It's a little hard to keep upbeat when it seems like your industry is right about to sink into the Pacific.

Back in March, when almost every tech-related industry was riding enormous aftershocks from a slowing economy, the Game Developers Conference, a convocation of computer and videogame professionals held annually at the San Jose Civic Center, wanted everyone to think it was business as usual in the gaming industry.  In fact, at an initial press briefing, the GDC spokeswoman begged reporters not to put a "game industry suffering after the NASDAQ downturn" spin on their coverage.  She also made sure we realize that the game industry is profitable and growing-- and this may be true.  But that very week, Electronic Arts had laid off over 100 people, and quashed the highly anticipated Ultima Online 2.  Meanwhile, other game companies nationwide were also shuttering their offices and cost-cutting with relentless vigor. 

On the GDC showroom floor, the shift in feeling from last year to now was perceptible.  Not that people were wandering the booths in fear and dread -- the after-hours booth crawls and parties were still pretty raucous.  It’s just that the top-of-the-world electric buzz wasn't there any more. 

Last year at the parties, when they weren't shouting "Wazzupp?!" at each other, game developers were actually dancing.  For a while there, when the marble-lined Fairmont ballroom was roiling with gamers, it seemed like this was a new era, ruled by a new culture.  But within a year, it seems the game industry has pretty much gone from being geeks with money to just being geeks.  And the dance floors at GDC 2001 were pretty much empty.   

So compared with 2000, this year's proceedings seemed somewhat muted, coming from an industry just a little more humble than before. And going by this year's GDC, you get the impression it still has a lot to be humble about.  Everywhere you turn -- a farcical awards ceremony here, another derivative game there, a dearth of female colleagues pretty much everywhere -- are intimations of an industry that isn't quite ready or willing to enter the mainstream.  But to be sure, there were also signs that suggested just the opposite: new technology agile enough to torque the ambitions of future games, and leaders in the field serious about their art, and its potential to transform it into the dominant medium of the new century. 

I was on hand to see both the good and bad influences that will impact the games we play.  This is my journal from a trip to GDC 2001.