I spent hundreds of hours with my guildmates last year, chatting online while downing dragons, super-villains, and other big bads. But every now and then, it's good for a team's morale to drop the daggers, get out of the house, and just hang out with each other.
More and more MMOs are hosting annual conventions to help their players do just that. But it's not just the games that make each convention different -- the theme, style, and length all vary as well.
From Iceland to Austin, Texas, PC Gamer attended five of the biggest MMO player conventions last year to see what each has to offer gamers. The results are below. Don't get too discouraged if you find you can't make it in person to your favorite on this list -– almost all of them provide free livestreams of the main events online.
5. The Old Republic Guild Summit
Where: Hotel in Austin, TX, USA
Who: 200 invited guild leaders
Main event: Presentations about upcoming features.
Food: Four free food trucks.
Best dev bonding moment: Playing Star Wars trivia in groups.
Overheard: “Man, sometimes you just have to admit how much cooler tech Star Trek has.”
Hours spent playing games: 0
Link: TOR official news
Party rating: 4/10
4. City of Heroes Player Summit
Where: Hotel in Palo Alto, CA, USA
Who: Approximately 100 players
Main event: Audience input on content design/tweaks.
Food: Free greasy finger food.
Best dev bonding moment: Playing board games and Dungeons & Dragons with CoH's lead developer as your enthusiastic DM.
Overheard: “Oh, man. I LOVE the mission you designed. Big fan!”
Hours spent playing games: 4
Link: City of Heroes official news
Party rating: 5/10
3. SOE Live
Where: Hotel in Las Vegas, NV, USA
Who: Several thousand players
Main event: Tons of panels for each game.
Food: Fancy banquet feast, Las Vegas buffets.
Best dev bonding moment: Calling their bluff on the poker table.
Overheard: “Hey, wanna see my EverQuest tattoo? It's pretty cool.”
Hours spent playing games: 10
Link: SOE Live
Party rating: 8/10
2. BlizzCon
Where: Convention center in Anaheim, CA, USA
When: October, usually, but Blizzard is skipping this year
Who: 26,000 players
Main event: Game-specific panels and pro tournaments.
Food: Convention food for purchase.
Best dev bonding moment: Watching Mike Morhaime rock his bass guitar on stage from the front row.
Overheard: “I just saw Gabe Newell playing Diablo III with regular people!”
Hours spent playing games: 10
Link: BlizzCon
Party rating: 8/10
1. EVE Online Fanfest
Where: Reykjavik, Iceland
Who: 1,000 players
Main event: Keynotes for each franchise.
Food: Meals/drinks for purchase.
Best dev bonding moment: Pounding drinks and lamb sandwiches during the massive dev-led pub crawl.
Overheard: “No! Don't wait; wake him up and launch the counter-attack now.” – EVE player on the phone outside the hall talking to his fleet's second in command back in the US.
Hours spent playing games: 10
Link: Fanfest 2013
Party rating: 10/10
This article originally appeared in issue 230 of PC Gamer US.
