reconvening: EGX rezzed 2019

let it be known that good things can indeed grow from the internet.

this weekend was egx rezzed, a spin-off of the similarly named convention i attended in birmingham (uk, not alabama) last september, centred around the games industry and its connections to tech and journalism. this event was held at the tobacco dock in east london, a venue built in the early 1800s as shipping warehouse, converted into a (failed) shopping pavilion, and now used to host large events.

i’m always down to play a good game or two, but my big draw here was the people.

you see, there’s this fine group of journalist/comedian/games enthusiasts whose content i’ve been following for five or six years, and who i met in birmingham during my last trip, called outsidexbox and outsidextra (referred to hereon as OX):

(from left: ellen, mike, myself, luke, andy, and jane)

friday began with a long queue for entry and a livestream of super smash bros, which was chaotic and wickedly funny. i was impressed (all weekend) at how witty and energetic they were, considering they had been traveling and doing liveshows and events for the past three weeks without dropping anything from their regular workload. after the stream, i took a few minutes to acquaint myself with the main venue before heading back to see them at the meet and greet area.

they were just as brilliantly kind and engaging as last time, and (especially impressively!) managed to remember me despite my drastically changed hair and only having met me once before. as soon as i reached them in the meet and greet queue, andy recalled my screen name, and we chatted about long distance travel and costumes and brighton, where i’m planning to pop down for a day trip early this week, and where they apparently do most of their filming as well.

just like last time, it felt much like catching up with old friends. it really is wonderful how much time and effort they make for people who stop by to see them.

just as great a draw as OX was the group of fans who gathered into a discord chat, who i have been talking with for nearly a year now. many of them (including tom and sam, who i spent egx 2018 with) were there, and it was so much fun to spend the weekend with friends.

the rest of the day meant exploring the myriad of games playable on the show floor, from big name publishers like nintendo to indie games developed sometimes by only a single person. here’s a brief video tom put together of some of the things we got up to on friday: https://youtu.be/UGIN9IdScYg

the evening ended with a live d&d show by the OX crew and, too exhausted to find someplace proper to eat, my third tesco sandwich dinner in a row.

saturday passed in a similar way, minus the meet and greet. we played a great board game called pandemic and so, so many charming and creative video games. we laughed and commiserated about the state of our legs and played switch games in the d&d liveshow queue. the whole weekend was so packed full of joy, and by the end we really did feel like a big goofy family.

i think it’s really special that, on a place as messy as the internet, in a world as messy as ours, a few people like OX could bring together the sort of connections we made and strengthened over the last few days.

as much as i can be sure of anything, it certainly won’t be the last i see of this lot.

i walked home saturday evening after picking up takeaway fish & chips (yes, at last, a real dinner) feeling a mixture of bliss and exhaustion from such an active few days, and of relief and anxiety for having so little else planned for the next few. for now, at least, i’m taking a breather.