The Alphaville Herald

Big Biz Spending in the Metaverse: Millions for Giant Boxy Corporate Monuments, Nothing for Dialogue and Thought

by Urizenus Sklar on 06/11/06 at 8:05 pm

Big corporations have been falling all over themselves to get into virtual worlds and impress us with the fine corporate builds (i.e. big ugly boxy things), spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on them according to Business Week. They also like to tell us how big they are on conversing and wanting to learn. That being the case you would think they would be lining up to sponsor and participate in The State of Play — IMHO the most significant annual gaming conference held period. Each year it brings together game makers, journalists, cyber-law experts, sociologists, and sometimes one philosopher to discuss issues ranging from dispute resolution to free speech in virtual worlds to virtual brands, followed by after-meeting debauches.

But will these wealthy corporations, while spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to give us giant vending machines that dispense free Nissan Sentras stick a crowbar in their wallet and shell out some chump change to make State of Play happen? Doesn’t seem like it. The next State of Play was scheduled to be held in Singapore in January. That isn’t going to happen because of lack of financial sponsors. It will soon be announced that SoP has been put off for six months in the hopes that some of these companies put their money where their mouths are.

Excerpts from a letter to paricipants is under the fold.

Excerpts from a letter to members of the State of Play program:

I’m writing to let you know that we are postponing the State of Play conference until mid-2007 in order to secure more sponsorship and to be better positioned to catch the rising tide of publicity surrounding virtual worlds.

State of Play IV: Building the Global Metaverse is postponed until next year.

This event initiates an important global conversation about the future of virtual worlds. The conference will happen soon, and it will happen in Singapore.

An undertaking of this significance deserves to be done right.

In four short months, we have arranged a stellar program of speakers and have secured substantial sponsorship. We have also demonstrated intense interest within the highest levels of industry, government, and the academy.

We may have been a few months ahead of the curve.

This postponement is a blessing in disguise. It gives us time to lock in necessary sponsorships, and we will be in a much better position to surf the rising tide of attention to virtual worlds.

I will make a public announcement on Terra Nova on Monday, when the new conference dates are fixed. In addition to shifting the dates, we will lengthen the conference to allow for more panels and speakers.