Aaron Lee spares a thought for the delegates and Ferrero Rocher enthusiasts at the G5 Summit…
You’re only as good as your next creative work. If this is true, then it goes double for those that haven’t yet discovered you or talents.
At their G5 Summit, held last Friday at Antenna club, Nottingham, the GameCity team endured what can only be described as a right royal grilling. Never mind that they’ve become an annual fixture for developers, creatives and students to meet one another during all manner of bizarre attractions. Never mind that the festival has attracted thousands of visitors over its four previous years.
For a vocal contingent of individuals at the community meeting, brand messaging and marketing were two gaping holes in the GameCity plan. Of course, we could chase this issue round and round all day, but do I really need to spell out why small teams with limited budgets are luck to get ads on Trent FM and in the Metro?
Connecting Nottingham with gaming culture has always been part of GameCity’s ethos. Now, they’re ready to take that idea one step further by putting the festival in the hands of anyone who wishes to participate, with their new initiative: OpenGameCity. It’s bold, it’s expansive, and without the support of citizen creators it just won’t happen. OpenGameCity effectively turns the already Edinburgh Fringe-like festival into a stage for ideas, a map for opportunities, and all the while giving back to the host city in the process.
If the word can be spread effectively enough, we could be in for all kinds of weird and eccentric debuts: flash mobs in the City Centre dip-diving to the Final Fantasy theme, gaming’s most dramatic moments re-enacted by local troupes, inspiring talks of overcoming titanic challenges to meet goals, or even something as inclusive and interactive as painting a mural. They might not all be good, however. We may yet be in for performances that would befit Britain’s Got Talent auditions more than honest video game culture. But the fact that GameCity are willing is something in itself.
Nottingham’s gaming festival has seen some tremendous one-off events in its time, from zombie record breakers to a detoxing playthrough of Flower in the Exchange Arcade. Each year the organisers have gotten more ambitious, more elaborate – and with the few details that were revealed to us, that doesn’t look set to change. OpenGameCity is by far their most risky move. And if you’re only as good as your next work, it could well be their most rewarding too.
Aaron Lee
Image: Iain Simons (GameCity)
Tags: community, gamecity, performing arts, ugc
