Casual Days

Everything I ate this past weekend was cooked on an outdoor grill...

Summer has finally arrived - and with it, a bunch of my personal summer resolutions to network more, read more, write more, shop more, and plan more. 

Like any good nerd, I use the summer months to get ahead on my reading list so I am fully prepared for the brainrush of September.   This year's poolside reading will include the collected works of Joseph Campbell.  But for digital media, I have an even longer wishlist and several business plans in the works.

If you are in Seattle at the end of June, make sure to check out Casuality Seattle organized by Jessica Tams and the other folks working hard for the Casual Games Association.

In a recent discussion thread about the upcoming conference, John Szeder of Mofactor made some brilliant if not painfully true observations about the momentum of the casual games industry and the growing interest of attendees in such networking and learning conferences:

Impressive set of categories for attendees: Speaker, Attendee, Press, Volunteer, Student...

I am petitioning the organizers to open new categories to help diversify the attendees and include classes of badges to help identify people who are at the show and their associated perks:

• Venture Capitalist (includes a sponsored tandem hip holster for a Treo AND a Blackberry and a porta-shredder to “file” executive summaries)
• Industry Luminary (please upload picture of important game shipped and year that it happened to be added to badge)
• Wannabe (please upload a picture of the tetris clone-I mean sample of work to be printed on badge)
• EA Executives (includes a set of rubber stamps for “ACQUIRE” or “DESTROY”, please press firmly when applying to foreheads for optimal visibility)
• Lost Government Tradeshow Attendee (includes fictitious Environmental or Defense attendance receipts because going to Casuality is WAY more fun)
• Google People (pre-IPO) includes a red lightsabre and a glow in the dark button that says “I am not evil”
• Google People (post-IPO) includes the contact information for their pre-IPO associate or “S”earch “I”nformation “T”echnology “H”euristics Lord. (they are only allowed to travel in pairs, why are these people at game trade shows anyway?!?!)
• Microsoft Executives (includes extra surgical gloves for implanting next gen “Live Anywhere” gear in attendees)
• Mobile Developers (includes an upturned hat and a cardboard sign and crayon, use your imagination or bring a guitar or small dog for best effect)

The industry gets more exciting all the time and the variety of people attending shows continues to demonstrate the vitality and the validity of the space!

Stay tuned for more developments…

A big thanks to JS for allowing the repost on Dazework, clearly I could not have said it better myself.