Interview: Mike Marecek - Sierra Convention 2014

As I’ve mentioned previously, I regularly get contacted by people who would like me to mention their game, event or online casino in this blog. Most of these get ignored for the simple reason that I want The Adventure Gamer to remain focused on chronologically playing adventure games. However, occasionally one seems worthy of attention, such as an email I received from Ben Rosner a few days ago. Ben is helping to organise a Sierra Convention for fans like us, and agreed to pass on any questions I might have to Mike Marecek, the man behind the idea!

Mike Marecek - It's too easy to make crude jokes about this image so I will refrain

Now those of you that have been here a while will know that the first thing I did was Google Mike to see what I could find out about the guy. It turns out that this guy deserves some serious respect in this field, not only for his vast knowledge on everything Sierra, but also because of his stupendously impressive collection. Check it out here: http://youcantbesrsly.com/?page_id=115

Man, I'd love to have this collection. My wife would be less impressed.

Here’s the original email:

“I represent the 2014 Sierra Convention. I was wondering if your blog would be able to put up a short article/feature about our convention. It will be located on the West Coast, and will feature well known Sierra alumni such as Scott Murphy (space quest/space venture), Mark Crowe (space quest/space venture), Jim Walls (Police Quest, also will be working on a new Police Adventure game soon) and David Homb (Phantasmagoria).  Thank you for your time. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail me back.

Sincerely,
Ben Rosner
Social Media Director
Sierra Convention 2014”

Can you imagine the costumes at a Sierra convention? There are almost too many awesome choices!

Here are the subsequent questions and answers. This is not an extensive interview by any means, but I thought it would be of interest to the readership here.

The Trickster: Where and when will the conference be held?
Mike: We are looking at California or Washington State for the first year. This is mainly so we are closer to the Sierra alumni that want to attend. Our dream is for the event to grow each year and have it all over the world, this way fans all over the place can enjoy the convention without having to travel far every year. The dates are also not yet locked down. We are hoping for summer of 2014 but right now we are still in limbo on a lot of details. As we progress with planning & event details we hope to narrow down the weekend for the event.

I better go see Leonard quickly to try and get cheap passage!

The Trickster: I believe the event is entirely fan driven and not by Sierra itself. Is this correct?
Mike: This is correct. At this time the event is entirely fan driven but many of the original Sierra alumni have expressed interest in involvement with the project.

The Trickster: How did the event come to exist?
Mike: I have had this idea for many years. I attend a lot of various conventions and sometimes I am lucky enough to see someone wearing a Space Quest shirt or find a copy of Kings Quest but it is a rarity. I have really wanted to have a place where Sierra (and adventure game fans as a whole) fans could get together and trade old games, art work, merchandise, stories, etc... It would be amazing to also sit down and have the old designers & programmers share stories and sign copies of classic games. I think classic Sierra has a big enough following that a convention like this one can sustain itself. I never really did much of anything with the idea until Eriq Chang (ArtOfSierra.com & FableFoundry.com) pushed me into doing it. He and I have a special love for Sierra and we can sit on the phone or Skype for hours talking about it and sharing stories. Once he talked me into actually doing something with the idea, he's been a great help in getting the ground work for the event started, including our early logo designs (check out FB page for images).

Things are just not real until you have a logo. This makes it real!

The Trickster: Is this the first such conference?
Mike: At present we know there have been some vintage game conventions but nothing that has really been focussed on Sierra.

The Trickster: Is there a large cost involved in running something like this?
Mike: Yes, there are a lot of costs involved. We are looking at several large conference centers and along with that comes power, internet, tables, chairs, etc. etc. etc. Then we have the costs of a website, hosting, store fees, graphic design and printing. What once was a small idea has grown into a huge expense. We are hoping that once we can get our Kickstarter completed, fans will help in funding the event. Also, advanced ticket sales should help.

The website is just in development, but you gotta love the Sonny Bonds reference and the motto. "Still living the adventure!"

Also, we are looking for volunteers in the following departments:

- Graphic Arts
- Event Coordinator
- Web Development
- Event Staff
- Media Production
- Event Development Team

If anyone is interested, they should email mike@thesierracon.com

The Facebook page can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/TheSierraCon