Feldon On Thursday, September 20th, Linda “Brasse” Carlson, Director of Global Community Relations, and Jen Belfield, Director of Marketing Services (or Events Coordinator) held a webcast about the upcoming SOE Live 2012 on Twitch.TV:
We’re now 10 days away from SOE Live and I figured I should probably watch this webcast and glean some notes from it before it’s too late.
Key Points
- Kid Zone (Saturday 20th 8:30-4:30pm) — Activities for kids including a FreeRealms animation panel by Floyd Bishop. About 20 kids are registered.
- The EverQuest II: Chains of Eternity expansion will be free to all SOE Live All Access Pass purchasers The in-game item is a female Vampire Mercenary.
- Thursday Keynote — John Smedley welcoming reception and announcements
- Friday Keynote — Dave Georgeson, Holly Longdale, Tom Terrazas — EverQuest and EverQuest II
- Saturday Keynote — PlanetSide 2 & DC Universe Online
- Tournaments — Aether Races in EQ2, while the card games (TCGs) will be against devs. $30,000 total in prizes.
- Lazer Tag — This offsite event is sold out but some folks are on the waiting list.
- Late Night Karaoke (Thursday Night)
- Friday Pool Party — open bar, DJ, and water.
- Pub Crawl? First rule of pub crawls is, don’t talk about pub crawls. Not sure if this is just LARPing or actually a thing?
- Developer Brunch (Sunday) — last time this happened was in Atlanta 2006. Spaces are still available. Remember, Greg “Rothgar” Spence got his start at SOE by talking to devs at a Dev Brunch.
SOEmote Contest
- The winning video had to include SOEmote, be 30 seconds or less, under 100MB, and provided in MP4 format without the use of public video sites like Youtube, etc.
- Our very own Dethdlr (aka Check), lead developer of EQ2U, won the contest! He gets 2 plane tickets, hotel room, and passes to SOE Live 2012.
Viewer Questions
Q: Will there be real-time video of the various panels free, or fee? And if not, how quickly will they be available online?
A: We will be broadcasting live from several of the panels, footage of the keynotes, and other miscellaneous live things, tournaments, etc. We always capture footage from the event and will release it about a week later.
Q: Will non-US residents be able to participate in any of the SOE Live contests? According to the official rules posted, anyone not living in the US is not eligible.
A: This is actually a really common question. Believe me, if we had any control over international law, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. When we have these contests in the US, and we’re a US-based company, we are not only bound by USA law but by the laws of Las Vegas, Nevada. Unfortunately, we can’t have international participants. That drives us crazy too. One day when we move to a global economy, then this will all evaporate, but until then, all we can say is we’re really sorry.
Q: Will GameBreaker.TV be coming this year?
A: No, but we will have live streaming at some of the events, especially the tournaments. I hear that Total Biscuit, the cynical British game commentator and reviewer will be there.
Q: Will there be a fresh keg of local beer at the party?
A: (They make local beer in Las Vegas?) (Danicia: yes, they do)
A: No, we’re not going to have any at the party. The party is hosted by Bally’s, and the way that Las Vegas hotels work is, they like to make money. At the pool party, Smed is buying all the drinks, and he’s not going to buy that top shelf 200 year old whiskey. However there will be an assortment of beer and other beverages available for free. If you know where there are some fresh beers available, there are usually parties in people’s suites.
Q: What about next year? Are you locked in at Bally’s?
A: We go year-to-year. We are not locked in for next year. We are actually looking at some other properties for next summer. All in Las Vegas. It will depend on what dates they can give us. We’ll have polls after SOE Live to get your feedback.
Q: What is your favorite part of the bus ride between San Diego and Las Vegas?
Brasse: This is one that I’ve never done before because to be honest, I get really sick on the bus.
Jen: Well sometimes we’ve had a beer keg on the bus. Are you talking about on the way there or on the way back? On the way there, I’d say it’s eavesdropping on all the conversations that are going on. On the way back, it’s stopping for Popeye’s Chicken.
Q: How will seating at the Developer Brunch work?
Jen: We are closely monitoring who is signed up based on their primary registered game. Based on that, we’ll group people at tables with the devs from that game. We have about 50 seats left.
Q: Will any other Sony Business Units be at SOE Live like Sony Music?
A: We wish. Sony Electronics will be there.
Q: How many support (non-presenter) staff do you bring?
A: We bring a total of about 120 people from the company, and about 50% of that is support staff.
Q: How many third party vendors will be present?
Donna: We have around 8 signed up so far. We’re going through the paperwork with them and then there are a few more that are seeing if they can make it.
Brasse: One of the problems is, we’re a relatively small convention.
Jen: We’ll also have our sponsors. Alienware. nVidia. Sony Electronics. Curse. Logitech.
Brasse: Curse is new this year.
Q: What is the smoking policy?
A: Only in the casinos.
Q: Sully’s? Indigo Lounge? Evening Call? or Tequila Bar & Grill?
Jen: Indigo Lounge.
Brasse: (to off camera) What’s the Kelethin bar’s name in Paris?
Q: Can we have snacks at the Pool Party for purchase?
A: That’s a good suggestion.