How to start something like this? Just knowing that it's going to be read, dissected, argued and used against me, I almost don't want to. And the anticipation factor, oy. Everyone wants to know this story. I guess I should start from the beginning.
In the weeks leading up to E3, Folder (of SPOnG.com) stated that he would organize a sponsored meetup for the Gaming-Age Forums. Claiming that Nintendo would be backing the event, he sent me the details of the event - it was set to occur on Monday, May 16th at The Cabo Cantina around 9:00 PM. From there, I posted the details of the event in the Gaming-Age Meetup thread, which was then stickied so that everyone would see it.
As Monday rolled around, I began to get a little nervous. I had no way of contacting Folder should things not go according to plan - according to him, his Nintendo rep, Rob, would be dropping off a credit card behind the bar and putting a limit on it. I made sure to keep a careful eye on the thread, assuming that if anything changed, it would likely be posted there. As I left my hotel, I still hadn't heard from Folder and assumed everything was in order. I had, however, heard from Espio earlier in the day, who is also an acquaintance of Folder. He told me he'd be at the bar around 8, which was reassuring - if he was planning to show up, it surely wasn't a hoax. Still, upon arriving at The Cabo Cantina at about 8:30 that evening, it was rather relieving when the waitress asked if we were with the Nintendo party.
Our enthusiastic response took her by surprise, she had just been commenting on my Nintendo messenger bag. She hadn't heard of an actual Nintendo party, nor had any of the bar staff. No credit cards had been left behind the bar. At this point, our party consisted of El Papa, his friend Van, Meier, GDJustin and myself. Beginning to drink, it was decided that we would just only order what we could afford until Folder arrived.
As more people arrived, our waitress, Rachy, pulled me aside and informed me that for a party of our size, we would either need to place a credit card on file to ensure we wouldn't duck out on the tab or pay as we went. In the hopes that Folder and his contact would still come through, I gave them my credit card. They promised not to charge my card without my consent, and should our guy show up, we could change the card, they just needed some collateral. This way we could transfer the tab when they arrived. At the same time though, I made sure everyone knew that Folder hadn't showed yet and they shouldn't order something unless they could afford it.
As time passed, it became more and more doubtful that Folder would arrive. Around 9:30 I left the bar to call -jinx-, who had told me he'd be there about an hour prior. Leaving a voicemail, I attempted to call Espio, who likewise had promised to arrive earlier. I couldn't get ahold of him either, mostly due to the fact that my phone is apparently incapable of reaching a british cell phone, despite the fact that he can contact me without hassle.
About this time, Teddman came out to inform me that the waitress wanted to talk with me. Her shift was over and the tab needed to be cashed out so that she could go home. As we discussed exactly what the hell I would do, my cell phone rang and I excused myself, hoping that whoever was on the other end could provide some guidance.
Turns out it was -jinx-, returning my call. He'd had to stay late at work and wouldn't be able to attend. I ended up giving him a rundown of the current situation, checking to see if anything had been posted on the forum in regards to the meet. "Nothing," he told me.
Going back inside, Rachy was giving me one of those "stop screwing around, I want to go home instead of catering to you lot" looks. It didn't help that she'd been all over her boyfriend, quite literally, who was only at the next table over. Confident in my "no one has bought a drink they can't afford" mentality, I charged the tab to my card, asserting that I would be able to collect the money back from the various folk.
There were rumors that Folder was staying at The Standard, just across the street, and with the knowledge of his real name, I went over there, along with, I believe Jared Goodwin, to see if I hopefully get ahold of him. No such luck. "We have no guests under that name, sir."
Things weren't looking good. It was about ten o'clock, with more folks due to arrive, and everything had apparently fallen through. At this point, I realized that Folder hadn't even referenced The Cabo Cantina until Teddman had mentioned it. Given the reputation and hate associated with Folder on the forum, it wasn't too hard to imagine the entire ordeal as an elaborate hoax. On one level, it was a rather humorous payback, but at the same time, I was left in an unsure situation, one I felt responsible for as I had been the one to announce the details.
Walking back to the bar, I made a decision that if Folder wasn't going to live up to his end of the bargain, then I would. It was my fault everyone had shown up tonight, some with cab fares upwards of thirty dollars, just to hang out with their fellow forum members and get drunk. After calculating what I could reasonably afford beyond what I'd already charged, I pulled the new waitress aside, gave her my card, a limit and asked her to call it "The Nintendo Party." Then I went around and informed everyone that it had been taken care of, to put their drinks on the Nintendo tab and when we hit the limit, that was it.
The next few hours were an absolute blast. Numerous other GAF members arrived, the party now including StikerObi, KobunHeat, Marty Chinn, bobbyconover, Scoot, Fowler, Agent Dormer, Mike, Jared Goodwin, Teddman, Johnny Nighttrain, Meier, GDJustin, El Papa and many, many others. After the tab ran out, there were rounds of shots bought by various kind folk. Kicked out around midnight, we took some group pictures and all went about our separate ways.
Returning to the hotel, I hopped in chat where, much to my surprise, everyone was abreast of the situation. Folder was banned until I could get in touch with him, hopefully that next morning at the Nintendo Press Conference.
The trip to Nintendo's Press Conference is also a sordid tale, but that's for another time. The short of it is we got lost and didn't arrive until fifteen minutes after it had been scheduled to begin. Willco had called earlier, informing me that he had a seat saved and, surprise, he had Folder sitting right next to him. Of course, our late arrival threw a wrench into this, but I still ended up sitting next to Will, Folder and the Kikizo folk - I just didn't know it until afterwards.
After the disappointingly lackluster conference released, Folder was eventually pointed out to me and I went over to introduce myself. Now, there seems to be some controversy here, some reports have stated that I was very rude and demanding to Folder. Was I rude to Folder? I don't know. I don't think so, I certainly tried to be polite, but being sleep-deprived, hung over and stressed from the events of that morning and the previous night, I can't say for sure.
I basically asked him what happened and he told me that the event had been rescheduled and they didn't think anyone would show up on Monday night. I informed that that it was just the opposite, enough had attended to accumulate a three hundred dollar plus bar tab. He said he had stuck his head in the bar around 10:30 PM and didn't recognize anyone. To his credit, he seemed very apologetic and promised it would be taken care of. We talked about the forum for a bit, he mentioned how relieved he was that the Game Boy Micro had been shown, I mentioned that he was banned and he asked that he be unbanned so that he could post an explanation of what happened. I promised to take care of that the next time I was able and gave him my business card so that we could work this out. A few minutes later he approached me while he was on the phone with Rob, his Nintendo rep, and he promised once again that everything would be worked out and he would be in touch.
One week later, I still haven't heard from him.
There are two issues I'd like to address here. Both at the bar and in the following week, I've been offered reimbursement by various forum members. There have even been those that did not attend the gathering who have offered to cover a large portion of the tab. Thus far, I have turned them all down but one, that being because I was rather drunk at the time. The short of it is that I don't want to accidentally profit because of this, and until I either a) hear back from Folder or b) the week has ended without any word from Folder, I won't accept any offers. Of course, I'll keep you all updated.
This leads into the second issue. Yes, I'm upset with Folder, but at the same time, I want to hear his side of the story. Personally I think it's rather incredible to promote an event for weeks and cancel it at the last minute without any word, but I eagerly anticipate his side of the story and will approach it with an open mind. Until then, or a sufficient amount of time passes, he will remain unbanned and SPOnG.com will not be placed on the word filter.
