[Jester's Trek] Fanfest Day Five: Top of the world
Fanfest Day Five: Top of the world
I'm going to split my day five recap into two posts, one about the Party at the Top of the World, and one about the rest of the day because quite frankly, I'm still sorting out my thoughts about the CCP Presents keynote.
The average age of the CSM voters this year was 33, which puts me about a decade older than the average voter. ;-) And looking at me, you'd probably think "Hell, this clown probably still listens to Bon Jovi!" so it might surprise you to learn that I have a pretty modern taste in music. I was on four pod-casts over the course of the election with non-standardized opening music and all of them asked me to pick the opening music. In no particular order, I picked pieces from Muse, Linkin Park, deadmau5, and Zedd. Still, when considering Fanfest as an overall event, the party was the bit I was least interested in. I figured I'd poke my nose in, say hello to a few people, then slip out quietly.
How wrong I was.
Oh, not about the "club area" itself. I spent a grand total of about 30 seconds in there Saturday night during one number. The music was fine, but I was there to socialize, not to socialize, if you take my meaning. ;-) Adjacent to the "club area", the former PvP arena had been reset into a lower-volume "chill out" room apparently exclusive to Fanfest guests. But even that room was pretty loud and I only went in there once.
However, the party also spills out into virtually the entire second floor of the Harpa. A section of it is cordoned off for CCP employees only to relax away from the unwashed player masses. But the bulk of it is open and surprisingly isn't too loud! So... ummm... your humble moderator quite literally stayed at the Party at the Top of the World until 2:30am. And I had a great time!
I met tons and tons of EVE players that I hadn't had a chance to meet previously... far too many to name, including most of the last few gaps on my list. Guess who I still haven't met. Go ahead, guess. ;-) Yup, still no face to face with the King of Space. We came within a few feet of each other a few times but at those times, he was busy with something or I was busy with something or we were both busy with something, so no dice. Another time, perhaps.
I also go to meet and/or talk to tons and tons of devs, including CCP Unifex, CCP Seagull, and CCP Pokethulu (David Reid), the last of whom I was finally able to express my keen admiration for. Him: "Thanks! That means a lot, coming from you." Heh. Apparently, I have a reputation for being hard on some CCP employees. Excuse me while I glance away, whistling... We had a great chat about CCP's "crazy ambition." More on that in due course.
It was also a great meeting point for new and now-former CSM members to get together and chat. Seleene has a very humorous story to tell now that perhaps he'll share. I spent a good portion of the evening with Trebor Daehdoow, who was fantastic about helping me meet a last few devs I wanted to, and Marcel Devereux of Aideron Robotics, who helped with some last player meets (and was incredibly good at it!). Both of these men are absolute princes. The former issued me my "official" CSM shirt. Anyone who thinks Trebor doesn't belong on CSM8 (and yes, I'm talking to you here, Poetic Stanziel) simply doesn't get it. We need this guy's connections, knowledge, and background to be successful. He amusingly described himself as a "fleet booster" last night, and I think that comparison is pretty apt. He will help all the members of CSM8 be much more effective by his presence.
Anyway, don't get the impression I spent the evening talking shop, because that isn't the case at all. This was just a great opportunity to relax, have fun, talk about everything from the future of EVE Online tournament play to the native booze of Portugal (thanks to the guy who let me try that; damn good!). Hardly anyone got trash-talked, and to my knowledge, only a badly positioned wine glass got ganked.
Just a lot of EVE players having a good time, and I'm very happy I went. Thanks to CCP for throwing a hell of a Party!
Next up: the wrap-up of the rest of Saturday, then some Fanfest wrap-up thoughts, then back to normal operations around here in between a travel day on Monday-Tuesday.
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