I finally decided to get off my lazy ass and go to GStar in Busan. Was it worth it? Kinda. Here’s the breakdown.
The Good
1. Busan Indie Connect (BIC) has a fairly large pity booth at the side of the event. I’m pretty sure the conversation went like this:
 Busan Government : Let BIC come and play.
 GStar: But, but they’re not cool! They don’t even have any half-naked dancing chicks.
 Busan Government: Do you want to use BEXCO for like free or not?
GStar: … FINE. They can come, but I’m not talking to them any.
And so it went. The booths were fairly crowded, but it seemed like most people were just trying to get away from the throng in the main hall.
Now, don’t get me wrong, BICÂ is my baby, and it was the best part of the event. I got to see a lot of people, hang out, play some weird games. It was way more fun than anything else GStar had to offer. I’m just keeping it real yo.
2. PUBG Tournament in the main hall. That was fun. The game itself is boring as watching paint dry, but spectating is kinda amazing. Having eyes on 75 people get herded into a increasingly smaller and smaller place while trying to not to be seen, creates some real drama, especially because when the spectating monitors have x-ray mode on so you can see people lying in wait. It makes me wish this was possible in the actual game, instead of just dying and wondering why.
3. Roof Rage on the big screen. Okay, so maybe BIC and GStar did agree to a little big of crossover, though I’m not sure how much BIC had to do with this one. Roof Rage on the big screen was fun as hell to watch! Of course, action packed multiplayer lends itself well to these situations, but it’s nice to see some smaller developers getting some good screen time.
The Bad
1. Half-naked trade show models. (Not pictured above) Really? It’s 2017, let’s move beyond this. Not only is it creepy to see men drooling as they charge up to people just to take photos and run away, it doesn’t really have anything to do with gaming. You know what would be better? An effort to make gaming more inclusive towards women. Oh wait. I forgot. Hell hasn’t frozen over yet, and pigs can’t even fly. My bad. Continue on. *
2. Why does it seem that all AAA games are either all handholdy 3D walking simulators with a sprinkle of something story-like, or “action”-“r””p””g”s that basically either play themselves or require a semi-continuous one-button input? I’ll fully admit I’m biased, but there was nothing I wanted to play anywhere in the main hall, and really, PUBG was only fun because of the event. So very boring.
3. Sooo many people, and such poor planning. When I got there at about 1pm on Saturday, the line to buy tickets was about 2000 people long. Luckily I was able to get a guest pass to avoid the 2-3 hour wait, but that’s a planning failure if I’ve ever seen one. Buy your tickets in advance people.
The Summary
In short, GStar was only worth it for me for hanging out with BIC peeps. I’m not sure if I’ll go back again next year, it really depends if BIC has a booth there or not. If you happen to be in Busan and are able to get tickets in advance (they’re really cheap) then I would say go for it for an afternoon, not really worth the trip though.
*How long till someone calls me a SJW snowflake cuck not-real gamer?