Just got back from MagFest, the music-and-games-festival, a convention for video games and music and all the tangential cultural mayhem that goes with them…
“But wait,” you say, while pouring gasoline over my head, “Isn’t MagFest a four day event? You only went two days…”
“Yeah, but on day two I got a massive head cold and whimpered my way back home for rest and comfort,” I explain, while begging for my life from an unmerciful captor. “Thankfully my family was patient with me and gave me a ride back. We live an hour away from the place, so it wasn’t a huge deal. And I did everything I wanted to do… play the arcade games, buy some stuff, see neat indie game efforts, attend some panels, meet Katriel. Not bad.”
“Sounds like it was awesome!” you agree, while striking a match and holding it menacingly in the air.
“Well, yes and no,” I clarify, praying for a swift release from this mortal coil. “It’s absolutely a 100% pure fan event, meaning it’s just as wonky and uneven as it is passionate. Things didn’t open on time, the place was crowded as heck, panels were sometimes pretty awful because there’s not much quality control going on, and there was NO professional industry presence at all. I kinda miss the expo hall of PAX where you have these amazingly crafted and catered experiences you can’t get anywhere else. Also, there’s only so many plastic bead sprite art pieces one could possibly need, and the dealer’s room was choked with same-y craft stuff.”
“Sooo… you didn’t have fun?” you ask, the flame of death hovering on the tenuous brink.
“Oh, I had fun. I just think I’m the wrong demographic for this event. I don’t drink or party hard, I don’t know these bands, and the offerings they did have which I was interested in were about a day worth of fun rather than four days of fun. Good stuff, don’t get me wrong, just not entirely my flavor; your personal mileage may vary. I’m not the person to turn to for a completely objective review, see?”
“Gotcha. Lastly, what about Floating Point?”
“Oh, I just posted the last scenes of chapter 2.5,” I say, hoping that’ll get me out of this deadly dilemma. “Go check ’em out, let me know what you think. 2.6 will take a bit of time to get off the ground, I’ll warn. Good time to catch up on books of mine you haven’t tried, maybe?”
“Thanks!” you say, before tossing the match and igniting the massive blaze that seals your karmic fate as a destroyer of men.
Lirazel says
This is very much the feeling I had with my third ACen adventure… Too many catgirls and Inu Yasha plushies, not enough thought-feeding content. I loved seeing my true tribe, but…
And the demographics do come into it. I’m old. I don’t do standing in lines well any more, I need my sleep, etc.
All of which is to say that PAX is exceptional. I don’t think I would have encountered a panel on the neuroscience of cyberbullying at another con.
Next year!
Kincaid is… interesting.