Emergent Future

About Me

Friday, 23 March 2007

So, you're curious about who runs this site then? Fair enough: I am a graduate of Michigan Technological University, I am the site manager of a few places around the Internet, I am a writer, I am a hobbiest game designer, I am an avid lover of technology, I am a philosopher on online communities, I am... well, I guess a lot of things. But who isn't? Suffice to say, I love technology. Specifically, I love technology that brings people together, allows greater communication, provides greater organization in our daily lives, and technology that changes the way in which we live, learn, and view the world. Web development, game development, mobile technology, and more is all highly interesting to me.

I've spent quite a few years floating around the web. I've never not had a computer during any stage of my life and it was around 1995 when my family picked up a new 90Mhz Pentium machine running Windows 3.1 with an upgrade disc to Windows 95. Most importantly, however, it also came with a modem. To be fair, I never really seriously started using the Internet until around the end of 1999, however. That's when I started becoming highly interested in online gaming when Star Wars Galaxies was announced. Me, being the avid fan of Star Wars, of course headed over toward the official site to see what was going on with the upcoming game. Once I got to the forums, my life pretty much changed - sad as that is!

Since that point, online communities have been a favorite topic for me. Even back then I dived in pretty quick, becoming a member of the 'Newbie Welcome Wagon' (NWW) during the early days of the Star Wars Galaxies development. This little organization greeted new members to the forums, pointed them to the main areas for information, and helped to answer questions. The developers and the community both loved us and we became a key component of the culture of the early development forums. Its interesting, really. You can travel halfway across the world, live in a new country with a very different culture - which I've also done - but one online community can be so vastly different than any other, that it is strangely similar. Yet, once you start getting use to discerning the culture, moving around becomes not just easy, but highly interesting.

Hanging around early development communities for online games has, of course, breed an interest in game development. Its something I am still very interested in to this day, and I even belonged to a game development enterprise at Michigan Tech, known as Husky Game Development. I've held a number of positions there ranging from Lead Developer, to Art Director, to Vice President of Communications. Working on game projects has been a great experience, as it has allowed me to work with a huge variety of people in a bunch of different ways. Its really made sure that I am very well versed when it comes to team work and leadership, which are two very useful things in life, I've found. My love of game development also led me to the WarCry Network, a well respected media site for online games. I ran a few of their Network Sites, wrote columns, and reported news for the Network. I also held interviews with a ton of game developers and attended the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in 2006 and 2007.

WarCry really did a lot to fuel my interest in more than just game development though, but further in web development and online communities. This became even stronger when I headed out to attend the Game Developers Conference in 2007, which was a totally life changing experience. Not only were some of the sessions absolutely fantastic, but it really showed me the power of online communities, web technologies, and how well the game industry could benefit from taking greater advantages of both. Really, in a lot of ways, it broadened my interests considerably from just focusing on the game industry, to looking closer at the web industry and other fields of technology.

Since then, my interests have grown, evolved, and have left me where I am today. I can see so much potential for so many types of technology. Many of them have so many similarities between them as well, and so much can be done by looking at different aspects of them. The potential for technology to change the way in which we live has already been shown to be huge - and the future could be certainly amazing considering the pure potential we have and where we can go with it.
Tags: emergent future arrakiv sean bulger