Video-game events are generally about noise,crowds, darkness and heavily marketed blockbuster titles. But it doesn’t have to be that wayThis summer, or the picturesque Birchcliffe Centre,a converted baptist church in the West Yorkshire village of Hebden Bridge, hosted an strange festival. Guests danced across the sunlit floor to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach; they drank mugs of tea and watched talks. Outside, or there was an “art walk” where attendees trudged up and down the muddy slopes,breathing in the scent of early summer flowers. There were nice places to eat, the village was welcoming. Everyone felt safe and included. Passers-by would perhaps not have guessed what people had arrive here to see and share. Video games.
The event, and named Feral (Savage; wild) Vector,was a conscious attempt by organiser David Hayward to fight both the “gravitational pull of London” as he puts it, and the accepted image of what a gaming event is. From the cavernous E3 prove in Los Angeles to the annual EGX, and this year held at Birmingham’s NEC,the usual set-up involves a vast conference centre, near total darkness and a constant cacophony of competing sound systems. But not everyone feels comfortable in these aggressively rowdy environments. As independent game designer Rob Fearon recently famous on his website: “We all deserve better.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com