Story Time! (My DHW experience)

The Prelude

I never really felt as if I was living life to its fullest. Even now, I feel as if there's a lot more I could do. But there was a time when I was king of the world and the happiest man alive, and that wasn't too long ago. This was during DreamHack Winter 2011, the first DreamHack (which I will shorten down to DH from now on) I've ever attended, and I attended as crew.

The road there was long and harsh, as I had no experience with live events what-so-ever, the biggest "LAN" I'd ever been to before was me and about 7 of my friends or so. I didn't even know DH recruited people through their Crew-page, and I guess it was just a stroke of luck that I found it. I initially went there for the sole purpose of furthering my project in school, which was to write about Esports, and focusing on StarCraft II.

The first crew-"department" I applied to was something called "Press Area", which basically made sure that the press felt comfortable during DH, providing/building a place for the press to be as well as making coffee & cookies, you know. However, my application got rejected and by a stroke of luck the Team Admin for Press Area nudged me to something called "Coverage". Coverage was responsible for, as the name hints, providing coverage of the whole event. But being naive as I was, I thought that Coverage only had spots for photographs.

As it turned out, Coverage had spots for photographs, but (maybe DHW2011 was the first event, I actually have no idea) they were also looking for two persons skilled in the art of writing. Believing this to be my biggest chance, I applied, writing as formal and using as big words as possible to compensate for my lack of portfolio with previous works. You see, I wasn't too familiar with places like blogspot & wordpress before this.

after sending the application, I though to myself: "Well, at least I applied, but there's no way that this will work, since I didn't attach a portfolio to it". Imagine the look on my face when I got the email saying that I got accepted popped up in my inbox a few weeks later. I was a part of the crew now, and I was just beaming for the next couple of weeks.

As I live in the southernmost county of Sweden, and DH takes place in Jönköping, which is quite far away from where I live, I had to find some way to make my way up there. I took contact with my crew-mates through the facebook group which our Team Admin Helena set up (mad props to you, DeaziD!), and managed to secure myself a ride from Växjö to Jönköping. I only had to take the train to Växjö, and go to the apartment of Rikard, one of my crew-mates.

Turns out it was easier said than done. Thanks to my poor understanding of maps, I had to call Rikard and ask him how to get there after walking blindly for half an hour or so, only to have him tell me to keep walking straight, and so I did, which led me to my compañeros in less than a minute. In retrospect, I guess I could've asked them to pick me up at the train/bus station, but I didn't want to burden them any more than I already had. And off we went.

The Beginning (day "-1", 23/11)

I don't remember much of the trip, partly because the road was dark and partly because I was sleeping a good part of it. But we safely arrived. My crew-mates, having been to DH before, knew where the Crew Area was, so I just followed them and we quickly got set-up in our cramped little room (about 10 persons, each of them with their own computers/laptops).

Upon arriving, I learnt that the other person skilled in writing couldn't come, and I don't know why, but this made me feel more important to the team, and gave me a sense of being needed which gave me great enthusiasm throughout the whole event.

The first day was quite uneventful, with nothing really "big" happening except the "stormöte" (great meet or whatever it's called in English) of the crew, as well as the finals of the crew tournament, which was casted by Day[9] and TotalBiscuit. If you'd want to read a recap I wrote of that, you're free to check it out at http://www.dreamhack.se/dhw11/2011/11/24/clash-of-the-crew/ . I went to sleep fairly early because we had to get up before the doors opened at... 8 A.M I think it was (or maybe 7) the next day. I had questions prepared for the people arriving.

The start of the Event (day 1, 24/11)

Day 2 started off pretty smooth, with me and a friend of my classmate (small world, eh?) asking questions and taking photos of people arriving through the main gate. After that, I immediately started writing on an article of it, but I noticed that some StarCraft II was being played, and headed for the DreamHack "Extreme" stage, if I recall correctly. Day[9] and MrBitter were casting here, feel free to correct me if I have the name of the stage wrong here.

There was also a small stage were dApollo & TotalBiscuit were doing StarCraft II casting of other games very close to the crew area, I had the privilege of watching some games there as well. All the time, at any time, I would have my small notebook, which I had in the back pocket of my jeans, with me so I could take notes & perhaps write something about the games.

Unfortunately, I had no time to do this, since I had other things to do (hyping concerts and events ). However, I managed to complete & publish the article of the questions I asked the visitors, but that's far from the work I'm most proud of.

When I heard about the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive showmatch I was so excited, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I was quite depressed, because I thought my chance to get a beta key had just slipped away, until a guy I was talking about it with told me that he had gotten one, and he gave it to me, just like that. The unselfishness of that man was incredible, and I still thank him, despite the fact that I am TERRIBLE at CS:GO.

Satisfied with my work for the day, I went to bed pretty late (I managed to stay awake thanks to energy drinks & Coca Cola) to prepare for the next day.

Meeting the Pro's (day 2, 25/11)

I started the day with hearing the news of Nick "Tasteless" Plott having to visit the hospital due to.. allergic reactions, I think it was. I wanted to ask Day[9] if he knew anything about it, and it just mentioned it to one of my crew-mates during the break in-between games, and do you know what he told me? "Just do it."

I was baffled. I asked him "Me?" as if I couldn't really fathom what he was suggesting. But I finally managed to man up & walk up there to ask him about it. Even though Day[9] knew nothing about it, he was still a very interesting and nice person to talk with. I was probably acting like some kind of star-struck fan or groupie. In fact, my crew-mate filmed me talking to him (though you only see my back), and my body language just expresses awe and admiration, which I guess that's pretty correct, since that's basically how I view Day[9], as an icon & an idol.

I wanted to stay longer and chat with him as well as MrBitter, but I wouldn't want to intrude on them when the next series of games were about to start. so I went back to the office, took a look around the exhibition area and the shop, and went back to the Extreme stage to watch some more StarCraft II games, when my crew-mates suddenly called out "Oscar come in" in my Walkie-talkie.

Turns out they needed some help moving in some photographing equipment from the car. I remember that we were very stressed out about this, since we had to ask around a LOT until we found what we needed. But we finally found it, and proceeded to move it towards our "studio", which was a little spot on the wall next to the MoBA (LoL, HoN, DotA2 etc.) commentators.

It was there where I learnt that we would be using this spot for taking player pictures. I then subsequently volunteered myself to try and ask players if they were available for shooting photos. I also got admission to the "Player Lounge", where the players would relax between games.

The story about the player photos could be finished there, but a lot of things happened that I'd like to tell you guys about. I'd like to say that the shooting went on flawlessly, but as with anything, there were small obstacles that we had to overcome. For instance, Liquid'HayprO had forgotten his TeamLiquid shirt in his hotel room, but thanks to Evil Geniuses' HuK suggesting they fetch it when they were out eating, he managed to retrieve it, although I sadly had other business when we took photos of him.

Speaking of HuK, he was very helpful when we were taking player photos. When I asked him if he ahd the time to do some photos, he also brought his teammate PuMa as well as Type's PhoeNix with him. This may sound trivial, but I still think it was a great gesture.

I asked White-Ra if he could do some photos when he was signing, but he forgot and went back to the booth of Tt-Esports. I proceeded to run to fetch him, and got caught in the background of one of the videos on DH's youtube account (like a boss). White-Ra, being one of the nicest guys in the world, instantly followed me to our "studio", chatting with me about SCII & Special tactics on the way.

By the way, during this event, my nickname in the crew was Kärleksmums (a swedish cookie/sweet), but after the event I changed it to OckE, and White-Ra played quite a large a part in that. You see, during the signing event, he asked for my name, and I said "Oscar" with an English accent (don't ask me why, I should've said it with a swedish accent), and he said "Oske? OK". But for some reason, I've always been a fanatic about my name being spelled with a "C" instead of a "K", so I told him "With a C". White-Ra proceeded to write "Ocke", and since then I've used that as my nickname whenever I play, be it CoD, Counter-Strike or StarCraft II.

I did this for a countless amount of hours, enjoying it so much that I missed dinner, but I didn't really care about it, since I was feeding my inner nerd by doing this. However, all good things had to end, but this was just replaced by another one, as I hung out for a good amount of hours with a friend from elementary & primary school, talking about the "good old days", or more specifically, we talked about SCII and he noted that I was more fit than last time we met, apparently. I guess I should take that as a compliment. (I would give you a picture of how I looked in my childhood, but I'm far too ashamed to do that)

When I returned to the Crew Corner after saying goodbye to my dear friend, I noticed that somebody had stolen my spot in the sleeping hall. I don't know why, but I got pretty upset, perhaps because I had a premonition that something would go wrong because of this. So I spent a few hours extra completing a recap about the games between NaNiWa & Stephano, which you can read here: http://www.dreamhack.se/dhw11/2011/11/25/stephano-vs-naniwa-recap/ . After publishing this, I went to bed.

MrBitter? Far from that (day 3, 26/11)

I woke up at 10 A.M, directly going "Oh shit!" because the signing sessions of Day[9] & MeBitter had started about an hour or two before, and I couldn't order any awakening since my spot in the sleeping hall had been ninja-looted, in MMO terms (yes, you can actually order awakening if you sleep in the sleeping hall for crew members).

I bit sad, I went down to the Player Lounge, where basically all signing sessions took place. I hoped that there wouldn't be that big a line, but alas, the line was HUGE, and I realized that I had no chance of getting anything signed if I stood in line, so I decided to give up and just hang out near MrBitter & Day[9].

Remembering my desire of talking with MrBitter which I couldn't when I talked to Day[9] about Tasteless the day before, I struck up a conversation that I knew he could relate too, and I proceeded to update him on what was happening on the screen in the games that were shown there, since he couldn't see them.

When I told MrBitter about the sleeping-spot thief and how I overslept because of that, as well as regretting not being able to get any autographs from the two of them, he actually offered to help me, and he & Day[9] proceeded to sign a poster for me, which I now regard as one of my most prized possessions, having it over my bed alongside with the player-signed poster.

I can't give MrBitter enough credit for helping me out there, he was also just the nicest guy ever during the small time I talked to him. During the next signing sessions, where Tasteless & Artosis A K A Tastosis, the casting archon, followed up by dApollo & TotalBiscuit were signing, I decided to stand in line with the rest of the visitors. Partly because I was so thankful to MrBitter for helping me out, and I didn't want to bother the casters more than necessary, and partly because I wanted to feel what it was like standing in line waiting for something like autographs, which I hadn't done before.

dApollo jokingly told me "You're not supposed to be here!" when he saw my crew T-shirt. I answered him that it was OK since I was the writer for Coverage and could write an article about how it was to stand in line, something that I very well could've done, but never did.

The Finals

I spent the next few hours preparing for the Grand Finals in SCII (as well as semi-finals), QuakeLive and SSF4, which took place in the nearby hockey arena called Kinnarps Arena. I took notes about the semi-finals in my little notebook, but I never used them for an article. I went back to Elmia, where DH takes places , to buy some snacks before the Grand Finals between EG's PuMa & Liquid's HerO.

I planned on taking notes just as before, but as one of my Crew-mates arrived with my crew pass, which I had forgotten at our little "office" because I was so excited for the finals, he also brought my laptop with him. When I asked him why, he told me that Helena (our TA, remember?) had told me she wanted me to write recaps of the games live. Challenge accepted.

I''ve never done a thing such as update something live before, but it was very interesting & I gained a lot of insight of prioritizing when working under pressure. If you'd like to read more about it, you can do it here: http://www.dreamhack.se/dhw11/2011/11/27/starcraft-ii-final-recap/ . I got some help from Hellspawn who edited it to make it look more professional, but the recaps were all written by me. This is all I will write about this, because I'm having a feeling this is quite a long post.

So to conclude this post: DHW2011 may have been the only big off-line event I've ever attended, but it was awesome and left me wanting more. Unfortunately I can't attend DreamHack summer 2012 due to me graduating the day it starts, but believe me, I'll apply as crew for DreamHack winter this year once again, and I'm hoping it'll be just as awesome an experience as last time!