I'm not sure I'll be able to watch all of the Voice of Gaming today, but @bmetrock just assured us that if we're registered, we'll have access to audio and video.

So if you haven't - go register!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-voice-of-gaming-tickets-99858005984

First up is @tomhewitson talking about what they're doing with the Voice Arcade monthly subscription and how its helping them monetize access to what they're producing.

"Giving them access to premium content."

Brad asks how it works and the cost.

"It's 99 cents a month, and that covers everything. There is no upsell."

"We're trying to get users to trust to buy things using their voice. We want to make it simple and easy to understand the value proposition."

-- @tomhewitson

"$12 a year is half the price of a board game."

"The voice games market, at the moment, isn't the same as the mobile games market. Every game developer on the platforms is struggling with monetization."

I have to admit, despite his very cheery and optimistic demeanor... @tomhewitson isn't painting a rosy picture in the short term. {:

"The companies haven't made clear when games would be played."
-- Brad

"We see an uptick in traffic from early afternoon till about 10pm. Kids coming home from school and then adults playing into the evening. Our games are communal."
-- Tom

"Games are inherently social. Not like the Farmville social in the past."

I used to call Farmville an anti-social game.

"We see this as families playing games over dinner, rather than watching TV over dinner."

"Thats the great thing about voice games. They're snackable."

Voice Arcade was also addressing the Discovery problem, and this has driven an increase in use of all the games.

(Based on a question from @marktucker)

"[Monetization of games] is going to be hard for at least the next year. But it is starting to get easier."

"The next wave of innovation will come when advertising is allowed."

"Users don't understand how the assistants work and how much we have to handle about what the assistants are doing."

"I think [seeing more mobile development] has to do with user retention rather than acquiring new users."

"Follow us on twitter @VoiceArcade!"

Up next, talking about Starfinder on Alexa.

"Autonomous players want autonomy... but that is really difficult to manage."

"Sometimes the players just... don't understand. And they say things I never would have expected."

"We had to iterate a LOT."

"Sound design to create emotional connection, as well as texture to the choices."

"We rely heavily on audio in the absence of visual cues."

(In my mind, I think we need to go back to listening to radio shows from the 30's-50's to get a good sense of how to do this. Tho there are plenty of lessons to be learned from movies as well.)
(The audio people will, I'm sure, say "duh!" to this point. {: )

"It helps to feel I have control over the story, but still guarantees that players follow along to a narrative beat."

(And I have to step away at this point, but hope to catch up on things later.)

I jump back in, and clearly missed a great session from Maurice O'Connor ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauriceoconnor1/)

"How do I provide that added value? How do I use voice to make my game better?"

"We need to rethink what education in a digital environment demands."

"There are both possibilities and challenges in voice gamification in digital learning."

(Whoops, and thats @_TrishalaPillai of @RumieInitiative)

"Voice games help people learn how to problem solve, be creative, and develop social skills."

"There are potential pitfalls, but there is so much promise."

"Voice can promote digital equity."

"There are the privacy concerns, and how well the assistants can understand younger children."

"Similarly... multilingual challenges."

"Why are we bringing this to the user?"

Now with @caitlingute of Creativity, Inc talking about the integration of voice into physical toys.

"It started with buttons, moved to online only, and now its moving into the physical space for a more friction-free experience."

"Voice is augmenting your reality."

"It doesn't interrupt the way you're playing with other people."

"Moving from AI as game-master to more integrated gadgets."

"You connect the toy to the device and it creates a locked down augmented reality experience. Working with the device triggers the audio."

"The biggest publishers are creating `Alexa enhanced` versions of their board games. It is a trend driven, but cautious, industry. We'll see more soon."

"Ticket to Ride" being an example coming soon.

Bradley: "What about voice as a sort of 'strategy guide'?"

Tom in comments: "Kids of today don't know the struggle of trying to flip through a strategy guide while playing a game.... now they get a play by play video on YouTube."

"Look at robotics and social companions."

Reminds me of something that I was working on decades ago for Addventure (and ideally as part of a search-engine like thing) which I called "Addventure Guides".

You said what you wanted, and it would direct you through the Addventure.

Interesting voice ideas now!

Finally, @derekomori looking to the future of things.

"Sound isn't just this thing from 20 years ago. Everyone still relates to it."

"Blerp is a soundbite expression platform."

"Sound increases interactivity on the [gaming] stream in the moment."

I'm listening to this... and I feel like I'm not getting the elevator pitch.

I might have said something like
"People expressing audio emojis during a live stream."

Oh, there it is. "We're currently promoting sound emotes."

"Why do this instead of sending a gif?
Because it is that surprise emotional factor. That Blerp-moment."

"Livestreaming is the new form of communication."

I can certainly see why this instead of a gif - it *is* a gif. Just an audio form.

Think about how people applaud at shows... or sound horns or noisemakers at sporting games... or so many other places where the audio is how we deliver that message.

This is clever, and makes perfect sense to me.

The event is over. I'll try to catch up on the sessions I missed when @bmetrock and his team mail out the video.