By Harold Goldberg

Tens of thousands are travelling to the Game Developers Conference this week. To avoid the madding crowds, I stayed in New York City. Instead of GDC, I was thinking about a smaller, cozier event that took place about a month ago: the DICE Summit.

I didn’t really know what to expect when I landed in Las Vegas to a hauntingly empty airport on my way to DICE, the acronym of which means “Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain.” It has been held yearly since 1998.

On my way to the Aria Casino and Hotel, I realized that each cavernous place of Las Vegas lodging is kind of like an airport in itself. There are no planes, but it seems to take about a half mile to get where you’re going.

Zebra Partners, the public relations agency for DICE, had a party on Tuesday night at a place called Money Pizza. I was immediately comfortable there because many of the press people that I’ve known for the last two decades or more were in attendance. That included members of the New York Videogame Critics Circle like Game File’s Stephen Totilo and Iron Lord Barry Eversley.

I was especially happy to see Chris Kohler, who used to be a games blogger for Wired. But now he’s the editorial director for Digital Eclipse. This game studio has published a series of remastered games in anthology form, and those anthologies include deep dives into art, narrative and how games get made. They’re particularly valuable, I think, for young students who want to know more about video game history.

Kohler reminded me that I was the first talking head in Paul Docherty’s documentary about Jeff Minter called Heart of Neon, which is part of the Digital Eclipse package called Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story. It honors this important, somewhat psychedelic, game creator.

DICE and Zebra kindly provided Circle Executive Director Ryan O’Callaghan and me with media passes. Those allowed us to attend some events at the conference, like a talk that included a sometimes-touching homage to game director Vince Zampella.

It wasn’t all about being honored. Meggan Scavio, the president of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS), opened the conference with a pointed statement. Scavio said that many gamemakers are struggling due to so many layoffs. She also said people are finding a loss of community in the world of games.

But the important workshops that were scheduled did not allow members of the press to their events. That’s because, we were told, gamemakers may not speak freely if members of the press are taking down notes.

However, the Circle is a nonprofit and we do make games with young people who are part of the Circle. So we do indeed do some game development here.

In fact, I would’ve been gone the extra mile to make sure that everything that was said at one of these workshops would not be reported outside of the room in which they were held. In other words, everything would be off at record.

But this was not to be. My hope is that, in the future, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences will open more events to media. If not that, more serious thought should be taken by the AIAS to address how media can interact with the games industry during this February event.

A New Foundation

However, the relaxed the atmosphere of the conference allowed me to approach game developers that I’ve met and interviewed in the past. One such meeting occurred at breakfast with Mark Cerny, who started his long, impressive career when he was 17 at Atari. He then went on to design for Sony, everything from VR to the look of various PlayStation’s including the most recent one.

I wanted to make sure Mark knew what we were doing in New York City with the New York Videogame Critic Circle’s Playing With Purpose programs. So we talked about that for some time and he seemed enthused.

I also had read an item on LinkedIn, which was meant for job seekers. It stated that Mark and Geoff Keighley are creating a new foundation. The reason why it was on a job site is because they are searching for an executive director, who will help them raise funds. Geoff and Mark hope to give back with scholarships, mentorship, and the like.

In the future, they will be looking to help college students get into the game industry. But I suggested that all of this mentoring and finance help could start earlier – as early as middle school and high school. That’s the model we have here at the Circle when we seek to help under served students. The earlier we inform young people about the various kinds of work available in the games industry, the better armed they will be in the job market.

Mark Cerny said that the general public will learn more about the new foundation toward the end of the year. I’m looking forward to hearing more about their strategic plan for the future, and how they plan to differentiate themselves from other foundations and nonprofits which already exist. Beyond our organization, others offer scholarships and mentoring, including the AIAS.

The DICE Awards

Unless you’re staying at the Aria, which can run about $600 plus tax nightly, you have to walk about 15 minutes to get to the convention center at which DICE was being held. I was across the street at a Hilton. But the way the city is laid out, you can’t just cross the street at an intersection. You have to walk to a pedestrian overpass, which is a circuitous path indeed. The weather was on the warm side, so I chose to walk about half the time, this time for an evening event.

The most well-known event here is The DICE Awards, and much of the game world, certainly those game makers in the United States, travels to Las Vegas for this show.

As the minutes ticked toward showtime, it was such a high to greet some of the creators I know, especially Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross from Naughty Dog. Halley is developing her own TV series now that she and Neil have left “The Last of Us” on a day-to-day basis. Neil was there to honor former Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells, another moment that was touching.

The show began with two hosts doing a funny, somewhat cutting monologue. Then, there are many Award presentations sans these hosts. It becomes somewhat repetitive, but it gets the job done. The Awards were broken up, however, by the feting of Evan Wells, who was getting the Hall of Fame Award. Wells began working at Naughty Dog in 1998, and was part of its early team. In addition to Neil, studio co-founders Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin were present to laud Wells.

Druckmann highlighted Wells’ work ethic and affability, and suggested that Evan’s work came at no small cost to his personal life. It made me wonder how many heads of studios deal with struggles at home due to their hard work on the job. I assume that every studio head’s work/life balance tips toward many work hours when a game is about to be published or when deadline milestones need to be met.

In another room, attendees could attend an open bar and eat appetizers. As the night grew longer, the din within the Awards became louder and louder, even as game creators were making their speeches. I wondered if it’s the same with the Oscars and Grammys, except that we at home don’t hear the loud crowd because of a careful sound mix that’s presented to network TV viewers.

There was a convivial party afterward. But I was on New York time and had a deadline for my Resident Evil Requiem feature story at The New York Times. So my party was before the Awards when I greeted as many familiar faces as I could without feeling too nervous about it. I was ready to leave Las Vegas in the early morning – because no one wants to stay too long in Las Vegas. But I would be back again, for DICE.

Journalist/author Harold Goldberg is the founder of NYVGCC and the New York Game Awards.His new novel, The Skinny, will be published on March 24.