Since E4G is based in fabulous Las Vegas, we decided to take a walk over to Bally's to visit our friends at the SOE Fan Faire. Knowing many SOE staff and community members, Fan Faire 2011 was highly anticipated. From what we recall from previous years, the trip to the Strip would be well worth the rain (yes, it rains here in the desert on occasion...) and 110 degree weather.

Friday and Saturday were packed with action. As soon as you enter the halls in the back of Bally's casino, you know you've stepped into another world. Since we weren't able to attend on Friday, all that can be reported from that day are a bunch of photos and videos the SOE crew captured. Be sure to peruse the pool party photos from Friday night when they are posted. When are pool parties not entertaining, especially in Vegas?:


Saturday began with a tour of the main hall where all the vendors and activities were stationed. For a moment we thought about veering over to the face painting booth in a weak attempt at dressing up like many of those who wore some fantastic costumes. Some of the costumes were put together over the course of many months, and showed the attention to detail well:




Maxwell Alexander Drake, a famous fantasy author, as well as other book vendors, artists, and other retailers lined the walls. Comic books were given away, as well swag offered at a couple of central booths by Nvidia and Sony (The "S" part of SOE). For completing a survey, Sony was offering up a chance to win a fancy new Vaio laptop (to which none of us won...). In the middle of it all were friendly and open SOE staff to answer attendees burning questions about their favorite game.




After watching several competitions in the gaming corner, we broke off to attend an afternoon panel by the SOE community team, lived streamed to SOE's YouTube page. Don't miss all the other videos posted from the Fan Faire! We highly respect a game company that has a close connection with their fans through not just scripted news posts, but live video interviews and commentary.



After the panel it was costume judging time! This was the highlight of the show, both during the judging and later at the banquet for the final results. All of the costumes were unique with some of them being so detailed, it puts our art skills to terrible shame. The SOE team was especially impressed, as several of the costumes like the following had exceeded previous year's (is that a human size Ratonga?!):



After judging was completed, there was a sudden exodus to the hallway, and that could only mean one thing... dinner time! We followed the crowd as they lined up outside. About half way down the line, we stood with a few others and reminisced about camping adventures in EQ1 while the room was prepared. There is nothing better than the anticipation of a good meal and a laugh with friends, especially when they are dressed up in costume!


There seemed to be more liquor bars than dinner tables, so we migrated over to one of those before finding a food table. Seats were filling up fast, so we walked around to get a good angle at the stage upfront, when we spotted our friends from Curse.com. Happily plopped ourselves down to eat after having walked all day. Two huge video screens rotated photos of the past couple of day's events in the background.

The dinner concluded when Linda "Brasse" Carlson, SOE's senior community manager, walked on stage and thanked all the Rangers for attending (inside joke). She is one of the best community entertainers we have seen in this industry and binds the entire SOE community together. There were several awards with seriously generous prizes (more Sony Vaio laptops, $100 gift cards, etc.) given to long-time players, tournament winners, and some very creative fansite leaders:



The end of Fan Faire concluded with a video collage of the past couple of days, highlighting what is the great core experience in attending these community events... gamers getting together with a common interest, and sharing their stories about Rangers.

Mathew Anderson
Events For Gamers