That’s me – last year at OC4. I had the most awesome time meeting fellow players, developers and other people who were enthusiastic about my favorite topic – virtual reality!! (In the event that my children or husband happen to read this, I’ll clarify and say “my favorite topic outside my family!”)

This year, due to a series of unfortunate events not unlike the book series, I won’t have a qualifying team for the Echo Arena competition and even if I did, quite realistically we probably wouldn’t make it to the world championship that’s scheduled for OC5 in September.

With that said, I still wanted to attend this wonderful conference so that I could check out the latest VR technology and meet some of my VR friends again in real life. Also, I’m really hoping there will be an opportunity to play Echo Combat. I would particularly love to play this game as part of a demo – because I get tired of hearing people say you can’t play VR games seated. It is done, for goodness sakes! Put me up there. I’ll prove it.

So anyway…. none of those things would be possible without the first step of my plan – actually getting to California in September for the conference!

Lately I’ve been working with PooNanners – covering events in the VR League and writing articles for VReSpAWN. PooNanners does a lot of the casting for the VR League games. I’ve heard the official ESL casters and they do a good job. Actually, they covered the Echo Arena Invitational last weekend and it was terrific! When it comes to casters, though, PooNanners will always be my favorite. His flamboyant, over-the-top casting is fun to listen to and he honestly cares about the games and the players.

I share all of this because when Poo heard that I desperately wanted to go to OC5, he went to work. He made sure I would have passes once I arrive at the conference. Then he did this:

So now I’ll have a place to sleep.

And then he did this:

Now I’ll have a way to California!! (As a side note, I’ve said this before, but I do NOT enjoy flying. My husband has been amazed that I’m willing to get on a plane for VR. Sheesh. The things we do for the things we love…) 🙂

When I injured my arm a while back, some guys from Echo Arena put together a little “get well video.” It was the sweetest thing. I have been incredibly impressed with the VR community and blessed by the friendship they continue to display. This latest act of kindness, making sure I’ll be able to attend OC5 this year, is just another testament to the people who play games online and specifically the people I’ve met in virtual reality.

There will be a lot of motivated, intelligent individuals at OC5 – as well as demos (hopefully there will be some chairs this year!), developers, speakers, and more. Since I’m technically supposed to write some articles while I’m there, post a note below and let me know if you have something interesting to share. I’ll interview you, write a review of your product or game or whatever, and just help tell your story. That is what I love doing! There are many fascinating people who are doing amazing things with virtual reality. I enjoy promoting people who are doing something good for the world so send me a note and I’ll make plans to meet with you! (Meanwhile, hopefully you’ll also see me playing Echo Combat somewhere…)

I’m incredibly excited about the conference and it will be here before we know it. If you’d like to learn more about OC5, check out their website and sign up for updates!