Frogster news

Berlin, 19.05.2009: A series of eminent guest speakers will be offering insights into the themes of virtual worlds and virtual goods at the Virtual Worlds Camp 2 on 26th May 2009. For next Tuesday’s event starting at 10:30 and running through to 17:15, Frogster has been able to secure well-known experts from the games and media business, from service providers, associations, web agencies, research and also from the legal field. Embedded within the Webinale Internet conference, the Virtual Worlds Camp will take place in three conference rooms in the Berlin Congress Centre at the Alexanderplatz.

Following a welcome speech from Christoph Gerlinger , Frogster’s CEO and an introduction to the main theme by board member Dirk Weyel (COO), Frank Campbell , marketing director of Mindark, the developer and operator of the MMOG ‘Entropia Universe’ will make the keynote dissertation on the theme of ‘Virtual Goods Trading and the Real Cash Economy on Planet Calypso − an MMO planet within Entropia Universe’ between 11:00 and 11:45. Justin Stolzenberg , director of new media at Computec Media AG, will be presenting Computec’s experiences of a web platform with virtual goods and social games in his guest lecture ‘Virtual Goods and Social Gaming beyond Facebook'. Claas Oehler , managing director of the German game developers association G.A.M.E. will be discussing legal frameworks in his contribution ‘Playing Field Limitations for Business Models Employing Virtual Goods’, and will be giving advice on avoiding some of the pitfalls.

In a podium discussion from 12:00 through to 12:45 taking the theme of ‘Online Business Models – Advertising vs. Item Sales’, Dirk Baur , managing director of the International Division at Universal Music, will be debating the topic with Nico Lumma , director of social media at Scholz & Friends, Conrad Fritzsch , founder and managing director of Tape.tv, and Martin Szugat , CEO of SnipClip. Professor Dr. Stephan Günzel , guest reader at the Institute for Cultural Science at the Berlin Humboldt University and member of the Digital Games Research Network DIGAREC, will be making his contribution in his lecture ‘The Real in the Virtual’, from 12:00 to 12:45, giving the researcher’s view of game studies in money, goods, items and icons. Martin Szugat , managing director of SnipClip will be comparing between 15:45 and 16:30, branded goods, social gifts and social games with particular reference to monetisation and the effect of advertising. A second panel discussion with among others, Thomas Aigner , head of sales at Playsafecard.com, and Georg Alscher , head of sales at DAO Pay, will deal with the scope of applications and the technical integration of individual payment systems. The Virtual Worlds Camp will be rounded off with a final session from 16:30 to 17:15 with among others, a talk from Wilfried Henseler , a game producer at Frogster, with the theme ’Blue Ocean Strategies – The future of Massively Multiplayer Online Games’.

The complete day’s programme is available as of now at http://vwc.frogster-ip.de/programm

Registration and press accreditation: http://de.amiando.com/vwc2.html

About Frogster Interactive Pictures AG

The Frogster group is a Berlin-based listed publisher of online games. Frogster focuses on the marketing and operation of virtual worlds, so-called massively multiplayer online games (MMO Games). This is one of the strongest growing sectors in the entertainment industry. The Berlin-based Frogster Online Gaming GmbH which has arisen from the merger of OnlineWelten, the German MMO Games and gaming network with the widest range, and Yusho, operator and service provider for virtual worlds on own hardware infrastructure, proprietary billing systems for subscriptions and virtual items, markets and operates MMO Games in Europe (Frogster share 71%). Frogster Asia Co., Ltd. based in Seoul, Korea, develops MMO Games and is planning the launch of the marketing and operation of virtual worlds in Asia for 2009 (stake 60%). Frogster America Inc. based in San Francisco, USA, markets and operates MMO Games in North America in 2009 (stake 90%). Amongst other titles the Frogster group owns several very promising MMO Game licences with ‘The Chronicles of Spellborn’ and ‘Runes of Magic’. Currently the group employs more than 100 staff members. In 2008, Frogster was awarded as “Landmark in the Land of Ideas”, a competition under the patronage of the German President Dr. Horst Köhler. Internet: www.frogster-interactive.de

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