Europe’s leading B2B conference for the global mobile games industry, Pocket Gamer Connects London, begins in mere days and we could not be more excited to share with you the fantastic speakers gracing us with their knowledge and expertise on February 14-15!
You can view the entire speaker line-up here to get a full scope of the talent that will be speaking this February. To give you a glimpse of what you can expect, we are spotlighting some of the most highly anticipated speakers to showcase the incredible talent and top-tier businesses that will be sharing their insights with us.
Roblox director of community safety and civility, Laura Higgins, will be discussing the company’s focus to emphasise resources and awareness among Roblox’s developers in increasing advocacy for civility and creation, as well as the work into building a safe and civil metaverse, and a future of more civil online interactions.
PocketGamer.biz: Why did you want to work in the games industry?
Laura Higgins: Most of my career has been centered around keeping people safe online, and helping educate people about risks, and how to avoid them. Moving into the games industry was a natural progression for me. Young people have often been the core focus of my work and as they migrated to different platforms and games, I needed to follow them there! I have always been a casual player myself, so I jumped at the opportunity to become part of the industry.
What advice would you give to anyone looking to get into it?
One of the things I love about our industry is the huge variety of roles available – there really is something for every skillset. I would suggest doing as much training as possible in the field you want to work in. There are lots of courses online as well as in person which can really benefit you and provide a broad level of knowledge around basic game design or player dynamics.
This industry moves fast, so be prepared that you might move around a lot, and don’t worry – that is normal, and people often end up returning to the same workplace a few times. Be your best, get stuck in and support your peers, and your good reputation will go with you. People working in the games industry are really awesome!
How has the games industry changed since you first started?
The games industry is no longer just about playing games. It has evolved into something much bigger and more significant, now tightly interwoven with entertainment, social experience, and community. The line between the digital and physical worlds has become increasingly blurred and we’ve seen the growth of platforms, like Roblox, which have a primary focus on bringing people together.
What are your thoughts on the industry in the last 12 months?
In the last 12 months (and the 12 before!) the pandemic has really highlighted the important role that the online world plays in people’s lives, helping them truly connect with friends and family when there have been barriers to physically doing so. For many in the last year, online spaces have replaced physical ones as a way to keep social connections strong.
Because of this, games and social experience platforms like Roblox are often thought of as ‘digital hangouts’, replicating all of the social experiences you can have in the physical world – be that through playing a game together, chatting with friends, or even attending a virtual concert or event. On Roblox alone, approximately 2.5 billion chat messages were sent and 17 million friendships were made in 2021. It’s been astonishing to see how people have adapted during trying times to find ways to come together and experience joy in simple activities. I think gaming has been a lifeline for so many over the last couple of years.
What major trends do you predict in the next 12 months?
As technology continues to evolve, the experiences that people have online will become increasingly interwoven with their daily lives. Roblox’s mission is to enable billions of people to connect meaningfully in virtual spaces, enriching the ways people experience, connect and express themselves and we’re really excited about what is to come for Roblox and the metaverse – the potential is enormous.
But we know that creating a metaverse like Roblox comes with huge responsibilities. Safety and civility can’t be retrofitted into an online world, it has to be at the core of everything we, and others across the industry, do from day one. Roblox’s vision for the metaverse is to create an immersive experience that allows people to come together in ways that are productive and respectful, and I expect we will see an increasing awareness of the importance of civility in the metaverse over the next year.
Which part of the Connects event are you most looking forward to and why?
There are some really interesting sessions as part of the Mapping the Metaverse track, for example, topics like digital identity. We know this is a huge topic within our community: in 2021, one in five of our daily active users updated their avatar on any given day, and we saw over 165 billion avatar updates in total. And there are some other great talks there that I’m excited to listen to. And, of course, I’m looking forward to our conversation about creating a more civil metaverse, together with our community.
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Don’t miss out on the opportunity to meet with Gracia Pozo and other industry leaders at Europe’s #1 B2B games industry conference on February 14-15. Make sure you secure your spot today!
