Short version, though: long sessions in the morning are about anticipated major summer release features. Early afternoon ones are generally team meetings. Late afternoon ones are generally one-offs or smaller teams.
Before the day starts, though, let's wrap up the travel day so that those of you who run for CSM9 know what to expect.
As before, travel arrangements are made by an in-office CCP travel guy and this time with some experience, I was able to request a much more satisfactory routing, California to Colorado to Iceland. That shaved significantly off the travel time. The Iceland flight was empty: perhaps 45 or so people rattling through a Boeing 757. I learned this when I checked in so I specifically requested an empty row in the back of the plane so I could stretch out and sleep if I chose to. I nearly always do, and this flight was no exception. It's an all-nighter that lands in Iceland at 0630, so I slept through about half of it. CCP's regular driver Alli then picks you up at the airport and it's off to the hotel.
This time, that's the Islandair Marina, right on the water. Good news: you can see CCP from your window. It's, at most, a ten minute walk door to door. Bad news, the rooms are kind of tiny and inconvenient. I'm writing this sitting on a bar stool with my laptop on a shelf. So do be aware of the trials I go through to bring you guys this blog. ;-) The room has a deck overlooking the marina (more floor space than the actual hotel room!) but the marina in this area is all about repairing big fishing boats and small cargo ships so there isn't a huge amount to see. Still, I'll take a picture tonight. The good news: they were able to check us right in. And one of the desk staff helping us was an EVE player and reacted very enthusiastically when he learned who I was, hee. I forgot to get his in-character name!
It's full dark until 0900, twilight lasts about 60 minutes, it's light until 1600 or so, another 60 minutes of twilight, and then it's full dark again. So you can personally confirm the axial tilt of the Earth here if you haven't done so already. The weather is actually supposed to be surprisingly pleasant all week: just above freezing with just a minimum of rain and wind.
mynnna, progodlegend and I arrived on the same Colorado flight in the morning, with our four Europeans scheduled for the afternoon so the three of us went to breakfast at The Laundromat with CCP Fozzie and CCP Rise. As before, the conversation was mostly casual though of course some spaceships drifted in. The three of us then adjourned to our hotel for short naps and to wait for Chitsa Jason, Sala Cameron, Malcanis, and Mangala Solaris to arrive. To let some cool air into the hotel room, I oepned one of my windows while I napped. The guys on the marina cleverly attempted to prevent my nap by hammering and welding on ships all afternoon. This didn't have a hope of keeping me awake.
So for the record, all seven of us are present and accounted for:
- myself, Ripard Teg,
- mynnna,
- progodlegend,
- Chitsa Jason,
- Sala Cameron,
- Mangala Solaris, and,
- Malcanis.
Breakfast and first day's planning session in an hour or so. Unless something remarkable happens, new post in 24 hours!
Small rooms and that weird "A shower-curtain and a drain in the floor makes a shower!" bathroom setup is pretty common for Scandinavian hotel chains. If you can swing it, I recommend staying in hotel's run by US chains (Marriott, Hilton, etc.)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm going to talk a bit about hotel room quirks tomorrow. And I can't recall seeing a US chain hotel in Reyk...
DeleteWell there is the Hilton that was nearly right next to the old Fanfest venue.
DeletePlease lobby for coffee mugs in the eve store. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThis
DeleteI thought there were coffee mugs. Maybe there were in the past. One for each race, as I remember.
DeleteThey did, indeed, have coffee mugs in the old store. In fact, they had two lines -- one with empire logos, and one that was thermalchromic paint over some of the old concept art.
DeletePlease tell them to fix the horrible state of sov :(
ReplyDeleteSov was that promising genius young child that turned into a problematic teenager. How it will mature into adulthood I cannot tell for sure, but I can tell it won't receive any serious dedication from the parents.
DeleteDon't hold your hopes up, the devs resigned on it long ago.
There is a hilton in reykjavik but it is far away from the city center.
ReplyDeleteThe Hilton does give you a bus pass good for the day if you ask. Makes it easier to get around.
DeleteThe interesting thing for this summit is Dolan. He has managed to take more control over the whole process. he has already made it clear that he wont let the minutes have anything about future development in them (thats what Devblogs are for) and now it seems he plans to pretty much NDA everything.
ReplyDeleteIf even the titles of the things to be discussed are NDA these should be some VERY short minutes by the time he is done with them.
"If even the titles of the things to be discussed are NDA these should be some VERY short minutes by the time he is done with them."
DeleteThat's precisely the plan so to try and have them out before September.
Trebor's not gonna be there?
ReplyDeleteTrebor always phone's it in.
DeleteI wonder what mynnna was really doing. Who was he meeting with? What game mechanics will suddenly, without apparent consultation, be changed next?
ReplyDeleteIt does sound fishy. But if I wanted to sneak off for some special treatment the LAST thing I'd use as an excuse is looking for "Italian food" in Iceland. LOL that sounds like something you tell your wife when you're on the road and you need to hurry and get off the phone because the cute blonde is waiting for you downstairs at the bar.
DeleteBut all joking aside, I'm sure Dinsdale will pack this information away into his Grande Goone Conspirasy kit for future use.
This is how they work, man. Malcanis publicly backed up your cloud proposal on forums while mynnna is securing "proper" implementation should it ever come to this.
DeleteRelax, maybe he really had munchies for italian or he just had an appointment for a quicky in nearest shady motel room :)
Actually I checked the menu of that restaurant and a couple others online and decided that the tuna steak they had looked the best out of the available options.
DeleteWhy no ali?
ReplyDeleteI had 3 CSM members with a layover in Denver where I live. I would have gladly brought local beer for the long flight. If you stop in Denver on the way back let me know!
ReplyDelete