(Uncategorized - SOE) - E3: The View From Inside the SOE Booth! - Thu, 01 Jul 2010 03

~Tiffany “Amnerys” Spence, EverQuest II Community Manager
Shirra, Raijinn Brasse, Shingo, Amnerys and Soffrina at E3 2010


Two weeks ago I had the privilege of representing SOE, the Community Relations department, and the EQ and EQII teams at E3, the Entertainment Electronics Expo. The show takes place annually in Los Angeles, and it’s considered THE event where major gaming companies flex their muscles for the year. At E3 you’re likely to see the biggest, newest, shiniest and most awesome in the gaming industry.
E3 2010 in Los Angeles

Over the years the format of the show has changed. Once upon a time it was open to the public, and supposedly all manner of madness ensued. Great madness, but it sounds like the crowd was just a little too large for the good of the show. So a few years ago they stripped it way back, allowing only industry insiders to attend, and eliminating the showy booths and demos….maybe a little too much. Over the past two years they’ve found a happy medium, allowing big and fancy booth displays, but maintaining the insiders-only attendance rule.
I’m of the opinion that the fans and players actually make out pretty well in this deal. Sure, it’d be awesome to have the hands-on experiences, but you’d also have registration lines and big crowds to endure, as well as badge fees, travel and hotel fees, dining and so on to pay for. The way it is now, you can sit at home, still play your favorite game, and just follow the news as it comes in. Sounds like a win/win to me! However, if you ever get the chance to attend, it’s definitely worth seeing at least once.
As a first time attendee, I was really excited to check out this convention. I’d heard a lot about it during my years at SOE, and I’m pleased to say that it didn’t disappoint.
The bulk of the SOE staff arrived on Monday, though our Events staff had been there for a day or so already, getting things set up. We all chipped in and helped get the place in tip-top shape. The graphic designer from Marketing and I actually spent a lot of the day Windexing and wiping down the booth walls and surfaces. That’s a lot harder than it sounds! By early Monday evening we were pretty much ready for the show. Tuesday morning we had to present the booth to our fearless Grand Poobah, Kaz Hirai, the Chief Executive Officer of Sony Computer Entertainment of America. I heard he liked what SOE did with the space. Yay!
We were strategically stationed by the main entrance to the West Hall (one of two halls used for the show) and we were snuggled up right next to our PlayStation family. When the doors opened on Tuesday, I was standing upstairs in our booth, in the stylish VIP lounge. I had a great view of the entry, and the sheer number of people who flowed in was amazing. It was a non-stop river of heads for nearly five minutes!
The SOE Reception Desk

Over the next three days we showed off the majority of our company catalog to thousands of people. The biggest demo stations were for the press to see our new shinies: DC Universe Online, Clone Wars Adventures, Magic The Gathering: Tactics, Free Realms and The Agency. We also had demos for EverQuest, EverQuest II, Legends of Norrath,*PoxNora, The Agency: Covert Ops, and some PlayStation Network games that SOE publishes. It was our time to shine, showing off the awesome that we do.
Personally, I spent my days roaming around New Halas in EverQuest II, sharing this icy new (or newly-rediscovered) area of Norrath with many veteran EQ players, former players, and plenty of non-players. It was great to meet so many people who had fond memories of the world. My demo station partner, Raramor of the EverQuest design team, was a great tag-teammate when we got a little busy or found ourselves being asked questions about both eras of Norrath.
When all was said and done, our teams conducted over 150 official appointments over the three days and countless unofficial demonstrations with representatives from gaming, consumer and business media. I think it’s fair to say that E3 was a big success for SOE.



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