The Virtual Worlds conference in LA just wrapped up. I’m watching them tear down the expo hall as I type. The show was smaller than the one last year in San Jose, however conference attendance as a whole is down with the poor economy.
There was definitely a lot of talk of story; of incorporating story into virtual worlds. However most of that was focused on story worlds, not narrative story.
AI is here and there but still the only real AI evangelist is Ben Goertzel and his company Novamente.
It seems as far as the industry in attendance, the augmentation model looks more promising than the immersive one.
And in contrast to last years conference it would seem that the “Multi-Global War on Geekiness” Sibley Verbeck evangalied before the first keynote has begun. While the industry is still preoccupied by the geeky it is embracing social networks, the need for story, etc. Of course the geekiness is still there. We talk of new photo realistic rendering abilities, but the industry is evolving.
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