Preliminary Fan Faire schedule has been posted!

[FanFaireJen]

<DIV>Check out the Fan Faire website for an early idea of what's going on.  <A href="http://events.station.sony.com/fanfaire/schedule.vm" target=_blank>http://events.station.sony.com/fanfaire/schedule.vm</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>We'll update as we have more confirmations.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Also stay tuned for our list of Bazaar Vendors!</DIV>

[HandoTParkwo]

<div></div>Hey I noticed that the game room requires a player to sign up in order to be able to play.  Will this sign-up occur on-site, or will it begin ahead of time online?  And will we be able to play our own characters?

[Corbett]

<div>Will one be allowed to join in the EQ2 Live event as well as the EQ1 & Planetside??</div>

[Ashlanne]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Corbett wrote:<BR> <DIV>Will one be allowed to join in the EQ2 Live event as well as the EQ1 & Planetside??</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Yes, there aren't restrictions on which events you can and can not participate in other then timing perhaps...

[HandoTParkwo]

<div>Do you have any information on when sign-up will be, whether online beforehand or do we have to wait until the Faire starts?  Also, I had this crazy idea sprout in my head that the game room would be akin to LAN parties for other multiplayer games where users bring their own systems and plug into a network; will the game rooms at the Faire be like that, or will SoE provide the computers for our use?  Thanks for any information!</div>

[Ashlanne]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> HandoTParkwood wrote:<BR> <DIV>Do you have any information on when sign-up will be, whether online beforehand or do we have to wait until the Faire starts?  Also, I had this crazy idea sprout in my head that the game room would be akin to LAN parties for other multiplayer games where users bring their own systems and plug into a network; will the game rooms at the Faire be like that, or will SoE provide the computers for our use?  Thanks for any information!</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>I believe sign ups for the contests will be done at the event.  As for the Game Room, we have computers set up for the attendees use you will have to sign up though and I believe its an hour at a time.  One year we did have an area for folks to set up their own PCs but there were very few folks that used it.

[Corbett]

<div></div>So if I bring my laptop to play on I can hook into your network?  Would I need to bring my own hub/switch??

[Ashlanne]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Corbett wrote:<BR> So if I bring my laptop to play on I can hook into your network?  Would I need to bring my own hub/switch??<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>You would at least be able to connect to the Hotels internet but probably only in your room.  I am not sure what type of set up we will have in the Game Room.

[Icene]

<div></div>Hi!  It is now 10 days away from the big event, and still no confirmed schedule on line.  There are at least 8 "to be announced" events.  I have to say, as a person who plans conferences in RL, I am getting anxious to learn what I have registered for.  And 10 days notice is awfully late!  Can you please get those events confirmed and posted ASAP?  Thank you!

[HeiligHangranate]

<div></div><div></div><p>Icene, most of the To Be Announced items are the Best of the Best Tournaments.  Basically, these are contests where you sign up once you get to the Fan Faire.  They take people in groups through a special zone or hold a PVP tournament.  For example, they've announced the EQ2 one already, and it involves a special instance of the Nest zone in Kingdom of Sky.  The first group to complete the zone's hallmark quest (get to the final quest NPC) wins.  Each game (EQ, EQ2, Planetside, etc) is going to have a different kind of contest, but you get the idea.  Also, at some of the Fan Faires, I recall seeing some PVP style tournaments, like the ones they used to hold in the Arena in EQ1.  Anyway, the details of those tournaments will be publicized at or near the time of the Fan Faire.</p><p>As for the Forums and Roundtables, these generally consist of SOE producers and devs sitting in a panel and answering questions about different aspects of the games.  You can generally count on there being forums for tradeskills, spells, customer service and community relations, etc.  There are usually three or four of them going on at one time.  Most are oriented towards EQ1 and EQ2, but there are some forums for the other games, too.  If there's a new expansion coming soon, there will be a forum to show a preview of that, though I expect the new Faydark expansion for EQ2 is probably too far off to get much showing.  Maybe they'll announce it and give us some teasers.</p><p>The Live Events are really cool.  It's basically a roleplaying style of GM event, where real people dressed in costumes play the parts of quest NPCs.  You have to interact with them and find out what they want.  Some have puzzles and some ask you to find or make something for them.  The puzzles are pretty straightforward, but findind or making something requires you to be creative.  Generally, you need to get a reward item from each quest NPC and figure out how everything fits together.  Sometimes it's just a matter of getting the most items and sometimes it's a storyline where the first team to make it all the way through and get the final item is the winner.  Anyway, no matter what it is, it's a lot of fun.  These are done in teams, 10 players to a team.</p><p>Message Edited by HeiligHangranate on <span class="date_text">03-27-2006</span><span class="time_text">09:54 AM</span></p>

[Howlingmoon]

To add to Heilig's excellent examples of these "To Be Announced" events, I went to the New Orleans Fan Faire in October of 2004. The Best of the Best there was playing EQ2 Beta on a special server (was a couple weeks before EQ2 released), and whoever had the most exp by the end of 24-ish hours, won. The Live Quest in New Orleans was a scavenger hunt, where a team of 10 or so people went all over the city finding items that matched clues. I remember a couple of them being the mardi gras beads, and a inking of a tombstone. It was a lot of fun, and you got to see a lot of the city during the scavenger hunt.