SOE Community Content Manager, Adam "Zaphax" Stevens recently attended the 2006 Walk of Games induction ceremony for EverQuest and the accompanying seven year anniversary party. The event was held at the Metreon in downtown San Francisco. Mr. Stevens was nice enough to recount his trip to San Francisco in a piece he wrote below. Enjoy!

You probably don't know me, but you might be familiar with a lot of my work. My name is Adam, and I'm the Community Content Manager for SOE. I post the majority of news items and features for our family of SOE web sites. Sure, I know you're probably more acquainted with such high profile names as Brenlo, Kytherea, Blackguard and all the other Community Managers, but I'm also here, supporting them, ensuring the content they want posted shows up on our sites in a timely fashion.

Recently I was given to unique opportunity to witness the induction of EverQuest into the 2006 Walk of Game. Not knowing what to expect, but nonetheless thrilled at the prospect of attending this event, I graciously accepted my assignment. Besides myself, I would be joined by several members of the Community team including Brenlo, Kytherea and Ashlanne. Also attending the festivities were several members of our PR and marketing team as well as the current producer and lead designers of EverQuest.

Our early morning flight to San Francisco went off without a hitch with all of us convening at the airport, each in a varied state of mental alertness. Having not woken up this early in quite some time, I immediately sought out the largest cup of coffee I could find and guzzled it before getting on the plane.

We arrived safetly at the Oakland airport on time, piled into two vans and were driven to downtown San Francisco. Having only been to this city once before, I enjoyed the ride immensely. So many sites to take in! The Bay and Golden Gate bridges, Alcatraz, the Transamerica Pyramid, Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower, just to name a few.

We arrived at the Metreon around lunch time and immediately got to work. In addition to attending the event we were also throwing a seven year anniversary bash for EverQuest downstairs at Jillian's and needed to prepare for the party. Boxes were unpacked, wires were unraveled and mini congratulatory bottles of champagne were placed about several tables in the room. After the whirlwind called "setup" was finished we enjoyed a nice lunch before checking into our hotel and resting awhile. A few hours later we reconvened at the Metreon to make our final preparations for the party.

Earlier that week we contacted several local EverQuest players and invited them to join us at Jillian's to celebrate EverQuest's birthday and watch the ceremony via live TV feed. As the ceremony started, people began to arrive at our party. They were greeted by the always cheerful Ashlanne and Kytherea and were encouraged to enjoy the food, drink and free billiards.

The ceremony itself was pretty cool. It was emceed by Adam Sessler, co-host of G4 T.V.'s X-Play. (Sadly, Morgan Webb was not in attendance.) In addition to EverQuest, games like Starcraft and Final Fantasy were honored. Laura Croft was in attendance to accept her induction. Also, video game legends, Sid Meier and John Carmack, were honored. On behalf of all of SOE, I would like to congratulate the other 2006 inductees. Every recipient certainly deserves to be inducted into the Walk of Game for being such important pioneers or icons in gaming's history.

Accepting the award for EverQuest was producer, Chris Lena. Joining him on stage were none other than Firiona Vie, the elven princess that has graced the box of every EverQuest expansion and Antonia Bayle, leader of Qeynos and chief heroine of EverQuest II. Chris spoke briefly about the history of EverQuest and its role in the development of MMORPGs before accepting the Walk of Game award.

Meanwhile, back down at the party, more people began to arrive. In addition of the live feed of the ceremony, we had also set up four demo stations with EverQuest and EverQuest II. Kytherea spent some time taking several players through a tour of some of the most recent expansion zones while other guests walked through some of the Kingdom of Sky zones.

Brenlo soon arrived from the ceremony and promptly began to raffle away plenty of shwag to all the party attendees. He also raffled an all-expenses paid trip to our upcoming Community Summit and Fan Faire. The Walk of Game Girls stopped by and posed for pictures with everyone as did Firiona and Antonia. Later in the evening Adam Seesler came by and chatted with folks.

The next morning I, um, overslept, and missed the striking of our demo centers. Brenlo thought this was quite funny and was quick to give me a hard time. With things all wrapped up, I replied that I was just in time to go grab some lunch, which we did at Mel's Diner. If you ever eat at a Mel's Diner, I highly recommend you try the Sunset Burger. Bacon Cheddar goodness severed on two slices of sour dough bread. (It seemed appropriate for San Francisco to me. ;)

After lunch we strolled about the Metreon a bit and made a few purchases. If you're ever in San Francisco, I highly recommend you visit the Metreon. It is an amazing collection unique shops and restaurants. My favorites were the Things From Another World comic shop and the Sony Style store. Sadly my request for a company-paid flat panel TV went unfilled.

With our departing flight drawing near we left the city and made the trek back to the Oakland airport. After a last minute gate change we boarded our flight and returned to a rather rainy San Diego.

Overall, it was a lot of fun. I got to meet some great people including some of the founders of Walk of Game, lots of EverQuest players, and several gaming industry people who came to watch the ceremony. Thanks again to everyone who came to help us celebrate. We couldn't have made it this far without the continued support of players like yourselves.

See you at Fan Faire!

- Adam 'Zaphax" Stevens