs to be a game where a large number of people can interact. It doesn't mean it needs a subscription or to have microtransactions," Smedley said.

The PC platform, which has been knocked for its viability, is at the heart of many of the innovations and mass appeal in gaming, including social and browser-based play. The old measuring sticks, according to Smedley, like retail sales tracking, simply aren't accurate metrics tools for market success anymore when so many games are delivered and played online.

Story on Kotaku.com

Does the Console Game Industry Need to Reset the View of Its Business?

Vanguard Entertainment Group CEO Arthur Houtman, whose company has just released Greed Corp. and is currently working with EA on Gatling Gears, has expressed concerns about the way the major industry players, like Sony and Microsoft, are managing the current generations of consoles. Houtman feels there are better ways to "evolve the console download platforms, with new game design ideas and business models." For example, on the business side, he suggests Microsoft think about smaller charges for Microsoft Points for content and offer more variety at smaller price points for additional content. However, he feels the industry leaders are invested in the status quo too heavily to easily make that change.

Article at GamesIndustry.biz

In Online Worlds, the Only Constant May Be Change

Although massively multiplayer online games are considered "persistent," there are numerous cases in which this is not so — and the changes are often very poorly received by their communities. Game developers must strike a balance between making the need for changes so their online worlds do not become too static and predictable; on the other side of the coin, the developers must make sure they are not upsetting the formula that drew the players to the games in the first place. World of Warcraft's Cataclysm expansion is arguably an example of remaking the world without altering the fundamentals that attacted millions, while Star Wars Galaxies' Trials of Obi-Wan, with its massive overhauls in quick succession, turned off numerous players.

Sponsorship Opportunities Available at LOGIN 2011

Without our sponsors there would be no LOGIN! We are currently seeking sponsors for the 2011 event. Interested? To learn more about sponsorship opportunities at LOGIN visit the sponsorship page on our website, contact Cynthia Freese at cynthia@loginconference.com, or call 1.425.533.5973.