Hi, my name is Grim, and I am addicted to WarCrack.
How I'm spending my snow day
D*C MMO, Dragon*Con
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Jan 112011
…shamelessly copy them.
A City Councilman in San Diego, wanting desperately to make San Diego’s “ugly step-sister” convention into something remotely approaching cool, has called for the organizers of San Diego’s Comic-Con to hold a parade during the convention just like a certain convention in Atlanta that we all know and love.
Some selected tidbits from the article:
“The bottom line is San Diego needs to let its hair down a little,” he said. “We can get so tied up in some of these major issues, which of course are important, but to be a big city you have to have great events and you have to let down your hair some.”
Translation: “Our stiff corporate-con is starting to bore the hell out of the geeks who are tired of major studio promotional booths with booth babes who can’t spell “Elektra”, but who have the sole redeeming quality of being able to completely rock a spandex body suit.”
“I want to see the mayor in his Batman costume that I know he has tucked in the back of his closet somewhere and I want to see him leading the parade.”
Translation: “We’re still embarrassed to admit that we’re fans, but we have no problem taking money from those who aren’t.” Seriously, we have a city councilman “outing” the mayor as a fan of Batman? Even if this is hyperbole used to sell the fact that a parade would be a huge crowd draw, you know why there aren’t as many costumes at Comic-Con as there are at Dragon*Con? Nobody wants to “compete” with the paid models and actors who have costumes made by industry professionals. It’s like wearing a home-made Mickey Mouse costume to freakin’ Disney World. Unless you’re under the age of 5 (let’s face it… they’re adorable at that age.), it’s kinda pathetic.
and.. my favorite.
“Atlanta-based science fiction and fantasy convention Dragon Con hosts a parade, which draws over 2,000 people.”
Translation: You missed a couple of zeroes there, slapnuts.
Since you’ve probably written this off as just another intemperate rant from Uncle Grimmy, let me clarify something. I don’t ever want Dragon*Con to become like Comic-Con. Comic-Con is a convention where people go to “watch the show”. They go to catch a glimpse of their favorite celebs. They go to listen to panels where “experts” talk to each other in front of an audience, giving opinions which don’t mean anything more than the opinions of each person paying 100 bucks/ticket to watch them talk. It is a convention where studios and large corporations hire booth babes to pitch whatever craptacular idea has spewed forth from marketing.
Dragon*Con is run by fans, for fans.
We, the fan, ARE the show at Dragon*Con. Guests and panelists actually interact with fans. Dragon*Con doesn’t close down at 5:00 PM each day. That’s just when things are getting warmed up. It means that the volunteers who run Dragon*Con may not always be professionals (because, let’s face it… We’re not.) but we will always bust out butts to make sure the convention remains a convention that we’d want to attend as fans. Why? Because that’s what we are, first and foremost. Fans.
The next time you see questions like
“Why isn’t Dragon*Con run out of the World Congress Center?”
“Why don’t they cap ticket sales to Dragon*Con?”
“Why don’t they hire a company to staff and run Dragon*Con?”
“Why don’t they bring in more big sponsors to keep badge prices low?”
My answer, and I can’t speak for the powers that be, is that each of those things would make Dragon*Con less of what it is, and more like Comic-Con and related “Corporate-Cons”. No thanks.
Happy Freakin' New Year
D*C MMO
1 Response »
Jan 022011
I’ve managed to wake up long enough to sit in front of my keyboard just to give you, our loyal reader, an update on all things Dragon*Con and MMO.
As expected, most of us spent the entire month of December playing Cataclysm. I’m hoping this wasn’t much of a surprise to any of you. We’ve got an “early draft” schedule for next^H^H^H^Hthis year ready to go, and we’re already working on getting some guests for you all to enjoy. Our first director’s meeting, and therefore the real “start” of the year for Dragon*Con is on January 16. I should have some more real information for you all by then, but suffice to say that I am cracking the whip on my staff already. (Memo to staff: Shaddap and go along with it!)
We are going to plan our first “off season get together” for staff and friends (and anyone else who wants to come) for some time in April. Here’s our (very) rough calendar.
January – Director’s Meeting
February – Not damn much
March – First staff meeting
April – Something fun, to be determined later.
May – Second staff meeting
June – Something else fun, to be determined later.
July – Third staff meeting
August – Second director’s meeting (and something HUGE which will be announced shortly)
September – Dragon*Con 25!
12 Days of DC*MMO Christmas
D*C MMO
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Dec 142010
While I’m laid up with whatever foul biological timebomb my daughter caught at school, I thought I’d take a break from playing Cataclysm long enough to share some Christmas Cheer. Anyone can go with classics like Bing Crosby or Burl Ives, or they can go with cheesy novelty songs like “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”. It takes a really sick individual to put some Heavy Metal spin on a timeless favorite.
Hi, have we met?
4 More Days
D*C MMO, Gaming News, Pictures and Screenshots
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Dec 032010
Just a little food for thought…
While recording a new SnarkCast with Krystalle, yesterday, we were discussing various bits of MMO news from all over the world. Sure, there are lots of games going into beta… and lots of games that have just been announced… and lots of games which have announced that they’ll be free to play with no download needed like you see in many online slot machines now, but there is a huge “800 pound gorilla” in the room.
Cataclysm is almost here.
I’m going to be honest with all of you. It is going to be very easy to find me next week, but unless you’re in-game, it’s going to be damned near impossible to get my attention. I’ve already got my copy of the expansion, a metric ton of coffee, and vacation scheduled for next week.
Heck, I’ve already got my Goblin mount because I’ve already farmed my Bilgewater Cartel faction to Exalted.
Some folks might be wondering if Cataclysm is “all that”. As someone who spent several months in the beta, let me assure you. It’s worth it. I avoided dungeons and end-game raids in the beta because I wanted to go in with at least something to surprise me, but the 80-85 level zones are very cool, and the re-worked world of Azeroth is fun to explore. I’m sure some of the number crunchers and theorycrafters are going to have “head asplodey” moments with all of the changes, but most players will spend the first few months of the expansion flying around the world and saying “Oooh, SHINY!” a lot.
Here is a sneak preview for you to enjoy.
The TSA has invaded World of Warcraft!
Geek News, Pictures and Screenshots
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Nov 302010
I won’t bother you all with political commentary, but this was just too funny to ignore. Good work, Oxhorn!
Football game announced for D*C 2011 weekend
Dragon*Con
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Nov 192010
Looks like the teams playing in the Georgia Dome on Dragon*Con Saturday will be Boise State and the University (sic) of Georgia. UGA fans will be no stranger to Dragon*Con, and I imagine they will plan accordingly. I’m kinda curious to see how many folks make the trip from Idaho to Atlanta that weekend.
It shouldn’t have too much impact on Dragon*Con since most of our hotel rooms are sold out already. A memo to our football fans who have stumbled across this… We will be checking badges at the hotel entrances this time around. No badge or roomkey? No entrance. Not even to “people watch”.
Tis the Season
D*C MMO, Dragon*Con
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Nov 152010
No, this is not a Christmas post, this is a Dragon*Con post.
As I was sitting in my office, brooding and contemplating as evil geniuses are wont to do, it occurred to me that there are a handful of “milestones” on the road to Dragon*Con each year. Here are some of mine.
- Richard Hatch is announced as a guest. *CHECK*
Richard has been coming to Dragon*Con for as long as I can remember, and he is usually one of the first guests announced. Rather than becoming “Old News”, this puts a smile on my face as he is one of the nicest and most positive people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting at Dragon*Con. He’s one of the people who makes this convention what it is, and if you have a chance to catch him on a panel, or even speak to him in person, I highly recommend it. Even if you aren’t particularly a fan of Battlestar Galactica. (You heathen!)
- The first badge price increase. *CHECK*
The effects of this are a little more evident if you follow #dragoncon on Twitter. There is always a flurry of “I just got my badge! WOO HOO!” type tweets just befote one of these deadlines. (Today, if you’re curious)
- The first staff meeting. (Coming soon…)
I finally get to leave my fortress of solitude. (When I grow a cape and can fly, I’ll capitalize that term.) The staff meetings aren’t always the most productive affairs, but the first one is a clear sign that “Dragon*Con is coming.”
- Voltaire and The Cruxshadows are announced (TBA)
It always seems to pop up on the main Dragon*Con page when the inevitable “Why aren’t Volataire/The Cruxshadows coming to Dragon*Con this year?” posts on the LiveJournal community. Since Voltaire has agreed to play the MMORPG Track Party this year, I’m reasonably confident that he’s planning on coming back to Dragon*Con. I can’t speak for Rogue and crew (or Crux, if you’re Francophone), but I’d be seriously shocked if they aren’t returning as well.
The last “signpost” on the road to Dragon*Con each year is when tracks start publishing their schedules online. Truthfully, I could publish our preliminary schedule today as I don’t see it changing much between now and the convention, depending on which guests return. Of course, just as truthfully, there are always last minute surprises and changes that render any amount of planning done by me or my staff as utterly useless.
At any rate, ’tis the season to start ramping up for next year. Dragon*Con 25 Season is officially open.
There’s not much news to report either in the MMO space or in the realm of Dragon*Con news. I will, however, try to give you guys a general sense of where things are.
Our schedule for next year is pretty much done. There are a few variables left to figure out, and we still need to lock down our guests for next year. We have a pretty good idea of who they will be, but there might be a last minute surprise addition, you never know.
We also have a pretty good idea of who is interested in sponsoring our track for next year. (More to come on that once it is official.)
So basically, the only things left to do is figure out how many staff we’ll need and bring them up to speed. We also need to get our signage designed for next year as well as come up with our trivia and other contests. Since this is November, and we usually don’t start that stuff until July or August, I’m thinking it’s going to be a fairly quiet year for the DC*MMO staff.
That means we’ll have more time to actually PLAY MMOs!!!
Got my 25-man Icecrown Citadel drake this week.
Downed Heroic Sindragosa and Heroic Professor Putricide last week. Next stop, Heroic Lich King!
By the way, my guild is still recruiting. =) Drop me a line if you’re interested.
/snark off
I know this is a shock to most of you, but I went ahead and pre-ordered Cataclysm today. For those of you who are considering doing the same, I’d suggest getting the digital download from Blizzard. You can download the Cataclysm data files now, and be ready to go live the second the switch is flipped on December 7. (You know… after 24 hours of patching and emergency bug fixes.)
The good news is. If you’re looking for me between December 7 and December 12, I will be very easy to find. The bad news is, if you send an email, I probably won’t see it. If you call, you will only hear grunting… and maybe the occasional “ MORE HOT POCKETS!“
