Faire Game

Did you miss me? I missed you. Honest!

This last week I attended Sony Online Entertainment's Fan Faire in Las Vegas. I had a huge amount of fun and met a great many people from the games I play online. What made this particular Fan Faire unique was that, for the first time, all of SOE's MMO titles were represented: EverQuest, EverQuest II, EverQuest Online Adventures, Star Wars Galaxies, The Matrix Online, PlanetSide and Vanguard.

Another element that made this event special was the game developers hanging out in an area called the Legends Lounge... essentially a couple of couches in the game room where players could accost... I mean, approach the devs. I have a few words to say about that later in this article.

And, of course, we mustn't forget the stuff. By which I mean swag, baby! As if having a blast, attending panels and Live Quests wasn't enough, there were also beta keys for upcoming titles, t-shirts (lots of t-shirts), prizes, special announcements, and mints. Yes, mints. It was kind of Sony to consider the blight which is Gamer Breath.

Now, if you're a gamer you've no doubt heard the news about Pirates of the Burning Sea, The Agency, Free Realms and Legends of Norrath, so I won't belabor the point. There are a lot of sites out there with far better coverage than I could possibly deliver -- do us both a favor and look them up. And hey, if you're not a gamer, you don't care about them anyway. I might ask what you're doing reading this.

In my last post, Gelding the Lily, I spoke about the gamers' penchant for disparaging the companies that produce the games we play. One of my good friends is the creator of zMUD (and its newer incarnation, cMUD). Let's call him Zugg. We spent a good amount of time together at the Faire, and I can tell you he works very hard developing his products (while I'm on the subject, watch for a new development with his zExplorer program -- I am so there!).

Zugg and the SOE developers have a great deal in common, in that they produce software commercially for a gaming audience. They are directly responsible and responsive to the users. The accessibility of the game developers during Fan Faire, and their enthusiasm and respect for their games was evident. They were not as some portrayed them, corporate drones horsewhipped by Sony executives to make more money by churning out quick and sloppy products. Rather, they are dedicated gamers who strive to produce games with broad appeal and enduring gameplay.

In short, I stand by my previous article. And if you have the opportunity, I highly recommend the SOE Fan Faire. I plan on attending again, as often as I can.