Six Dartmouth alumni in the analog and digital gaming fields discussed topics ranging from new business models in the industry to the role of collaboration and narrative in games at the digital humanities program's first-ever gaming panel on Friday in Filene Auditorium.
The event, titled "Dartmouth at Play: Alumni on the Future of Gaming," aimed to celebrate the history of gaming while provoking conversation about the future of play, according to Mary Flanagan, digital humanities professor and director of the College's game research lab, Tiltfactor.
"I'm really interested in asking what the future of gaming is for us in analog board and card games and digital games," she said.
The panel also enabled students to connect with alumni in the industry, according to Flanagan.
"There's such a rich history that's really unknown," she said. "There are over 100 alumni in gaming, and this is a chance for us to clearly investigate that."
The panelists included Zynga game designer Sam Beattie '07, PopCap Games CEO Dave Roberts '83, Hasbro marketing director Michelle Favaloro '02, Gary Games founder and CEO Justin Gary '02, gaming freelance writer Tracy Hurley '01 and independent developer Oge Young '96.
Gary, creator of the board game "Ascension," said his Dartmouth experience had a large influence on his career path. Gary was a member of the "very game-focused" Alpha Theta coeduational fraternity and financially supported himself by playing in tournaments of "Magic: The Gathering," a trading card game.
"It's great to be able to come back and see that there's a program that's flourishing here and interact with students now that have the same passion for gaming that I had when I was here," he said.
Hurley, who has written for game publisher Wizards of the Coast and runs the blog "Sarah Darkmagic," said she enjoys the social aspect of gaming communities.
"I go to a lot of conventions, and I now have friends across the world," she said.
Beattie said that games can become social outlets if they are fun and encourage new players to join.
"If I'm not able to make the map fun that the players are playing then they're not going to want to tell their friends about it," he said.
Enjoyment is the priority in creating successful games, according to Young, who most recently worked in game development for Sony Online Entertainment.
"A good narrative always helps, but the most important thing is really fun gameplay," he said.
Participants can engage in games in a variety of different ways, interacting through both collaboration and competition, Favaloro said.
Game production companies can have multiple business models simultaneously, according to Roberts, who is the CEO of the company that created the games "Bejeweled" and "Plants vs. Zombies."
"You really have to reinvent your games for the business model that's appropriate," he said.
Flanagan said she selected a variety of panelists to emphasize the similarities in different gaming media, including digital, board and card games.
Ian Stewart '14 said he enjoyed the array of perspectives from people involved in a number of gaming industry sectors.
"It's really cool that there are so many facets of making one game," he said.
Van Melikian '14, who is considering game design as a future career path, said the panel taught him about opportunities in casual gaming.
"A lot of the stuff about marketing and designing games for a wider audience was not the sort of thing I had thought about in the past as someone who has been a member of the hardcore gaming market," he said.
The panel balanced elements of business strategy and gaming and social elements of the field, according to engineering professor Bill Lotko.
Rather than only appealing to those interested in computer science or abstraction and modeling, gaming can also be useful in understanding systems in sciences like biology or providing a critical approach to disciplines in the humanities, according to Flanagan.
Flanagan said she hopes that the alumni panel will become an annual event.
"This is our initial group, who are eager to come, but there are far more people to involve and that's exciting," she said.
