Event organizer Flybug Media has announced the initial details and speaker lineup for the Mastering the Craft of Online Gaming Infrastructure conference, an event billed as the first industry conference to focus exclusively on the business side of operating online games. The event, which is the first of a four part series focused on the online games segment, will be held at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco on April 19, 2007. The Mastering the Craft event aims to bring together knowledgeable industry experts to discuss various issues facing the online gaming industry and will focus on valuable tools to use in the operation of online games. The conference will offer attendees the opportunity to learn new strategies and tools on operating an online gaming business from both industry experts and professionals in related technology industries. Topics scheduled for the conference include “Your MMO Infrastructure: Build or Buy?”, “Latency can kill online games. How do we make sure this does not happen?” and “Maintaining and Updating MMORPGs,” as well as networking sessions and a keynote address to be announced at a later date. In total, event organizers have confirmed 21 speakers for the event, including NetDevil president Scott Brown, Flagship Studios director of business development Steve Goldstein, and Cryptic Studios' director of technology Shannon Posniewski. “We are very excited to be an integral part of this new and very necessary conference,” said David S. Lee, vice president of infrastructure & engineering for for K2 Network. “The online gaming industry IS the future of gaming and this conference allows us to examine and discuss issues and best practices that are relevant to this business so it can continue to move forward.” For more information on the event, including a full list of scheduled speakers, panels, and registration details, visit the official website.