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Why did I come to a gaming convention when I have issues with playing games?* That was my thought for the first half of Friday at PAX East, the biggest gaming convention in the New England. Over 50,000 people descended on Boston (or were at Anime Boston, which was also this weekend, or were celebrating Passover, which was also this weekend, or were celebrating Easter, which...yeah).
In Confessions of a Loser, I laid out why I have a confidence problem with gaming. Although I pride myself on losing gracefully, I couldn't get the nerve up to even try.
I was too intimidated to touch any controls in the Expo center, afraid I would fail to even move my guy around the screen. It was also really loud with lots of flashing lights. I headed to the table-top area, and got sad. I wanted to play test a game, but thought I’d look stupid. I wanted to play a game, but couldn’t bring myself to ask strangers if I could join them. There was a way to meet up with other single wanna-be-players via Twitter, but I have a dumb phone and can’t do that. I felt short and crushed by the testosterone crowd. PAX East suffered from a case of TMDD.
Fun Level threatening to become critical, I decided to see a panel. I had noticed the long lines and was going to avoid them, but what the hell else was I doing? While waiting to be seated for Gaming for Grownups panel, I wrote this song on iPod GarageBand:
Waiting at PAX by Rebecca Angel
The panel was men in their thirties through fifties reminiscing about their video gaming lives, both professional and recreational (usually overlapping) and what it’s like as you get older, have kids, etc. It was an honest, amusing discussion that reminded of my own video game history:
It took two floppy disks to play Pac-Man on my step-father’s IBM in the 80s, sucking at Mario Brothers at friends’ houses, wondering why my step-brother would want to play boring Flight Simulator, being entranced by The Incredible Machine in the 90s, being freaked out the first time I saw a friend play Doom, my mom on PC Solitaire, spending my boyfriend’s money at Soul Caliber in the dining hall at college, and most recently, my son’s obsession with Lego Universe.
Feeling better, I went to see Educating Through Play: The Future of American Education. I ran into someone else I met at a previous conference, and he and I waited on line, discussing the music industry. The panel itself was impressive and inspiring, especially Code Hero, which I will absolutely pass on to my kids and teachers I know.
Then I went back to the table top area to visit Tim. He and his fiance, Marisa, were letting me stay at their place for the weekend. I met Tim in college where he introduced me to RPGs and now he works at Game Salute. Tim had to work most of the time at PAX, but showed me and his brother Zack how to play Fealty
Then Zack and I had a great discussion on games making good use of the medium on which they are played. Why should I encourage my kids to use a computer when they can get the same entertainment from a table-top? The video aspect better be something that can’t be replicated any other way. Zack mentioned Portal as a good example of good use of visuals, and TriadCity, as a text-based adventure.
After a round of Eleminis
