PAX East 2014: Pre-Flight Inspection and Itinerary

Tomorrow I head off to Boston for PAX East! It’ll be my second PAX East and my 10^th PAX overall. Yes, I’m a bit of a PAX fanboy. There’s something about just immersing yourself in the excitement that is 60,000 people in an area, completely stoked about gaming in general.

While this is my first PAX where I’ve also blogged, I always have some goals in mind, and this PAX is no exception. It just so happens that a lot of what I want to see tends to be the kind of stuff I’d want to write about.

First, these so-called Diversity Lounges. I’m intrigued by the possibilities, and terrified of how the execution may get botched. I want to go check it out for myself, and hey, if I learn of any new queer or LGBT games coming out, bonus!

Second, panels, panels, panels. Granted, I always check out at least three or four panels every year, but of course I always have to pare down what I want to see with what’s realistic. So, panel wishlist:

Friday, 11 AM, Writer’s Workshop with Tonic Industries
Friday, 5 PM, Press XY Presents: Trans Against Insanity
Saturday, 11 AM, Why it’s AWESOME to be a female in the Gaming Industry
Saturday, 2 PM, Next Generation MMO Games: What’s Next for Multiplayer Trends?
Saturday, 5 PM, Dungeons & Dragons R&D Presents: The Art of the Dungeon Master
Sunday, 11:30 AM, Sex, Sexy & Sexism: Fixing Gender Inequality in Gaming
Sunday, 2:30 PM, Inside Look at Game Design for League of Legends

Third, Tournaments! More specifically, I am a Settlers of Catan fiend. I didn’t get to play in the Catan tournament at PAX Prime 2013 because it was some official thing for US citizens only, and as I’m Canadian, no go. But the East tournament looks to be less official and therefore I can go kick ass and take names. Hopefully!

Fourth, the Expo Hall. It’s so much fun wandering the Expo hall and seeing all the developers strutting their stuff, from indie game devs and figuring out what’s new and awesome there, to the big names like Blizzard, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, ArenaNet, and many, many more. Also, cosplayers, everywhere.

Fifth, Games! The flight to and from Seattle will be a great time to get in some FTL on my iPad, and perhaps dig into a game or two on my 3DS that I own but haven’t finished. Or maybe I should catch up on some writing? I rarely feel productive on flights, so I’m thinking just sleeping/games it’ll be.

I’ll be having dinner with one of my guildies on the Friday night, and probably heading out to a party on the Saturday night, but no plans as of yet for Sunday before I fly back on Monday, so I may have my PAX debriefing Sunday night. If not, expect it closer to next Wednesday.

To PAX I go!

#PAX