Hey. +++ We'd like to keep you clued in on what's evolving at GDC 2000. If you don't want +to receive the GDC Flash!, please reply back to this email with UNSUB in the subject +line, and you will be taken off our distribution list.+++ +JANUARY 21 IS THE EARLY REG. DEADLINE FOR MAJOR SAVINGS--SEE BELOW+ GDC Flash! - #3 "GAMES AND SOCIETY" ISSUES TACKLED BY EXPERTS AT THE GDC 2000. Games are one of the most important cultural forms of our time. Yet too often, mass media and academic scholars donąt seem to understand how games function. And issues like violence in games need to be explored within the development community before the public at large can get any clarity. These sessions at the GDC will help open up the dialogue. **Beyond Littleton: Confronting the Roots of the Moral Panic About Electronic Entertainment presented by Henry Jenkins of MIT The Littleton massacre unleashed a widespread "moral panic" about the place of electronic entertainment in American culture, bringing to the surface deeply-rooted anxieties about the rapid rate of contemporary technological and social change. The games industry will remain a primary target of concern as long as the public lacks a broader critical vocabulary for understanding these emerging media and new experiences they facilitate. In this talk, MIT professor Henry Jenkins describes the efforts of the Program in Comparative Media Studies to foster serious consideration of the current state and future potential of games. **Game Design and Game Culture moderated by Eric Zimmerman with Marc LeBlanc, Warren Spector and panelists TBA Rather than demos and presentations, the focus of this panel will be on fast-paced dialogue, with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of the complex phenomenon of games. Issues to be covered include videogames and violence, games as a narrative medium, simulation and immersion, the representational politics of games, and the challenge of defining the field of game design. **Politicians, Parents, and Pressure Groups: Addressing the Content Critics presented by Douglas Lowenstein of the IDSA and Arthur Pober of the ESRB This presentation discusses what's going on in Washington, DC after the Columbine tragedy, as well as the nuts and bolts of the Entertainment Software Rating Board rating system. **Girls Games 2.0 moderated by Sheri Graner Ray with Jesyca Durchin of Disney Imagineering, Mitzi McGilvery of Electronic Arts and panelists TBA The Girls Game market has made amazing strides in the past four years. It has gone from a handful of titles to a major multi-million dollar market. This explosive success brings with it a whole new set of opportunities as well as problems. On this panel girls game industry veterans discuss such issues as product diversity, technology concerns and the problem of getting product to the girls. **The Computer Game Developers' Association is putting together a discussion group each day of the Classic GDC on games and violence…stay tuned for details. The Game Developers Conference 2000, San Jose Convention Center, March 8-12. Check http://www.gdconf.com/ for session descriptions, times, dates, and more. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ GDC 2000 REMINDERS -Time is running out for big discounts on GDC Conference Passes! Register by January 21 to save $475 on a GIGAPass, $425 on a CLASSICPass, $400 on a VIPPass, $100 on Tutorials Only or the AUDIOPass, and $50 on a STARTERPass. -HEY, GAME ARTISTS! - Submit your best game animation clip to the GDC's Game Art Screening Room. We want to show you off to the 10,000 attendees at the show. Details at www.gdconf.com/screeningroom.html. -Are you getting Game Developer magazine every month-for FREE? To qualify, go to http://as400.halldata.com/cgi-bin/subscribe/gd. Miller Freeman Game Group
