Confirmed Keynote Speakers

 

Richard A. Bartle has been playing and designing what we now call MMOs longer than anybody, having in 1978 co-written MUD – the progenitor of the entire genre. His famous Player Types model has seen widespread adoption by the MMO industry and beyond.

His book, Designing Virtual Worlds, is the classic text on the subject and he is an influential writer on all aspects of online game design. In 2010, he was the first recipient of the Game Developers Choice award of Online Game Legend.

He is Honorary Professor of Computer Game Design at the University of Essex, England, where it all began. He’s also innumerable characters in MMOs.

 

Ju Row Farr is one of the founding members of Blast Theory which started in 1991. She studied textiles and fine art at Goldsmiths and trained originally as a dancer.

Blast Theory is renowned internationally as one of the most adventurous artists’ groups using interactive media and the group has been represented at art fairs and festivals including Festival Escena Contemporanea, Madrid; the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival, Rotterdam; Biennale of Sydney; ArtFutura, Barcelona; International Festival for Dance, Performance and Media Arts, Koln; Palestine International Video Festival, Basel Art Fair, Venice Biennale and Art Meets Media: Adventures In Perception, ICC, Tokyo.

She has sat on various boards including Pacitti Company , regularly mentors artists and consults on think tanks and museum groups.

In 2011 Ju took a sabbatical to do her own work which includes painting, writing and occasionally singing.  Currently Ju lives and works in Portslade, Brighton.