The event is in conjunction with Rhizome.org as part of their New Silent series presenting “contemporary art engaged with new technology.“ Rhizome itself is ”dedicated to the creation, presentation, preservation, and critique of emerging artistic practices that engage technology.”

Specifically, the Kill Screen Dialogs event is organized with the help of Jamin Warren, co-founder and president of Kill Screen Media (who wrote an interview/article on me in their pilot “Issue 0″). I want to thank Jamin for inviting me to be part of this event. I am truly honored.

From the event page:

When are games more than games? When they are communicating with others?

Although videogames are bigger than ever, they are often perceived as cultural silos and not in conversation with other art forms or cultures. In conjunction with videogame arts and culture company Kill Screen, Rhizome invites you to an evening of conversations between game designers and new media artists. Divided into three mini-conversations, the talks will explore three areas: artificial intelligence, with Dave Mark and Mary Flanagan; the feeling of digital objects, with Tabor Robak and Katherine Isbister; and games as space, with Casey Reas and Andy Nealen.

I am excited to be paired up with Mary Flanagan for this as we discuss the role of AI in art and games (and “art games”, I suppose). Mary has done some interesting, thought-provoking work as an artist and game developer, and as a writer.

I urge those of you in the New York area to join us. Tickets are only $8 ($6 for New Museum members). I am sure it will be interesting, educational, and inspiring!

Thanks to long-time game AI developer, colleague, tech editor, and good friend, Kevin Dill, for inviting me to speak. (Actually it was more along the lines of “you’re coming to Boston? You’re speaking at Lockheed.”)

On a related note, I’m looking forward to meeting with a number of companies in the Boston area, and especially being able to spend some time with a portion of the veritable cornucopia of excellent AI devs in the area.

Here is the tentative description of his session proposal as accepted by the GDC Online Advisory Board:

Session Description
Many areas of game design and programming benefit from very simple premises found in the 50-year old discipline of game theory. When games go awry, it is often due to not applying one or more of these ideas. Online competitive games in particular are prone to tipping precariously out of balance. By comparing staple online games such as World of Warcraft, Team Fortress 2, and Starcraft to classic game theory examples such as Rock-Paper-Scissors and Prisoner’s Dilemma, this lecture offers practical tips on how game theory methodologies can be used to craft well-balanced games—and potentially avert disaster!

Session Takeaway
The attendee will see some of the classic example problems of game theory in action, how their concepts can be applied to the design of online competitive games, and how those applications can create richer gameplay.

This will be my second appearance at GDC Online (formerly GDC Austin) and my 4th overall participation at GDC events. My 2009 GDC Austin lecture, ”Cover Me! Promoting MMO Player Interaction through Advanced AI” garnered a attendee rating of 4.9 (out of 5) compared to the conference average of 4.29. This included a 4.9 score on the item, “Would you recommend this session to a colleague?”

My thanks to the GDC Online advisory board and the wonderful conference staff, Jen Steele and Kara Foley, for the opportunity once again. A special nod to board member Raph Koster whose excellent “Games Are Math” session from last year gave me a reminder of  how relevant this topic is.

Hope to see you all there!

(To download lecture slides from any of my past conference lectures, visit our “media” page.)