GDC, not Jackson Hole

Another year at Game Developer's Conference (GDC) has come and gone. People always say, "Wow, there must be so many nerds there", or "How many guys hit on you tonight." It is true that there are mostly guys at this conference and some are stereotypical of gamers... well actually everyone is a gamer... but, everyone is not a nerd.

The business of gaming is pretty neat- mostly because everyone is passionate about what they are doing and because the business is quite complex. If you're not in it, then you don't know who is a publisher, who is a distributer, who is a developer or who is a producer. You wouldn't know that being in Developer Relations is like being in that old Tom Hanks movie "Big." And, you wouldn't know that most people at these events are very cool and very fun to hang out with.

There are however a few things that are annoying about GDC. Firstly, you will never meet more 20 something year olds who call themselves "C-Level." And on the same note, they all claim to have been brought into the company to "help clean it up." In other corporate businesses, you won't find people talking about stuff like that unless they are successful, older, and typically in VC.

Next, and perhaps due to the over-concentration of people who spend most of their time interacting with avatars, you will have far more guys who come in a little hot. Meaning, they try to act funny by saying something extremely crass (and most of the time they actually get away with it!?), or, they'll have one of their gaming buddies advance you and start with the line "see my buddy over there, he is so cool, seriously, he's the man." Meanwhile, the buddy is slobbering drunk and sitting across the table from you unable to understand much English, since he just flew in from France... or someplace else.

Ok, the stories above are true. Luckily, these scenarios are offset but running into familiar faces. I was so pleased to see my friends Sumi, Gabe, Adriano, Scott, Stephane, and Jeremy. You will always run into the same people time and time again at game conferences, which makes these events akin to visiting family.

Overall, the conference was successful. I got to meet with prospects from all over the world including the UK, Germany, Madrid, and California. The more that I get to kabitz with gamers, the better I start to understand the business. There are so many neat things to do and be a part of within the world of gaming, that "hanging out with nerds" is much more fun than it sounds ;-)