Wednesday, August 15, 2007

SOE Fan Faire Part 3 (Saturday Night)

No more panels, which makes me very sad. I do love picking dev brains! Time for the banquet, however, and by then I was getting pretty hungry.

We met up with a couple more friends who don't currently play SOE games, but were long-time EQ1ers. One of them is a Vegas local, one the other is dating a SWG dev, so she came along just for fun. It was nice to see them again, and we were able to get a table all together. Permafrost had two tables reserved, but only about 8 registered attendees according to the website, so it seemed OK to use the extra space.

I'm torn about the dinner. On one hand, it was very tasty, filling, and meaty. Take away the bread and it was an Atkins dieter's wet dream :P However, it was also burgers and hot dogs.

To repeat: A "banquet" of burgers and hot dogs.

I've no doubt that budgetary concerns played a role in that, but it was still pretty sad. The one and only other Fan Faire I've been to had much better food. I can't quite remember what that food was anymore, but I know for sure it was many culinary steps up from a glorified cookout.

Ah well, I still stuffed myself silly and that was nice. There were various prize giveaways that I didn't pay much attention to. Then came....the wedding.

Does getting married at an SOE Fan Faire bring you to new heights of dorkishness? Yes. Is it beyond-weird to do a costumed medieval wedding while having Darth Vader and Stormtroopers lead the processional? Oh hell yeah.

Is it still a legitimate wedding, deserving of at least a modicum of respect and decency? Absolutely, and to the little prick bastard 12-year-old-looking Crushbone pussy in the camouflage hat who couldn't hold his booze worth a damn: You have NO IDEA how close you were to getting your head stomped in by a bunch of angry Permafrostians (and others) around you. Eat a bag of death.

...ANNNNNYWAY, it was a good time besides him. Watching big fat guys cram themselves into tiny pink shirts was scary, but I was a long distance away so that helped.

Brasse won the costume contest, of course, because she rules! She says she's going to keep making costumes but not enter the contests anymore. I suppose I'd feel similarly if I was in her shoes, because it's nice to let someone else win and she's awful hard to beat, but it still seems a bit of a shame that the best of the best won't be strutting her stuff on stage in the future.

More swag was given out at the dinner, too. SOE employees were trying very hard to give away a bunch of t-shirts with product ads on them. I was just glad that the dinner-swag was something useful, and not more copies of The Matrix Online (*cough*BlockParty*cough*)

My little group didn't wind up sticking around for the party afterwards. So far as I could tell, there was neither open bar nor karaoke, so my interest was minimal ;) Wound up back in the hotel room watching TV and relaxing. When the kiddie is with Grandma, kicking back and relaxing is a darn fine thing!

1 comment:

Shutixa said...

Yo Al,

That little Crushbone pr^ck was so annoying that he was about to experience a new and personal true meaning of his server name, i.e. he supplies the bones and we supply the crushing. All go home happy. Alas, we were 'adult' about it and stuck to throwing a plethora of dirty looks his way.

Regarding the dinner -- first off, let me say that I'm not a cheap-ass penny-pincher, and I'm used to shelling out some bucks for quality feed, especially at a celebration at a yearly convention such as this. And as I posted previously, being that we ultimately MAYBE cost Sony the drinks at the party and the conference space itself by using our "All Access Pass" (only on SATURDAY), certainly SOE was making enough money to invest in some chicken for hungry gamers, so I was a little disappointed.

Granted, the hot dogs were huge, but had I known that picnic fare were the highlight of the menu, we might have opted for Rio's kick-a$$ "World Buffet" a day early!!!

Will I go again next year? Very possibly, but I'm expecting a catered plate. High-maintenance style.

- Shutixa