Over this past weekend, I attended an online board game convention called Protospiel.online. My good buddy Richard Day told me about the event literally a week before and encouraged me to go.
Boy am I glad he did.
This was my first ever online event and it was a wild ride the entire time. The moderators and event staff did a fantastic job in making the Discord server feel like a little conference hall. There were private voice servers set up like tables, giant voice chats filled with over 20 people looking for a new cool game to play, and dozens of text channels for all sorts of discussion.
I’ve been to an in-person event only once before (Metatopia 2018) and I definitely learned a ton there too. And as the whole pandemic started, I’ve been really gun-shy about attending the new virtual events that have been popping up everywhere. But boy, are they just as good.
A few pros to virtual events vs. in-person events
- Can sign up until very close to the event (a week before in my case)
- Can attend in your PJs
- Don’t have to worry about looking your best every day
- No COVID-19
I played probably over ten different board games during the course of the weekend. There were one-man teams, small indie developers, and first-time amateurs (like me!) all excited to play some new games and get feedback on their own creations. It was a magical (but hectic!) weekend.
Since there were over 50 different games and only 3 days, I unfortunately couldn’t play all of them. But it was very exciting to see so many Discord voice channels filled up with profile icons. Each channel meant a different game was being playtested and fine-tuned.
Just like my previous event, I was a bit nervous at first to get my game in front of my peers. Afraid of judgment and afraid of rejection. My emotions were a rollercoasting through the whole process and sometimes it did feel daunting going at it alone.
Luckily, the community was so friendly and they made me feel very welcomed despite being new. Everyone understood that we all must start somewhere and offered great practical advice. Now my game rules have been fine tuned and it’s event better than before! (Perhaps I’ll make a separate post on the specific changes)
If you’d like, I created a virtual version of the game on Tabletop Simulator, so you too can try the game out right now for free! If you are unsure on how to use TTS, check out this video here.
Comments