Conference is 'open to being spoofed,' says director Moledina
It's been revealed that the Game Developers Conference could become invite-only for the gaming press from 2009 onwards.
Talking to Kotaku, conference director Jamil Moledina said: "We don't have it nailed down, but we are looking at moving to an invite model for press access at GDC.
"It's meant to be a networking event for people who make games, but more and more we are seeing a lot of individuals who are obtaining press credentials who aren't full-time press. It's kind of open to being spoofed, in a way."
According to Kotaku's statistics, in 2006 the conference had 16,000 attendees, 1,000 of which were members of the press. The move, says Moledina, is about making sure that GDC is fulfilling its core aims.
"I am concerned that if we don't focus on what makes GDC work we will face some complications down the road. As long as it remains predominantly about learning, thats what we are concerned with."
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The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, which puts on DICE every year, has expressed a similar concern to the blog, with AIAS president Joseph Olin saying that the move would partly be down to 'the misbehaviour of the invited press.'
He said: "The opportunity to be among so many high-profile signature members of the game-making community is that it creates this opportunity to be, 'There's so and so, I need to go talk to him'. Some of our high profile members said they felt uncomfortable."
As a regular attendee of GDC and other conferences, I think this might be a good thing. I think the decision to do this with E3 was stupid, but for an event about sharing knowledge it's the right thing to do.
Did anyone see the crowds for the Nintendo sessions at this year's GDC? Was that mostly bloggers and the like or are all developers Mario fanboys?
Another example: Last year, a journalist from a website (not this one) queued up during the Media Molecule/Little Big Planet Q&A to ask if the game was ever at all conceived for Xbox 360. Credit to the MM guys that they rubbished the question - but it was just plumping the depths to get a news story and pretty pathetic behaviour on the part of the journalist.
Also, these events tend to feature some form of confidential informaton from time to time which, if taken out of context by a 'journalist', could be misrepresented - and just scares people like me away from attending.
