GDC 2011: The social gaming sessions to watch

The annual Game Developers Conference 2011 in San Francisco, California is rapidly coming up on February 28 through March 4. The country's largest gathering of professionals who make the games that entertain us has become the hot spot for social gaming conversations. This year, the Online and Social Gaming track contains some intriguing sessions that will appeal to those interested in social games. The session details have all been released, and we've pulled out a list of the most interesting sounding social gaming panels at GDC 2011.

City of Wonder: Postmortem by Troy Whitlock (Playdom) and Ben Liu (Playdom)

Attendees will learn about how City of Wonder used core game mechanics as the inspiration for compelling casual social gameplay. They will learn about the creative and development process for the features that helped make City of Wonder a success.

Social Mechanics for Social Games by Raph Koster (Playdom)

Learn about core human psychology driving social games, and walk away with a clear list of game mechanics that encourage social structures and human relationships, thereby driving retention.