Dragon Con Video Gaming Track

Unexpected, but welcome.

There can still be coloring at Dragon Con. Print them out, color them, and share them! We'd love to see them since we couldn't do coffee and coloring this year.

On the road to virtual con, escorting the payload...

Simlish never sounded so right.

We are sorry to announce that our dear friend Brian Green passed away quietly of natural causes on Thursday, August 6th in Rockville, Maryland. He was doing wha...t he loved, engaging with and continuing to build a safe and accepting online community in the multiplayer online game Final Fantasy XIV. In Final Fantasy, an online world with millions of worldwide players, he was leader and protector of a group of about 90 people in what was known as a "Free Company" called Condors of Ul'dah, which he founded three years ago. To his own group, and hundreds of other players, he was T'arl Nunh, a pillar of the community, and was regarded with incredible respect, as a bright light that illuminated the entire world around him. In the outside "real world", Brian was 46 years old, and had no history of illness, it was just his time. He was playing the game on Thursday afternoon, and then simply leaned back, closed his eyes, and was gone. Brian is well known in the game industry, he was a moderator "Wizard" of an early MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) when he was in college, and then became CEO of the company that ran the early multiplayer online game Meridian 59 from 2001 to 2010. More recently he was working on a new unannounced online game. He posted occasionally about game development on his blog at psychochild.org, and had an active Tuesday night podcast about game development called "Grim Talk", with his co-host Maulgrim (hence the "grim" in the name), another member of his Final Fantasy community. Brian was born in Iowa in 1973, and received two separate Bachelor's degrees from Iowa State University of Science and Technology. He leaves behind his spouse Kathleen (Kat) Foley, his parents, a brother, and hundreds of online friends who miss him dearly but are celebrating his amazing life. Everyone who knew him, both online and offline, commented about his kindness. He was a very gentle soul, and will be missed. Those who wish to donate to a charity in his name may donate to savethechildren.org. Because of the pandemic, there will not be an in-person memorial, but there will be an open Zoom conference at a date yet to be announced. For those who are members of the Final Fantasy community, there will be an in-game memorial on the Mateus server on Friday, August 14, at 9pm Eastern, in Ward 17, plot 49, in the Goblet housing area. For those not in that community, it will be recorded and the memorial comments can be viewed later. RIP, Brian. ---- (update) Brian's memorial will take place on October 31, 3-9pm ET, on Zoom. There will not be a formal service, this is just an informal opportunity for people to wander in and out, spend as much or as little time as they like, share stories/pictures, and raise a glass in Brian's memory. For a Zoom link, please reply to this thread or contact Elonka Dunin, here on Facebook, on Twitter at @ElonkaDunin, or via email: [email protected]

Everything that’s happening did seem strangely familiar...

Happy National Video Game Day! What are YOU playing?

After an exhaustive attempt to consider and uncover every possible option to hosting a safe and much-needed #DragonCon this year, it has become apparent that we... cannot, in good faith, move forward with our 2020 event. We are heartbroken to make this announcement, but do so with the support of you, our fans, our partners, the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau Main Office, and City of Atlanta Government. For that, we thank you. While we aren’t able to welcome you back in person this September, we will be taking our 2020 event virtual this Labor Day weekend with a free to the universe experience. Keep those calendars marked and stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks. We know you have questions. You can find the answers at www.dragoncon.org/updates. Please be patient as the website updates. In the meantime, we just ask our fans to be like our favorite Mandalorian and never take off your mask in public. Stay safe and we will look forward to seeing you in person next year. This is the (Dragon Con) way.

DRAGON CON CANCELS 2020 CONVENTION AMID PANDEMIC In Its Place, Organizers Launch a Virtual Convention That Will Be Free to The Universe For the first time in 34 years, Dragon Con, the internationally known science fiction, fantasy, and pop culture convention, will not be held, a decision made in response to the ongoing pandemic facing the United States and the world.... In its place, Dragon Con will hold a live-streamed convention free to the universe and featuring classic panels and original programming for 2020. Details will be announced in the upcoming weeks. Dragon Con will return in 2021 with an epic and much deserved five-day event from Thursday, Sept. 2 through Monday, Sept. 6. https://www.dragoncon.org//dragon-con-cancels-2020-conven/

There are no details, but our interest is piqued.

Game Master may be delayed, but Will Wheaton's got an idea for putting the gaming community to good use.

If these were screenshots from actual games, I would play them all.