There are so many things I could write about right now. There are two things in particular, two closely related things, that I'd love to write about, but I really can't, at least not yet. I also don't really want to splurge all the info onto the internet where anyone can read it—a synopsis, perhaps, but not every last detail. The two situations do conflict with each other, and one situation is definitely going to be difficult to deal with, but I think that one's more likely to go well in the long run. The other situation is up in the air, though, with any luck, it will be slightly clearer within a few days. I can't talk about either situation in any more detail than that without risking the dissemination of info that may compromise either one (even if such a compromise is extremely unlikely). I've talked with my best friend about it all, so it's not something I can't talk about or don't want to talk about, but I don't want it out in public, and I don't think it needs to be out in public either, really. You may hear about each situation later on in some detail, but certainly not yet. All I can really say for now is that both situations have surprised me and have led me to do things I'd usually be scared of doing—I'm definitely making progress :)
Something I can talk about is an event the uni gaming society held recently. The event was basically a console event where people could bring their own consoles to play with, as well as play on the uni's consoles. Unfortunately, it was not very well timed (right before the Easter long weekend), nor was it very well advertised, so the event only had about twelve people down as guests, myself included. I was excited nonetheless, as I love bringing my hardware to play with people.
I originally wanted to being my Wii U, my Nintendo 64, and my monitor to use as a TV, as well as all the controllers for each one. The N64 controllers are oddly shaped and bulky as all hell, while the Wii U has so many different controllers and peripherals that it's difficult to get them all into a bag. And I was gonna have to carry all this stuff by myself: I have no licence, much less a car to drive. I ended up ditching the N64 because my monitor doesn't support composite input, which would've meant having to bring my DVD recorder to convert the composite signal to a component signal just so I could hook it up to the screen. Fuck carrying a huge-ass box just to convert a signal :P
I eventually settled on just bringing the Wii U and the monitor. To give you an idea of just how many peripherals the Wii U has (and I don't even own all the different types, mind you :P), it took two laptop bags to hold everything. I could've stuffed it all into the bigger bag, but I risked tearing the bag due to overstuffing or the sheer weight of it all. I then put the bags over my shoulder and carried the monitor in my hands to the bus stop. The monitor isn't light, either; it's an older LCD panel, and it has built-in speakers, so it's bulky compared to newer screens. It was so heavy that when I got to the bus stop and put it down, my arms felt like they weren't there. But I did it! My puny-ass muscles carried that sonofabitch for ten minutes without putting it down once.
I eventually got to uni with my stuff and went to the TV area, where the uni's consoles are. There weren't any tables set up or anything, so I was kinda confused. They were holding a PC event on the same day, so I went and spoke to them, and eventually, a few people showed up to organise the console dealie. I was given a table and a powerboard, so I set my stuff up while they got CoD and Halo running on the uni TV's. There were only one or two other people there for the event when it started (compared to the PC event which had about ten people there when I walked in the room), but I figured more would show up as the day went on.
Even though I feared a low turnout, I figured I should put 4 seats in front of the TV, so others could sit down with me. I'd brought hardware to previous gaming meet-ups and had almost no one play with me, and I figured putting seats there might increase the chances of some multiplayer happening, even if the chances of that were low. Turns out that was the best decision I made all day, cos people did show up and did play with me! Hooray! It was mainly the same people for most of the day, but some people dropped in later on, dropping out when they had to leave. I think I ended up playing with about six other people, mainly playing Smash Bros., but also playing some Mario Kart. I'm not really into Smash, but everyone else there seems to really like it (and I do mean everyone :P) so as a good host, I obliged. One guy even had a Gamecube controller in his bag, like it's something he just has with him at all times just in case there's a game of Smash happening :P
And not only did people play on my console, people pretty much only played on my console—I don't think there were many people, if any, who played CoD or Halo on the other TV's, at least not for very long. The TV room was deserted, while I had people playing with me the entire time I was there, save for the first ten minutes after I set stuff up. Granted, Smash Bros. is a crowd pleaser (as I said, everyone seems to fucking love it for some reason :P), but I was surprised I managed to draw everyone so successfully.
Also, it was way more successful on a social level than the meet-up thing I went to earlier in the term. I was never nervous, I conversed with people, I learned some names, and I think I did fairly well at managing the games and the hardware, making sure everyone had what they needed and everything. It became a little difficult later on as the group got bigger, cos it seemed like everyone there knew each other and I was the odd one out, but I was never totally excluded or anything. I didn't really make any new friends, but I made way more of an impression this time round, so perhaps if they do another console thing, or any other gaming thing, I'll recognise them (or they'll recognise me) and it can go from there. It made carting all that shit there totally worth it :D
Getting home was a bit annoying cos after I packed everything up, it started raining, which eventually turned into a thunderstorm. If there's one thing you don't wanna be doing in a rainy thunderstorm, it's carrying a fucking monitor :P Thankfully, I had a plastic poncho (an aptly named 'emergency poncho') to wrap the monitor up in, so I was good there. While I waited for the rain to subside a bit so I could get to the bus stop without getting totally drowned, one of the gaming society representatives apologised for the poor organisation and said that he hoped the next one would be better (as I said, shit timing + no advertising = ghost town). I hope so too.
If there's one other thing I'd be willing to bitch about, it'd be the relative lack of interest in Mario Kart. Not that it's anyone's fault—no one's obliged to be interested in Mario Kart. It's just that I love Mario Kart, in the same way that all the others seem to love Smash: I play it all the time, I know it back-to-front, I get competitive, and I like fierce competition. There just doesn't seem to be a community for it at uni. They have a Mario Kart tourney at the annual convention they hold, and it does draw people, but the Smash community is so big that they have their own separate meet-ups and everything. I'd love to cultivate more interest in Mario Kart if I could, but I don't really know if I can. I'd be more than happy to bring along hardware, organise tourneys, play different versions each time, or even play different racing games alongside Mario Kart if people wanted. But if the interest isn't there, then it won't happen. Oh well.
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