Aug 21 2010

Extraordinary Talk On Media Evolution

Greg Berry

Gaming, specifically the participation in graphically rich virtual worlds, is the metaphor for media in the 21st century.  Having already overtaken the Hollywood box office in terms of gross annual revenues, the sociology of gaming suggest that it’s a media metaphor which will gain in influence over the coming era.  Look no farther than the success of Farmville (100 million players) to realize that it’s not just 17 year olds (and their post-adolescent uncles) who fall into the gaming stereotype.

Jesse Schell’s talk at the Long Now Foundation, tilted “Visions Of The Gamepocalypse” is the most intelligent and comprehensive treatise on this phenomenon.  He is an extraordinary speaker, and will connect especially well with those who appreciate the dry humor implied by the paradoxes revealed by a systems perspective.

The video highlight embedded here (chosen by the editors at FORA.tv, a cool new-to-me site with smart talks and panels from conferences), is a clip about how advertising fits into the gaming world, provides a peek into the style and pace Schell brings to the topic.

If, like so many of us these days, find yourself in uber-overwhelmsion (tip to Sally), and the idea of watching a 2-hour video is absurd, you owe yourself this treat.


Aug 19 2010

About My Last Blogging Break

Greg Berry

This summer, we have been hyper-focused on building the W1SDØM exchange.  As soon as I got back from my abbreviated spring conference swing, it was clear the time to talk had ended, and the time to build was nigh.

This fall, we will be engaging a targeted pilot of the platform, and our team will get back out into the world, demonstrating the concept we have been talking about to you for more than a year now.

As the writing and research for the business plan slows down, I hope to have more time to get back to blogging.  If you’re not following me on Twitter, it’s a good place to see some of the pieces of things that are moving by in my field of attention.

Thanks for reading — I look forward to more engagement soon.