PAX East, Part 2: Panels and Games!

The first panel I attended on Friday was Online Gaming Communities and "Real Life" Relationships, which I thought was quite interesting, having met several good friends online prior to meeting up face-to-face.

After that, I had hoped to attend Storytelling in the World of Interactive Fiction, but it was unfortunately already full by the time I rushed to the auditorium after the former panel was finished.

I also attended Girls and Games: The Growing Role of Women in the Game Industry. In an industry / subculture that's overwhelming dominated by males, I thought this would be quite interesting. Unfortunately, it turned out to be sort of ridiculous. There was a male moderator who kept repeating the questions, like verbatim, to the panel... as if they needed a translator or something. Everyone could hear just fine, the questions were spoken into a microphone the first time. It seemed almost sexist, as if they couldn't have an all-woman panel without a male to make sure things worked well.

There were plenty of other panels without a moderator, so I'm just not sure what was going on there. But to me, the worst part of it all was that there were tons of questions and these repetitions really ate into the time-slot. The moderator kept making stupid jokes (which also tended to be border-line sexist) and generally seemed unnecessary.

During the weekend, I also got a chance to try out 3D gaming, which was pretty awesome. I played a first person shooter and had to admit, the 3D technology was pretty amazing. Just like the movies, only its interactive! Pretty rad stuff.

I also got to see a hands-on preview of Civilization 5! I'll talk more about that next time, but I will say that the game is absolutely gorgeous.

My favorite panel, by far, was So You Want to Get into the Game Industry?  It was ran by several industry insiders, including the legend: Chris Avellone. He wasn't fielding any questions on Fallout: New Vegas, unfortunately... but it was pretty amazing to actually see the man behind some of my favorite games.

This panel was extremely informative for those of us interested in joining the industry, and I took copious notes. This Monday, I'll share the advice we were given; look for it then.