Hi, I’m Matthew Ford

1. Hi, I’m Matthew Ford • Lead Program Manager at Microsoft for Asheron’s Call games • Directly working on Asheron’s Call 2 and advising on Xbox online games • Came to MS in 1998 • Before that, Accolade • Before that, Atari • Before that, an English teacher

2. My agenda • I want to help the games industry and the academic community find ways to respect and support one another • I want academics and the public to regard games as an artistic medium • I want game creators to rise to the challenge of making art, not just entertainment

3. Why care? • As game creators I’d hope we feel a bit insulted to be ranked next to cigarette vendors • As art we are less of a target for condemnation, limitation, and censorship • Scholarly analysis will give us tools we can use to make better games

4. Why we deserve a break… • Despite notable exceptions, the driving force of many games is violence, with sex and avarice in supporting roles • But this is typical of an artistic medium in its early stages of sophistication • Witness: The Iliad, Beowulf, Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, printing press porno, etc.

5. …but why we also should push ahead • Evolve or stagnate • Looming threats to our craft • We have exciting works ahead of us • Witness: Half-Life, Baldur’s Gate, Black and White

6. How to expose our art to the academic community • Game length and difficulty pose a challenge to analysts • Use web to make a linear presentation of artistic themes • Use academic game theory in multiplayer games, and expose how you did it • Draw from psychology, and expose how you did it

7. Our challenge to earn artistic status • Let’s think of our games as an art, not just a diversion • Let’s ask ourselves what our games are trying to say • Let’s not fear to use artistic techniques, layered in with the action • Let’s use our artistic power responsibly