QuakeCon was first held in 1996, and has become one of the largest LAN events in the country. It originally began as a "finals" location for tournaments with id Software products: Doom, Quake, etc. It has grown to become a gaming mecha for a weekend, where people bring in their custom-built PC's and game it out 24/4.
To bring in your PC and game you do have to pay a fee, but it offers you access to the event and a chance to enter tournaments for an assortment of prizes. BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) is half of the focus of QuakeCon these days. Attendees are allowed to roam this area and check out the units. And we saw some stellar set-ups and custom cases. We found one gent with the bat signal. The freekin' bat signal! Another created Bastion from Overwatch. There was also the Citadel from Half-Life. It was a lot of fun seeing these cases and talking to the owners about their modding process.
The other half is all about the finals. Quake Champions, the newest game, was the primary focus. The stage set-up was probably one of the nicest I've seen for an open seating of that style. Much fancier then anything Twitch has thrown down for a gaming event.
The rest of the convention, well that's where it's a bit of a hit or miss. There were 2 vendors: The QuakeCon vendor for a small selection of Fallout, Dishonored, and QuakeCon merchandise. And Filthy Casual, which I'm not a fan of. So that was a bust. There were AMD and Alienware "buses" that offered PC experiences but if you've been to any gaming event you know exactly what those are about. There were also 2 indie games to try out, a mini-Twitch booth to pick up buttons, a 1 Up and Extra Life booth to get people signed up, and a free-swag stage sponsored by Ventrilo. All that's left were the id Software/Bethesda booths with another VR set-up (seriously guys it's been 2 years, are you done yet?) and public demos of the upcoming Dishonored 2 DLC and Wolfenstein 2.
Most of the events were pretty boring to be honest. You could show up at noon, walk around for an hour, and see everything. The panels were dull and had little to nothing to do with QuakeCon. If they were developer-centric panels about future content or the making of id Software, that would have been preferable over the cosplay content. And I'm saying this as a cosplayer, I was unsure of why there were so many cosplay panels. QuakeCon isn't a big cosplay event. It's meant for LAN parties and gaming tournaments. Have you ever tried to enter one of those in a costume? You'll overheat fast and it's so uncomfortable that it's not worth the hassle. I did see a cosplayer here and there, including an Overwatch one, but nothing crazy. Most people were in causal clothes with a geeky shirt or pin on. I saw at least 2 people in Fallout jumpsuits that were bought from a costume store, and a Team Fortress cosplayer, but that's the jist of it. If you were in cosplay, there wasn't much to do or many places to walk. The expo hall also had little to no light, relying on computer monitors and the main stage to act as a beacon. So you couldn't take many photos anyway.There was a cosplay contest...that was occurring at the same time as one of the final matches on the main stage. We didn't stick around long enough to see it. We were done by 4pm after trying to make the time stretch out. But hopefully it was well attended and there were enough Bethesda costumes that entered. Yes, it was a Bethesda only costume contest. Sorry Overwatch fans.
Another big glaring issue was the lack of signs. And I mean everywhere. When you walk into the hotel/resort, unless you came through the convention garage (which was full by Saturday morning) you wouldn't know where to go. You had to look for the convention signs around the hotel and eventually stumble upon it.
There were some Quake logos in lights at one intersection and 1 or 2 signs to the expo hall and panels, but none for tabletop. The third floor for panels and the blooddrive was absent of signs unless you walked all the way down one of the many long halls to turn a corner and boom! There are the panels! All 3 of them empty! Wow!
Yeah it was bad.
Even IN the expo hall there was a distinct lack of signs. The Corsair booth was trying to direct people to the other end of the area for sales, but didn't know that they were part of the QuakeCon merch booth. They were telling people it was a solo stand near the stage. They probably lost potential revenue from that.
It was a lot of walking to see a lot of nothing. Unless you sat for one of the finals, which we didn't, there wasn't anything thrilling to see. You could have watched it all on Twitch and had a better experience - because then you weren't spending $20 on food and parking and you could be in your PJ's. Or your underwear. Whichever floats your boat; I am not here to judge your fashion sense.
The only highlight I came away from the convention with was getting to play Wolfenstein 2. That was super fun. There were some minor glitches that I spotted and the controls were interesting to tackle when your character is in a wheelchair, but the action was great. The puzzles within the scenario were smart without feeling cumbersome. And you get to shoot digital Nazis. What's not to enjoy about that? I want this game.
I've been told by friends that years prior it was better. The BYOC section was much larger, there are more booths, and more panels to sit in on. It also helps if you join in on BYOC and make a weekend of it. This probably wasn't a good year for me to attend as the convention had to move unexpectedly to a new spot and work with what they have. Maybe next year will be better - as long as they keep the passes free, people will show up. But they really need to get on the ball with signage and panels. Offer content related to id Software and Bethesda. Get the devs out there to talk about their work and more people will be willing to stop in.
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