I went to GUR again this year! PLUS I went to GDC!! AND I’m gave a talk at GDC!!!!! It’s super exciting. As part of the Player Behavior Insights team at Blizzard, I was given the privilege of being a founding member of the Free Play Alliance (FPA). The FPA is a cross-industry initiative to share resources and best practices with the aim of lowering disruptive behaviors across the games industry. It’s a huge initiative to be a part of AND my manager felt that I was a good person to give a talk about one of the projects I worked on at Blizzard! But let me start from the beginning of the trip…

Blizzard paid to fly me out to San Francisco from Monday to Friday, and paid for me to stay at the Westin downtown (in walking distance of GUR and GDC). GUR was on the Tuesday. I missed the ABK Summit, but my manager apparently gave an awesome talk there. GUR went fairly well. It was many of the same people again. I got to see my old coworkers Janus and Saul too. They seem to be doing the same as always. That’s not bad. Also, my new coworkers, Alex and John, gave talks at GUR. Overall Blizzard had a strong presence and I was proud to be there. This was also my birthday. No one at GUR knew it was my birthday, but my coworkers took me out to dinner that night. It was ok. Honestly though, it was not a very good birthday overall though. I mean I appreciated everyone eating with me, and Sammy was there. Sammy bought me Detective Pikachu for my bday and I was really happy to play that. But spending all day socializing and being stressed about my talk the next day wasn’t the best-case scenario.

Wednesday through Friday were dedicated to GDC. FPA gave talks and hosted panels all day Wednesday. I also gave my talk on Wednesday. Overall the talk seemed to go well. Several of my friends from Crystal Dynamics showed up including Seth, Jonathan, and Kari. I got through all of my information and was informed that I sounded intelligent and competent. I was really happy with the result. I'm hoping to give another one next year.  

It was really interesting to hear what other companies were doing, what thoughts the audience members had on what was being done, and the overall response to the issue. FPA talks were packed with lines out the door. It was really exciting to see the excitement over a topic I work on daily. Thursday and Friday I went to some talks and spent some time in the city.

We also got to hang out with old friends during GDC too. Wednesday afternoon, we met up with a bunch of Crystal Dynamics friends that were there for Junior Day. We ate at a really good Falafal stand and then just hung out and caught up in the hotel room. Oh and we got boba. Lana, Seth, and Jonathan were all there. It was a very good time. On Thursday we got to see our friends Sadie and Sam and eat at a lovely ramen place. We explored Japantown. We hung out at their place and met their new puppy Darla. It was a good time.

After all of the excitement, we left Friday night. I was actually kind of happy to be home though. As much as I love travelling, there is just something so nice about being home again.