Conference

[The Purple Panzer]

When half asleep the other day it occurred to me that if Star Trek fans can have successful conferences, and random hackers can have successful conferences (e.g DefCon), it might be great to have one for BZFlag people.

First it'd be fun to meet people I've only seen virtually, and to talk with some of the developers. I could imagine a schedule with sessions on server setup and management, new game features, map design, playing strategy and tactics, ethics, network protocols, and so forth.

I expect that some some financial support might be had from hardware vendors, video card makers, and so forth - maybe not a lot, but perhaps enough to make the out-of-pocket costs be close to zero. A conference might be held near a cooperative hardware manufacturer or dealer, so that 30 or so machines might be loaned for play - during the conference different games could be going on, some might be open for use by the press or general public, and so forth. I think one major purpose would be to get positive press and introduce new people to the game.

All other players around the world could participant in some of the games, or by submitting questions to speakers or panels. I realize it might be expensive to travel to such a thing, but people could participate remotely, perhaps via webcasts and other real-time net-based interactions.

Other participants might be invited or pay to have a place. It'd be neat to see some of the Army's SIMNET system, which is a training system for real tankers based on cheap networked (and often portable) simulators - with some luck they might show up with some, or a location could be picked near where training is done (bonus: maybe some real tanks around). Academics and developers working in cooperative shared environments might be interested, or might describe what's going on in that area; some old Battlezone machines might be found.

It would probably be good to start with one conference at some place close to the center of mass of all of the players, or perhaps nearly coincident with another conference that might also be interesting (SIGGRAPH, perhaps). If successful, in future years it might be good to rotate to other locations around the country or world.

All in all it could be a fun weekend (maybe 3 day weekend) event. Does anyone else think this might be worthwhile?

[Memnarch]

Well, I think this idea is pretty cool. I live in Central America (in Costa Rica) and would not be able to attend. I think it would be pretty great for talkng about improvements, and some things you just cant say in a chat.(perhaps things that need gestures, or other body language ) People can talk about strategies, poiters, etc., for newbies. Meeting others in person would be really great. But I just don´t see a very good chance of this happening. I suspect that i am the only person in this country that plays BZFlag.(Only 4 million people here) I think its a great idea. But i had to vote yes, but wouldn´t come.

-Memnarch

[Lan]

That would be a lot of fun, and would be indeed very neat, however, still only a small amount of people may attend due to location it is held in. There could be "rolling conferences", where conferences are held throughout different places, but this might take a lot of effort. Either way, it's a good idea.

[Memnarch]

There could be "rolling conferences", where conferences are held throughout different places, but this might take a lot of effort. Either way, it's a good idea.

Oooh! Goodie! A conference in Costa Rica just for me! yay!

[zongo]

I come, i come!!!! Count me in!!! Even from remote Switzerland i will come!!!

(packing his stuff and booking a plane for the first bz worldwide conference )

Very coooool idea TPP (actually i had it too )

Cya soooooooon! (well i hope...)

[trepan]

Purple.Panzer, some of the devs and players
did have a get together down at SIGGRAPH
about a month ago. IRC is the place to be for
this kind of discussion.

[Valumzie]

hum.... maybe IRC is the place to be, but then i still find this idea soo cool!

And im so glad someone posted that idea here 'cause i just waited for someone to do it, and unfortunately im not too much of an irc-reader!

So, im ready to get the tank's engine going whenever something can be organised!!!!

[learner]

*snip*
It would probably be good to start with one conference at some place close to the center of mass of all of the players, or perhaps nearly coincident with another conference that might also be interesting (SIGGRAPH, perhaps). If successful, in future years it might be good to rotate to other locations around the country or world.

All in all it could be a fun weekend (maybe 3 day weekend) event. Does anyone else think this might be worthwhile?

Last year, JBDiGriz and I met up in San Diego after Siggraph. Probably not the first BZFlag get-together by any means, but it was pretty fun and the suds were good.

This year with Siggraph in L.A. California and several of the devs attending, we expanded our get-together to meet up with even more of the regular folks. We went out, had some excellent sushi (a common interest we could agree on), talked shop, talked bz, had tea, and generally had a great time. If I remember correctly, there were 9 of us in the end including a mix of devs, ops, admins, and players.

Next year, Siggraph will be in L.A. again, so something could probably be put together pretty easily. It would took a fair amount of time and schedule adjusting to actually agree on a time/place that fit everyone's needs -- it which would be nice for someone to volunteer up for should there be strong interest and it gets too big.

Meeting at Siggraph as a BoF is also possible, though someone would need to check into the details of how that would affect non-Siggraph attendees.. Good timing, though -- I'm already looking forward to Siggraph in Boston year after next too.

Cheers!