MAGFest, part 2

So my sister-in-law pointed out that I didn’t post much about Samantha in my MAGFest post. The funny thing is that Samantha influenced the whole weekend. I had read on the website that the convention is generally rated “PG-15.” But kids love to play games, so I planned to keep an eye out to see how family friendly the convention was. This was on Aaron’s mind as well, and we had several discussions throughout the weekend about whether or not we would attend MAGFest next year with a baby.

Of course I mentioned that I couldn’t keep gamer hours due to being pregnant. I also mentioned that we had to leave the charity auction to get lunch, but I may have left out that that was also pregnancy related. I can’t skip meals, and Samantha likes to kick when I get hungry.

Did you get to see our pictures? I took several pics of us with the Potomac River behind us. 

That was actually a “rest stop” on the way back to the convention from getting lunch. We had decided to get lunch near the beach and docks, and it is an uphill walk back to the convention center. It is amazing, I’m very good at detecting the slightest incline these days! Luckily the view from about halfway up the hill is very pretty, so I just pulled out the camera when I needed to rest.

The panel about text-based games was interesting. It was actually a screening of a documentary about text-based games, followed by a Q&A with the guy who created the documentary. Now until that panel, I had no interest in text-based games. But the documentary was very informative and interesting. I actually see their importance and maybe someday I’ll even try one out. Samantha kicked through the whole movie. I like to think she enjoyed listening to it. So after the movie, the creator was selling copies. Aaron wanted to get one, and since the movie has an interactive version that we haven’t seen, I said sure. He went up, purchased one, and then asked the guy if he’d be willing to sign it. “Sure. Who do I make it out to?” “Aaron and Becca,” Aaron replied. “And Samantha!” I called out. They both looked at me like I had a third eye. But whatever. Samantha had listened to the movie. Aaron explained to the guy that I was due with Samantha in March. The guy happily signed it, but then said, “Oh, she’s going to hate text-based games.” He’s probably right, but I joked with Aaron, “At least she liked the movie.” It is the first item that we’ve gotten autographed to the 3 of us.

I can see why the convention is rated PG-15. There were a couple of adult-themed panels in the later at night, the noise in the arcade was overwhelming at times (100+ noisy arcade machines in a huge open arena on a concrete floor, packed with people), and the convention itself was mostly geared toward the serious gamer.

We did see a few babies in tow, however, and I think we’ll probably go next year. Samantha will just be sporting some cute baby protector earmuffs.  

Did you spot my baby bump in the pic of me playing Frogger? Samantha is hiding under my badge.