i caught a ride down from glasgow to birmingham with a total stranger. it was excellent.
some background information, to start: i love video games. i am terrible at most of them, but i love them. there are so many things you can do better with interactive media than you can in traditional media–depth and breadth alike. environmental design, character design, interaction, conversation, exploration… the experience can be much more direct and personal.
because of limited time and funds, of course, i can’t get around to nearly as many games as i might hope. this is what first drew me into games media and journalism: i can’t play everything, so it’s nice to know a bit of what to expect before you put in the commitment. games media has become a huge industry, and built expansive networks (and e-sports leagues) from the ground up.
EGX, if you were curious, is an abbreviation for ‘EuroGamer eXposition,’ eurogamer being one of the largest and most successful group of games journalists across europe. they are connected closely with a channel called outsidexbox, which i have been watching regularly for about four years now. they’re best known for their cleverly written list videos which highlight different themes and trends throughout video games: things like ’13 evil achievements for heartless bastards,’ or ‘7 times you thought you were helping but doomed everyone.’
outsidexbox has gained a fairly sizable and very dedicated fanbase, a large portion of which has a globe-spanning group chat in a messaging service designed for gaming called discord.
still with me? ok.
so outsidexbox were there at EGX with two live shows, one livestream, and a meet and greet session each of four days. attending the friday and saturday of this four-day event, i was able to see all of the live events and attend a surprisingly personal and engaging meet and greet session.
but let’s start from the top, shall we?
i got a car share down to the convention from a member of the discord named russell and his wife merlyn, who were also headed down to the event from a town about a 45 minutes outside of glasgow. they were wonderfully kind, and the five hour drive went by quickly.
i got checked into my airbnb in the birmingham suburb of marston green–which is quiet, and much more spread out than i had gotten used to here, having spent most of my time in cities and the occasional countryside–and then headed into birmingham central to meet with a few other discord members for dinner and drinks after their first day of the convention. lovely people, all.
friday came around, and EGX began at eleven. i started off the day in the meet and greet queue for outsidexbox, which was already of a decent size by the time i arrived, early as i was. i met in line a great guy called tom, who i ended up going around with most of the day with, as well as sam, whom i had met the evening before. chatting with the two of them passed time quickly.
the oxbox team was super lovely, and spent a good five minutes or so with everyone in the queue. i haven’t been to very many meet and greet events before, but it was clear that they really cared about everyone they saw above and beyond the expectations of an ordinary signing.
i presented to jane a pair of bracers which were made for her dnd character, the tiefling warlock prudence, hand-crafted by a discord member from texas who had mailed them to me to deliver in a very lord-of-the-rings-style quest. andy was especially impressed.
we talked about games and travel as they signed a print for me, and i chatted to mike and andy at length about wwe. we got a couple of photos, had a nice group hug, and they moved on to the next person in the queue.
can’t imagine how exhausting it must be for them, but to their great credit they did it all anyway.
afterwards, tom, sam and i putzed around a bit, looking at all of the retro gaming consoles out for play and display (including the hilariously terrible phillips cd-i) before the livestream, wherein oxbox played a few chaotic and immensely funny rounds of kitchen simulator overcooked 2, much to the dismay of the game’s mascot, the onion king:
after the livestream, tom and i went through a decent number of indie and left-field games, which had the shortest queues and were sometimes surprisingly good. it was very cool to speak to several developers who were stood by their games, discussing mechanics and development and taking feedback from whoever took the time to try out their projects.
wrapping up the day was the first oxbox liveshow, called showdown of the week. the team, divided into their two channels (outsidexbox and outsidextra) faced off in challenges based on the ‘core pillars’ of their content: violence (nidhogg 2, for one point), friendship (for up to three points per team), musical ability (for up to three, replacing charades from last year), and pikachu drawing (for two points, and the win). needless to say it was hilarious and strange and weirdly thrilling.
train home was delayed, took the wrong one by mistake, had to walk an extra 5-10 minutes or so back to the airbnb, and i was sleeping deeply in no time.
saturday started off with a long wait in the queue for life is strange 2, which is out next week and which i am very very excited for. i got 25 minutes of hands-on gameplay and a rather nice free shirt in exchange for the hour and a half wait. by this time, i had decided i was not going to bother with any more AAA games with long queues and ended up playing more indie games i had missed and a few titles for the nintendo switch, including the new mario tennis aces.
i also got a picture with life is strange’s in-universe mascot, hawt dawg man. he gave me a hug afterward. it was oddly touching.
i caught another livestream, this time from the eurogamer video team, before queueing up again (are you catching the theme?) for the final oxbox event, their live dungeons and dragons ‘oxventure.’ their characters are all so lovable and ridiculous, and their dungeon master, johnny from eurogamer, put together a great story in just about two hours’ time. jane was wearing the bracers i delivered the day before, and i felt very proud even though all i had done was fit them into my luggage and not forget to bring them with me to the convention.
the loudspeaker announcing that EGX was closing for the day accidentally became the voice of cthulhu. everyone had a very good time.
i very nearly missed the train out from marston green this morning in order to catch the ironically delayed train from new street station to cardiff, on which i currently sit as i write this.
lots of waiting, through and through, but i had an absolute blast meeting everyone and playing games. in fulfilling malcom gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule, i have become an absolute expert at standing in queues.
the next stop is bristol, after which i depart the country for paris and reykjavik (and then a brief stop back in london) before home. feels weird that it’s all starting to inch toward the end of my journey. i can’t wait to see what’s next, and i can’t wait to come back again.
hopefully i won’t have to wait so long for the next trip.
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