The One About Philippines - Domination II
I just got back from Philippines and oh man... I was simply blown away and hopelessly inspired by the GE Philippines gamers. In all honesty, the past few months had me feeling rather burnt out and weary. But this trip to the Philippines - seeing how passionate the gamers were, the strong bonds they have created within this community was more than enough to cast revitalize me again!
Domination II was a HUGE event with a massive turnup of 18,000 people! Seriously long queues...
From external queues...
...to internal ones!Each of the games featured at Domination had its own stage and booth. Here's the booth setup pre-event:
Granado Espada Booth
Granado Espada Characters Coming To Life!
There were many events that went on that day - from PvP tournaments, to Philippines Community Heroes prize giving ceremony etc.
Some of the most unforgettable moments of the trip:
1) Faction Banner Competition
It was such a sight to behold! Seeing massive numbers of faction members who created their own faction banner and coming down to support the event. The atmosphere was so highly charged with cheers and shouts. It was a superbly rah-rah event and a strange reminder of my freshman orientation camp back in school. The unity and bond of trinity could not have been any more real during those moments:
In the finals, there was a tie between Vradical's banner and Outcasts' banner. It was finally decided that whoever cheered loudest for their faction would win the competition. Outcasts Faction nearly deafened us with their screams and cheering. LOL. Congratz to Outcasts Faction!
2) Show me the money!
We were delayed at the airport customs for some time due to the tons of prizes and gifts that we had lugged all the way from Singapore. Amidst the Seagate hard disks, Microsoft Vista and Office, Limited Edition Boxes etc... was also the USD2500 that was meant for the top 3 winners of the Fantazzztic Film Awards:
Show me the moola!
Framing the money into picture frames was a last minute inspiration from our Marketing Vice President, Yoda Chuan. Which has us scrambling to buy picture frames and sticky tape at the very last minute.
[Backstage] 10 minutes before the moolah ceremony....
Last minute art-and-craft session of pasting cold, hard cash into picture frames!
3) Meeting the Philippines Bloggers Group
Having regularly read their blogs for almost a year, it was such a heartwarming feeling to finally meet these great writers in person! And I must say they are as intellectual and interesting as their blogs.
Philippines Bloggers Group - A REALLY tight group
I was particularly delighted to meet "THE VOICE" that launched a thousand laughs. That's right. I'm talking about Mena Family who did all the voiceovers for one of the winning films of the Fantazzztic Film Awards, Le Blanc. His real life personality is truly as multi-faceted and colorful as his amazing spectrum of voices! I certainly wish I had a friend in Singapore that was just as hilarious and entertaining as he is!
The Voice that launched a thousand laughs - Mena Family
It was a wondrous reunion with the first blogger of Granado Espada, NineMoons, who was the very first gamer from the Philippines that I had met up with on my last trip to the Philippines 1 year ago. I guess I will always have this soft spot for her due to this =]
Also got a chance to meet the talented director, Reclusion Family (Carracci), who had bagged the top 2 prizes in Fantazzztic Film Awards. This guy is incredibly gifted - both KingKongJon and I agree that he will be someone great in future. (Don't forget me when you become famous one day, Darrick!) On the other hand, Artaxerxes & Fiksdotter really impressed me with their friendly and kind demeanor and Stiles was a very charming, little sweetie. :)
The most touching moment of this entire trip was when they presented me with a photo mosaic that was made up of all the photos they had taken together. It was likely one of the most moving, overwhelmingly feel-good moments in my entire RCM life. ~>.<~
*Touched* is an understatement...
4) The Dinner Poll
After the Domination II event, we (me, Yoda Chuan, KingKongJon and Alex) were privileged enough to have a dinner with the Pinoy Faction leaders, their deputy leaders and the Bloggers group. During this dinner, we got to hear a lot of feedback from them and we also shared with them some of the operational issues we had on our end. We also shared with them some of the upcoming plans for V2.6 tentative launch on 12 June 2008 (*May be subject to change)
There's this famous dish in the Philippines called Balut (I dare not post images here lest you lose your appetite, but if you are REALLY up for the challenge, here's google image search results)
Desanggria Family was particularly evil! When the dish arrived, she did a dinner poll:
"Who would like to see RCM Hrin eating Balut?"
All hands unanimously shot up, including the hands of my DEAR IAHGames COLLEAGUES.
Ah well. The community has spoken. Ilit my torch and ate Balut.
The vague image of Cockatrice pecking me to death flashed in my mind briefly.
Strangely, it tasted like Marmite. Hmm. Does that mean that Marmite is made up of...?
5) Meeting the Egames Peeps!
The peeps from Egames were such great hosts! They were so hospitable and sweet to us, that we felt so loved and well taken care of. Bonds were formed on a much more personal level, with all the jokes, laughter and conversations held.
And I have a new BFF (Best Friend Forever)! Bye bye Leticia, hello Jason! Audition's Community Manager, CM Jason, is THE most hilarious dude ever! We got along so fabulously - there's not a single moment of boredom with this guy. Here is Jason endorsing Coca-Cola...
CM Jason amusing us endlessly with his comical antics
Many, many thanks to you guys at eGames for making our time there so meaningful and well-spent. :)
Photo Sources:
Ninemoons
[CM] Veya
Artaxerxes
Mena
Granado Espada BoothCosplay is a really big thing in Philippines, such that they even had a huge cosplay area, splat right in the middle of the entire event setup, with all kind of props like bridges and mini stages for cosplayers to pose. Here are some of the Granado Espada cosplayers: Catherine, Elementalist, Wizards, Grace Berneli (Bistre Costume) and Feng Ling!
Granado Espada Characters Coming To Life!There were many events that went on that day - from PvP tournaments, to Philippines Community Heroes prize giving ceremony etc.
Some of the most unforgettable moments of the trip:
1) Faction Banner Competition
It was such a sight to behold! Seeing massive numbers of faction members who created their own faction banner and coming down to support the event. The atmosphere was so highly charged with cheers and shouts. It was a superbly rah-rah event and a strange reminder of my freshman orientation camp back in school. The unity and bond of trinity could not have been any more real during those moments:
In the finals, there was a tie between Vradical's banner and Outcasts' banner. It was finally decided that whoever cheered loudest for their faction would win the competition. Outcasts Faction nearly deafened us with their screams and cheering. LOL. Congratz to Outcasts Faction!
2) Show me the money!
We were delayed at the airport customs for some time due to the tons of prizes and gifts that we had lugged all the way from Singapore. Amidst the Seagate hard disks, Microsoft Vista and Office, Limited Edition Boxes etc... was also the USD2500 that was meant for the top 3 winners of the Fantazzztic Film Awards:
Show me the moola!Framing the money into picture frames was a last minute inspiration from our Marketing Vice President, Yoda Chuan. Which has us scrambling to buy picture frames and sticky tape at the very last minute.
[Backstage]
Last minute art-and-craft session of pasting cold, hard cash into picture frames!3) Meeting the Philippines Bloggers Group
Having regularly read their blogs for almost a year, it was such a heartwarming feeling to finally meet these great writers in person! And I must say they are as intellectual and interesting as their blogs.
Philippines Bloggers Group - A REALLY tight groupI was particularly delighted to meet "THE VOICE" that launched a thousand laughs. That's right. I'm talking about Mena Family who did all the voiceovers for one of the winning films of the Fantazzztic Film Awards, Le Blanc. His real life personality is truly as multi-faceted and colorful as his amazing spectrum of voices! I certainly wish I had a friend in Singapore that was just as hilarious and entertaining as he is!
The Voice that launched a thousand laughs - Mena FamilyIt was a wondrous reunion with the first blogger of Granado Espada, NineMoons, who was the very first gamer from the Philippines that I had met up with on my last trip to the Philippines 1 year ago. I guess I will always have this soft spot for her due to this =]
Also got a chance to meet the talented director, Reclusion Family (Carracci), who had bagged the top 2 prizes in Fantazzztic Film Awards. This guy is incredibly gifted - both KingKongJon and I agree that he will be someone great in future. (Don't forget me when you become famous one day, Darrick!) On the other hand, Artaxerxes & Fiksdotter really impressed me with their friendly and kind demeanor and Stiles was a very charming, little sweetie. :)
The most touching moment of this entire trip was when they presented me with a photo mosaic that was made up of all the photos they had taken together. It was likely one of the most moving, overwhelmingly feel-good moments in my entire RCM life. ~>.<~
*Touched* is an understatement...4) The Dinner Poll
After the Domination II event, we (me, Yoda Chuan, KingKongJon and Alex) were privileged enough to have a dinner with the Pinoy Faction leaders, their deputy leaders and the Bloggers group. During this dinner, we got to hear a lot of feedback from them and we also shared with them some of the operational issues we had on our end. We also shared with them some of the upcoming plans for V2.6 tentative launch on 12 June 2008 (*May be subject to change)
There's this famous dish in the Philippines called Balut (I dare not post images here lest you lose your appetite, but if you are REALLY up for the challenge, here's google image search results)
Desanggria Family was particularly evil! When the dish arrived, she did a dinner poll:
"Who would like to see RCM Hrin eating Balut?"
All hands unanimously shot up, including the hands of my DEAR IAHGames COLLEAGUES.
?!?!#!~@!#@$%#^......"Et tu, Brute?"
Ah well. The community has spoken. I
The vague image of Cockatrice pecking me to death flashed in my mind briefly.
Strangely, it tasted like Marmite. Hmm. Does that mean that Marmite is made up of...?
5) Meeting the Egames Peeps!
The peeps from Egames were such great hosts! They were so hospitable and sweet to us, that we felt so loved and well taken care of. Bonds were formed on a much more personal level, with all the jokes, laughter and conversations held.
And I have a new BFF (Best Friend Forever)! Bye bye Leticia, hello Jason! Audition's Community Manager, CM Jason, is THE most hilarious dude ever! We got along so fabulously - there's not a single moment of boredom with this guy. Here is Jason endorsing Coca-Cola...
CM Jason amusing us endlessly with his comical anticsMany, many thanks to you guys at eGames for making our time there so meaningful and well-spent. :)
Photo Sources:
Ninemoons
[CM] Veya
Artaxerxes
Mena
Posts
8 comments:
i truly wish i was quick enough to fish out my camera for that unforgettable balut dish tasting. >:)
muahahahaha! XD
it's been great to see you, hrin. thank you for visiting us. see you again soon. ^^
thank you so much for all the wonderful things you've said about us in this blog entry.
[i have a picture of you and the balut, by the way.]
hope to see you again soon ^^
Wow! now you released the "the one about" of that event XD! been visiting in your blog day by day to see that XD
as PJ said thank you very much for mentioning your experience with us ( the team )during your stay in the PH
Btw... its been a pleasure meeting you and the iah pipz.
now i wont be suprised if leticia will be renamed as jason in the near future kidding XD...
It's really nice to see you Miss Hrin. Hope to see you again in another GE event here. Me and all the members of Outcasts Faction are very thankful. ^_^
It was nice meeting you CM Hrin! Hope you'll visit us again next time! Too bad i didn't get to join you for the dinner, oh well, see you around iGN/ forums/ blogs though! ^_^v - Sigrid
It is a great honor to get to meet you, Hrin! I am amazed that you are appreciative of my abilities. Hope you keep up the good work!
I really miss you and I do hope you'll come back in the Philippines. We'll be more than welcome to greet you with open arms!
[QUOTE=Hrin;282273]hahah yeah I agree. :)
In the meantime, I'm waiting for him to finish up 100 screenshot captions before I give him the forum title of "King of Captions" :rolleyes:
Keep 'em screenshots coming! It's very entertaining![/QUOTE]
he got 101 liao lei. when will he have it?
It was a very nice to see you here in the Philippines Ms.Hrin :) Because of how the community was working, I don't think I'll be quitting GE soon contrary to all my drama weeks before the event. Actually, I was inspired to further pioneer the Granado Espada community in Northern Luzon.
I'll do my best again to let the players out of their LAN shops and in to the community. You are an inspiration to us Ms. Hrin :D
PS
My blog is empty right now. I am still trying to work things out with blogger. Ill start my leg work and blogging once I go back to Baguio. cheers :D
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