“So – the important question,” I asked them. “Paragon or Renegade?”
I had just met Noah outside a tent. Not just any tent; the Stand In The Square. Not just any Noah; Noah worked with the same group I did, with the same comedians and more. And the question really was an important one – to people who played Mass Effect. Just like house-sorting for Harry Potter nerds, or asking which side of the Force one fell on for Star Wars lovers, Paragon or Renegade denoted whether you played the game with intention to do good, or as a stern and hard character, respectively. It made no difference to anything outside of the game, and that's what made the choice an interesting one.
“I play Paragon.” Noah said. I mock-grimaced at them – I’m firmly a Renegade player. But then it didn’t matter, and Noah and I chatted about Mass Effect and DragonAge and many other games we love, as only gamers can. The smallest detail of a game becomes discussable, the characters became our friends and the stories were analysed. We talked about the freedom of choice in Mass Effect, and the first female-male trans character in DragonAge: Inquisition. And although I had to leave all too early in order to hand out flyers, I would return night after night to continue our discussion.
Noah had worked at The Stand for years, and at the Fringe for almost as long. They knew the comedians much better than I did, and they had way more experience with pretty much everything than I did. So much so, that Noah’s post by the Stand tent door became my generally pointed-at area when I didn’t know the answer to a passer-by’s query.
“You see that person over there? They can help you much better than I can.”
At the wrap party for The Stand – a free bar full of booze and music and goodbyes, I danced stupidly with Noah. We both wore waistcoats and got a hug from our favourite tall American. I liked Noah, they were cool.
Despite being a Paragon player.
I had just met Noah outside a tent. Not just any tent; the Stand In The Square. Not just any Noah; Noah worked with the same group I did, with the same comedians and more. And the question really was an important one – to people who played Mass Effect. Just like house-sorting for Harry Potter nerds, or asking which side of the Force one fell on for Star Wars lovers, Paragon or Renegade denoted whether you played the game with intention to do good, or as a stern and hard character, respectively. It made no difference to anything outside of the game, and that's what made the choice an interesting one.
“I play Paragon.” Noah said. I mock-grimaced at them – I’m firmly a Renegade player. But then it didn’t matter, and Noah and I chatted about Mass Effect and DragonAge and many other games we love, as only gamers can. The smallest detail of a game becomes discussable, the characters became our friends and the stories were analysed. We talked about the freedom of choice in Mass Effect, and the first female-male trans character in DragonAge: Inquisition. And although I had to leave all too early in order to hand out flyers, I would return night after night to continue our discussion.
Noah had worked at The Stand for years, and at the Fringe for almost as long. They knew the comedians much better than I did, and they had way more experience with pretty much everything than I did. So much so, that Noah’s post by the Stand tent door became my generally pointed-at area when I didn’t know the answer to a passer-by’s query.
“You see that person over there? They can help you much better than I can.”
At the wrap party for The Stand – a free bar full of booze and music and goodbyes, I danced stupidly with Noah. We both wore waistcoats and got a hug from our favourite tall American. I liked Noah, they were cool.
Despite being a Paragon player.