BowDown
With the words of Mix still fresh on the page, we went out and got the other side of the story. We brings to you now the original creator of TFCon 98.
— The PF Staff
Well, well, well...Being a responsible news site we wanted to give both
sides equal chance to speak. Bowdown, the original organizer of TFcon 98 has
been interviewed and you can read his side of this story. Both guys seem
nice and it's too bad things couldn't have gone off better. So please make
sure you read both Bowdown's and Mix's interview, and then you can make up
your own mind.
Hurt: Start us off with a little background of yourself. Age, schooling,hobbies etc.
BowDown: I am a 16 year old guy. I attend Union High school in tulsa,ok. my
hobbies are playin around on my guitar, doin shit online. When im not
playing quake i love online RPG's and i go on MUD(ageofwar.org)
Hurt: Well, lets get right to it, We have heard a lot from Mix of NBK of
what happened at the TFcon 98. Since you were the original
organizer...please tell us the details you had worked out for this and
the confirmations that you received in planning this. PLease include
the planned daily schedule.
BowDown:
Darrell had talked and planned a deal with Cityplex some time ago. But
could not sign the contract until he had the money. a schedule of events
is up at www.planetquake.com/tfcon/schedule.txt
Note: this is old, i had an updated one but it was formatted on the
second day of TFCon along with the rest of my cpu. :(
Hurt:
It was said that the downtown complex knew nothing of this
convention. Can you explain further what happened with the original
site? When exactly did you know that the downtown facility was a no go?
BowDown:
First off, it wasn't downtown. Not a big note, but it was by a college,
Oral Roberts to be exact. Darrell was contacted Friday about it, at this
point i tried to convince them otherwise, but my efforts had failed. I
emailed everyone planning to attend that day that cityplex might be a
no-go and gave my number out in case there were problems. I then
received some replies saying they'd come the second day rather than the
first. So when i found out and couldn't do anything, we freaked out ,
but we had been in contact with Econo earlier as a back up since we had
known the contract was not done with cityplex. Econo made the
reservations for us and after we collected enough money on monday we
drove down to Econo to pay in advance and sign the necessary contract.
Hurt:
What arrangements were made with TFS about the convention? What were
their initial thoughts upon arrival to the second location?
BowDown:
They did not seem to mind, there was a shuttle bus that picked them up
at the airport to take them to Econo. Econo Lodge was actually a nice
place! Wasn't trashy and worth the good deal (340 bucks in total with
tax)
Hurt:
If you could do it over, what would you do different?
BowDown:
I would collect half of everyone's money in advance so i could get a
contract finalized and have their number to confirm we were in deed
holding it there. I am still planning, well, if i can smooth things
over, plan on doing TFCon 2 to take place in Seattle, >V< SPEEDenator is
going to be my main partner and it will go hand in hand with TFO3.
Hurt:
Do you feel the players who came got what they were told they would
get?
BowDown:
Actually, everyone DID get what they were told. TFS came, pizza was
delivered, coke was guzzled down, Team Fortress was played, some TF2
tidbits were shared, shirts were worn by the attendees, a shuttle bus
was there to pick up people coming in from the airport.
Hurt:
In one of Mix's reports on his page he says-"None of the promised
items were delivered..." your response:
BowDown:
Bullshit, look above. everything was delivered, and we even took money
out of our own pockets to pay for stuff because of the lack of
atteendees. All of those items were delivered by myself and the
wonderful guys who helped out behind the scenes.
Hurt:
Any final thoughts you would like to mention?
BowDown:
Yes, Mix lied, and is lying. Repeatedly, i can confirm this. I will if
need be, i have a contract sitting on my computer desk right now. Mix is
slandering me constantly. He is butchering me on the 'TFPCon' page.
Believe it or not, this was TFCon. It was my event, myself and the guys
i have named (Jake, Darrell, Chris, PPD, etc.) are the real help. Want
their numbers? Ask me, they will tell you the same story. All those guys
who helped me were treated like SHIT by Mix and everyone and we aren't
getting any credit for what WE pulled off. TFS ARE great guys and were
nothing but smiles and laughs the whole week. I had a pretty good week
despite the massive amounts of stress i was going through. TFCon WAS
TFCon, just without as many people as hoped for. A lot to the fault of
Mix and his emailing abilities. Well i know how to email as well. Talk
of TFCon2 IS going down. But the only way it will ever happen is if 1)
We get a contract signed and confirmed. 2) People read this interview
and the things that are going to go down the following week(s) and
realize that this wasn't bullshit, but happened. 3) TFCon2, with the
help of the crazy guys in Seattle will blow TFCon out of the sky,
everything we will do will be written in stone and nothing will be said
until it is finalized and they can call a number to assure what we say
is confirmed. Don't get me wrong, i acted nice to Mix all week, to my
amazement he just stabbed me in the back online. Sigh... I love Team
Fortress and that is the reason i put TFCon together, not for my own
enjoyment, but for others to come together and just show everyone what
a blast us TF'ers can have. We did have a pretty good time believe it or
not. Expect some pictures on the planetquake daily pix to see us in
action. Enjoy, i may be contacted at
[email protected],[email protected], or via icq-uin #-7551620.
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