If you can’t tell from everything else I’ve written for this paper, I am what is considered in most social circles a “nerd”.  And, I love being a nerd.  It is a great community of people, the type that I communicate with on the internet, and these places are breeding grounds for that community.  And what, may you ask, is the breeding grounds for nerdy people like me.  Conventions, of course!

PAX East, for those of you who don’t know, is a video game convention that takes place every April in Boston.  Game companies and personalities from the gaming community convene to see the new stuff that is being developed, watch panels about games and the culture, play classic games, compete in tournaments, and meet YouTube celebrities that they watch every day.  It is a massive amount of people, crammed into the Boston Convention Center, but amounts to a ton of fun.

The floor is a mad house, with tons of different gaming companies set up all over the place.  Lines as long as you’d see at an amusement park fill the area, going to new games to play, or PC’s you can try.  These games come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from huge budget to independently developed, and have small demos for anyone to try.  The independent developers, creators of games that are a little less mainstream, are there in person, and are glad to talk to you about the game after you are done playing.

But the floor isn’t the only place to explore at the convention;  there are plenty of other things to do if you want to escape the madness of the main area.  There are classic game rooms everywhere, where you can play any game you want from an old-fashioned system.  Game tournaments, for new and old games, occur every hour, pitting the skills of more hardcore-gamers up against each other.  Panels are held around the clock, where YouTube and gaming personalities come to discuss gaming culture, or just have a good time talking to their fans.  And, on the convention floor, there are many stands and stalls, where you can buy an array of old and tabletop games.  I myself bought a Supaboy, a portable Super Nintendo Entertainment System from 1992.

Many games were presented at this year’s PAX, and I mostly stuck to the independent games.  It is interesting to find out about games that you have never heard of, that were developed by a few people, and then play the game in front of the lead creator.  Games like Goat Simulator, Disco Dodgeball, Neverending Nightmares, Race the Sun, and Octodad: Dadliest Catch were all independently developed; interesting and innovative games that came not from supply and demand, but from a creative idea.  I competed in a tournament for another indie game called Towerfall: Ascension, which did not go as well as I had planned it.  I may love games, but I am certainly not the best of the best.  However, I was most overwhelmed when I got to meet gaming personalities from YouTube, those who I have been following for months, or even years.  I had a nice conversation which each one of them, about games, the convention, Boston, and anything else that came to mind.  It was a great experience to meet these people, and to have a nice conversation with those who you enjoy watching every day.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, definitely check it out next year.  It has something for every gamer.