Game Championship Invitational Experience (pt. 1: The Bad Part)
Saturday night, I went to a televised event, where I as an audience member was able to bear witness to championship video game tournament. It was formatted just like a major sporting event, you'd see on EPSN, but only with more of an MTV appeal, which, to be honest, did NOT suit me at all!
The evening started when a friend of mine and I arrived on Treaure Island, for the event. We handed the staff our tickets and had to wait in line.....in the HOT BLAZING SUN.....for about an hour! This didn't sit well for me especially since I decided to literally go by their request for a certain dress code, so I dressed up long sleeve shirt and all. (That'll teach me.) Good new about that was that we ended up chatting with this dude named Shaun, whom we hung out with for the rest of the night. White guy, slicked back jet black hair, which reminded me of the hair styles, I'd see in "Goodfellas". And he did have the sense to wear short-sleeves. This guy was so easy to talk to, which is a rare person to find these days, given that I don't talk much, unless I truly have something to say. And we as the geeks we were, talked about everytthing from video games, to comics, to everything sci-fi and fantasy. This made that blazing hot hour go by a lot faster. Anyway, during the time, one of the staff members stops all of us several times to announce that if we didn't plan on staying until at least 10:30pm, that we should not bother coming in to the event. HUH? Anyone else confused? Good. Because from there on out is when it starts feeling weird.
So we're finally let in at about 4:30 and we're being herded in like cattle, LITERALLY! This sets the standard for how we as audience members are being treated for the rest of the night. Now this is my first time in a television studio setting, so I'm not used to being told, where to sit or stand, when, being told when to applaud much less HOW to applaud, what to say, and when, all for the sake of making a studio setting look more crowded and hyped up than it is. But, I guess, it has to look good for the camera. The event staff kept having everyone play "Musical Chairs" most of the night, mainly to keep the illusion that the entire place is packed, when gradually, more people kept leaving! Well, truthfully, I guess I can't blame them for that too much and in many ways, I have to admit, I did feel for the staff, working there. But I find it very awkwards when we're doing about 10 different takes on our "cheering" and "applauding" and other reactions, when (and I hate to sound naive) this stuff is supposed to come more NATURALLY to us, especially for us geeks who already LOVE video games!! I don't need to be told how excited I should be about this. I think I can decide that for myself, thank you very much.
OK now I'm gonna cut this part of the story off right here for two reasons. First, is because there's a lot more to tell and quite honestly, this entry is getting VERY long. But the second reason, is that I'm, for the most part through, bitching about the bad part of the experience, because there was a lot about the event which made me feel very uncomfortable, besides the fact that the whole, feel they were putting together was a young, "hip", MTV-like version of an ESPN event (and just for the record, I HATE MTV!!!!!) I figured I'd leave the negativity for this part and save all about what I loved about it for the next entry. I guess I started out on such a sour note just to get the bad shit off my chest so I won't bad so angsty when I get to the GOOD stuff. And believe me, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it will get better! Til then, be back soon.
Saturday night, I went to a televised event, where I as an audience member was able to bear witness to championship video game tournament. It was formatted just like a major sporting event, you'd see on EPSN, but only with more of an MTV appeal, which, to be honest, did NOT suit me at all!
The evening started when a friend of mine and I arrived on Treaure Island, for the event. We handed the staff our tickets and had to wait in line.....in the HOT BLAZING SUN.....for about an hour! This didn't sit well for me especially since I decided to literally go by their request for a certain dress code, so I dressed up long sleeve shirt and all. (That'll teach me.) Good new about that was that we ended up chatting with this dude named Shaun, whom we hung out with for the rest of the night. White guy, slicked back jet black hair, which reminded me of the hair styles, I'd see in "Goodfellas". And he did have the sense to wear short-sleeves. This guy was so easy to talk to, which is a rare person to find these days, given that I don't talk much, unless I truly have something to say. And we as the geeks we were, talked about everytthing from video games, to comics, to everything sci-fi and fantasy. This made that blazing hot hour go by a lot faster. Anyway, during the time, one of the staff members stops all of us several times to announce that if we didn't plan on staying until at least 10:30pm, that we should not bother coming in to the event. HUH? Anyone else confused? Good. Because from there on out is when it starts feeling weird.
So we're finally let in at about 4:30 and we're being herded in like cattle, LITERALLY! This sets the standard for how we as audience members are being treated for the rest of the night. Now this is my first time in a television studio setting, so I'm not used to being told, where to sit or stand, when, being told when to applaud much less HOW to applaud, what to say, and when, all for the sake of making a studio setting look more crowded and hyped up than it is. But, I guess, it has to look good for the camera. The event staff kept having everyone play "Musical Chairs" most of the night, mainly to keep the illusion that the entire place is packed, when gradually, more people kept leaving! Well, truthfully, I guess I can't blame them for that too much and in many ways, I have to admit, I did feel for the staff, working there. But I find it very awkwards when we're doing about 10 different takes on our "cheering" and "applauding" and other reactions, when (and I hate to sound naive) this stuff is supposed to come more NATURALLY to us, especially for us geeks who already LOVE video games!! I don't need to be told how excited I should be about this. I think I can decide that for myself, thank you very much.
OK now I'm gonna cut this part of the story off right here for two reasons. First, is because there's a lot more to tell and quite honestly, this entry is getting VERY long. But the second reason, is that I'm, for the most part through, bitching about the bad part of the experience, because there was a lot about the event which made me feel very uncomfortable, besides the fact that the whole, feel they were putting together was a young, "hip", MTV-like version of an ESPN event (and just for the record, I HATE MTV!!!!!) I figured I'd leave the negativity for this part and save all about what I loved about it for the next entry. I guess I started out on such a sour note just to get the bad shit off my chest so I won't bad so angsty when I get to the GOOD stuff. And believe me, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it will get better! Til then, be back soon.