AC Player Luncheon - Boston 2000 |
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| There are already a few write-ups
about the Boston Player Gathering by the columnists at Crossroads of Dereth (Az's & Wynder's) and
another I ran across by Hearding
of Vitae Rising, but that won't stop me from adding another one! What I Did On My Summer Vacation Well, I didn't sleep; that's for sure! My flight left at 7:15AM on Friday and I lived an hour from the airport. With wrapping things up at work, laundry, packing, etc. the day began to get later and later Thursday evening. Then of course I needed to log into the game to give my vassal some stuff before I headed out of town. I was pleasantly surprised to see some of my buddies online so I stayed in the game for a bit, chatting and hanging out and killing stuff. Then I died. I didn't really want to leave town with Maggie the Jackcat having all that nasty vitae hanging on her. (Sort of like making your bed and changing the sheets before leaving town, so you can home to a nicely made bed.) So, I decided I might as well just stay up and play the game for a bit more. After all, I was on vacation, wasn't I?! Well, I am sure most of you know how that goes. :) After staying up all night, I snagged a window seat on the plane so I could sleep through to Boston. Dave Namerow and Chris Clay, two of Turbine's finest, were waiting for us at the airport (Allen Grey and his wife and the newlyweds, Azeraphel and Queen Froggi, were on the same flight). Once Cassie joined us, we headed for the hotel. I had met Allen and Az and Cassie at the player gathering in Minnesota in February and was looking forward to meeting the rest of the CoD staff in person. Since we had a few hours before the Turbine Tour, we grabbed the rest of the crew who were already at the hotel and had a chance to hang out and get to know each other a bit. I also got to meet Penelope who has the coolest job title of anyone I have ever met: Technology Infrastructure Diva. The Turbine Tour was truly a treat! We got to preview the video they had put together for the Player Luncheon. They had also prepared for our visit by doctoring all their white boards with humorous lists of their upcoming nerfs. One board, designed as a target, had random nerfs and other alarming game suggestions scattered across it, with a dart placed firmly in the "Nerf Quix" spot. To the right was a list of players Turbine was "out to get." I could clearly make out Allen Grey's name among them. It's true that the Turbine workplace has some kick-ass culture. I once worked in a job where I was reprimanded (formally reprimanded -- in WRITING) for not wearing my shoes behind a desk in a room that noone ever came in but me, so I was envious of all the toys and casual, fun atmosphere. Everyone was pretending to work, but when we got a closer look at their monitors, we could see they were all really playing Diablo II. Just kidding, of course! They were very gracious about letting us watch the magic in action. Rebecca (Froggi) and I made what I know were very helpful suggestions for some of the future goodies Turbine has in store. I could tell you what they were, but then I'd have to kill you. (We all signed NDAs :) We also watched Patricia playing in-game for a while. She let us know she would hunt us down and kill us if we revealed her game name to anyone. Just think! You could be playing alongside a Turbinite at any time and not know it! After the tour, we all went out to dinner at a nearby steak house. The electricity going out didn't diminish in the slightest the enjoyment we were having. At my end of the table were Cassie, Dave Namerow, Sean Huxter, Soulitaire, Uriel, Margo, Az and Froggi. I'm sure I'm leaving some people out. There were lots of other people with the group that I didn't have the slightest idea who they were, but that's ok! It was a lot of fun! A totally delightful crowd! After dinner a group of us invaded Dunkin' Donuts for some coffee. Caeryn Dryad and I got to grill a very accommodating Dave Namerow with question after question about the game. He also hit us with AC trivia questions, one after the other. This really was one of the highlights of the trip for me. It's not every day that you can hang out with people who share the same weirdly obsessive affection for a favorite pastime. And one of them actually knew stuff! I ended the evening by hanging out with Cassie talking until way too late, and was horrified to learn that Allen had requested the CoD staff to be down to meet over breakfast at 8AM. I insisted he didn't mean me; he mean Az and her and people like that. She said, "see you at 8." The Player Luncheon itself was loads of fun. Allen gave us an hour or so before getting starting to mingle and meet. Quix and I exchanged name tags for a while, but we changed back when I told him about some of the fan email I got because of my site ("You're beautiful; I love you." Hee hee.) I got to meet lots of people whom I had talked to in-game or by email, like Dragon Warrior and Maddy and Auz from Stratics, and just a ton of others who I am probably insulting right now by neglecting to mention them by name. Every single person, Turbinite or fan, I had the pleasure of meeting was extraordinarily nice. Really, a fine crew. Many of you may have heard about the itinerary of the Gathering, but I will still repeat some of highlights. Jason Booth gave a great talk -- inspiring, comical and at times touching -- about Turbine's early days, when they lived from demo to demo, surviving on cereal in one of their mother's homes. We saw a video, narrated by Justin of the Weenie Team, of a humorous guided tour of the Turbine offices. We had a live dev chat where it was revealed that thrown weapons had some love in their future. We saw another video, this time of the Turbine blooper reel -- an absolutely hilarious compilation of clips that *didn't* make it into the demos. And (drumroll) we got to see a preview of the new graphics engine: WorldBuilder 2.0. My words can't begin to do justice to this amazing artistry. After the video was played, we were asked if we wanted to see it again. The walls shook, the response of "Yes!" was so loud and enthusiastic. I bet if we had been asked 15 times in a row if we wanted to watch it again the answer would have been the same, it was that amazing! (I kid you not.) And of course, we got to watch various attendees make total fools of themselves during the "Whose Drudge is it Anyway" competition. Somehow, signing up for the event just slipped right by me; I had fully intended to participate, I had had so much fun with it during the February Minnesota Gathering. And absolutely nothing could have been worse than the topic we (as the first team ever to play!) were given: Banderling Foot Rot. Alas, I missed my chance to shine. However, I did have one moment of glory. I bumped into Stormwaltz in the buffet line and greeting him with "It's a famous person!" He responded back, "It's another famous person!" I felt like pretty hot stuff, let me tell you. :) On the other hand, I was completely astonished to find that most of the Turbine staff had absolutely no idea about the existence of my charming little web site. I certainly remedied that, and insisted that they stop by and browse some day, and wallow in the homage I give to their delightful crockery and random loot generators. All good things must come to an end. Or do they?! We dragged the Luncheon through to dinner as various groups of fans and Turbinites invaded area restaurants. I had the pleasure of dining with Dave "Crowley" and Salmoneus and Wynder and a buncha other people. And I even briefly sat next to Chris Foster who said, (again, I kid you not!) "It's in the game, but not in the game," in response to a question Quix and I threw his way. Then... we went to see X-Men!! Really, was this a perfect day, or what?! As I expounded to Wynder and Quix in the car on the way back to the hotel about some of the great story lines in the comic books (of which I have a substantial collection), Quix turned to me and said, "Are you sure you're a girl?" Haha. That made me laugh. Then Wynder fired his own zinger when we realized that I had completely missed Kitty Pryde's cameo in the earlier part of the movie. He shot me a withering, "And you call yourself a fan." (P.S. Thanks, Quix, for hauling us around all day!) But wait! It's not over yet! Many, many of us ended up at an Irish Pub. I hitched a ride there with Sturm Strongheart, Ravlen and Cassie and had more great car conversation. I sat across from one fellow 1/2 the evening before realizing he was Merry from Split Pea (another famous person!). We talked Darktide. (I have an unsatisfied yen to try Darktide.) We all continued our harmonious AC love fest until we were finally tossed out. Many people congregated in the lobby back at the hotel and I somehow found myself discussing the finer points of composite bow making with Wylie, Froggi and Ravlen until, um, 3AM. Which was dreadful, since the airport shuttle was arriving for me at 5:20AM. Did I mention I didn't sleep much? There is even more to this story, believe it or not. (Geez, does she *ever* shut up?!) From Boston I flew South, the land of big hair and kudzu, to visit my sister and brother-in-law. Waiting for me was the new kick-ass computer system my brother-in-law had been building for me. During Jason's talk he had mentioned how small the Beta 0 team had been. I was *in* Beta 0. (Bring back the fart emote!!) I never quite figured out how I made it in. I actually had to be rescued from the Tutorial Dungeon in early beta! I personally like to think I'm responsible for the big green arrows that now guide the way. :) I thought it might have been because I was female and they didn't have many sign up. But I have since decided that it was probably because I had the crappiest computer system of anyone who had signed up, and the crappiest computer system of anyone currently playing the game, with the exception of Sean Huxter. Not anymore! For the first time, I left software mode behind, as I played AC with my new GeForce2, on a *fast* computer and a zippy connection. Whoo-hoo!!! It was very nice. My sister and her husband were so impressed that they both got copies of the game and will be joining us all in Dereth. NO, they do NOT need Patrons. ;-) The End
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View Maggie the Jackcat's and other attendees' pictures of the event here! Turbine Links: Turbine Games |
