AC Player Luncheon - Boston 2002 |
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Yes, yes, I know. I hear you.
I've read the boards. You see... I understand your pain. Your terrible
bitterness. The deep, deep bitterness of not yet being invited into Beta. I
once felt the way you did. The entire flight out I whined to my vassal
about this shocking state of affairs. Where is the love, I wailed. He said, "You're not going to let this
ruin your trip, are you?" I said, "No, of course not. I am sort of enjoying
myself. Ranting is fun! But, I may ruin *your* trip!!" ;-) He said I was
selfish, thinking only of myself. Could I please not spare a thought to his
own sad situation, as he was also beta-less. Indeed, the mood was grim. Things weren't helped by our late flight (held up by George W. Bush's decision to travel through Minneapolis that day) or the traffic in Boston and their... interesting road system (Take 95S which is actually 1N which is actually 93 which... AGGGHH!!! You people are INSANE! ;-). We were over an hour late to the small intimate dinner we had arranged with 32 of our closest friends we had never met. Luckily, they saved us a seat.
After dinner, I guess because they felt so bad about treating us so awful, they let a few of us come "watch them work" by making us sit in a small windowless room (Don't touch anything! Tsk, tsk, don't go in there!) doing nothing while *they* played video games. (See the Gaerlan write-up from the Castling event). Oh, I know I sure *sound* like I'm having fun, but I was still in major suck-up mode, kissing their behinds like usual. For nothing, apparently.
We headed back to the hotel then stayed up in the lobby until 3AM complaining about not being in beta. Sean Huxter offered to take me to the Turbine offices the next afternoon while they were having a company cookout/bar-be-que so that I could plead my case in person. I complained to the entire Turbine staff over hamburgers, brauts and sodas while we were gathered around the picnic tables outside. I was even able to bring the situation directly to the attention of Ken Karl! He pretended to be shocked to hear I wasn't in Beta. "Send me an email," he said. "I'll see that the issue gets addressed!" WOW! I thought to myself. Ken Karl really IS a god. Then I realized that he had not given me his email address!!!! Typical Microsoft.
The ACPL was ok, I guess. We saw stuff, we ate, they did the Who's Drudge Game. I wasn't really paying attention. Too busy being bitter. That Nik guy who was MC-ing the thing kept rubbing it in our faces ALL AFTERNOON that there were going to be 10 precious beta accounts raffled off at the end. Only ten. Out of the hundreds of attendees. Whoopee. Like I'd have a chance; I never win anything. I swear the man couldn't go 10 minutes without holding up one of the entrant slips, waving it in our faces: "don't loooooose it," he'd playfully mock in a sing-song voice. They should fire that guy. To top it all off, they even gave the event a THEME: "Keep Hope Alive." Geez. Unbelievable. Salt in the wounds. Who does their PR anyway?? Finally, the miserable day was almost over. Just the torture of watching *other people* winning *my* beta account. I gritted my teeth, prepared to put on my public smile through my raging jealousy and envy. Again, in typical MS fashion, there appeared to be a major screw-up. They had forgotten to assign the attendees numbers for the raffle. Great. Just great. Their "solution" to this debacle was to give everyone attending a beta account. ...ummmm... Nevermind! ;-) All kidding aside, I'd have to say that this year's ACPL was the best ever! Once again great people, great time, great fun! The early arrivals started things off with dinner at Vinny Testa's, then on Friday, many of us went out to a (bad!) movie together. As usual, nobody got much sleep and the conversations went on until the wee hours of the morning.
As always, there was some stiff competition during the Whose Drudge Is It Anyway? contest. The defending champions pulled out the stops, even resorting to nudity (Ravlen popped up from the stage shirtless after being killed by a Virindi), but they were defeated by (what else) a skit on the Beta selection process. One player begged, another (Reska) offered his soul to MS as he did a dramatic @lifestone, falling to the stage, then the lovely Sue Anne (Silver Olthoi artist) won her slot by sitting on "Ken Karl's" lap! Other skits included Martine in an Anger Management Class, How the Tumeroks Lost Their Tails (Pookie bit them off, as depicted by a bunny slipper doing a little grab-ass), Cooking with Bael'Zharon (Isparian Stew), a Round Table discussion with some of Dereth's most famous lore characters and Dererth's Homes & Gardens which depicted a scene of house camping Ayan Baqur.
As a special treat, the Turbine team spared us their "Doodz in Arwic" skit and instead performed Weird Al's "Yoda". I'd try to describe it, but I simply could never do it justice. You really had to be there! No, really. You had to be there. There were door prizes galore and a charity raffle benefiting Habitat for Humanity. Sue Anne also gave away 2 pyreal coins and a Silver Olthoi to a few lucky winners.
After the Beta giveaway, there was much rejoicing. Sadly, my vassal photographer, Ned Cleversun, was unable to get a picture. When he heard the announcement, he grabbed the nearest Dev in a fond embrace and nuzzled him out of gratitude and affection. The room was full of love. ;-) Ned hopes Sean Huxter was not startled by this uncharacteristic outburst. Or by any traces of saliva Ned left behind. And, of course, afterwards, there was much merriment!
My favorite part of the event, of course, was when someone yelled out "We love you Maggie" from the crowd and everyone clapped and stuff. I really ate that up! :-) I had so much fun meeting so many new people (Hi Eldreth!). If I tried to remember all your names I am sure I would mangle them or leave people out, so I will just say a quick thank you to everyone who took the time to say hello in person. It was a true pleasure meeting you all! Can't wait to do it again next year! Last, special thanks to Turbine, Microsoft, Allen Grey and his wife Ann, Sue Anne, and the Volunteers. I love my swag. |
Other links: Y-O-D-A (requires Quick Time), courtesy of Auz Miyamoto Yoshi's write-up and Q&A
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