I started this thread weeks ago. Some days I hate being right.

@fleabay For 2021 they should make it completely virtual. I don't know of a better candidate to make it all virtual, than GDC. Because of the coronavirus, in China they test online schooling now.

If some event is to use AR, VR or even a simple First Person Walker, this is GDC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_event

Plus adding a 3D environment to it. There is no need for something fancy with Ray Tracing. The minimum enough to feel the spatial environment.

Even orthogonal old Zelda style is enough. They should make it for GDC 2021.

(I wonder why they did not do it already? If somebody loves games, he should do it all virtual like in a game.
It is like the personal page of a web developer who loves to design for web - some fancy web page with some fancy tech to show.
If you love gaming you should love to have a virtual display. I wonder why people of GDC don't do it already…)

@mr_tawan Servers rent only part of their capacities for only a period of time. It can be done, no problem technologically speaking. I don't know about costs though. Renting a real building should not be cheap either.

I constantly see ads of the type of “create a whole game scenery in 30 mins with blender”, “create a game in 1 hour with Unity/UE” or even “make a game without coding in no time”. So it should not be excuse for companies that they can not afford it.

And game devs, at least the real devs, are usually introverts. On conventions, often hot looking presenters show a product, but these are not the devs. These are the sellers. I wonder if they would allow Einstein to present his own invention nowadays, or they would hire a person with a better haircut to do it, while they keep Einstein hidden in a basement.

But, then, in any gaming world/setup, virtual avatars could be used to present a product.

And, yes, people from all around the world could take part. More secure in therms of real physical security from real-life threats and viruses.

It could become a really big event if virtual. Even small indie devs and people who did not finished their projects yet or have an idea could participate… at the bottom end of the site map. It could become a really huge event.

Likes/report system could damage the virtual event. As everywhere on the internet, publishers of content ban comments, feedback and visitors who don't like their product. But hey, world is unfair - deal with it or hide in a basement!

Imagine somebody feeling himself…. ugly…. and can not go to the real event. Or somebody who broke a leg. Or somebody living too far. Or somebody poor. Or somebody like me - ugly and poor with a broken leg.

And finally, imagine buying a game from inside the game….

A cooking convention is a very bad candidate for virtual event. But game makers are the perfect candidates. I don't know what GDC is waiting for. Virtual is the future.

Just got an email for “GDC Summer 2020”, supposedly to be held August 4-6, 2020 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. They want me to roll my pass for the cancelled GDC 2020 over into a pass for that plus GDC 2021, rather than giving me a refund.

WTF? Not only are we still probably going to be in lockdown in August, the city of San Francisco is using Moscone Center for emergency management space.