This year’s edition of Vivid Sydney will be playing host to local and international online stars as part of Game | On, a three-day event set to take place at Australian Technology Park. The program will involve a variety of panels, workshops and performances from industry professionals such as the Smosh Games team. Despite the name, however, Game | On is by no means exclusive to the realm of gaming.
“The audience that we’re appealing to is anyone who is online,” says Game | On spokesperson (and former MasterChef finalist) Renae Smith. “We have some world class Minecraft players, which is appealing to kids, but at the same time we have industry people who are talking about how to make games, musical performances, and cosplay demonstrations.”
The speaker and workshop programs in particular promise a heavy focus on gaming as a business and how to break into the industry. However, there is also a large variety of seemingly random additions from the beauty, food and music sectors.
“I’m not a gamer or into any of that sort of stuff – I’m a cook and do PR so you would think there wouldn’t be anything there for me, but there’s cooking demonstrations, how to do correct filming and how to get an online audience. We’re really targeting anybody who goes online, who we believe is basically anybody.”
She continues, “There will be presentations by people who have successfully built their presence online. There’s also going to be keynote addresses where these people will explain what they’ve done, how they did it and how they succeeded. So there’s that educational side of the event as well as the fun side.”
Game | On claims to be the first event of its kind in Australia, so where did the inspiration come from? “[Managing director] Blake Harris went to VidCon in America and he called me from there sounding so excited,” laughs Smith. “When he came back we looked at events that could be supporting these creative industries and there wasn’t much like that in Australia. We thought that online culture is something that’s booming and there’s nothing here that really celebrates that, so we decided to create the event.”
With the existence of conventions such as PAX Australia and EB Expo that already celebrate gaming culture and tap into the same audience, it’s interesting to discover what made Vivid stand out as the host for Game | On.
“I think Vivid is very creative and we went with them because we really thought it tied into the celebration of ideas,” says Smith. “We have speakers and people talking about how to be successful, how to be creative and how to stand out. We really think that ties in with the online part of what we do – whether it’s creating games, videos or getting an audience.”
But is it all about learning how to get an industry job or become internet-famous? The name of the event promises gaming, despite the abundance of non-gamer guests.
“There are gaming corners for the hardcore gamers, but then there’s really casual stuff as well for the general public. There’s going to be sections where people can challenge each other with the newest games and there will even be some exclusive releases at the event. There will also be green screens that you’ll be able to play around with, the Oculus Rift, which are the glasses you put on for 3D games and motion capture displays. We also have the indie developers set up in a hub where they can talk to you about their games. You can really learn from the hands-on side of it.”
Game | Onis held atAustralian Technology Park,Friday May 22 – Sunday May 24, as part of Vivid Sydney 2015.
