Y!RB Brain Jam: Robert Zubek - Casual Worlds and Player-Generated Content April 6, 2007

Free and open to the public - and followed at 4pm with a Social Jam that includes refreshments, and beer. It would be helpful if you mark attending/watching above.

TITLE:
Casual Worlds and Player-Generated Content

ABSTRACT:
Whirled, the new project currently under development at Three Rings Design, is a web-based massively multiplayer game world. Like previous Three Rings projects, it centers around a fun environment where people socialize while playing engaging multiplayer games.

An exciting new element is the emphasis on creative self-expression: in addition to playing games and socialization, players will be able to sculpt their world the way they like it, including changing its topology, appearance, and activities. Game economy is also being drastically altered, as players of all skill levels will be empowered to create and sell their own party games, furniture, avatars, rooms, and remix other users' creations, using our in-game tools.

The talk will introduce the work in progress, and present some of the software engineering and social engineering elements that make this kind of a virtual whirled possible.

BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Robert Zubek is a game developer at Three Rings Design, a San-Francisco studio that builds web-based multiplayer games. Before Three Rings, he worked at Electronic Arts / Maxis. Robert holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Northwestern University, where he developed artificial intelligence approaches for computer games and autonomous robots.

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Yahoo! Research Berkeley's Brain Jam is an "almost weekly" speaker series on topics related to media, social media, mobile media, media annotation, and the leftist media. Well, maybe not the last one. To join our mailing list, please visit:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yrb-bj/

Official Website: http://whyrb.com