Gaming Geeks (and Curt Schilling) Unite!

What do Dungeons and Dragons, Curt Schilling, Rock Band 2, and oodles of gaming geeks have in common? They'll all be at the inaugural MIT Sloan Business in Gaming (BiG) conference on May 8.

Schilling, the Red Sox's pitcher who is also a well-known businessman in his own right, will moderate a discussion on multiplayer online games. Other panelists will include the creators of the Lord of the Rings Online, D&D Online, and Warhammer Online, and representatives from such companies as Google, Massive, GamerDNA, and Mana Potions.

Sloan will be giving out demo gift bags, and people can play Rock Band 2 (which was created by MIT alumni) all day long. Sounds like paradise for those who can't get enough of video games - as well as the profits they promise.

Some of the panelists should be familiar with what gaming success can reap. Ken Levine, president of 2K Boston, who led the creation of the multimillion-selling, game-of-the year award winning title BioShock will there. So will Susan Bonds, 42 Entertainment's president and CEO and the creative power behind publicity campaigns for games such as Halo.

John Rizzo, CEO of Zeebo will speak about how he created the first fully managed digital distribution console. And Scot Osterweil, MIT research director will speak about his Zoombinis Island Odyssey and the games Switchback and Yoiks!

So not only will they have a legendary pitcher, but most of the gaming world's rock stars. Maybe they'll all rock out to "We are The Champions," on Rock Band 2 by the end of it. Weirder things have happened.

by Joan R. Magee