Last night and this morning have been pretty much entirely about folks getting to know each other – both amongst the writers and between us and the Community staff. Last night there was a social event in a room off the hotel restaurant, a sort of mini-bar area. Players and community folks mixed and mingled while the hardcore played some Rock Band in the area opposite the bar. I was one of the few folks there who had played drums in the game before, and so I was called on quite a bit to twirl the sticks. It’s a problem, though, when the slick concrete floor allows the set to slide away from you as you play. Sort of an extra challenge, you might say.

Highlights of the evening include (another) discussion between myself and Grimwell about the state of games writing, and a kind of ridiculously lengthy discussion with Aimee Rekoske and Joel Sasaki about the extremely high end water that always seems close to hand at Sony events. I was more than a little bit tired, so I generally just enjoyed the experience of chatting with folks and playing Rock Band with new people. Grimwell, Brenlo and I had a few very decent sets together as well – good times. After I came back up to my room I deconstructed the ‘loot pack’ that was given out to everyone that attended. I’ll (of course) be giving it away on Massively at some point in the future – lots of awesome goodies. The only thing I wish I could keep, though is The Agency pen they gave me. Check out what the flashlight at the end of the pen does:

This morning we hopped onto a boat and headed a few miles out to sea, on a Whale Watching expedition. Yes, I know – what does this have to do with games and community? I agree, I agree; it was just a really good time. Actually, to be honest, with the downtime available to just relax and enjoy the waves, it was probably one of the most relaxing experiences I’ve had in over a year. My vacation in San Francisco was great, and a lot of fun, but we did a lot of moving around. This morning, cracking jokes on the bow with members of the community and – later – watching an ancient Grey Whale make its way south to feeding grounds … a fantastic time. I have a really hard time relaxing, generally.

I apologize for participating in such a blatant attempt at fraternization – professional distance and all that. That said … it was really nice not to be working for a little bit.

Even still, I did have the chance to at least talk about Massive games. I spent most of the day making jokes with Jason ‘Pex’ Ryan without realizing who exactly I was talking to – for some reason I hadn’t connected his name with his forum name. I’m pretty awesome that way. When I did realize who I was talking to we had a pretty good chat about live events in online games. I have a good deal of respect for the work that he does with the SWG community, and it was great to pick his brain about that experience.

With my morning email read and this typed up, I’m now going to be heading downstairs to talk with some developers who have come out to chat. They don’t let them out much, you know, so … gotta get back to work. More later.

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