Mark your calendar! MIT Enterprise Forum Dinner Program, December 5, 2007

Playing Games—Serious Business:

Building and Fostering Player Communities, the Ultimate Customer Base

With billions of dollars on the table, game companies are experimenting with every aspect of their business to determine the best way to satisfy customer expectations and thereby maintain a loyal gaming community.

Whether lured by computer graphic masterpieces created by teams of professional artists and/or enticed by spur of the moment casual games, players invest significant time and money in their games of choice. Some companies have built virtual worlds on-line where players may immerse themselves into new societies; others have built and maintain massive player communities where individual players may spend thousands of hours honing their skills with and against other players; while others are finding success in soliciting, acquiring, and retaining individual key players to help move the rest of the market. Each approach has unique obligations and requirements that need to be met in order to satisfy the expectations of the consuming gamer.

Companies and entrepreneurs are also faced with unprecedented risks and opportunities in an industry where game artifacts and characters are now traded and sold online, players may interact through web-cams, micro-transactions develop instantaneous marketing channels for new products, and market perception will quickly build or destroy a gaming community.

Join the MIT Enterprise Forum as a panel of experts, including Mike Fischer from Microsoft, Jeff Strain from ArenaNet, and Raymond Yan from DigiPen Institute of Technology, examine the dynamic issues surrounding entrepreneurial opportunities in the rapidly evolving, and highly competitive, world of video and online games.

Mark your calendars for this thought-provoking dinner event.

WHEN: Wednesday, December 5, 2007 - Social hour and registration begin at 5:00 pm. Dinner is served at 6:15 pm. Program starts at 7:00 pm.
WHERE: Hyatt Regency Bellevue Hotel - 900 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA
HOW: The Early Bird ticket price is only $48 through November 23. Starting November 24, 2007 regular price tickets will be $54. At the door, the ticket price will be $60.

Reservations may be made as follows:
* Register online at http://www.mitwa.org/ until 5:00 p.m., December 4th.
* Phone registrations at (425) 771-4790 accepted until December 4th, noon.
* Onsite registrations beginning at 5:00 p.m. December 5th, space permitting.
* VISA, MasterCard and American Express are welcome.
* Companies or individuals may reserve a table of 10.