A Working E3

The gamer part of my brain truly loves E3.

There’s spectacle, controversy, games, and free food and booze. The order doesn’t really matter, but that’s what my gamer brain starts thinking about when it comes to E3. I conveniently forget about dehydration – my worst headaches are found at E3 – tired feet and almost bitter Los Angeles water. And besides that year in Santa Monica and the year after that at the Los Angeles Convention Centre, my ability to hear things properly quickly degrades.

This year I have my fingers crossed – typing is a bit of chore – that things pan out the way I hope they will, which will be much, much different that previous years.

Basically, E3 offers the perfect avenue to Indulgence. I’ve been there in the past representing The Armchair Empire to attend press conferences and meetings; getting “scoops” (or soft serve ice cream that Nintendo usually offers.) I try maintain a veneer of professionalism to obscure the fact I’ve blown off a week of work and life at home to basically goof around.

I do actually take it quite seriously. Otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered with business cards, combing through LinkedIn to ensure I could place names and faces together, keep a “database” of contacts on-hand, or be bang on time for appointments, no matter how many people I had to knock over to do so.

If the winds of the universe blow the right way, I could actually be working at the event. Actually, doing something and possibly eschewing E3 parties to ensure my brain is limber enough to function.

I don’t want to jinx it by saying anything more about what the job might be, but it’s safe to say it’s “scut work” in the sense that it offers nearly zero editorial (i.e. personality) to shine through. I thought that might be a problem for me, but I’ve put in study hours trying to smooth out Personality.

You know what? I’m excited about the mere possibility of actually working the event!