Episode 67: Reimagining Online Events with Em Lazer-Walker

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Key Points From This Episode:

• Memories of the last conferences before the pandemic and thoughts on virtual events.
• Em's experiences running Roguelike Celebration, and some history of the related games and community.
• The event's transition to online-only in response to the pandemic and how they weathered the storm.
• The considerations that go into planning an event with a focus on community and meaningful conversations.
• How Em went about building the infrastructure that matched the strengths of online games.
• Video chat versus text-chat; the two camps that exist and accommodating both groups.
• Ways that Em and his team are simulating the social environment and cues of in-person gatherings.
• How accessibility concerns were addressed for Roguelike Celebration; text, color, chat, and more!
• Thoughts on the future of the online event and how it might change and grow.
• Challenges with the interface; dealing with concerns around confusion and similarities to other platforms.
• The question of chat histories and digital hoarding, and why Em decided against newer chat trends.
  
• Scheduling and timing issues for the conference and the big request for more free time from attendees.
• The approach to post-event interaction and conversation and the impromptu way things played out.
  
• Possibilities for the growth of the video chat feature for the event in the future.
• How listeners can get involved and check out the open-source space.
• This week's picks! TV series, movies, audiobooks, games, and more!

Tweetables:

• “I think trying to have a digital-physical hybrid event is inherently a flawed strategy. I don't think it is possible to do it in a way that the people who are attending one of the two events don't feel like they are getting the sub-par experience.” — @lazerwalker [0:26:22]
• “Providing a novel space itself is inherently valuable, because you are giving people the chance to escape and this feels like something new in a way that a physical event space feels like something new.” — @lazerwalker [0:27:31]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Roguelike Celebration
• Using Game Design to Make Virtual Events More Social, Em Lazer-Walker
• Rogue (Game)
• MUD (Multi-User Dungeon)
• Code of Conduct
• WebRTC
• Yet Another Browser Mud (Em’s OSS space)
• Why Video Chat is a Hard Technical Problem, DEV Community 👩‍💻👨‍💻 (WebRTC article)
• Gnosia (Nintendo Switch)
• The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker
• Together Apart, Priya Parker (podcast)
• Penn and Teller: Fool Us, CW
• The One, Netflix
• Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie (read by Dan Stevens)

Special Guest: Em Lazer-Walker.

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