Inaugural Synthetic Worlds Conference Planned

The first synthetic worlds conference, stemming from the research of Dr. Edward Castronova at Indiana University, will be held from September 29th to October 1st at the Indiana Memorial Union in Bloomington, Indiana. Dr. Castronova is hosting the inaugural conference, to be called, in his term, a "ludium." The "ludium" name comes from its format rather than its content. Participants will be divided into groups and compete to find the best research methods using synthetic worlds to solve real-life problems or stimulate research. At the end of the ludium, a panel of judges will hold an awards ceremony to honor the most innovative research concepts presented. The teams, composed of members from diverse fields such as game designers, academics, businessmen, and government offices, will work on the 29th and 30th of September to formulate their research proposals, and present them on October 1st. A current list of attendees is available at the conference website, which also features a PDF version of the paper that gave rise to the event.