PAX: Nsidious

Most of the contests at PAX were simple enough: You filled out a form, stuffed it in a box, and promptly forgot you had ever participated in it. A few others had some qualifications: Two Worlds demanded that you defeated someone in a wizardly duel first. Fun fact: Eldrich magic is no match for a brisk jog.

And then there was Nvidia's contest. You stood in a line. You picked up a shirt, and a button. The button had a number on it. Someone else in the convention would be wearing a button with a number identical to yours. All you had to do was to find that person, and the two of you might get to spin a wheel that offered everything from fifty dollars worth of stuff, to the latest and greatest of video cards, to a whole host of other items.

After receiving their badges, the participants would then realize how very poorly designed they were. The Nvidia logo was huge, but the five digit number was very tiny. In a constantly moving crowd of thousands, it would take a miracle to find the person who had their matching number.

Still, gamers are a crafty lot. Handmade signs were swiftly made. Then people realized that if wearing one sign was good, wearing two signs would be even better. But still, they worried. What if they never passed by their numerical soulmate? A nearby wall was commandeered, and numbers were scrawled over it, attached to contact information and pleas for help.

Some reasoned that even that might be insufficient, and stronger methods were required. Those looking for the easy way out would end their questions at a Q & A panel with, "and my Nvidia number is..." Others would spend their off-time standing in the middle of the room, holding up their sign, and turning slowly to show it off better. Their haunted eyes would stare through people, incapable of seeing anything but the numbers that could free them from their hellish existence.

Even sleep was put to a good use. No trip back down the escalators was complete without passing by a beanbag shantytown of slumbering souls, their signs propped up against their bodies. The tableau was one flaming oil barrel away from being the perfect blend of nerdcore and hobocore.

I'm just glad that I never got involved. There was too much to do at PAX, and too little time to do it in. Even without wearing a sign across my chest, just constantly checking the badge numbers of everyone would have been too much of a distraction to me. In the end, I wonder if the button design actually reinforced the message Nvidia was trying to put out. After all, everyone involved now has firsthand experience of poor graphics making a game tooth-grindingly difficult.