Ode to Joy
An open letter to the attendees of PAX East 2010,
I am sorry. I was wrong about you.
Before we left Minneapolis for Boston, I faced the proposition of meeting and writing about you with dread and derision. I predicted two types at PAX East 2010: pompous, condescending pedants who would want to make me feel small and dull about my lack of knowledge of video games; and quiet scared types who wouldn’t look me in the eye. I met neither type.
You guys were all — without exception — generous, helpful, funny and kind. You were excited to be with each other and excited to meet your idols. You reveled in your personal jokes without being exclusive or nasty. You danced, you sang, you laughed, you talked, you played. You were nothing short of joyful.
Thank you to the nice guy who sat next to me at the closing ceremonies. I asked you what the fourth game of the Omegathon relay was, and after you said, “Contra.” I said, “Like the Vampire Weekend song?” and you said, “Yes,” without sarcasm, judgment or eye-rolling. In fact, it was nice that you smiled as you said it, maybe you could tell that I felt like an idiot, and you were super nice.
Thank you to the effusive Justin McElroy of Joystiq. You make everyone feel like a million bucks. Thanks to the rest of the Joystiq crew, too. You guys are not just cool for gaming geeks. You’re cool by everyday standards, too.
Thank you to Wil Wheaton, for helping me understand that playing games with your friends is not just killing time mindlessly, but expanding your imagination and forging meaningful bonds.
Thank you to the Enforcers, the volunteer staff at PAX, who made the Hynes Center feel like home. You always did your best — with limited resources, sleep and hydration — to make every event run smoothly. You have to truly care about the success of an event for that to happen so consistently, and it’s obvious that the enforcers care very deeply indeed.
Finally, thank you to the men and women who woke up early to come to the Blueberry Muffin Tops / Joystiq breakfast. It was particularly nice to meet you, even though I mostly saw you through the lens of my video camera. (Oh! Here’s another revelation: video game geeks are good looking! I have proof!) I hope that you had a nice time with us, too. I wish we all could have hung out longer.
Anyway, here’s the deal. You guys are geeks, and the rest of the world has a hard time understanding you. You’re the dreamers, adventurers, warriors, and jesters, and most people deal better with the accountants, dentists, gas station attendants and waitresses. But you’re the ones that make the world vibrate with other-worldliness. You’re the ones that elevate fantasy to reality. You expect life to be transcendent and glorious. And I’m so happy that twice a year, all of you can be together and experience something bigger than yourselves. It must feel great to have 65,000 friends all around you. I felt it too, and I’m not even a gamer. (That’s not true. The day after I got home, I played FIFA Soccer 08 on… um, I think it was a PS2? Okay, I guess I’m still not a gamer, am I? I’ll work on it.)
Thank you for a great weekend, PAX. We’ll see you next year.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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