So 10 days ago I was lucky enough to go to gamescom 2010 in Cologne Germany. Whilst I initially booked the trip so I’d get to play Guild Wars 2, the highlight of the trip was by far meeting and spending time in the flesh with my guild mates. Whilst some amongst us were real life friends, most of the 7 people there had never met each other. 3 nationalities were represented (4 if you count the North of England as a separate nation. It seems it at times).
Something that always fascinates me is any difference between the person projected online and that in the flesh. These people have been guildies and friends for several years, who have spent many hours together in in-game combat and on Ventrilo sharing each other’s lives. The first hour or so of any meeting where you know someone so well but never seen them is always a little odd. You have to get what you know of them out of the pixel and wire mesh body and into the real one and such. And then there’s the possibility of the online chatter box being a real life mute.
Luckily of our group everyone was pretty much as expected. It didn’t take long for the dynamic that’s enjoyed online came to the front, the jokes to start rolling in and a few trips down memory lane to start. We spent the majority of Thursday together at gamescom at the NCSoft booth, getting loot (yay tshirts!) watching and playing Guild Wars 2. We split up later in the afternoon and went around the halls looking at various games and grabbing things of interest before meeting up and going out for dinner. A few of us then went on to the NCSoft party at Goldfingers before staggering back to the hotel at 3:30am and getting up for the convention the next day.
The drinking session at the NCSoft party was one of the best nights out that I’ve experienced. Nothing is quite like sitting around a table with a group of people you enjoy the company of, geeking out replicating in game dances and generally letting go. The music was far from the best but that didn’t matter. Fun time was had by everyone (except maybe the Viking of our group, he was a little tired from the travelling and walking).
All in all it was an epic trip and I sincerely its not the last time I enjoy the company of these friends. Some of them will be coming to my wedding in a few months time and others I’m trying to find an excuse to visit. If you were expecting this post to be more about my actual game play experiences of Guild Wars 2 at gamescom, sorry for disappointing you. I’ve made my thoughts and opinions available a couple of places since I got back. In Episode 11 of Relics of Orr Ryan grilled me for details and Shaun of GrayGamers.com had a Q & A with me as well. I’ll leave you with the picture of the weekend: around 10% of Mystic Spiral [MYST] 2010.
Behind gamescom 2010
So 10 days ago I was lucky enough to go to gamescom 2010 in Cologne Germany. Whilst I initially booked the trip so I’d get to play Guild Wars 2, the highlight of the trip was by far meeting and spending time in the flesh with my guild mates. Whilst some amongst us were real life friends, most of the 7 people there had never met each other. 3 nationalities were represented (4 if you count the North of England as a separate nation. It seems it at times).
Something that always fascinates me is any difference between the person projected online and that in the flesh. These people have been guildies and friends for several years, who have spent many hours together in in-game combat and on Ventrilo sharing each other’s lives. The first hour or so of any meeting where you know someone so well but never seen them is always a little odd. You have to get what you know of them out of the pixel and wire mesh body and into the real one and such. And then there’s the possibility of the online chatter box being a real life mute.
Luckily of our group everyone was pretty much as expected. It didn’t take long for the dynamic that’s enjoyed online came to the front, the jokes to start rolling in and a few trips down memory lane to start. We spent the majority of Thursday together at gamescom at the NCSoft booth, getting loot (yay tshirts!) watching and playing Guild Wars 2. We split up later in the afternoon and went around the halls looking at various games and grabbing things of interest before meeting up and going out for dinner. A few of us then went on to the NCSoft party at Goldfingers before staggering back to the hotel at 3:30am and getting up for the convention the next day.
The drinking session at the NCSoft party was one of the best nights out that I’ve experienced. Nothing is quite like sitting around a table with a group of people you enjoy the company of, geeking out replicating in game dances and generally letting go. The music was far from the best but that didn’t matter. Fun time was had by everyone (except maybe the Viking of our group, he was a little tired from the travelling and walking).
All in all it was an epic trip and I sincerely its not the last time I enjoy the company of these friends. Some of them will be coming to my wedding in a few months time and others I’m trying to find an excuse to visit. If you were expecting this post to be more about my actual game play experiences of Guild Wars 2 at gamescom, sorry for disappointing you. I’ve made my thoughts and opinions available a couple of places since I got back. In Episode 11 of Relics of Orr Ryan grilled me for details and Shaun of GrayGamers.com had a Q & A with me as well. I’ll leave you with the picture of the weekend: around 10% of Mystic Spiral [MYST] 2010.
This entry was posted by Tasha on September 2, 2010 at 8:50 pm, and is filed under Community Commentary, Personal. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0.Both comments and pings are currently closed.