Sid Meier's Civilization's 20th anniversary

Hello fellow fanatics!

2011 will see the 20th anniversary of this game we love.
I believe that we (who participate in this forum) must do something special in 2011 to mark the occasion.

I was thinking about organizing a kind of a convention where we could all meet and spend a great time (I think that a weekend would be more adequate for most of us than working days).
I know this sounds very ambitious but we still have one and a half years for planning everything.

First of all, I would like to know:

1 - Who's willing to help me with the organization of this event?

2 - Where do you think it should be held? Please tell me where you live so we could choose the most suitable location for most people (I'm thinking about New York, Los Angeles, London or other location, depending on the participants preference). The main objective will be to minimize travel costs for most people.

3 - Who knows the exact release date? So that we could plan a date to coincide with the exact 20th anniversary?

Note 1: I'm not willing to set up a "geek event" with a bunch of grown up men locked in a room talking about a computer game and playing it for countless hours (yeah, we already do that here in this forum and at our homes). I see this event as an opportunity for us to meet face to face and have a great time. Bring your wife and your kids, if you have them, bring someone else (like a friend) if you don't. We will develop a social programme. Of course there will also be time to play Civ and exchange some views about the game.

Note 2: I'm sorry to those who are also fans of Civ II, Civ III, Civ IV or other Sid Meier's games but I strongly believe that this event must be solely focused on the original Civ.

Note 3: I don't know if anything similar has been done in the past, for example in 2001 (10th anniversary). If it happened, maybe we could use the experience of the organizers.

Final note: If we could develop a consistent event maybe Sid Meier himself and/or Bruce Shelley could join us at the convention. Who knows? After all, they are humans like us. Maybe this is utopia, but I believe we must dream and go chasing our dreams.

Osvaldo Manso said:

Hello fellow fanatics!
Please tell me where you live ...

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Eh... I live in european part of Russia, if that helps.

Btw, the "Designer's Notes" section of Civ1 manual is dated September 11, 1991. Not a good date for the American Civvers.

You're probably not gonna get anything more than the handful of middle aged geeks you fear, especially if you jail the interest to the original game. Most followers of anything 20+ years old are "geeks" of some sort.

In any case, your next step is to poll the locations of interested parties, which will help you choose a venue. Usually these types things are done in Europe, but Civilization seems America centric.

You're definitely going to need to develop some sort of marketing. This forum doesn't have the audience to achieve the results you're looking for. Whatever you do has to hit high traffic areas frequented by older gamers so as to pluck out potentially interested parties.

Whelkman said:

In any case, your next step is to poll the locations of interested parties, which will help you choose a venue. Usually these types things are done in Europe, but Civilization seems America centric.

You're definitely going to need to develop some sort of marketing. This forum doesn't have the audience to achieve the results you're looking for. Whatever you do has to hit high traffic areas frequented by older gamers so as to pluck out potentially interested parties.

Click to expand...

I also have a feeling that most Civ I fanatics are based in America.

I'm not expecting dozens of participants, maybe a single dozen would be OK. I'm mainly thinking about people who regularly use to post in this forum, like myself, trada, stwils, Urtica dioica, Whelkman (yes, yourself), krille, Dack, Valen, etc. This people would be the core of the event. It would be great to join us together. Of course others would be welcomed to join even if they are not signed to this forum.

Perhaps you could hold a poll to see who would be interested? The first concern here is numbers. But you are right, Osvaldo Manso! Something *must* be done for the 20th birthday!