Although the full-strength State of Play IV Conference in Singapore in January still seems to be in jeopardy, there’s a smaller, equally interesting State of Play / Terra Nova symposium happening in a couple of weeks in New York City, December 1-2. The event will feature a number of cool panels on such topics as "governance and groups," "metrics and methodology," "gender and diversity," and "tax and finance." And they have a nice braintrust of MMORPG and virtual world deep thinkers including:
- Edward Castronova,
Indiana University - Aaron Delwiche,Trinity
University - Julian Dibbell, author of Play Money
- Dan Miller, Senior Economist for the Joint Economic Committee
- and Betsy Book of Makena Technologies, creators of There.com
Sounds like a great little gathering. (They are even headed over to the kitschy-cool Congee Village for dinner afterwards.)
One comment on the program though: While a focus on tax and finance is interesting and important, I would hope that a broader view of the various public policy / enforcement implications of virtual worlds might be discussed as well. In particularly, the legal/IP, economic, social, and political implications of the recent Copybot debacle on Second Life would be great to explore.
Hi,
Just wanted to assure people that the full strength State of Play will still happen. We are postponing the conference until late Spring, and we will also be adding an extra day to the event. Postponing has turned out to be a good thing, as it means that more people will be able to attend. An official announcement about the postponed conference will appear on TN shortly.
Best,
Aaron
Thanks for the update, Aaron! Good luck with the preparations.