Gadgetory

JDC are the Game Developers Conference is this thing that a lot of normal people who care about video games probably don't know about right listen oh yeah why would you but you can't come no sorry you can't get it you can't come because it's super expensive but it turns out it's very very important and it's not important like III where there's like lots of big announcements but there is a reason to kind of care what would you say GDC is unlike the most top level it's a bunch of lectures its panels its developers gathering to talk about games how they're made what people want to do with their games GDC itself has been around for a very long time Judy's days actually older than me which is like a bunch of so2 DC got its start and may 42 okay I'm sorry I'm dying so anyway away from plants inevitable death so it started as a bunch of people about 25 people gathered in somebody's living room to meet and talk about games and since then it's I mean it's blown up like they they've been doing this for a very long time they have like thousands of people that show up every year to come talk they just keep taking over space like this year we were walking past the mall and there was like a big sign I'm like oh I thought Games connection was part of GDC it was in the Moscone Center these things normally aren't like oh no now it's moved to the mall it's just it's like it's in this other big building and it's like oh sure the fourth floor there is now just this it seems like every time we're here it's a it's taking over more of San Francisco today yeah the previous time since I came here the first time probably in 2009 it's it's I mean obviously grew a lot larger but it's this weird place where you can kind of see what the thing is everybody thinks they're going to make the most money off of video games where it's like there's a while where it's like everything that you went to was mobile focused and then specifically it was like free-to-play the focused and then this year there are tons and tons of panels about negotiating peace with your community yeah you can tell like it's kind of this like shell-shocked from events of last year that has affected what GDC is this year so it's kind of like a weird test of where the video game community is that at any given time and I think that's one way that it changes I mean what I mean even in you've been here three times right right right even in that amount of time have you seen any changes it's hard to say I feel like not a ton I will say that one of the big things that I at least heard is that they apparently have more women ever than speaking so at this point 20% I believe is about what it is it's like breakdown of how many women they have speaking this year I mean that's a big thing right like we don't even at e3 we still don't see that many women on stage yeah and I think they're making a concentrated effort to make those changes which again it is kind of the nice part about Game Developers Conference is it feels a little bit more like the aspirational idea of the video game industry or it's like this is what we want to be and when there are years where I've been where that was a little depressing because it felt like there is so many negative things happening that I that I couldn't imagine that being an aspirational goal but this year and I'm hoping in and last year I felt like they were kind of finding their footing and realizing this needs to be a much more inclusive space yeah in terms of it being an important part for the average consumer is there anything about it that you think is interesting for the normal person um I mean gosh like the thing that I take away is there's like a bigger focus on Indies here I feel like sure that's for me personally that's what I want to know because Indies I think don't get as much attention at the bigger shows so you feel I feel like there's a lot more any coverage at you know events like this even i GF like the awards yeah you know we're going to get to see those like big any games be highlighted and sometimes there are any games there that are up for awards that I haven't even heard of so I feel like it's a good chance to like really dip your toe into that yeah I think there's the IGF Ward's and I mean basically the GDC Awards you can go out for Choice Awards and I think both of those feel more useful for the consumer yeah the person who's going out and buying games and probably any of the other award shows while I enjoy other award shows they feel very closely connected to the companies that they're giving games to right um well this feels more like oh these are the games that people who actually make games are paying attention to which is like an interesting way of looking at or to a lot of the awards that are given out in Hollywood it's a great place for us as the press who want to report for our readers what's actually going on in the industry because it is this place where you actually get to talk to the people who make the game so you're not talking to just the publicist or the marketing team or just you know being sent a demo in the mail you're actually talking to the people who are making these games and getting an idea of like what it's like to make them and what it's like to work in this industry and I think that is maybe the most valuable thing about covering this places I think the stories that you see across the are influenced by the conversations that are had here where we get an idea of what it's actually like to make games