It was like a dream come true, the fact that I was part of a site that was recognized by Bioware as worthy of attending their first ever “Fan Site Summit of 2011”.  I am still having a hard time comprehending it all, and I think the events of the last few days are just now starting to soak in now that I am finally at home and can pause long enough to reflect.

Bioware, a company that I have loved for many years and where most of my fondest single player computer gaming experiences have come from.  The games that they have produced in the past like KOTOR, and the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, not to mention many more of their older titles.  Some of my fondest and most memorable gaming experiences that have shaped my views on the gaming space as a whole.

I must say that their studio blew me away.  There are so many good things to say about this company as a whole.  Some of the most impressive was their creativity, the atmosphere there, and their utter coolness as people on an approachable level.  There is so much creative energy there, that it soaks into you and energizes you just by being there.

 

 

 

The Doctors have done an excellent job providing an innovative and unique work environment.  Coming from industrial America as my background in Manufacturing Quality Assurance, it was something that took me by surprise and left me longing for more. These people were so approachable and humble while being genuinely interested in my concerns as a member of the community.  That is something that I find to be rare in this world and I can see that the Doctors’ philosophy is well represented here.

Not to mention the thought that I would finally be able to meet my partner from Serbia, Serge Stanarevic.  Plus all of the other sites that I have followed, supported, and enjoyed.  The podcasts, and websites that have given much happiness to me over the last two years.

Those sites like Torocast, Darth Hater, Mos Eisley Radio, Ask a Jedi, TOR-Talk, TOR-Wars, Corellian Run Radio, TOR-Syndicate, I have frequented them all.  They have all given me immense amounts of enjoyment through their creative articles, their insanely intense dissections, their vibrant and hilarious podcasts.

 

 

 

To meet them all was something I cherished just as much as actually being at Bioware.  To even raise the stakes of my enjoyment was the fact that I would make new friends in all of the sites coming from Europe as well and all the crazy and super cool people involved with those like  Gamona, InGame, Swtor.EU, Fureur, SWTOR UK and SWTOR-FR .

 

Could it get any better?

 

Yes, yes it could actually.

 

We have been given the opportunity to meet and interview one of my personal heroes in the online gaming space, one of its pioneer’s and pillars, Damion Schubert, and to meet the rest of the awesome developers that are in the process of shaping the game night and day as we speak and treating us like kings, literally.  These guys pulled out all the stops for us, there was nothing I was ever in need of when I was with them.  Truly the best I have been treated in a long time.

If you ever wondered if they truly care about the game and what they do then know that their love for the game and the IP is genuine and fantastic.  We are in good hands as gamers and it bodes well for us indeed!

 

 

 

I have been given the chance to hold Star Wars The Old Republic MMO in my hands and feel the world environment, to play and actually know that this game is shaping up to be the experience I have longed for since the days I spent in Ultima Online many years ago.  A chance for me to recapture that feeling that I have longed for and not been able to find for many years.  A chance to walk around the studio and see that this game is in the hands of some very creative people, and because of that I am no long worried so much about it not being designed to my liking.

Get this, the experience was so complete that even when we were boarding our super shuttle to go to the airport it was soon made evident to us that our driver was a huge Star Wars Fan.  Vincent Yobran, originally from Venezuela and now living in the USA realized that he was picking us up from Bioware headquarters and we proceeded to hear him talk about how much he loved the movies and how his life was affected by them.  he was a truly atounding master of the lore of the movies and he taught me in that short ride some things that I didnt even know!  How awesome is that?

We just knew at that moment that the experience was complete and that it wasn’t such a big world after all.

To top it all off here is a clip of some of the loudest sounds in the Austin area Serge Snoring!

Thank you Bioware from us both for providing us with such an unique experience!

I would also like to give a special thank you to the team here at swtor-life.com that have worked so hard to make us what we are.  We would not be the level of awesome I feel we are without them! Thanks to @MrWarlock_ @BorukBH @Grant__D @Forcemeridian, we appreciate you guys for sure.  🙂

 

Find out about my PVE play experience as I take on the Bounty Hunter and my origin world play session on the planet of Hutta in my next article.

Thanks for reading!

 

Tags: bioware, Fan Site Summit, hands on, swtor, swtor fan sites