For this week's edition, I decided to recap my weekend in Las Vegas at the SOE Fan Faire.
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Thursday
Arriving in Vegas around 11:30am, I had a few free hours before reporting for duty. I grabbed some quick lunch and headed over to Star Trek: The Experience. I checked out all the little stores (I wanted to buy a tribille for my little girl but they were sold out), stood in line for tickets to the rides, and rode them all…It was a blast.
Next up, at around 3 PM I was helping set up and man the registration tables. For the next few hours we checked in over 500 early arrivers, handing out badges and bags of goodies. By 5:20 PM the line was empty and players were wandering around Conrad Hall taking in the demos for our upcoming games and our current live games. After early registration closed, everyone headed next store to the Welcome Reception for tacos and yummy quesadillas. For our entertainment, Brenlo had players up on stage doing emotes from their games and winning prizes.
From 10 PM to midnight, we hung out in the game room area and showed everyone how to play the Legends of Norrath card game till around midnight. Then it was off to bed for me.
Friday
9 AM sure comes early! I helped man the registration table for a while and then moved over to the info desk at 10 AM to start handing out the MxO Scavenger Hunt list. At around 3 PM the MxO Storyline panel started and I had a few minutes free so I dropped by for the first part of it. Ben "Rarebit" Chamberlain and Dan "Walrus" Myers summarized the storyline and discussed the direction the story has taken. Then it was off to help set up for the Community Address from John Smedley.
This year the Community Address, attended by around 1600 people, was broadcast live through Station Voice in SWG, EQ, EQ2, and a live webcast. There were lots of great things being announced plus some really cool previews and demos of upcoming SOE games. You can watch the whole recorded event here.
At 10 PM, I hopped a bus to the off-site event which was this really cool place called the Las Vegas Sports Center. They had all sorts of fun things to do there: a Karaoke rock band, pool tables, batting cages, a rock climbing wall, and the best thing ever...free drinks and go-carts. I hung out with the MxO players till the last bus left and had an awesome time.
Saturday
Saturday morning I arrived to help out at the registration table and info desk while waiting excitedly for players to turn in their MxO Photo Scavenger hunt photos. I was simply amazed at how many of the items the players found. A couple players actually found every single item on the list and I was sure no one would do that. By 12 PM, the deadline for turn in, nine people had submitted their photos to be scored and I then had to pick the winner…which would be announced later at the banquet.
The 3 PM MxO panel was on Live Events and I found it extremely interesting as Rarebit and Walrus discussed all the different types of Live Events that go on. I especially liked when players told us what their favorite past events were. You could really see the diversity between what different people enjoy, PvP versus RPG, but it seemed everyone liked the party events.
Around 7:30 PM, I got in line with around 20 MxO players for the banquet and we scored 3 whole tables. We all sat around chatting while we munched on pork chops, chicken, chili, and other delicious food. Soon, Brenlo was on stage again with more fun activities to watch players try to win prizes. He also announced Hydrazine as the 1st place winner of The Matrix Online Photo Scavenger Hunt. Everyone at the MxO tables cheered wildly and I may need to get my ears checked for hearing damage. Later there was a costume contest and a few MxO players participated, but it was Kazuki in his Neo costume that made it to the final five. Everyone was cheering for him, even players from other games. The banquet was a blast and we all had a great time and I can't wait till next year's Fan Faire.
Until next time,
-Virrago
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