QuakeCon 2023

Ever since my first QuakeCon in 2015 I have made it my annual long-distance travel vacation. An enormous LAN party with consistently over three THOUSAND gamers with their own computers, most of which are brought from home, makes this the pinnacle of gaming events. Sure you’ll find tons of people watching Esport events and a sizable roster of competitors, but those events have a singular focus: competing in a single game. QuakeCon invites everyone from all levels of gaming skill and interests including table top and party games. I’ve seen game developer teams there working on and showcasing their own projects (including those from id Software, Bethesda, Arkane, and MachineGames), community-organized tournaments, retro co-op on Raspberry Pis and similar hardware, like-minded people banding together to work on projects or even start companies, game music composed, the list goes on. And that’s not including the keynotes, panels, expo hall, and any other events going on at the time.

It all started with a Q
Image taken from QuakeCon official album

QuakeCon first started in 1996 as a simple Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) LAN party in a hotel conference room with just 40 gamers in attendance. Since then it has steadily grown each year with (to my knowledge) the largest capacity being in 2018 with a capacity of 4000; one hundred times bigger than when it started! When I first attended in 2015 it was held at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, TX and the BYOC capacity was an even 3000. To put this into perspective, the LAN was held in a 45,000 sqft ballroom which sat all the way at the back of the hotel, with some serious amount of hallway between it and the main hotel atrium. The line for equipment check-in (affectionately called LineCon) extended out the front door of the hotel. Digressing for a moment, there were at least two other events going on using conference/meeting rooms in the main building of the hotel, one of which was a leadership conference, the other being a cheerleading convention if I’m not mistaken. The looks of near panic on their faces as they saw the sheer number of us, all with our own custom gear was truly priceless. When the LAN officially started later that night those seated next to and near me wasted no time in getting some multiplayer titles up and running and I scrambled to join them. Over the next few days I had befriended at least a dozen people I’d never met before and I’ve kept in touch with most of them ever since. That trend has continued to this day.

This year’s QuakeCon ran in reduced format due to it being the first one in person since 2019, so it was just the BYOC LAN party and Tabletop Village, but the festivities and shenanigans most certainly weren’t lacking. All of the “traditional” calls and responses were sent around the ballroom at random (namely whoops and Lil’ John impressions), all manner of games were played, community tournaments were held, campfire-style discussions were had (I even witnessed Marty Stratton and Hugo Martin talking shop with a game dev team that sat opposite our side of the row), Master Pancake riffed on the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie, AMD’s 8-foot tall robot roamed the BYOC, and Quake II’s remaster was unveiled. But what I think matters most is that new friendships were forged and past ones rekindled, the camaraderie was in full force, the feeling of a community with a giant list of common interests was palpable. I know, that’s sappy AF but I’d be lying otherwise. It’s 2023 and we’re over three years past the start date of COVID-19. Yes, things have significantly improved but everything that’s transpired since 2019 (2020 in the US) has pushed a giant reset button on so much of life and QuakeCon was firmly on that list. Because of QuakeCon’s unique social dynamics compared to most other conventions and events, it’s become a staple in my life and the loss of that for three years (combined with a level of negativity in the world I had never previously experienced) took a toll on me. I wholeheartedly support and applaud the staff that made QuakeCon 2020-22 possible in digital form, but I think a lot of my fellow con-goers would agree that there’s no substitute for the real deal. I can be introverted at times but I know my mental well-being craves social interaction from like-minded individuals and where better to get that than from 3000 like-minded individuals at QuakeCon?

Yeah, it’s my mana. Shut up.

The genuine QuakeCon experience always starts at least a day before the official start. As an attendee if you arrive on Monday or Tuesday you might see a small sign of things to come. The Gaylord Texan’s atrium has a train village (some of it motorized) that has some of the signs updated to the QuakeCon banner and usually Tuesday night you’ll see double Q’s light up the floor at the entrance to the convention center hallway from the hotel.

Wednesday is when things start to happen. All of the signage and banners are in place and anyone staying on-site will be swarming the hotel check-in lines throughout the entire day. But what really takes the center stage is what is colloquially and affectionately refered to as LineCon®. Just like any other major event, the con-goers will line up long before the event starts. But unlike said other major events, this line isn’t to merely get in, it’s for equipment check-in and registration. When LineCon® starts you’ll see pull wagons, carts, and Pelican cases sat next to people lounging in folding lawn chairs and the line doesn’t move an inch until sometime in the late afternoon or evening when the BYOC infrastructure setup is complete.

Why is LineCon® referred to with affection? Because unlike other conventions where you have tens of thousands of people queued up and thereby requiring each person to take up as little space as possible, what QuakeCon (technically) lacks in people it makes up for in atmosphere when it comes to LineCon®. You’ve got groups of gamers with their gear loaded into folding wagons, stacked (sometimes with incredible amounts of jank) onto rolling carts, and they themselves plopped into every version of folding chair available or on the floor. There’s no sense of urgency, so conversations are had, card and portable games are played, and new friendships forged. I’ve been to PAX, Otakon, even TwitchCon and none of them can say their communities are built and grown just by having people wait in line. A good time before even having a good time if you ask me.

In the years that I’ve attended QuakeCon, registration and equipment check-in is pretty straightforward and rather painless. After getting a badge and lanyard and confirming you’re not looking for a restaurant manager’s convention, barcode stickers are placed on your primary components (tower, monitor, laptop, etc) and logged in an effort to prevent stealing which, to my knowledge, has worked pretty damn well over the years. Once checked in it’s through the doors into the BYOC. Even though I’ve been to every in-person QuakeCon since 2015 it never ceases to amaze me how enormous the ballroom that hosts the BYOC is.

Image from the official QuakeCon album on Flickr

Since the LAN hasn’t actually started yet, anyone that’s checked in at this point is only allowed to drop off their equipment at their reserved location. With the networks still being configured and tested, you’re restricted from hooking up and using your machine at this time. Depending on the time most people, myself included, will either try to find dinner or something else to do to pass the time. Now the gameplan is hurry up and wait. You’re just waiting until the networks are online and announcements are made in several mediums as well as word of mouth when that finally happens, but it’s anyone’s guess as to when that is. Nevertheless, you’re guaranteed to get notified. Alternatively you can call it a night and come back in the morning. Since the BYOC doesn’t close during QuakeCon you can keep whatever hours you please. This year things were a bit on the slow side for LineCon® to start moving and by extension when the entire BYOC came to life but I’m not complaining since it’s been four years since this last took place and I can fully understand everyone needing a bit to get back into the swing of things. I was in LineCon® for all of fifteen minutes before I was reunited with the very first people I befriended at QuakeCon 2015. Hugs were had, spines crunched, and, cheesy as it is, the stress of the last few years started to melt away.

Eventually I progressed from the back of the Gaylord atrium to the decorated hall leading to the convention center and finally through security at the entrance. Back in 2019 QuakeCon started implementing metal detectors in response to an incident that, to my understanding, occurred at the Gaylord but not from a previous QuakeCon. I don’t consider the details all that important though, if it happened then it happened and the people running QuakeCon are some of the most level headed people I’ve met. If this is what it takes to ensure an incident doesn’t occur at QuakeCon, I can live with it.

Once past security you’re then in another line for gear check-in. This involves getting your photo taken and then primary components tagged with a barcode label (desktop tower, monitor, laptop, etc). While certainly tedious for those that have to unbox something (I’ve seen many a monitor packed in the original packaging) this generally doesn’t cause as much of a slowdown as one might think due to the fact that they have multiple staff members for this. During this process they usually also have a staff member or two handing out swag bags containing a QuakeCon BYOC exclusive t-shirt and, for this year, some kind of scratch-off that is supposed to be explained during the welcome event on the main stage. At the end of the line you’ll get a lanyard and badge plus a black sharpie to write your name with. After donning the lanyard you will have finally survived LineCon® and it’s on to the BYOC.

A view of the NOC from the first few rows after walking in

So technically the BYOC isn’t ready at this point, only seating is set up. This phase is referred to as Drop-n-Go because you drop your stuff off at your assigned seat and then go until the BYOC is ready for action. While this has been going on for longer than I’ve been attending QuakeCon, my best guess is this was done to better manage congestion in the venue hallways as the con grew larger. Giving everyone an extra day to get checked in while cutting down a substantial amount on the number of people lining up computer in hand so everyone can game for as long as possible? Sounds like a win-win to me. It was super late after this so the family and I opted to head back to our hotel for the night.

I checked Discord and Twitter a few times throughout the night but never saw an announcement that the BYOC opened early. Not too surprising, this LAN hasn’t been held in four years, I fully expected a few things to be a little rusty. But when we came back the next morning everything was in full swing. The lights were still on but I estimated at least seventy five percent of the BYOC was occupied. I put my PC together and then helped my wife and daughter as needed. And then it was off to the races games. Around noon is when the announcement came through the PA system that the lights were going out. A ceremony of build-up claps, cheers, and more Lil’ John and the lights went down. Unless you count the blacklights, there wasn’t light in this room until Sunday afternoon.

While there are those at QuakeCon that will play a single game until the very end, the vast majority of us, myself included, need at least some variety. I also try to plan which games I’ll be playing in advance so that I can avoid having to download anything on site. Quake Live, Quake Champions, DOOM 2016, and DOOM Eternal are always at the top of my list with Rocket League, Golf with Friends, PUBG, and Raft for backup. I started off with some Quake Champions matches to get warmed up and then after a food break I switched to DOOM Eternal and played the final chapter until completion. Playing the final chapter has become something of an impromptu tradition of mine the last few years that started during a Discord voicechat session during QuakeCon @ Home in 2020 and has continued by request in the last few years due to my commentary. Much fewer people in voicechat this year, but that’s to be expected since we’re finally back to an in-person event. After dinner I was invited to a few Golf matches and then Quake Live. Between that and some socializing with old friends, the first day was in the books.

Historically the welcome keynotes and other kickoff presentations are held on Friday, my educated guess is with everyone checking in throughout Wednesday and Thursday, holding the presentations on Friday ensures as few people miss out as possible. In the past the welcome presentation was a lot longer and hype-worthy than this year, but several things have happened since the 2019 event: ZeniMax got purchased by Microsoft (EWWW!!!!) and as such Pete Hines, the now former senior VP and head of publishing at Bethesda, was made redundant retired, no new titles are in the works from any of the ZeniMax developers, and with COVID still being a serious cause for concern with large events, nobody could predict how well things would come together for an event, so the directors erred on the side of caution and just put id Software on stage with their announcements. Despite my disappointments, I was still happy at least something had been in the works. Two years ago id Software worked with Nightdive Studios to remaster the original Quake from 1996. This year Nightdive remastered Quake II and anyone that attended QuakeCon in person got a product key for it to use on Steam. Those of us that already had Quake II on Steam (which included me) got the remaster as a free update, so I gave my key to my best man who has yet to attend a QuakeCon (note to self: FIX THAT).

I only know executive producer Marty Stratton on the far left and game director Hugo Martin on the far right. I really need to nerd out with Hugo one day.

When the keynote ended I noticed that quite a few people were already playing the Quake II remaster. Eager to check it out for myself I downloaded the update and booted it up. The new main menu serves as a launcher for all iterations of Quake II including the mission pack expansions plus an all new expansion entitled Call of the Machine.

Nostalgia got the better of me so I started at the beginning. I’ll admit, the remade intro cinematic is extremely well done and I’m glad that Nightdive didn’t just update the game’s graphics and multiplayer backend. Touches like these are what make remasters thoroughly enjoyable: the original content is completely preserved yet enhanced just enough to, aside from making it playable on modern systems, top what the original game had to offer. In this case the aforementioned touches include the enhanced graphics using the Vulkan renderer instead of one of the earliest incarnations of OpenGL (nothing against OpenGL, it was amazing for its time), high resolution, frame rates, and widescreen support, and a completely overhauled multiplayer backend and UI.

Three years ago during the COVID lockdowns I decided to do a playthrough of Quake II because I literally couldn’t remember if I’d played it during this century. I got the game working but I had to jump through a few hoops to get it working because, oddly enough, being listed on Steam apparently didn’t mean the game was going to work right off the bat. Chief among the issues was the game wanted to launch in its native 320x200 and my monitors can’t produce a resolution that low, so the game would just close upon finding out it couldn’t render at that setting. This combined with other issues of a game that needed some love to run properly well into the 21st century and it took me a good hour to get everything up and running. Thanks to the remaster, I can leave those woes in the past.

I sunk about two hours into the Quake II before it was time to move onto the next game and then at some point in the evening we got dinner before returning to the BYOC.

At 10 it was time to line up for the 10:30 Master Pancake event. Because this was set up in one of the ballrooms upstairs they had to limit the people in attendance, so we figured 30 min was early enough to guarantee three seats for us. When the hosts came onstage I swear the room would have registered on a seismograph. I don’t blame anyone, it’s been a while thanks to COVID. Side note: FUCK COVID. This year’s showing was a classic: Super Mario Bros. from 1993. A perfect blend of 90’s cheezy humor and lightheartedness if you ask me.

After introductory antics and what could very loosely be considered crowd control a drinking phrase was picked with the prompt being when Mario and Luigi went “glug-glug-glug”.

During the intermission a skit was performed. I’m not entirely sure what exactly was going on, but it seemed like they were trying to banish Koopa, possibly using plungers. I was seated fairly far back so all I had to go on was what made it onto the projector screens. My other best guess is a limited re-enactment of the Mario vs. Bowser fight in Super Mario 64.

After the movie was over we all gave the Master Pancake hosts a standing ovation before heading back downstairs to the BYOC. It was around 1AM so my wife and daughter were ready to call it a night, but I still had some fight left in me and plenty of people I knew around us were still up, so after seeing the family to an Uber ride I fired Quake Live back up again and wore myself out for the next two hours or so. Then it was my turn to pack it in for the night.

Saturday is when my FOMO brain kicks in and I have to remind it that there is still a full day and then some of QuakeCon left, plus I haven’t missed anything on my to-do list. Speaking of which, I really only had three things on my agenda: give blood, compete in my friend’s community Quake Live tournament, and then play even more Quake Live in the Megamatch at 11PM.

We slept in a bit so we got to the BYOC around lunchtime. I took a walk around the vendor areas and I caught V1 Tech’s setup with an impressive amount of graphic prints and mousemats. There was also a few walls of QuakeCon fan art submissions. I don’t remember what the contest prizes were, but I’m always impressed with how many submissions there are. I personally can’t draw much beyond stick figures and tech diagrams, so I’m not brave enough to submit anything of my own, but I can tell from what’s posted that every single one of these pieces were made by people that care.

I apologize for the lens flare in the above photos, I just found out recently there is a scratch in the tempered glass cover over my phone camera lenses. I’ll try to remedy that at some point.

After returning to my spot in the BYOC I told my family about the V1 Tech booth so we all headed over to see if anything interested us. Plenty did, but we ended up purchasing their QuakeCon mousemats as they were the perfect size for LANs. With that we snazzed up our stations in the BYOC and then headed upstairs to donate blood before the Red Cross packed it up.

While some people have misgivings about the Red Cross as an organization, I just do this for me - it gives me a little metabolic jolt. Plus I’ve got a rare blood type and every time I’ve donated I always gotten a notice within a few weeks that it’s already being used, so I’m at least under the impression this is helping someone so that ticks that box for me. I asked about the double donation since I have quite a bit of “organically produced fruit punch” to spare but they only had one machine to handle that and it was in use and there wasn’t enough time to squeeze me in before they left. Oh well, no biggie. In with the big needle, and out with some B-negative with “great iron counts”. Three-ish min later and I was done. For those that know this process and wonder if they hit an artery for me to fill a pint that quick, trust me, they didn’t. This is normal for me. My wife also donated, and lucky for both of us the official QuakeCon photographers were in the room while we were hooked up. Hope to find my pic in the 2023 album soon. :)

After getting disconnected and collecting some QuakeCon branded Red Cross merch (plus a snack and a drink) we headed back to the BYOC for more fun.

The next item on the list was the community Quake Live tournament that my good friend iMaximus organized. The prizes were a 3D printed Quake “Q” trophy and interestingly enough a laser engraved rock. I believe the tournament was the winner was the best of three rounds of Instagib FFA and I’m happy to report that I won! Shoutout to my friends Meltingwax and NJM1112 who also participated and came in second and third place respectively. The last match was damn close!

I took these pics after I got back home. The rock trophy came out so bad with my phone I switched to my DSLR for that pic.

Between the frags and my IRL blood loss I declared loudly I needed food, so six of us opted to head to Hard Eight BBQ which I last went to in either 2017 or 2018. I remember the brisket sandwich part of my order, but not much else. But it was definitely tasty.

Upon returning to the BYOC everyone in our immediate vicinity was each playing something different, so I opted to put a little more time into the Quake II remaster. I still wasn’t disappointed. After a little over an hour it was time for the last hurrah.

At ten sharp the QuakeCon Discord voicechat lit up like a Christmas tree for the Quake Live Megamatch - 64 players in Instagib CTF. The absolute hilarity about this is while the teams do score, we often don’t get to complete a match due to the server crashing, LOL! So yeah, the object of the game isn’t to win so much as it is to see how long the server lasts. I think it crashed three or four times before Megamatch ended at midnight. Without question this ranks right up there alongside the community tournaments as one of the most enjoyable LAN moments for me: no competition, no goals, zero regard for who wins or loses, just good old fashioned screwing around to keep the laughs flowing. A fantastic if not outright perfect way to end the final night of QuakeCon 2023.

After another hour or so of just relaxing (I may have played another game but I honestly don’t recall at this point) the family and I opted to call it a night so we could get an early start the next morning. Upon returning to the hotel room, we packed up everything except the LAN rigs and then went to sleep.

Sunday always brings a feeling of melancholy knowing that QuakeCon is coming to a close and that practicality requires one to leave sufficient time to check their equipment out before the BYOC closes, and that’s not taking into account departure times for returning home. Our return flight was 3:15PM so we needed to be at the airport no later than 1:15. After scarfing down some cereal at the hotel room we showed up to the BYOC with Pelican cases in tow. We gave ourselves an hour for socializing and one final game if anyone we knew was playing something, but with everyone saying goodbyes and making conversation, that’s what we ended up doing. We then packed up the LAN rigs and checked out of the BYOC, which took us about 30 min start to finish, which worked out perfectly for our schedule. Upon returning to the hotel we grabbed our luggage and checked out but had the front desk hold our luggage until later since we wouldn’t be leaving for the airport until around 12:45. Until then we had one last tradition to uphold.

In years past we have always made it a point to visit Oldwest Cafe for brunch and we had just enough time to squeeze that in. We were a bit disappointed that they got rid of the checker board tables and checker sets sometime since 2019, but that didn’t bring us down, especially once the food arrived. Having only gone to this restaurant a grand total of five times including today, I have only sampled some of their menu, but I can say with absolute certainty that the stuffed french toast selections will let you die with a smile on your face. Having died digitally at least fifty time in the last few days I wasn’t keen on letting that happen in the real world, so I settled for food coma and powering through being on my feet going through airport security and the trek to our gate.

2:45 came around soon enough and then it was time to board. When getting in line though, I thought I spotted a familiar face, but I couldn’t be sure since I was behind him.

Mid-flight we had to divert to Indiana for a minute to avoid a nasty storm front, but we were on the runway for all of half an hour. Not an inconvenience in my book, especially after flying through a thunderstorm to get to QuakeCon 2019. Yeah, not eager to repeat that.

We touched down around 45 min behind schedule but it was only around 7:30. At the baggage claim I finally discovered the identity of the supposedly familiar face. I wish I took a picture of us because it got me over my post-con depression in a heartbeat, for I was face-to-face with none other than BouvToTheMax! Turns out he lives about 40 min north of me. Definitely gonna meet up with him outside of QuakeCon in the future.

Whew! This was a SUPER long post and I know for some it’s unnecessarily detailed, but without a previous QuakeCon post I wanted to give the fullest picture possible in addition to conveying that this is a serious passion for me in life. Next year’s post won’t be as long, I promise. If you attended QuakeCon this year or are planning on coming next year, feel free to look me up, I always love meeting new people and nerding out over whatever.

Until next time!