A society built on all things gaming ran a 24 hour event at the University of Wollongong over the weekend that is helping a new community grow in the city.
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The Video Gaming Association ran its fourth annual GameFest in the Uni Hall. They plan to keep doing it every year as well as the many other regular gaming events that are growing in popularity.
Drew Camilleri is among about 30 people, from various faculties, who organise GameFest every year and said the aim was to bring large number of people together who love to express their interest in the gaming world.
This year VGA wanted to grow GameFest. It did that by inviting all university students, members and even fellow gamers from the Illawarra community for the annual 24 hour family friendly LAN/Convention.
Olivia Harris, of Chattr, said she hardly slept during the 24 hours and event found herself playing a tournament at 6am on Sunday.
“We run a competition against teams. This is the fourth edition and each year it keeps getting better and bigger,” Ms Harris said.
There were a variety of games across all platforms as well as Japanese Anime Screenings, card and board games, a cosplay competition and dance performances.
GameFest gaming tournaments involved titles such as League of Legends, DotA, CS:GO and Super Smash Brothers.
“I helped bring independent developers and artists along so they could share their wares for free,” Ms Harris said.
“They all said they had a lot of interest. For me watching all the independent developers having crowds of people interacting and giving them feedback and playing their games made them look so happy. ”
Entertainment was also booked to help keep people of all ages occupied. Many were university students but families with younger children also came during the day.
And Pokemon made an appearance.
“There was a bunch of kids in Pokemon Onesies,” Ms Harris said.
Video Gaming Association is supported by a variety of local university clubs as well.
Mr Camilleri said more than 300 attended making it the biggest to date. And they were already looking at how they can improve it in 2017. In the meantime there will be many more gaming events run in Wollongong.
“It brings a lot of people together. It is a great way to build a community around people who meet new friends. We do have a number of events throughout the year. GameFest is our biggest one and gets more attention,” he said. Events and updates and photos are shared on the GameFest Facebook page.
Greg Ellis
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
