Search for:. I thoroughly enjoyed that part — looking into what seemed like a vast hall of endless choices, with everything new and interesting and with options branching out and branching away in ever broadening variety. From the press event onwards, there was always something new to see. Sometimes, those things were genuinely astounding Like this massive, city-scale spaceship from Dropship Commander. And sometimes they were the comparatively mundane but excitingly dedicated cosplayers that made reality bend slightly every time they hove into view.
Not romanceable — Cosplay is not Consent. If I had a plan for our first day at the UKGE it was to get the lay of the land, map out the events and games we most wanted to sample, and then use Saturday and Sunday to actually sit down and enjoy the rich array of excitement laid on before us.
I wanted to sample from this ludic buffet like a pleasingly well-provisioned gourmand. I left the convention centre an hour ago. I have a packet of weird kettle chips and a bottle of Pepsi Max on the table beside me. Mrs Meeple is upstairs, trying to catch some sleep to make up for that which we lost to motorway traffic during the night. This is the absolute opposite of what I wanted from today. Some people are energised by crowds. Some people can feel the electricity of society run through them like an alternating current.
I have never been one of those people. I like quiet. I am not gregarious. I enjoy the company of people in smaller numbers. In large numbers they can very rapidly overwhelm my psychic energy stores. Today, that balance shifted. I spoke to a very nice woman demonstrating for Esdevium, and she said that they were told to expect 12, people at the Birmingham NEC on Saturday.
Twelve thousand people in a convention centre space that could comfortably support perhaps half of that. In the afternoon, that changed dramatically. The problem with a convention that is about people getting together and playing games is that it takes space. Selling games takes space.
