Paul Barnett's GDC Blog - Learning New Things

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Posted March 25th, 2009 by PaulBarnett

How a developer got talk-ambushed into going to GDC.

It’s always good to learn new things. So it is that I head off to GDC 2009, which for me is a difficult thing to do. I am not one to visit GDC that often. Indeed, of late I have been drawn away to other shows like the one at LIFT where, last year, I gave a talk about MMO’s and how they where sort of like the history of cinema mixed with Las Vegas.

Paul Barnett, Creative Director at Mythic Entertainment

Thus it’s quite a surprise to find myself asked to give a talk at GDC 2009. And it’s not just a talk, but a lecture. The very idea fills me with fear and dread. After all, only crazy teachers at my schools gave lectures, and most of those sent me to sleep or ended up with someone (usually me) getting in trouble for talking. Now back in the day, that meant that a teacher got to throw a board eraser at some young child’s head. I have no idea what the modern equivalent is - I mean don’t teachers write on digital tablets these days?

Anyhow, I digress; I had been booked not only to attend but to give a talk. For those who are unsure of what that means, allow me to let you in on the dark arts. When a talk is picked, it’s not actually picked by the person giving the talk. EA as a company, for example, offers up talks to GDC and then the GDC people, in their infinite wisdom, decide who they would like to give a talk. The effect of this on people like me is as follows:

I don’t think about GDC or giving a talk. Then, if I get picked, I get an email saying “You are giving a talk, it’s going to be about this subject on this day.” In effect, I was talk-ambushed, and my talk name was horrible and I had made no plans to go.

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