PAX Online 2020: I was not ready....I DIED....
Joseph Watkins
As a newbie to this event, I expected the typical ease of navigation of ‘click and go’ as I saw the many areas that I could attend, but my ego got the best of me as I saw the green lined virtual behemoth overpower the internet with massive gameplay, rocking panels and a tribute to gaming that I’ve never seen in my life. It appears that this virtual ecosystem is the coming of the gaming apocalypse and as I strapped myself into this A-bomb of a virtual con, I died three times over as I saw greatness in all of its diverse forms, spent money on the fabulous merch and realized that PAX might be the greatest con ever.
Money Well Spent On Merch
In normal fashion, I decided to shop at PAX 2020’s apparel. Green in all its representation, I bought a pass, shirt, hoodie and lanyard to show my love and respect for the show. I mean after all, going virtual, I feel, is harder than a real live event and as I looked at the other vendors and their products, my money didn’t measure the amount necessary to support some of these great artists. Next time, I will definitely, contribute to their causes by buying their merch next year.
Discorded
The second part of the journey lead me to the isle of Discord. Here I saw over 1000+ members on the server discuss both tabletop and digital gaming, artwork and the gaming industry as a whole. As each interaction took place, this simple network on communication turned into a vibrant ‘inescapable matrix’ filled with sub-communities of people gaining knowledge on gaming and sharing it. If AOL still existed, this is what their chat platform would look like in 2020. The feel of this ‘matrix’ encompassed me for days as gaming has evolved, going from the typical console to cellular devices, to TV streams, to multiple indie gaming groups. To be a gamer now simply means having an electronic device of some kind to play a game that can simply perform a ‘run, jump, a ‘double jump or a shift or slide of the cell phone screen’. In laymen’s terms, the gaming revolution has begun and its growth is exponential.
Panel Life…Evolved
Normally, I would discuss the wondrous panels and discuss some key principles among the panel members but being that this was my first time here at PAX, I wanted to add more to this experience by looking at the gaming industry as a whole by exploring the field and gain understanding as to why the gaming industry continues to be successful.
Quality Assurance: Not Just a Stepping Stone
Quality Assurance describes how engineers assess a tech project from start to finish. Additionally, they’re also responsible for creating safeguards on digital products to ensure that what you play is safe and doesn’t violate your data. My first panel went to the world of Niantic. For those not familiar with the company, they are the makers of the world-famous app, downloaded a billion times and named the Best Mobile Game of the year, Pokemon Go. This app is still the must have app for kids, teens, tweens and adults (I still remember when it was only 100 of them). At Niantic, the panelists
Kit Gilbert - Senior HR & Operations Manager, EMEA
Daphne Larose - Senior Software Engineer, Technical Lead Manager and Black Game Creators Initiative Director
Trinidad Hermida - Head of Diversity and Inclusion
Laura Warner - Senior Game Designer of Pokémon GO
discussed their comeuppance in the gaming industry, how the culture of creating and supervising tech projects varied, and how the culture could both be toxic and welcoming. As the panel took place, I slowly realized that QA is not a stepping stone into gaming, but your talents and abilities are.
I was more than impressed with the ‘expertise’ of Daphne Larose’s programming skills, and how she was able to work on the front and back end of gaming. As a former developer for Apple, her origins in gaming was based on ‘writing code for programmers who actually built games as opposed to developers who were actually building the games’. Her decision for entering the gaming industry via Niantic gave her the ability to build programs that allowed her to allow consumers to interact with her coding first hand:
Daphne Larose
“…..It was a very intentional choice…. I wanted to be at the front of it this time, I wanted to be at a different part of the stock. I wanted to be at the front where people want to see and interact with and not necessarily be the ‘Wall-E behind the scenes’ …Its been a pleasure to make so many players happy” – Daphne Larose
The comeuppance of being in the gaming industry through the advice of these great women spoke volumes as they discussed their struggles, triumphs and the culture that exists at Niantic. Looking at this panel from the view of my daughter, the gaming industry is in good hands and is getting better as it’s becoming more welcoming, diverse and inclusive to all.
A phenomenal panel exploring the diverse backgrounds and removes the idea that Quality Assurance is a "stepping stone" into engineering.
From Attendee to Exhibitor: 5 Ways into the Games Industry
The next part of my journey led me to how an education can be helpful in making it into the gaming industry. Some websites have mentioned that a degree in gaming is helpful, whereas others have mentioned that is not the case. The next panel, From Attendee to Exhibitor, gave clarity on the issue. Encompassing 5 gamers; this panel contributed to the world of gaming by contributing their educational experiences from their ecosystems. The panelists were:
Christopher Wulf, publishing director of Those Awesome Guys
Dylan Clauson, A student from the gaming camp Girls Make Games. 7-year attendee.
George Perkins, CEO of Super Rare Games, which specializes in releasing physical copies of Nintendo Switch games.
Henning Steinbock, Game Developer at the German based studio, THREAKS.
Limpho Moeti, Producer and Business developer for the South African game studio, Nyamakop.
and as each person expressed their love for the craft of gaming, they stated that the first aspect of being in the gaming industry is that they’re “not going to work every day”, it’s just eating, sleeping, and breathing video games.
The gaming industry, during the COVID era, has grown tremendously as people have had no choice but to stay in the house and entertain themselves via Tik Tok, Netflix and/or video games. As this industry made billions, video game (VG) companies were fighting to become successful in their gaming genres and as a result, they were hiring crazy. Focusing on the educational aspect of the panel, there were some that “didn’t have a bachelor’s degree”, yet their businesses are not only successful, they have also won awards as well. George Perkins, CEO of Super Rare Games said it best:
George P.
“What does a piece of paper mean, in video games?!….When I’m hiring, I never look….I just ask the question out of curiosity…..If someone comes to me with a really good degree and no passion, what’s the point?!...That’s all I care about…the passion!” - George Perkins
Eloquently said. As more and more people are entering the gaming industry through various channels either as Human Resources (HR), Programming, Creative Directors, etc., the idea of a tech/computer/engineering/gaming degree as a “necessity” becomes more and more secondhand. Not related to PAX, but is necessary as an example; comedian, Tiffany Haddish said a quote that has resonated with me during the tech boom: “You can learn just about anything on YouTube, even get a PhD!!” Expanding that statement, with multiple social media sites such as Reddit, Facebook, Quora, and others , the sharing for free, of programming skills, coding, designs and techniques are becoming frequent. Gamers now, are learning for free, how to make their own games through passion, determination, self-learning, and hard work. These attributes will get anyone through those hard moments than having a degree in my opinion. Having those 4 characteristics can be a deciding factor between fixing a bug in a game for a company or building a game on your own under your startup.
The Law of Gaming….Respect IT!!
What makes the video game industry one of the best industries to be a part of is the amount of ‘fandom for profit’ that takes place within the field. The cosplay, the artwork, the sheer innovativeness of the physical products these fans create is amazing. As many in the industry directly sell their wares in honor of their favorite characters, it does come with a cost. The next panel informed me that while the VG industry, is grateful for the love, they are also tolerant of this love, meaning that the vendors who sell fanart and/or make materials that are symbolic of “any character related to a VG or the industry”, are blurring the trademark laws.
Depending on the company, you could receive a “cease and desist” letter or a shoutout. Pray for the latter. Honestly, I didn’t know about the blur, but I always wondered if the companies would go to these conventions and shut down the people who dedicated themselves to the gaming industry through the selling of their ‘custom products’. Hopefully, this will never happen.
A great look at video game lawyers and esports enthusiasts who are answering questions in regard to trademarks, corp stuff etc.
I was definitely grateful for this panel as these lawyers dropped serious gems in regard to copyright infringements and I’m eternally grateful for the VG companies’ tolerance as they allow these creatives to produce innovative works of art for the world to see. This panel was definitely a wake-up call.
Bless the Game Writer
The final part of my journey led me to the land of the video game writers. God Bless them. These writers deserve more love then they get because it is their storylines that keeps me glued to that screen for hours playing games with intricate story lines. Ghosts of Tsushima anyone?! They had a compendium of knowledge as they discussed how they managed their time, work, passion and energy. They also discussed how one is able to develop their skills as a video game writer on the come up.
The panelists that discussed this were:
Carmen Askerneese - Game Writer (Realms and Roleplay)
Mary Kenney – Writer (Insomniac Games)
Mallory Littleton -Staff Writer (Deck Nine)
Lucas Loredo – Narrative Designer (Wolfeye Games)
Milo Smiley – Writer (Blizzard)
Kelsey Beachum - Narrative Designer (Obsidian)
As questions were being asked from the emails, one question that, really stuck out was: “What’s the best way to get into game writing after college?” Kelsey’s response to this question was hilarious, yet truthful:
“Play Video Games…..it sounds like I’m being sarcastic, but I’m actually not. The best way to find out if you like writing video games is to write a video game. You can start with interactive fiction, I recommend [Twine]* to people all the time, if you want to get a field for that, it’s essentially like, at its most basic function, …kind of like a choose your own adventure novel and you can do like a ton of stuff with it, it’s very cool.” - Kelsey Beachum
(*Twitch was accidentally said.)
An examination of game narratives from industry veterans.
Twine, I never heard of it, but after I did my research, I understood what she was talking about. Twine, created by game designer Chris Klimas in 2009, is an open-source program that allows users to create hypertext narrative games. It’s easy-to-use, difficult-to-master platform makes it the perfect program to jump straight into narrative fiction.
Still confused, I found two narrative fiction games to provide references to the subject:
The Temple of No, which is a satirical adventure game
Plantgotchi, a Tamagotchi based adventure game.
If you play them; you won’t be disappointed. I was also introduced to “The Most Dangerous Writing App”, a free web based application that attacks writer's block by deleting all progress if the user stops typing for five seconds. It is targeted for creative writers who want to write their first drafts without worrying about editing or formatting. Think of it as the movie Saw , but for writers. An app that could kill your writer’s block in seconds or your idea, sounds great.
PAX Killed Me…and I loved It!!!
I wasn’t worthy…..my eyes!!!
During my 10-day journey of PAX Online, I have to admit, the task of staying up and watching all these great shows, took the better of me as I had conflicts with events and I had to make sacrifices. I still enjoyed my time there as I couldn’t get over, what I didn’t know, what I was learning and what could help me for the future.
Pax was definitely an experience I’ll never forget. I underestimated its raw power as its discord, twitch channels and wisdom from the panelists led me to greater knowledge about the gaming industry. From understanding the work culture to identifying tips and tricks to better writing in the gaming industry, I was completely floored by what I didn’t know about the field. I have to tip my hat to the community here at PAX, as they have indeed created a follower and I look forward to attending this event, whether physical or virtual, next year in 2021. PAX killed me, but I sure as hell am looking forward to dying again next year !!!
