With EVE Online celebrating 10 years, and Dust 514 launching imminently, Gareth Harmer looks back on an incredible FanFest.

One of the more surprising aspects of FanFest was the barely-restrained order and discipline demonstrated by the fans. There were no scenes of mob chaos as I moved through the Harpa, in contrast to other gaming events that I’ve been to. The players had a purpose: reviewing both the good and the bad about the past year, debating the current state of the game in round table discussions and learning about the future in keynote presentations. Everywhere I looked, whether I was queuing for lunch or preparing notes, I saw developers in animated discussion with a small cluster of fans. There was no ‘us’ or ‘them’ keeping the two groups apart.

Even so, the atmosphere surrounding FanFest is unique. I know of no other video game convention where the buzz of a tattooist’s needle can be heard throughout the hall. I’m not surprised though; EVE Online has been an indelible part of many lives for several years.

I was even more surprised by the way that Reykjavik as a city throws itself behind FanFest. Brave the cold city streets and walk out for a meal, and you’ll find bars tended by staff in Quafe shirts (a fictional soda in the EVE universe). A highlight of the weekend has to be the developer-organized Pub Crawl, where nearly 500 gamers, developers and press split up into small groups with the intent of hitting as many bars as possible. Armed with a numbered banner and a jacket of Brennivín schnapps and Egils Gull lager to keep us warm, over twenty teams engaged in PvP flag espionage, flag banditry and heroic flag rescue.

Darkness falls late at this time of year, and dawn rises early, creating the unusual situation of post-drinking snacks being bought under the sun’s waking glare. But even at these small hours there are delicious morsels to be had. Mustard hot-dogs, hamburgers named after rock legends (ask for the ‘Axl Rose’) and the legendary Waffle Wagon are all must-haves for the recovering inebriate at stupid-o-clock in the morning

EVE Online was created and shaped as much by the country of Iceland as it was by developer CCP. That’s what executive producer Jon Lander told me at the turn of the year when I interviewed him on the future of EVE Online. I remember brushing it off at the time, thinking to myself that it was just some form of civic pride. But after spending most of a week in the country, I’m beginning to understand what he meant by it.

Take a tour around CCP’s offices and, in one of the break rooms, you’ll see a fish tank stretching along one wall. It’s a metaphor for the sandboxes the firm is famous for – you can build the glass walls, line it with gravel and fill it with water, but you can’t beckon the fish over to your edge of the tank.

Iceland itself teaches a different lesson. As I stood on what passed for the beachfront, the Atlantic stretched out before me and igneous rock slowly grinding to black shale under my feet, I realized this is a country where nothing is given up without effort. The bounties are there for the ingenious, with geothermal power supplying electricity, hot water and even giving rise to a nearby spa. But it’s an existence that hangs in the balance, with volcanoes and sulphurous hot springs serving as a reminder that the world is inherently dangerous.

Yet out of it emerges this determined, proud nation, full of strength and ingenuity. Any country could have created a simple spacefaring MMO. But I doubt that anywhere but Iceland could have captured that feeling of the cold, vast emptiness of space, full of danger. Or the flipside - the strength and warmth of creating incredible alliances that shape the very universe, even if those marks are transient in nature.

And of it all, I think that’s the most profound part of my visit to Iceland. The games we play are a creation of our own experiences, as both players and producers. They come from a part of our culture and, in turn, create a culture of their own. There’s a cycle of storytelling here that’s as old as time, and our desire to game in new universes is an extension of that.

EVE FanFest is more than just EVE Online. It’s a window on a wider, deeper culture. After experiencing it for myself, the introspection it’s left me with makes me wonder if it’s a window that stares back.

Gareth “Gazimoff” Harmer, Senior Contributing Editor