The World of Warcraft gets all the press and attention, but the truth is millions of gamers are logging on to casual MMO’s and virtual worlds every month. Over the last 18 months, more investment capital has been poured into this segment than any other in the games industry. Come and learn which companies will be winners of this growing category.

Sibley Verbeck, CEO, joins a workshop with folks from Sony Online Entertainment, Gaia, IMVU, Turbine, RocketOn, PaymentOne

Tuesday, May 5th
Special Workshops
2:15 PM – 3:30 PM
Workshop B:
Virtual Worlds, Virtual Economies, Virtual Goods and Services and Virtual Gaming

Bernie Yee, Executive Producer and Head of Game Development, joins a panel with folks from Microsoft, AOL, Zynga, DoubleFusion, Machinima.com, and Norwest Venture Partners:

Tuesday, May 5th
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM
Track IV
Innovation in Games, Game Networks and Social Gaming – Massive User Communities and Commerce
As the platforms become more robust, as broadband, mobile, social media and TV provide greater consumer interactive flexibility, games as a product, as a destination, as a network or community and as a force in commerce grows. The growing power of the network, the relationship between the technology and the consumer, is opening the door to an entirely new and more complex set of tools in designing a multi-layered gaming consumer experience. From the explosion in casual gaming to the dedicated hardcore gamer, the power of the network is redefining games and user engagement which is ultimately revolutionizing the bottom line of the industry.

ST. LOUIS, MO–(Marketwire – April 16, 2009) – Today one of the most anticipated virtual worlds for kids, RIDEMAKERZ, officially shifts from test drive into high gear, allowing kids everywhere to take the wheel and spin into action at http://play.ridemakerz.com. The first-of-its-kind experience combines authentic cars, next gen technology, super-charged games, and engaging and educational activities that fuel a whole new world of online and offline play focused on America’s fascination with cars.

Read the entire announcement here.

Sibley Verbeck will be joining Lee Nadler, ZMO of Ridemakerz, Tuesday (March 24, 2009)   2:45pm — 3:15pm

The Creation of a Kids’ Virtual World – Real Data

RIDEMAKERZ and The Electric Sheep Company provide the most detailed presentation on how a kids’ virtual world is created that has yet been given in public. This will describe the process, achievements, setbacks, and surprises that went into the design and production of the virtual world created in a collaboration by these two companies, from concept to this week’s full public launch. Most notably, the presentation will include full disclosure of metrics from the virtual world’s beta period, including the number of beta users, how they were attracted, response rates on marketing efforts, how many dropped off at each step of engagement, average use time and number of logins per user, and many other aggregate and detailed results rarely provided today.

Giff Constable will be joining a panel on Tuesday (March 24, 2009)   4:15pm — 5:00pm

Social Technologies and Virtual Worlds: Best Practices

Web 2.0 social media practices are firmly entrenched in MMOs and virtual worlds. What are some of the best practices out there that might improve your users’ social experience? Our panel will be looking at these questions: What best practices are in place in virtual worlds now? What learnings from social networking sites can be applied to virtual worlds, introducing new technologies and social interaction mechanisms? What can we do to improve the social experience of our users, creating new interactions and new content, and thus improve their satisfaction with our worlds?

- Charles Scothon, General Manager & SVP, Girls Mattel Brands, Mattel, Inc.

- Rosie O’Neill, Senior Brand Manager, Barbie Tech, Mattel, Inc.

- Jeffrey B. Yapp, Executive Vice President, MTV Networks Music & Logo Enterprise Group

- Sibley Verbeck, CEO, The Electric Sheep Company

- Kyra E. Reppen, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Neopets

- Steve Mortinger, VP & Associate General Counsel, Systems and Technology Group, IBM.

Read the full release here.