At E3 2006 I ran into Tycho of Penny-Arcade.  He told me that he loves GamerDad and that I should come to PAX because: “The people there are young but cool and one day they’re all going to be big fans of your website.” I came to PAX last year and found he was right. Lots of parents, but lots more young cute gaming couples. Future families.  I had to return this year. So I did. I came to PAX and I hope I conquered, but most of all, I had a hell of a good time. I ended up doing a bit more work than scheduled too.  Here’s how it went, in brief:

Saturday, 1:30-2:30 [ST B]:
I’m Getting Old: When Life Cuts Into Gaming
This seemed to go well.  Better panel than last year and some of the questions weren’t directed at me!  Once again the PAX crowd impresses.  Good questions, nice banter, and a friendly time in a room that was much too tiny.

Saturday, 3-4 [ST B]: 

Online Gaming

They had an emergency and needed a moderator and – that looked like a job for GamerDad!  I stepped in an acquitted myself okay despite really having little idea what they were talking about.  The panel included a guy from Wild Tangent and another from GameTap and the upshot is… I think we might be able to forge a relationship with both.  Glad to help and the audience really seemed to have a good time.

Sunday, 12:00pm – 1:00pm [ST C]:
Politics & Game Sanity

Considering this topic was sort of sprung on me when Hal Halpin had to cancel, I think I did all right. I had some organizational problems and because of that awkwardness… I might not upload the video tape (I’ll still link to the podcast PA is planning).  A good – giant – group of gamers attended and about 40 of them took cards.  Hope to seem them around here soon.  Not a bad way to launch a blog really and my only complaint was that it was scheduled opposite Tycho and Gabe’s Family Feud thingie… which sounded fun and was something I wanted to see.  No matter.  My wife is telling me to go to bed and that this went far better than I remember so I might have to amend this tomorrow.
Sunday, 3:00pm – 4:00pm [ST C]:
Gaming with Children

Okay, now we’re talking.  Since I’ve been talking about this stuff for 4 years now, this went well.  The audience – not sure about capacity but it was packed – was fantastic.  Riveted, polite, and had some great questions. It felt right. I could almost feel the red cape around my shoulders.  I’ll be linking to the Podcast as soon as its up and later in the week I’ll upload the video GamerMom took to YouTube and make with the linkage.  This was a hit folks, and I can’t wait to do it again!

In other news I got to hang with the ever-lovin’ MomGamer and Alan Au, a good friend.  My wife got to meet Tycho’s wife Brenna and I got to meet the Gamer Grammas of Penny-Arcade.  We both got to coo over little Elliot, who has his mother’s gorgeous ginger hair.

Wonderful families, that’s what PAX means to me.  Families like mine, Colleen’s, Gabe and Tycho’s, and all the future families you could imagine forming with all those young gamers in love.

Tags: Misc