Erin Hoffman
Designer, Philomath Games

Erin Hoffman has been designing video games for over eight years in an assortment of genres including MMOs, action-RPGs, and children's games. She is a columnist for The Escapist and a nonfiction contributor for an assortment of magazines including Strange Horizons and Gamasutra; she also maintains the industry watchdog website Gamewatch.org.

In 2007 she joined Erik Bethke as co-editor of Settlers of the New Virtual Worlds and the BetterEULA project, an initiative to examine the legal, ethical, and economical issues associated with software EULAs as applied in massive online environments and online games. Contributors to the essay collection include noted interactive media commentator Julian Dibbell, Sean F. Kane of Drakeford & Kane LLC, Chief Economist of Eve Online Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson, and others. The BetterEULA project seeks to analyze the needs of online world creators and participants to ultimately generate a legally sound next-generation user agreement broadly applicable and customizable to a range of online products.

Panelist: Real Rights in a Virtual World, Wednesday, 3:30 PM, Harbor

Moderator: From Feudalism to Enlightenment: User Rights in Virtual Worlds, Thursday, 10:30 AM, Salon E