The People of PAX East

At PAX East: The bean bag chairs on the second floor were full nearly all weekend.

Before going to PAX East, I really wondered about the kind of people I’d run into there. With the mismash of gamers both polite and mean-spirited that you can run into on the Internet, I had a tough time shaking the feeling that attendees could be a “box of chocolates” type of thing with affable gamers sprinkled amongst flagrant noobs.

But everyone I met was incredibly friendly, respectful and just plain awesome. I wish this group would set the stereotype for a typical gamer. While the events, panels and expo floor were great, it will be the people and community who bring me back to future PAX shows.

This article features 15 of those awesome attendees who took the time to answer some questions for me. See who they are, what they do, what they love and why they came to the inaugural PAX East.

Thanks to everyone who took the time from their PAX to answer my questions and be very cool about a random person badgering you for information. If you had a PokeWalker, thanks for connecting with me, and also big thanks to Edward for the sweet Kangaskhan.

Friday

[From left to right:]
Mike Holdenmeyer (hot air balloon pilot)
Jennifer Gillis (student majoring in biostatistics at University of Toronto)
Peter Schoepke (electrician)
•Dressed as Bioshock splicers.
From: Ontario, Canada.
Why at PAX:
“Originally PAX was like the E3 that we could actually get into, and from there it just kind of turned into a community we didn’t know existed,” Peter said. “Our enthusiasm with the first attracted a bunch of friends.”
Favorite games, genres and/or platforms:
Peter: FPS, shooters, RPGs. Right now stuck on Demon Souls.
Jennifer: Started out with RPGs and then Bioshock got her into shooters. Loves Bioshock.
Mike: Shooters.
Favorite PAX event, panel and/or expo booth:
Favorite thing was when they got into the Bioshock 2 downloadable content, Jennifer said. “Peter and Mike were playing games in these beautiful white chairs [at the Bioshock demo] that are clearly really expensive and he’s lieing back sitting there playing the whole game, and he gets up and the entire back of the chair is covered in fake blood. They were really nice to us and told us not to worry, but we still felt pretty bad.”
Looking forward to: Panels and demoing games.

Pete Gast
From: Boston.
Why at PAX:
In the process of starting up a small company making games to develop casual games for a niche market, and he knows people from the MIT GAMBIT Lab.
Favorite games, genres and/or platforms:
Mostly turn-based strategy games, like Disgaea and Final Fantasy Tactics; PC games, Wii games for casual and PS2 for a better variety.
Looking forward to: The Women in Gaming panel.

Joe Bowen (Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art)
From: New Jersey
Why at PAX:
Came to meet his brother from Arizona, who always wanted to go to the PAX Prime. His brother had the opportunity to come to PAX East and asked Joe to drive down from New Jersey to meet him.
Favorite games, genres and/or platforms:
Mostly 2D, side-scrolling games on the DS; New Super Mario Brothers.
Favorite PAX event, panel and/or expo booth:
Seeing the new games and concept art more from an artistic and design perspective than actually playing stuff. He liked Shank’s visual 2D, cartoon look.
Looking forward to:
Penny Arcade Make-a-Strip panel on Sunday.

David Shire (Biology student at Boston University)
Geo Rubio (Political science student at Boston University)
Marlena Flannery (Photo-journalism student at Boston University)
From: Boston.
Why at PAX:
Always thought PAX Prime looked cool but weren’t going to go all the way to Seattle.
Favorite games, genres and/or platforms:
David: Casual games.
Geo: Fighters, Smash Bros.
Marlena: Kirby.
Favorite PAX event, panel and/or expo booth:
The expo hall, interacting with random gamers, and the Indie Showcase. Lines for panels were really full and they kept getting locked out, such as the Keynote and It's Got A Good Beat, And I Can Kill Zombies To It panel.
Looking forward to:
David: Action Castle! panel on Sunday.
Geo, Marlena: Video Game Orchestra on Saturday.

Erik Morton and Julia Moore. [*NOTE: So sorry I forgot to snap a picture!]
From:Virginia
Why at PAX:
A group of friends who had been to PAX Prime in Seattle last year who highly recommended it to them. This was their first PAX.
Favorite games, genres and/or platforms:
Julia: Bioshock, Bioshock 2, Batman Arkham Asylum; FPS, survival horror.
Erik: RPGs, loves games with strong narrative and story; Diablo II is most-played game.
Favorite PAX event, panel and/or expo booth:
Keynote, Nvidia booth’s 3D exhibits, raffles and events.
Looking forward to: Nvidia panel and console freeplay.