Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.05.2013, Side 20

20The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 5 — 2013
Step into
the Viking Age
Experience Viking-Age Reykja­vík a­t the
new Settlement Exhibition. The focus of the
exhibition is a­n exca­va­ted longhouse site which
da­tes from the 10th century ad. It includes
relics of huma­n ha­bita­tion from a­bout 871, the
oldest such site found in Icela­nd.

Multimedia­ techniques bring Reykja­vík’s
pa­st to life, providing visitors with insights
into how people lived in the Viking Age, a­nd
wha­t the Reykja­vík environment looked like
to the first settlers.
The exhibition a­nd
museum shop a­re open
da­ily 10–17
Aða­lstræti 16
101 Reykja­vík / Icela­nd
Phone +(354) 411 6370
www.reykja­vikmuseum.is
With their newest free to play online shooter DUST 514 being only mo-
ments from release, the team still asked for help and suggestions from
players. The theme is player inclusivity, as was showcased with True
Stories, a site where players can submit their real experiences from the
EVE world. The stories then get voted on by EVE players and the best
stories will be turned into a graphic novel by Dark Horse Comics and a
mini-series directed by Iceland’s Baltasar Kormákur.
‘Thurenu’ of the Lonely Soldiers Corporation tells me that’s what
keeps EVE players hooked, the sense of ownership they have in the
game. Thurenu is in real life a paramedic from Michigan. He preferred
to give me his EVE name as he said, “nobody would know my name in
real life.” He’s played the game now for seven years and has only fin-
ished half of it.
The developers have learned the hard way what happens when
they don’t pay enough attention to their player base. In 2011 they were
developing an expansion called Incarna that left many players feeling
frustrated and excluded. As a result, many players cancelled their sub-
scription and CEO Hilmar Veigar had to send out a public apology to
bring them back. The players have returned, but a few I met told me it
is still fresh in their minds.
SO MUCH TO DO,
SO LITTLE TIME
For a first-timer at Fanfest, there are almost too many things to do.
The organisers have made sure to cater to a wide range of tastes. There
are lectures on economics and game design, panels where players en-
gage with developers, live concept art sessions and sneak peeks into
the future of CCP. For those looking for simple fun, there are free arcade
booths, poker, EVE and DUST tournaments, and an immersive virtual
reality space flight demo reminiscent of dogfights from Battlestar Ga-
lactica or Star Wars. There are also EVE hair and makeup booths, a
place to dress up for a Viking photo shoot and a tattoo parlour.
There is even a wedding of two Norwegian players, ‘Tarsisis’ and
‘Idunn Aasgard.’ Speaking to them after the ceremony, they couldn’t
be happier. Not only did they get married, but they got to do so at
a monumental event on the balcony of Harpa, surrounded by fel-
low fans. Admittedly, they tell me, they haven’t played the game
recently, but they: “Have a lot of friends from playing the game.”
MORE ONLINE PLAYERS
THAN ICELANDERS
As of February of this year, there are half a million active subscribers
on EVE Online, and they all play on the same server in a libertarian law-
less environment. Players can use this freedom to mine asteroids and
moons, craft valuable items, build alliances and engage in battles over
star systems. The world is truly on an interstellar scale, and CCP keep
expanding it by introducing space elevators, wormholes and a new first
person shooter DUST 514.
The players are also proud of the world outside the game. Some
meet up for barbeques and beers, a few host online TV shows devoted
to the game, and yet others run gambling sites with in-game currency
and in-game prizes. And the developers of the game make sure to alert
the players to these great community efforts by writing articles on their
website about them.
To finish the three-day festival, players get to party with developers
to Skálmöld’s Viking metal, Retro Stefson’s cool tunes and world-class
DJ Z-Trip’s nerdy mashup beats. The players stumble back home in the
early morning hours with raspy voices, lots of good memories and a
nasty hangover looming on the horizon.
The future is bright for players of the science-fiction online multiplayer
game, but CCP may have a tough act to follow next year.
- Tómas Gabríel Benjamin
Friday’s Pub Crawl almost bled the city dry
of beer, but how much money did foreign
visitors spend during the Fanfest inside the
city limits?
1,907 foreign visitors bought
tickets to the event
Each spent on average five
days in the country
Average spending per day in-
side Reykjavík was 24,783 ISK
Total estimated spending 275
Million ISK inside Reykjavík,
excluding flights
How many people watched the event?
1,907 foreign attendees,
83 members of press and
282,140 people online
That means there were al-
most as many people as Ice-
landers following the festival
A Wedding, Virtual Reality And A Mini-Series
CCP’s ninth annual Fanfest was all about the fans of the EVE Online game
Games
Walking through Harpa, it is absolutely packed with fans and EVE enthusiasts for CCP’s annual Fanfest. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill pre-
sentation theatres, keynote events and round table discussions. But interestingly, it looks like the developers are doing more than just presenting ideas;
they take a lot of notes and listen to the ideas of the players.
“That’s
what keeps
EVE players
hooked, the sense
of ownership they
have in the
game.”
Photos: Alisa Kalyanova, Arnaldur Halldórsson & Roman Gerasymenko