PAX Prime 2010: Nerds In The Mist

Penny Arcade Expo 2010 is over now, and some 60,000 gamer nerds have gone back to their basements with backpacks stuffed with free decks of Magic cards, wearing Portal 2 t-shirts, and clutching fistfuls of beta invites for new online games like Firefall and Rift: Planes of Telara. The free stuff is nice, but the unabashedly nerdy companionship at the Convention Center this weekend was better. Until next fall, when PAX returns, the community will have to settle for bullshitting on the forums, gathering in homes for D&D and Munchkin Cthulhu, or playing games together online. No one could blame them if they are, as I am, suffering from a mild but pervasive post-PAX depression.

I went to PAX Prime (as opposed to the newer East Coast version) primarily as a curious observer, since the closest I've personally come to the hardcore gaming lifestyle is plunking down at my computer for marathon hours of Solitaire. How can such a huge convention throw down in Seattle every year with such little mainstream press? Well, we're a music town, and Bumbershoot is usually this same weekend.

But game giants like Valve, ArenaNet, Nintendo, and Microsoft live here too, and I'd venture to say that gaming generates significantly more money than music in Seattle does—and has just as much emotional impact on its consumers. Penny Arcade itself has a hell of a human interest angle or two I'd like to see more fully explored (funny, insightful Northwest gamers with wives/kids/a webcomic make big, use their influence to create a safe and rad place to be a gamer, raise many dollars for kids with cancer, remain humble while doing so). Plus, PAX has music too! For PAX Prime 2011, we must do better, Seattle.

On the whole, the attendees are eager to connect and endearingly eccentric, if occasionally socially underdeveloped. Presiding nerd celebs, most notably Penny Arcade webcomic creators Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, are funny, humble, and likable. And the games! Most of the games are beautifully designed, interesting even to non-gamers, and everywhere, yours to check out for the price of admission ($55 for three days) and some wait time in line. Portal 2 Co-Op looks gorgeous, Mafia Wars II was very cool. Microsoft's Kinect area was pretty dead on Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon when we explored, though the Windows 7 phones are drool-worthy. (Note to gamers who care: I recommend Seattle Geekly's podcasts for local, knowledgeable PAX game coverage and interviews.)

A few other quick highlights: The long-awaited (twelve years awaited) Duke Nukem Forever was unveiled at the Gearbox booth. One of the Penny Arcade employees accepted a marriage proposal in front of thousands at Benaroya Hall on Friday, and I spoke with Mike briefly about his cape possibly getting caught in an escalator. (I didn't know it was Mike at the time, but his giant purple cape should have been a clue. He was very nice.)

PAX is crowded, and wait times for the most popular panels are hours long. My feet are still sore, I was put off by obnoxious sales pitches ("You have to play it to believe it, to see how it's real," incanted the guy passing out OnLive flyers), and the scantily-clad World of Warcraft booth babes made me uncomfortable. I was overwhelmed by the crowds and the noise, but as Seattle doughnut-eating champion and nerdy rapper Billy The Fridge put it to me over a game of Lunch Money, "It's so easy to change your mood here."

Don't like the crowds? Borrow a tabletop game and play with two or three others for awhile, or plunk down on one of the hundreds of complimentary bean bags and take a nap. Tired of all the exhibits? Go to a panel and learn about how to make your gaming community website really fly. Do what you want, be who you are. Wear socks with 'Stocks, or cosplay it up to your heart's content. Don't worry about it. No one here is going to look sideways at you. It's glorious.

At the final Q&A, hosted by Mike and Jerry in Benaroya, a 13-year-old stepped up to the mic and thanked the guys for creating a place where he felt at home as a gamer and for an experience that would stick with him for the rest of his life. I teared up. Realistically speaking, I'm not going to become a gamer, as I don't like people or things to shoot at me, as a general rule. Nor do I like Doritos or Mountain Dew. I don't even play Farmville. But I love, love, love what's happening at PAX, I get why at least a solid dozen people at the Q&A were lined up to offer the people of Penny Arcade gifts in thanks, and I miss the nerds terribly, already.