Trip To Germany: Gamescom 2016 & Marksburg Castle: Star Player Diary

This was an incredible journey to be cherished throughout my lifetime. On the 19th of July, I received an email from Dominique Falkenberg, Community Manager, Ubisoft which said that I had been selected as an Ubisoft Star Player and invited to attend Gamescom 2016 at Cologne, Germany to witness the amazing lineup of Ubisoft games that are awaiting launch. It said, "We recognize your noteworthy engagement within our community, and we would like for you to take part in this very special week designed for you, our biggest fans." I had been posting various content on Vikings, Knights and Samurai in the community fan group for Ubisoft's upcoming "For Honor" game fb.com/groups/GroupForHonor . When the game had been announced at E3 more than a year ago, I had immediately created the fan group since I was so impressed with its new concept and mechanics.

I had never been abroad ever in my life and was glad that Germany was going to be my first country.

I had to quickly make arrangements for getting the Schengen Visa to visit Cologne, Germany where the event was upcoming. I was a bit nervous as a previous invitation was missed due to an unfortunate U.S. Visa refusal as its quite difficult to get short stay U.S. Visas in India. I was overjoyed when I finally got the Schengen Visa for Germany!

The day finally arrived for the trip. By this time I had checked out the amazing city of Cologne online via German websites and my curiosity just kept growing! My flight was scheduled at 3:50 AM on August 16th, 2016. So, I reached the airport the previous night by 10:30 PM. I was too excited to sleep and kept roaming around the airport to check out the renovated place. It had been quite a long time since I had visited the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.

























I bought a mobile power bank and also a travel universal power adapter for emergencies after I was done with the immigration and security checks. The flight was on time and I boarded the aircraft with a lot of enthusiasm! I began taking some pictures:

This one was just after takeoff:

I reached Doha(Hamad International Airport) after a 5 hour flight(approx.). I had 2 more flights to go. I had to catch the next one after about an hour of reaching Doha. But unfortunately my second flight was rescheduled after 7 hours. I was provided lunch at the Marché restaurant. The food was exquisite!

Here are a few photos of that beautiful restaurant:

I made a quick call back home to update them about my rescheduled flight. I also informed Angèle, one of our Ubisoft Star Player Guides about the same and gave them my new flight numbers. After the meal, I roamed around a bit to check out the amazing Hamad International Airport:

While waiting at the airport in Doha, I met a guy from Pakistan. It was the first time for me to talk to someone from Pakistan face to face. On the other hand, he was also meeting an Indian(me) for the first time! We spoke about each others' countries and he was very curious about mine. We talked about the difficulties and lifestyles in both countries. I asked him to watch a movie by Shah Rukh Khan (Veer-Zaara) and also told him to listen to a song that describes the similarities between both countries. If you are wondering what song it is, here it is with subtitles:

He had never been to India. We chatted for some more time. At the end of our conversation, he said that he was delighted to have met me and I shared my thoughts that it was a pleasure to meet him too. For a moment I had found a fellow traveller for the 2nd part of my journey towards Germany.

I reached Istanbul, Turkey at the correct time....moments later, I was on my flight to Cologne. At around 11:30 pm, my flight landed at the airport. I was unable to contact my Star Player guide as due to a connectivity issue on roaming. Luckily I found a good samaritan who lent me his phone to make the urgent call. Though I was able to contact my guide, I wasn't able to locate the cab that was supposed to be waiting. So I took one on my own and drove off to the Lindner Dom Residence Hotel.

After a while I checked into the amazing hotel, I got a call from Natchai asking me to come down for a small meet. We had a little chat about my journey and whatever I missed that day. Luckily nothing was missed regarding UbiGames :) ! After that, Natchai handed me over the last Ubisoft goodies bag :) . Then we parted to our respective rooms. I waited for the next day with great enthusiasm as I dozed off....next morning, the breakfast was amazing. I met the other fellow Star Players who had arrived from different parts of the world. I had quite a long conversation with Samuel Steele who had also arrived as a community reporter for "For Honor". There was another community reporter called Lisa Habraken who had also arrived for the same amazing game. Later on, I had a chat with most of the other Star Players I could find.

Moments later, Natchai called us for some more UbiGoodies ;) . We got a gigantic Assassin's Creed Movie poster(adores my room wall now :) ) along with a South Park figure :) .





The moment that we've been waiting for finally arrived!!!

We boarded the bus and began the journey towards Gamescom at the Koelnmesse!

Thats the Rhine river:

After reaching our destination, our excitement knew no bounds as we entered the majestic arena!

Fellow Star Players:

With Community Reporter and Star Player Samuel Steel:

Here are some pics from Gamescom:

The legendary cosplayer, Rick Boer!

On our way back after the first day:

Some pretty cars spotted :) !

I adore bikes. So had to take this shot:

St. Peter's Cathedral at Cologne:

In the city:

With fellow Star Player, Bisu Zimt:

Dishonored 2 craze in the city!!

Some more pics of the beautiful city:

Dinner time!

With Star Player guides Moritz Steck and Angèle Perrottet

Some more pics of the Cologne Cathedral:

Next day was a big surprise for us, as we were going to visit a medieval castle dating back to 1117!

Early next morning we headed off towards Marksburg castle headed by Ubisoft brand director Luc Duchaine and Ubisoft community developer Emile Gauthier along with fellow Star Players and Community reporters.

For Honor Community Reporters Samuel and Lisa:

For Honor Brand Director Luc Duchaine and Community Developer Emile Gauthier:

When we finally reached our destination:

Our castle tour guide had a beautiful accent and a wonderful way of explaining things:

Medieval Chess!:

One of the ceilings above:

Trying a Knight's Helmet:

The torture room!:

On the right is the hoof of a medieval horse! See the massive difference!:

A hilarious sign!

Back at Gamescom!:

Last view! It was a bit emotional when all of us parted and headed homewards!

My first flight was delayed and my Visa had expired. The police officer was a true gentleman who helped me out during that time to check out with my passport. He has very friendly and kind. Dear good people of Germany, take a humble bow!

I reached home on 20th September past 2 am. This will forever be an unforgettable trip! Thank you Ubisoft and the lovely samaritans of Germany whom I met during my stay, for your beautiful gesture of hospitality!


Lots of Love,
Avi

When I Was So Close To Attending E3 2016!

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.