Robert Zubek
Casual Worlds and Player-Generated Content

Friday, April 6th, 3pm
Yahoo! Research Berkeley
1950 University Ave., Berkeley

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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13 Apr 2007 - Mor Naaman (Y!RB): Over-Exposed Privacy Patterns and Considerations in Online and Mobile Photo Sharing  and Morgan Ames (Stanford): Why We Tag - Motivations for Annotation in Mobile and Online Media
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27 Apr 2007 - TBD
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