Introducing the Board of Advisors

Bringing together heavy-hitters in the design and study of virtual worlds is no small feat!

In addition to Rich Vogel, we are thrilled to announce the involvement of the other members of our Board of Advisors:

Dr. Richard Bartle, whose resume reflects his well-known wit, is alphabetically first on our list. And what a way to start the line-up! Dr. Bartle is credited with developing the technology of virtual worlds from its humble beginnings as MUDs. We can't really say anything in better humor than does the man himself (though we have bragged about him a little more).


Raph Koster, game designer extraordinaire and man-about-Metaplace, is up next. What to say but that Raph is the hardest human being to get hold of because he is seemingly everywhere at once. Fortunately, virtual space doesn't GO anywhere! His bio is brief but out of the park.

The heart of the batter's box is occupied by partners in crime, or, we should say authorship, Dr. J. Leighton Reed and Dr. Byron Reeves. Listing their collective accomplishments is a task for more ambitious souls, but needless to say, they are individually impressive and collaboratively authoritative. In addition to being a medical doctor, Leighton is a businessman and venture capitalist. And, in addition to being a philosophical doctor, Byron's list of leadership positions spans almost any communications-related venture ever begun at Stanford. Together, they're going to tell us how the future will work!

Rounding out the line-up are two of the most influential game designers in the business: Rich Vogel and his co-studio director at BioWare Austin, Mr. Gordon Walton. We could say a lot about their careers, but why bother. You'll learn a lot more by playing! (But if you do need a text version, there is a succinct version of Gordon's bio, and we've pretty much worn Rich out by now - and he hasn't even shown up for the keynote yet!)