I have been at the ION conference for the past few days. I was hired by MPOGD.com to conduct interviews at the event, which is a three-day gathering of online gaming professionals.

There are a great many panels and sessions at which (if one is not busy interviewing a game company rep), it is possible to learn a lot about the industry, the exciting developments and interesting challenges it faces.

Overall at this event, I have noted a heavy undercurrent of discussion about emerging legal issues surrounding the online game industry, along with RMT (monetization, micro-transactions, etc.)

Once I fulfill my commitment to MPOGD for articles, I am going to sit back and think hard about all of the interesting insights and speculation that I heard over the course of ION... and I think there are plenty of interesting things to talk about here.

In the meantime, let me share with you the worst thing about these conferences... finding the person you are scheduled to meet with at a specific time. I know some people in the industry after wandering around these events for a year now, but man, is it hard to guess which geek is the one I seek if I've not met them.

Physical descriptions don't help sometimes. "Uhhh, ok, he's kinda medium height, dark hair, glasses...." Great. That narrows it down to 63% of the people milling around the hallways.

It is like a mini-game, identifying your target. If it is really close to or after the set time for the meeting, you can often use visual clues as follows:
- antsy looking person peering at passing name tags
- person busily using their Blackberry with an annoyed expression (contacting their PR rep to find out where the hell their interview is supposed to be).
- the only person standing all by themselves at the end of a hall. The rest of the geeks tend to congregate in small groups for protection.

I have gotten very good at surreptitiously reading name tags as I pass by folks. Conference organizers, take note: keep the print LARGE, or I will come after you with my axe.

Well, it's time now to go find my next interview!
~Brasse


ps. To the person who keeps the Press Room stocked with Starbucks double-shot espressos: bless your heart. To the other press: Sorry for drinking all 36 espressos.