If this is what I think it is, I find that to be highly amusing.
It probably is what you think.
Oh, and lets not forget the awesome that was condomworld.
Holy shit, that place was the AWESOMEST! I'm pretty sure I don't want to know what that video they were playing is called though. I would be perfectly happy never seeing something that freaking disturbing ever again.
Ro, it is totally what you think it is.
I cannot speak to how awesome or not the concert lineup was because I wasn't dumb enough to stand in line for a concert that people would be leaving and entering all night. I stood in line for the Keynote, the closing, and for Action Castle. The keynote was the only line that I didn't really have something else to do with me. For closing "ceremonies," we played Fluxx and Burning Wheel in line. While waiting for Action Castle, I was hanging out and knitting with Ro. We also didn't have a problem leaving to go to the bathroom; several of us successfully left and returned just fine.
Holy shit, that place was the AWESOMEST! I'm pretty sure I don't want to know what that video they were playing is called though. I would be perfectly happy never seeing something that freaking disturbing ever again.
The dildo that they had strapped to the chainsaw engine was pretty terrifying.
"Our theory regarding PAX is that it is something that happens when we get enough of you together, quite on its own, and it is our task to construct an ecosystem around you that does not impinge on that culture's inherent virtues. When they had us down at GDC for that Ambassador Award thing, what I told them (when I was thrust before a microphone in abject terror) was that the basis for our work is the idea that the experiences that games create form the basis of a coherent culture - that the bank of shared experiences, simulated but no less real, coalesce into a collective memory.
I say things like this for two reasons. One, it's vitally important to me that people think I'm smart. But more importantly - well, maybe not more importantly, as important perhaps - that is the world I want to live in. Even if we have to make that world with our bare Goddamned hands for three days, to reclaim it from the Earth, it will be so.
The fear that PAX was something that would attenuate from one coast to another was real, but also dumb. We wondered if the show we have there was the result of it being "old growth" by this time, an established creature. But PAX felt like this even in its first year, before it was a "thing," its shape was already present. We call it PAX East to distinguish it from the other one, it helps to make discussions about them possible, but I've been to every one of them and I can tell you: this was just PAX. Whatever entity you create when you attend, and when you play, was present in the same unaltered form we discerned years ago. It is our task to honor it.
We were asked many times what's Next for Penny Arcade, or PAX, and the answer is straightforward: This, but better. We're going to get this show on an anvil and pound it until its strength and glory are manifest. We have absorbed every suggestion, every tweet, and every thread - know that nothing has escaped us. When we return in one year's time, be ready."
Just found something on the Norovirus wikipedia. "Alcohol rubs are not very effective at dealing with Norovirus." LOL
I said that when we first arrived and someone said they would be using lots of Purell. I used very little hand sanitizer this weekend and simply refrained from touching things with my hands that I didn't have to, including escalator rails and doors. I also washed my hands often. Since I started washing my hands more often, being conscious of what I am touching, and using hand sanitizers at conventions, I have yet to get sick from a con. It's really mostly a matter of being aware and cautious.
I think one of the reasons a lot of people got Norovirus is that they were depending too heavily on the hand sanitizer as a substitute for hand-washing, rather than an additional method of sanitation.
I'm back from PAX (or rather, my absence from two days of it). I was struck down by what was most likely norovirus, and it has had the gall to leave me now that PAX is over. It actually wasn't too bad, but I stayed in my hotel room on Saturday to avoid public pants-pooping and spreading disease; on Sunday the diarrhoea was pretty much done, but I felt a bit of a fever so I stayed home that day as well. It's cool that most of you others avoided getting sick (bad luck Ro), especially not from me, though.
Anyway, meeting forumites on Friday was awesome, and you're all every bit as cool as I imagined you to be and more. I'm considering going to Anime Boston to make up for getting sick at PAX.
The only line I waited in was "Losing Should be Fun," and lackofcheese and I played Advance Wars the whole time.
EDIT: Also, neito, I was the guy who introduced himself as "keats" and was wearing a grey fedora.
Oh, you're that guy.
Also, that was a rocking afterparty. I got to get a poster signed by Mike, my badge signed by Mike and Jerry, and got to talk to Jerry for a bit. They're really cool people.
Also, Khoo is pretty cool. Shoulda gotten him to sign my cell.
See, I never have this problem. Oshits, It's the giant Australian with the maniacal glint in his eye, seems to recognize me, I wonder who that could be?
With our department at work in chaos, PAX East was not in my plans this year, but I'm making outlying plans for next year's show. The only thing that has me hesitant about attending is that it seems there are a lot of teenagers and twenty-somethings at the event. I just worry that a normal, forty-something guy like myself would stick out like a moose in a refrigerator.
With our department at work in chaos, PAX East was not in my plans this year, but I'm making outlying plans for next year's show. The only thing that has me hesitant about attending is that it seems there are a lot of teenagers and twenty-somethings at the event. I just worry that a normal, forty-something guy like myself would stick out like a moose in a refrigerator.
Half of my SCA friends and gaming friend from back home are 40-something guys. They are just as fun to hang out with as we young whipper-snappers are. One thing we talked about this weekend was how the internet has helped bring down the age group barrier, and friend groups now cover a wider swath of ages than in previous generations. My oldest friends are older than my parents, and my youngest friends are still in high school. If you have common interests, that now transcends petty things like age and geographic location.
Comments
Oh, and lets not forget the awesome that was condomworld.
Ro, it is totally what you think it is.
I cannot speak to how awesome or not the concert lineup was because I wasn't dumb enough to stand in line for a concert that people would be leaving and entering all night. I stood in line for the Keynote, the closing, and for Action Castle. The keynote was the only line that I didn't really have something else to do with me. For closing "ceremonies," we played Fluxx and Burning Wheel in line. While waiting for Action Castle, I was hanging out and knitting with Ro. We also didn't have a problem leaving to go to the bathroom; several of us successfully left and returned just fine.
"Our theory regarding PAX is that it is something that happens when we get enough of you together, quite on its own, and it is our task to construct an ecosystem around you that does not impinge on that culture's inherent virtues. When they had us down at GDC for that Ambassador Award thing, what I told them (when I was thrust before a microphone in abject terror) was that the basis for our work is the idea that the experiences that games create form the basis of a coherent culture - that the bank of shared experiences, simulated but no less real, coalesce into a collective memory.
I say things like this for two reasons. One, it's vitally important to me that people think I'm smart. But more importantly - well, maybe not more importantly, as important perhaps - that is the world I want to live in. Even if we have to make that world with our bare Goddamned hands for three days, to reclaim it from the Earth, it will be so.
The fear that PAX was something that would attenuate from one coast to another was real, but also dumb. We wondered if the show we have there was the result of it being "old growth" by this time, an established creature. But PAX felt like this even in its first year, before it was a "thing," its shape was already present. We call it PAX East to distinguish it from the other one, it helps to make discussions about them possible, but I've been to every one of them and I can tell you: this was just PAX. Whatever entity you create when you attend, and when you play, was present in the same unaltered form we discerned years ago. It is our task to honor it.
We were asked many times what's Next for Penny Arcade, or PAX, and the answer is straightforward: This, but better. We're going to get this show on an anvil and pound it until its strength and glory are manifest. We have absorbed every suggestion, every tweet, and every thread - know that nothing has escaped us. When we return in one year's time, be ready."
Also, a passing mention of you-know-who, as "a portly Asian male teenager".
He's awesome, send him (another) prize.
EDIT: Also, neito, I was the guy who introduced himself as "keats" and was wearing a grey fedora.
I think one of the reasons a lot of people got Norovirus is that they were depending too heavily on the hand sanitizer as a substitute for hand-washing, rather than an additional method of sanitation.
Anyway, meeting forumites on Friday was awesome, and you're all every bit as cool as I imagined you to be and more. I'm considering going to Anime Boston to make up for getting sick at PAX.
Also, that was a rocking afterparty. I got to get a poster signed by Mike, my badge signed by Mike and Jerry, and got to talk to Jerry for a bit. They're really cool people.
Also, Khoo is pretty cool. Shoulda gotten him to sign my cell.