Prior to Quakecon I made many posts about how wonderful Quakecon is, how unique it is and how important it is in the gaming calender.
But in 2005 the ET tournament was not so special, with just Check 6 and idle attending from Europe, and there being such a gulf in class between the two, and unless you watched the 2002/3 coverage (of which many of the ET community had not) you hadnt really gotten a taste for the magic of the event. However days after Quakecon 2006, now you know what Quakecon is all about.
Quakecon 2006 had a rocky start, with late announcements, smaller venue and the decision to include ET again which surprised many after the amount of noshows last year aswell as the probability of less european attendees. I will even admit that I was not expecting the excitement of previous years, how wrong was I? Underestimate Quakecon and ID Software at your peril as yet again the "con" strikes at the heart of gamers.
Whether you're an ET fan or a Quake fan the tournament threw up games that simply cannot be forgotten. But its not all about the tournaments at Quakecon. The BYOC is what makes Quakecon so special, and is an element that cant be forgotten.
The Quakecon BYOC is somewhat unique in the fact that attendees come year after year expecting not only to play and enjoy, but to spectate.
Spectating and interacting with tournaments is something that cannot be underestimated in feeding excitement into an event. Take the BYOC out of Quakecon and you drop the amount of people who live and die by the action of the tournament by 1000 and boy can 1000 make some noise! They come from all around the venue to watch, be it by the iTG area or on the plazmas around the tournament area. These are the people that make the event such a livewire for excitement. They Ooo, They Ahh and they clap to the pace of the game. On Quakecon day one iTG had a finite amount of space within which people could sit and watch games at the booth. By half way through tournament day one iTG had a chained off section in the walk way for people to view, as the crowds gathered and breathed in and out tournament action.
Theres another aspect to Quakecon that contributes so much to the enjoyment of the tournament itself. Quakecon is so loose and easy to be in, once you're in you can go where you want, you've no pressure to register for your match X amount of time before the tournament. The admins and directors of the tournament know their game, they know their players and know exactly how to bring the best out of them.
Whether its the server admins, match admins, tournament admins or directors you name it. The whole tournament crew know exactly how a tournament should run. They changed ET to 5on5 and Quake to one map and after that tournament who dares to tell them they were wrong?
Quakecon Placings versus Seeds:
ET: Seeds: 1st - Idle, 2nd - Crossfire, 3rd KiH
1st Place:
idle
2nd Place:
Crossfire.nu
3rd Place: KiH
Quake 4 1vs1: Seeds: 1st - Toxic, 2nd Stermy, 3rd Cooler, 4th Ztrider
1st Place:
Toxic
2nd Place:
Cooller
3rd Place: Ztrider
Quake 4 2vs2 : Seeds - 1st Britney, 2nd Clan519, 3rd mouz
1st Place: Britney
2nd Place: All the Rage
3rd Place: mouz
I think thats pretty damn conclusive as to how good this admin team is.
Then theres the tournament itself, and the problem here is where to start?
Quakecon 2002 was arguably the greatest tournament to date as both 1vs1 and Wolfenstein tournaments had unparralled excitement levels and upsets, be that Daler beating Fatal1ty or iNfensus coming back against cK the tournament was littered with memories.
Quakecon 2006 may just have overtaken 2002. Excitement? Upsets? How about 16 year old av3k beating Fatal1ty to repeat Dalers feat. How about ferus gunning down 3 Crossfire players to secure the west radar, only to have r3vers come from behind steal the parts only for ferus to midair triple headshot the objectives down yet then be teamkilled.
Tox vs Cooller was one of the most memorable games in 2002 and they were to repeat history in 2006, yet with Tox coming out the victor this time around. No think on lan? I think not this time around.
Theres just something about Quakecon, something uncommercial. Big cheques and no entry fee, marriage proposals and $1000 random shootouts. Sure if every attendee pays $50 for Quakewars then the event might have paid for itself, but everything about it was so gamer focused rather than commercially focused. Right down to the hotel selection.
Last year Quakecon was held at the Gaylord, in the middle of nowhere where lunch cost you a small fortune. In 2006, the Hilton anatole just a short ride from Downtown and on the same road as 5 cheap hotels which some had Quakecon room rates and were walking distance.
You can cancel Christmas, you can take away my ipod but whatever you do, you cant replace Quakecon.
But in 2005 the ET tournament was not so special, with just Check 6 and idle attending from Europe, and there being such a gulf in class between the two, and unless you watched the 2002/3 coverage (of which many of the ET community had not) you hadnt really gotten a taste for the magic of the event. However days after Quakecon 2006, now you know what Quakecon is all about.
Quakecon 2006 had a rocky start, with late announcements, smaller venue and the decision to include ET again which surprised many after the amount of noshows last year aswell as the probability of less european attendees. I will even admit that I was not expecting the excitement of previous years, how wrong was I? Underestimate Quakecon and ID Software at your peril as yet again the "con" strikes at the heart of gamers.
Whether you're an ET fan or a Quake fan the tournament threw up games that simply cannot be forgotten. But its not all about the tournaments at Quakecon. The BYOC is what makes Quakecon so special, and is an element that cant be forgotten.
The Quakecon BYOC is somewhat unique in the fact that attendees come year after year expecting not only to play and enjoy, but to spectate.
Spectating and interacting with tournaments is something that cannot be underestimated in feeding excitement into an event. Take the BYOC out of Quakecon and you drop the amount of people who live and die by the action of the tournament by 1000 and boy can 1000 make some noise! They come from all around the venue to watch, be it by the iTG area or on the plazmas around the tournament area. These are the people that make the event such a livewire for excitement. They Ooo, They Ahh and they clap to the pace of the game. On Quakecon day one iTG had a finite amount of space within which people could sit and watch games at the booth. By half way through tournament day one iTG had a chained off section in the walk way for people to view, as the crowds gathered and breathed in and out tournament action.
Theres another aspect to Quakecon that contributes so much to the enjoyment of the tournament itself. Quakecon is so loose and easy to be in, once you're in you can go where you want, you've no pressure to register for your match X amount of time before the tournament. The admins and directors of the tournament know their game, they know their players and know exactly how to bring the best out of them.
Whether its the server admins, match admins, tournament admins or directors you name it. The whole tournament crew know exactly how a tournament should run. They changed ET to 5on5 and Quake to one map and after that tournament who dares to tell them they were wrong?
Quakecon Placings versus Seeds:
ET: Seeds: 1st - Idle, 2nd - Crossfire, 3rd KiH
1st Place:
idle 2nd Place:
Crossfire.nu3rd Place:
KiHQuake 4 1vs1: Seeds: 1st - Toxic, 2nd Stermy, 3rd Cooler, 4th Ztrider
1st Place:
Toxic2nd Place:
Cooller3rd Place:
ZtriderQuake 4 2vs2 : Seeds - 1st Britney, 2nd Clan519, 3rd mouz
1st Place:
Britney2nd Place:
All the Rage3rd Place:
mouzI think thats pretty damn conclusive as to how good this admin team is.
Then theres the tournament itself, and the problem here is where to start?
Quakecon 2002 was arguably the greatest tournament to date as both 1vs1 and Wolfenstein tournaments had unparralled excitement levels and upsets, be that Daler beating Fatal1ty or iNfensus coming back against cK the tournament was littered with memories.
Quakecon 2006 may just have overtaken 2002. Excitement? Upsets? How about 16 year old av3k beating Fatal1ty to repeat Dalers feat. How about ferus gunning down 3 Crossfire players to secure the west radar, only to have r3vers come from behind steal the parts only for ferus to midair triple headshot the objectives down yet then be teamkilled.
Tox vs Cooller was one of the most memorable games in 2002 and they were to repeat history in 2006, yet with Tox coming out the victor this time around. No think on lan? I think not this time around.
Theres just something about Quakecon, something uncommercial. Big cheques and no entry fee, marriage proposals and $1000 random shootouts. Sure if every attendee pays $50 for Quakewars then the event might have paid for itself, but everything about it was so gamer focused rather than commercially focused. Right down to the hotel selection.
Last year Quakecon was held at the Gaylord, in the middle of nowhere where lunch cost you a small fortune. In 2006, the Hilton anatole just a short ride from Downtown and on the same road as 5 cheap hotels which some had Quakecon room rates and were walking distance.
You can cancel Christmas, you can take away my ipod but whatever you do, you cant replace Quakecon.
EDIT: 1 comment