Disclaimer: Though you're seeing this through my capacity as an Editor of this fine site, let me be the first to say that, at the core, I am at heart and by virtue of my age a student and a player of games. I tried coding once, and the net result was the death of several small children and a scar that won't stop itching. My stick-figures lack depth. This puts me somewhat outside of the traditional crowd of the Austin Game Conference, which includes industry vets, representatives of smaller companies looking to hone their craft, and a veritable legion of young hopefuls with crisp, attractively formatted resumes. So, of course, I went to the conference, wide-eyed and wandering, with nary a clue in my inventory.

What follows is the scattered summation of a layman at the gates.

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As a testament to my mint-in-box condition, the roughly six hour trip to Austin and the resultant hotel room stay marked my first extended solo trip. Austin itself is a well-organized zone of a city, greatly easing my transition into a state of mobile independence. I arrived on Tuesday, having registered myself for the Game Writers Conference that coincided with the AGC proper. Regardless of my eventual outcome, I finagled a week off school, so at least I had that going for me.

The first night involved a nervous preparation, on par with a job interview or court hearing, in which my clothes were ironed a record one and a half times. I'm sure that extra one-half really made an impression on those I met. While Austin has a bustling nightlife scene, I personally took part in very little of it during my stay, being alone, attached, and generally wary of human contact. Again…why was I here?

Oh, that's right. Games. The Game Writers Conference schedule included such promising sessions as "Writing for MMO's" and "Alternate Reality Games," which appealed to my upcoming thesis paper for school, and the Austin Game Conference itself focused rather heavily on MMOs, useful for both that same paper, my position on this site, and my general well being. With my clothes carefully color-coordinated (an easy task, given the limited nature of my wardrobe), I drifted off to Nod, with visions of getting flooded with hearty welcomes, job offers, and, of course, free swag.

Hyperpunctuality and the Business of Trading Cards

I registered for this thing months ago, which would seem to remove the need to arrive much earlier than the 9:30 AM start date for the first session, "Gaming the Narrative," led by Marc Laidlaw of Valve. Needless to say, I arrived at 8:00 AM and played my favorite game of "Wander Around the Convention Center for an Hour and a Half."

I won.

Prior to the first session, I made the acquaintance of two rather nice guys, whose names (as well as all non-speaker names) will be withheld in the pretence of protection, to disguise the fact that I can't remember their names. Both were there looking for gainful employment, and hoped to achieve that among the glittering green fabric of the Expo room the next day. This was my first moment of feeling out of place. Talk of resumes and some strange thing called "experience" floated through the air and I simply stood by and smiled, realizing I hadn't updated my resume since early high school. "That's fine…I'm not here to get a job," I assured myself. "I'm here to gawk."

I also learned several valuable lessons in my time spent with these two guys. First, it is apparently entirely possible to, say, apply to Retro Studios and completely despise Metroid Prime, just as is it equally possible to send a resume to Bungee and hate the Halo series. Secondly, I discovered that people were trading business cards like they were game-winning Magic: The Gathering cards. I had the foresight to print out several cards of my own, but apparently lacked the further foresight to make them attractive.

Day 1: Game Writers, Bathroom Conversions, and Mexican Martinis

The various sessions of the first day of the Game Writers Conference were all frighteningly informative, and ranged from Mr. Laidlaw's overview of the intricacies of game writing to Hal Barwood's discussion of game terminology in relation to film studies. Equally frightening were the fellow attendees. They were all so….professional. At the table for one of the sessions was an employee of Gearbox, another from Ubisoft, and a fellow from MIT studying transmedia storytelling. Other nametags littered about the room included such companies as Near Death Studios, Wolfpack Studios, and Valve. I had written "Random Guy" underneath my name, just to fill the void.

There were also several people from much smaller companies whose acquaintance I made, and cards were exchanged. Getting a business card - or at least I felt at the time - was like the kiss at the end of a conversational first date: Success! The Exhibit Hall wasn't officially opened that day, so there was nothing to distract me from the rest of the sessions, including a case study of the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory script (and geez, that's a lot of work and bugs: 49,800 bugs!) and a glance at the new genre of Alternate Reality Games, including the successful ilovebees.com. The focus there seemed to be whether or not this was an actual upcoming art form or just a blip on the radar, and from what I've encountered, I can only hope it's here to stay.

I will give you one piece of advice - specifically concerning bathroom etiquette - that I learned during my first day of the conference. If you've just met someone at the conference who seems like a nice and trusting guy (like the author, for example), and you again encounter them in the bathroom - a palace for masculine silence and efficient business - don't approach them and inquire for about ten minutes if they've accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior. It really puts a damper on an otherwise fantastic urination. That event alone, moreso than any other that day, inspired a trip to the local bar where an informal gathering of the attendees took place later that day. My contribution to the general conversation included shambling in, ordering a Mexican Martini (delicious, by the way), inhaling it, and leaving. I really think I made an impression.

To be continued in Part #2...