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QuakeCon: The Greatest Video Game Event On The Planet
If I tallied the amount of time I spent on the road covering video game events over the last 18 years, I'm willing to bet two full years of my life are dedicated to the cause. I've been to every Electronic Entertainment Expo since the show's inception, and have attended dozens of small, hole in the wall events across the globe. Somehow, in all of this time, I have not attended one QuakeCon, a show dating back to 1996.
I've always heard great things about it, but I've never found the time to travel to Dallas, Texas to attend one. I wasn't going to go this year, either, until Bethesda Softworks asked me me if I wanted to moderate the show's "Ultimate Origins: The Games That Inspire Us" panel two weeks before the show's start. With Harvey Smith, Matthew Hooper, Raphael Colantonio, and Marcus Smith involved in the panel – all creators that I respect – I had to get down there, even if it was a last second arrangement.
The panel went great, and getting a surprise hands-on session with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has made the wait for November 11 even more unbearable than it already is, but the most remarkable part of this trip was interacting with the gamers in attendance. Thousands of people traveled to this location to meet up with one another, play games, compete, and party. I did a little too much of the latter, but ended up meeting hundreds of amazing people in the process. As I told many show goers, this place "feels like home." QuakeCon is a celebration of games 24/7.
Going into the con, I thought most gamers would be competing in Quake Live and other online PC games. While this is certainly the case for a large portion of the crowd, I also saw people playing Super Nintendo, Dreamcast, and hundreds of different games without multiplayer components. I even stumbled upon someone who was playing Final Fantasy III. As I walked by his station in the BYOC (bring-your-own-computer room), I noticed that he had a small crowd gathered around him. I sat and watched for a few minutes. They were having a discussion about the entire Final Fantasy series. I jumped in and talked to them for a good hour.
This year, I went to the show to work. Next year, I'll be attending as a gamer. If you want to celebrate video games for an entire weekend with thousands of like-minded people, this is the place to do it.
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