In this blog post, I share my entire "that was so close" experience as the title mentions, as follows:
It was a fine evening by the end of March 2016, when I received a pleasantly surprising invitation in my email inbox. It was an invitation from the Ubisoft Club Team! Accordingly to this email, I had been recognized due to my noteworthy engagement within the Ubisoft gaming community. I had been selected as an Ubisoft Star Player to attend E3(Electronic Entertainment Expo) 2016 which would include Ubisoft's events at E3, that would consist of the annual Ubisoft conference, and visiting the E3 booth located at the famous Los Angeles Convention Center. I was also invited to join the Ubisoft Lounge and be among the first Ubisoft Star Players to have hands-on access to the newest Ubisoft games’ content, to meet the development teams in the gaming area, and join private events with previews on exclusive reveals. The entire trip was being sponsored by Ubisoft.
I was extremely overjoyed at this delightful news! Visiting E3 had been a long term dream and it was totally amazing that it was coming true! Following this, there were a series of some very helpful emails guiding me through every step necessary to prepare for the upcoming event. Here is an introductory video of last year's Ubisoft Star Player Program:
After about a month of waiting for the Visa appointment, the day finally arrived for the interview. The allotted time was at 9:00 am on May 4. I arrived at the U.S. Embassy well before time at around 8:30 am. I was quite surprised about the mismanagement of time at that place. I was made to wait until 11:30 am! There wasn't any arrangement for people who had arrived along-with the candidates to keep the restricted belongings, not even senior citizens! They were all forced to wait outside beneath the scorching sun! This was most disappointing! I was also supposed to attend a very important lecture on research oriented statistics at my university at 11:00 am(I'm a Ph.D Student). Without a doubt, there wasn't any chance left to be there too.
To top it all, the interview wasn't any good an experience either. Finally, it was quite a shock to find the Visa being rejected ultimately. However I tried and explained the purpose of my visit, the interviewer was just not ready to be convinced even with the supporting documents. It took some moments for me to finally realize that my trip was getting cancelled due to this unfortunate incident! I had even got my flight tickets by that time! It was very saddening to find my father who had accompanied me very willingly, waiting in the scorching heat outside, when I came out and conveyed to him the bad news! Most of the Visa applicants were either students applying for a student Visa or employees of their respective companies applying for a work Visa. This is the usual case. On the other hand, my situation was a completely different one as I was a student applying for travel Visa. When I came back home, I was very surprised to find out how getting a U.S. Visa approved is considered such a serious matter in India and I also read, that travel Visas for students are even more difficult to obtain. May be this was the reason for the Visa being refused.
Being a researcher myself, the most important thing I was looking forward to, was an interaction with Jason Vandenberghe, Creative Director, Ubisoft Montreal Studio, to learn and share ideas on his amazing research work on the five domains of play and satisfaction theory. I've been working on a paper that surprisingly coincides with his work to a great extent! Unfortunately, due to the Visa rejection, I missed this chance to interact.
I have always strongly believed(and will continue to) that video gaming boosts our imagination to such an euphoric level that it unlocks our mental potential to a phenomenal state to enable minds to innovate better and better! Gaming is my Fuel that will always continue to drive my Research Passion! So time to move on, and game on!
My most heartfelt thanks for the honour, Ubisoft.
Let this blog post, forever serve as a token of wonderful remembrance for this noble recognition :) .
Thank you.
