Some reviews of Darkfall came out and they didn’t seem to shine a very good light on the game. Now Darkfall is taking a different approach than other MMOs and it seems they want to focus on the hardcore demographic. But it’s one thing to say they want a game that is niche but another to build a game that becomes niche because of problems.

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After working on my labs Digital Improv project for more than a year now I am fed up with people and their excuses about video. In a four hour period our project collects 10 hours of footage that can be captured, encoded and trimmed in less than a week. That’s with as few as three people. We even stream video to a server so that we can have some video recordings available, in near-real-time, WHILE we are taping more footage. That streamed video is also available to us at any time in the future.

So here is my question, Why in the hell do more conferences not tape and upload their presentations? Let’s look at some of the excuses for why more conferences do not do this.

Man Power

Excuse
“We do not have enough people to record the video and then get them online.”

Answer
One thing that every conference should be asking for is volunteers, especially of the student persuasion. Conferences are expensive for students, I personally have rarely shelled out the cash to go to conferences that I was not presenting at (a side point is that conference participants are usually there to get a line on their CV). Allowing students to come to the conference, mingle with the crowd, in exchange for some work is a tried and true method. Student volunteers are usually tapped to control conference registration or moderating sessions. Why not put some on video work?

If camera equipment is already setup student moderators can just hit the record button and continue to moderate. They may have to change a tape out every hour but that is not very hard. Or, if you have a streaming video server, just hit record on your laptop connected to the camera, no tapes required. (see Equipment below)

Now if you use tapes then they will have to be captured (transferred to a computer) and then encoded/trimmed in a video editing program. Capturing does take a while because it usually has to be done in real time (at least with Digital Video tapes). But if you have student volunteers they can work on the videos as the conference continues. This may leave only the last days videos left but a) most conferences have half days as their last days with little content and b) if a conference is put on by a university some student volunteers are probably local students who can continue to work on the videos after the conference is over.

The encoding and trimming is almost negligible. Conference videos do not need to be edited together, you only need a camera to capture standard single shot footage, you do not need to go ILM on this stuff. Maybe normalize the audio, cut the beginning and the end off and you are right as rain. Encoding can usually be done in a batch process, meaning you setup all the videos to encode, hit go and the your encoding program runs until finished, hands free. (okay no more one liners)

Again capturing tapes and encoding/trimming them can be done with three students and a little training on a video program. Streaming video just needs someone there to push a button (and maybe upload to files to a new locations, see Money below).

Equipment

Excuse
“We don’t have the equipment that is required to record our presentations.”

Answer
B.S., are you telling me that in your entire conference committee no one has a camcorder? I’m not saying that every presentation at a conference needs to be taped, just having one room covered is a start. We use Canon ZR950 camcorders, which are under $300, and DV tapes are less than $2 a piece for 60 minutes of footage. I would suppose this is a drop in the bucket for most conferences especially since the camcorders can be used after the fact. A microphone may be needed (another $50) for each camera you have but if you are videotaping in a room that has loud speakers, or is just a tiny room, then mics may be optional.

If you want students to work on capturing tapes while the conference is going on then you will need spare camcorders or tape decks. You need them to connect to a computer with video editing software so that the tapes can be turned into video files. Having a spare camcorder would be the cheaper option because decks are expensive, but if you have a deck then more power to ya. Obtaining video editing software can be anywhere from free to expensive. Though, Adobe or Apple may give you a free copy of Premiere or Final Cut if you give them a sponsorship plug. While the conference continues one student just captures the videos, which entails setting the proper parameters and then waiting around until the tape finishes (they could leave it or study, either or).

Now for streaming videos obviously you need a server and a computer, with an internet connection, to upload your video while you record. We have a Quicktime Streaming Server and use a mac, connected to a camcorder, with free podcasting software to upload video. If you have a server, and good tech support, then you can probably get streaming software installed. If you are buying your space then there are hosts that will run a streaming server for you. Once you have the server and a program to upload the videos operating the laptop/camera combination is no different than using tapes/camera, except no switching tapes.

Now once the files are uploaded you do not need to keep your streaming server. Obviously paying for your own video server will have a high monthly cost and conferences do not need that extra expensive. The great thing is that the videos that are uploaded to your streaming server are ready to go as video files, no need to capture them. Just download those video files and upload them to Youtube, Vimeo or whatever and you no longer have to worry about paying for video bandwidth. Set up a group or channel on your chosen site and point users to all of your videos.

And if you want to go really low tech then use a webcam and record the talk to your laptop, then upload the video to Youtube. Or you can get a Flip Video recorder.

Money

Excuse
“We DON’T have the money to tape our presentations.”

Answer
As I mentioned in the equipment section, you can do one room at a conference for under $500. This would require student volunteers (that are let in for free) to handle the videos but they were not going to come/pay for your conference anyways. If you have a streaming server, it’s easier and requires less people. There are affordable streaming hosting packages that you would only need for the length of the conference. Those videos can then be uploaded to free video sites at no cost to you except the time it takes to upload them.

If you are really pressed for cash ask for donations. Participants would most likely give a few bucks more if you say all the money will go towards taping the conference and disseminating the presentations.

Second Excuse
“We CAN’T make money if we tape our presentations.”

Answer
Right, so no one will come to your conference if you put up all your presentations online. The point of conferences is not the presentations, it’s the discussion afterwards, the late night parties, and the connections you make. I wish I could go to every game conference under the sun, I’ve had tons of great ideas after speaking with others at conferences. It’s not the same if you see someone’s talk from a few months back and email them about their work, the dialog takes longer.

Having the videos available are for those who could not make your conference in the first place but want to know more about the talks that were presented. These presentation videos will act like advertisements for your conference. People can discuss the videos after the fact, twitter about them and get excited about the next conference. Why are you not taping your conference?

—

I would like to hear any arguments against what I have said here. I wouldn’t consider myself an expert at video production but I have run the spectrum of the different stages one needs to go through to produce videos. Considering conferences take place in-doors, in static environments and with little to no movement I think it is safe to say that they can be recorded quite easily.

The one thing I did not mention was how slides and speaker footage can be edited together. Most speakers have slides and their slides may be important. But really if you pan the camera back so that the slides and the speaker are shown in the same shot then this is a good starting point for recording your conference talks.

Also, because I love everyone, here are some links to some conference talks. I’ll try to find more.

GLS Conference 2008
GLS Conference 2007
Living Game Worlds 4
Meaningful Play 2008
Sandbox Summit 2008
SIGGRAPH 2008 (only 2 short movies)
TED

Disclaimer: All of this began because TED’s website was streaming slow and I had nothing to watch while eating dinner. DO NOT frak up my dinner video time.

I am taking an Intro to AI course this semester and it has reminded me of the things I hated about my Computer Science courses back in my undergrad days. I’ve been studying under the Digital Media title ever since I started grad school back in 2005. Even though that means that I am worried about things like the theory and history of digital media, and the user’s experience, it does not mean that I have not been programming pretty much every other day for the last four years. It is not the amount of programming that eventually turned me off to CS, or even the scientific way of dealing with computers, but the way classes are handled.
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Ah America’s Army, who doesn’t remember shooting the rifle instructor the moment you were given the ability to shoot in the game. Well at least that is what I did; it’s a game, of course I’m going to try and break it. But unlike other games, for instance Half-Life which does not allow you to shoot friendlies, in AA a player gets sent to the brig if they step out of line. This basically entails a splash screen being shown and a message saying “You are bad. Now go do it right this time.”

That’s right, after shooting an instructor, one who probably had children, the player is handed another gun and told to do it right this time. What a great way to learn. Now the reason that AA can be so lenient is due to the fact that the game is a recruitment tool. Recruits can mess up and not get penalized for it.

However I played a game over the weekend that was not so forgiving. Space Rangers 2 is a game made back in 2005 by Cinemaware Marquee (or at least they published the American version). It is a space sim/RPG where the player takes on the role of a Space Ranger, a hero type character. This means the player must fight, trade and explore the galaxy, fulfilling different missions and leveling up. The game is well made, I wouldn’t say a AAA title though, and has an interesting mashup of game mechanics. One of those mechanics, just like America’s Army, is getting thrown in jail.

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