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Creating a modern MMO requires an enormous range of technical expertise. From the server backend, to the client graphics engine, to the web hosting infrastructure, studios need to be prepared to tackle a lot of challenges to get their game running smoothly.

ArenaNet's recently launched Guild Wars 2 is of course no exception, and at this month's GDC Online, the studio's technical director, Cameron Dunn, will outline the various technical challenges the team had to overcome when crafting this large-scale online RPG.

During his session, "Guild Wars 2: Programming the Next Generation Online World," Dunn will discuss the tech that powers Guild Wars 2's combat system, its World vs. World PvP arenas, and much more. He'll also pull back the curtain on the game's patching system, which allows ArenaNet "to roll out new builds in a matter of minutes without requiring downtime."

Attendees at this talk will walk away with a better understanding of what it takes to create and launch a game like Guild Wars 2, and they'll also learn how the tools used to create these major MMOs can also benefit other types of online games.

As part of GDC Online's Programming track, this talk will be open to All Access pass holders. The show itself will take place October 9-11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

In addition to the above presentation, GDC Online recently added the following talks to the show's Main Conference:

- As part of the show's Programming track, Electrotank's RJ Lorimer and Versant Corporation's Robert Greene will examine how to maximize online game performance in "Lag Sucks: Making Online Gaming Faster with NoSQL, and without Breaking the Bank." During this session, the pair will discuss "how Electrotank used their existing, Java-standard based skills to migrate their database to a NoSQL solution," and created a codebase that could more easily support online games.

In today's market of follow-ups, reboots, and trilogies, developers need to understand what it takes to make a good video game sequel.

There are plenty of challenges that come with working on a beloved or classic IP, but at next month's GDC Online conference in Austin, Texas, a panel of experienced industry pros will share their advice for getting the most out of your next major sequel or reboot.

The session, titled "In the Shadow of Greatness - Sequels and Reboots Deconstructed," will feature seasoned designers and writers including Mary DeMarle (Eidos Montreal), Tom Abernathy (Microsoft Studios), Chris Avellone (Obsidian Entertainment), Raphael Van Lierop (HELM Studio) and Ivan Mulkeen (Eidos Montreal).

These speakers have worked on some of the most notable sequels and follow-ups recent memory, with credits spanning Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Halo: Reach, Knights of the Old Republic II, Fallout: New Vegas, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, and much more.

During this talk, these developers will discuss the major considerations studios will need to make when creating a follow-up to a successful game. Along the way, they'll also touch on some common misconceptions about working on a sequel, how DLC can fit into your narrative structure, and the future prospects of new IP.

As part of GDC Online's Game Narrative Summit, this talk will be open to All Access and Summits & Tutorials pass holders. The show itself will take place October 9-11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

With just two weeks to go until this year's GDC Online, the Austin show's organizers have debuted several new business-focused talks examining how YouTube's plans for game integration, Travian on how existing companies can adopt metrics driven design, and more.

These talks all fall within the Business & Marketing track in GDC Online's Main Conference, which will take place take place Tuesday, October 9 to Thursday, October 11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

The full details on these new Business & Marketing track sessions are as follows:

- First, Lars Janssen of the German browser game company Travian Games (Travian, Miramagia) will explain why companies should use special procedures and tools to analyze player behavior if they hope to grow their games in today's market. In his talk, "Moving a Games Company from Gut Feeling to Metrics," he'll discuss how developers can overcome the challenges of introducing metrics to their existing design processes.

- Elsewhere, YouTube developer advocate Jarek Wilkiewicz and content partnerships manager Cliff Samaniego will present "Start Playing the Mobile Distribution Game on YouTube." Video games have become one of the top categories on the popular video streaming site, and during this session the pair will explain how you can convert those millions of viewers into actual players by integrating YouTube into your next mobile game.

Wilkiewicz and Samaniego will highlight some top examples of games that have benefitted from YouTube integration, and will cover the best practices for using these videos from a technical and business perspective. And of course, they'll take a moment to share some of their favorite gameplay videos with GDC attendees.

- Have you ever wanted to host your own session at one of these GDC events? If so, you're in luck, as Playdom developers and GDC advisory board members Steve Meretzky and Gordon Walton will help you do just that in "How to be Accepted to Speak at GDC." During this talk, Meretzky and Walton will detail how the GDC board reviews and selects the talks that make it to these shows. Along the way, attendees will learn how to make their submissions stand out, and how they can craft a solid presentation.

With GDC Online's final event in Austin less than a month away, show organizers have revealed a handful of new talks in the show's Customer Experience track, spanning a presentation on Microsoft's Age of Empires Online, a panel on modern community management, and more.

These talks all fall within GDC Online's Customer Experience track, which will feature numerous sessions to help developers better attract, retain, and monetize their players. Like the rest of GDC Online, these sessions will take place Tuesday, October 9 to Thursday, October 11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

The full details on these new Customer Experience track sessions are as follows:

- First, Microsoft executive producer Kevin Perry will discuss the importance of transparent community management in "Age of Empires Online: Radical Transparency Clearly Works." Age of Empires Online had an extremely rough launch when it debuted in 2011, and as developers worked to fix its issues, the community team made sure to keep fans in the loop by giving them frequent updates about the game's process. During this talk, Perry will discuss how this open approach benefitted the game, and drastically changed the mood and behavior of the game's once-irate community.

- Elsewhere, former BioWare developer Jason Livingston will outline how he created a strong user support system in "Building a Successful Online Customer Support Program From Scratch." While working at BioWare, Livingston helped craft the customer support solution behind Star Wars: The Old Republic, and in this talk he'll discuss the best practices for building or improving a customer support organization on any budget.

- Finally, GDC Online's Customer Experience track will feature a robust panel titled "Community Relations Management Across the Board," in which speakers from all over the industry will discuss their approach to community management. Featuring speakers such as Meghan Jenks (Rebel Entertainment), Richard Weil (Metaverse Mod Squad), Linda Carlson (Sony Online Entertainment) and Alex Von Minden (Spacetime Studios), this panel will give attendees the change to learn more about how developers are approaching community management across a wide variety of platforms.

The 3DO Company's Meridian 59 became one the first true 3D MMOs when it debuted on PC in 1995, and the game even laid the foundation for games like EverQuest, World of Warcraft, and more. It's remembered as one of the most seminal games of the 1990s, and at next month's GDC Online, you can see how the title came to be in a newly announced classic game postmortem.

In addition to this presentation, GDC organizers have also revealed a talk on securing top placement on digital marketplaces, as well as a robust hiring session featuring a handful of the industry's top developers.

These new talks all fall within GDC Online's Main Conference, which offers some of the world's leading content on persistent and online games. The event will be held Tuesday, October 9 to Thursday, October 11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

The full details on GDC Online's latest sessions are as follows:

- In GDC Online's newest classic game postmortem, Meridian 59 lead designer Damion Schubert, now a BioWare developer working on Star Wars: The Old Republic, will share "how he and his team created a game that would inspire decades-worth of massively multiplayer online RPGs."

Schubert will run through the game's creation from beginning to end, detailing how the game took creative risks and broke new ground for the many online games that followed in its wake.

- Elsewhere, Jason Ing, Microsoft's head of marketing for the Xbox Live Marketplace, will host an in-depth session on the importance of getting favorable placement for your game on Xbox Live, the iTunes App Store, and other digital storefronts.

Ing believes games that secure a prominent spot are much more likely to find success, and in "Getting Storefront Placement for Discoverability," he will outline the process he uses to identify high-profile titles, and will share some general principles to help developers maximize the discoverability of their digital games.

- Finally, GDC Online will host a "Massive Multi-Recruiter Developer Hiring Session," in which major studios from all over the industry will try to attract new talent by discussing their teams and the positions they're hiring for. The event is open to all GDC Online attendees, and is a great opportunity for anyone looking for a big break, a lateral move, or the next step in their career.

Featured recruiters at the event include Emily Gabrian (Harmonix), Kriste Stull (Sony Computer), Kevin Moot (The Nerdery), Mara Flores (Multimedia Games, Inc.), Michael Sheets (Kabam), Ashley Pierce (Bioware) and James Rivers (Nexon America, Inc).

This year's Game Narrative Summit at GDC Online next month in Austin, TX is quickly becoming one of the event's most robust yet, and today GDC organizers have revealed even more Summit sessions featuring a behind the scenes look at the DLC for Fallout: New Vegas, a talk on writing for both paper and electronic games, and more.

Now in its seventh year, the Game Narrative Summit -- formerly the Game Writers Conference -- will once again take place at GDC Online, showcasing leading industry professionals on the many facets of interactive storytelling, with sessions ranging from roundtable discussions, workshops, case studies, and more.

This Summit will run alongside the rest of GDC Online, which will take place October 9-11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

The full details on these new Summit sessions are as follows:

- In "A 4 Hour Story in 400 Simple Steps: Fallout DLC," Obsidian Entertainment's creative director, Chris Avellone, will explain how the studio created small-scale RPG narratives in its 2010 hit, Fallout: New Vegas. Throughout his talk, Avellone will offer a number of tips to help game writers create story flowcharts, build emotional vistas, proofread their scripts, and edit their interactive storylines.

- Elsewhere, game scriptwriter Daniel Greenberg will host, "How NOT to Freelance," detailing some common mistakes among independent game writers. Drawing from his experience working with licenses like The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Crysis, and more, Greenberg will discuss his own mistakes, how he handled them, and what other writers can do to avoid those same errors.

- Finally, a panel of pen and paper game designers will discuss how their experience in the non-digital world helped them become better video game developers. During the talk, "The Journey from Paper Games to Digital Games - What Writers Have Learned," the panelists will discuss how the history of the pen and paper industry has played a major role in shaping modern game development.

Speakers at this panel include ArenaNet's Angel Leigh McCoy, Zenimax's Sam Lewis, and Crossover Technologies' Eric Goldberg, freelancer Thomas Reid, and Schell Games veteran Sheri Ray.

In the latest update for this November's GDC China, event organizers have revealed the show's first three Summit sessions, which cover how to achieve long-term success on mobile platforms, some tips for improving user acquisition, and whether indies should find a publisher or work on their own.

These sessions fall within the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit and the Independent Games Summit, which will run alongside the show's Main Conference, and offer specialized content focused on these two very important realms of the modern video game landscape.

These Summits will take place alongside GDC China's Main Conference on November 17-19.

The full details on these new Summit sessions are as follows:

- As part of the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, NaturalMotion Games' Struan Robertson will discuss how his studio has maintained success on mobile devices with games like My Horse and the extremely popular CSR Racing (pictured). His talk, "Mobile Social - The Future is Quality," will discuss how to attract a dedicated, sophisticated player base by focusing on specific gameplay mechanics and crafting a high-quality user experience.

- In that same Summit, Chartboost's Maria Alegre will host, "User Acquisition: The Latest Trends, Tools and Best Practices." Here, Alegre will examine a number of iOS and Abdroid games that have found their way to the top of the app charts, detailing the tools they used, how successful they were, and how the mobile user acquisition market is changing.

- Over in the Independent Games Summit, noted Chinese indie Wen Chen of Coconut Island Studio (One Tap Hero for iOS) will discuss the best way to distribute your independent game in "Self-Publishing or Find a Publisher?" Chen will compare these two very different publishing strategies, and will give indie developers a better understanding of how they can get their games into players' hands.