Interview with the Winners of the Paradox Interactive Convention 2010 Contest

We recently had the privilege to interview the winner of the Paradox Interactive Convention 2010 contest, Gerard Van Den Akker. The winner, along with his friend Mark, was flown, on Paradox’s expense, to Paradox Interactive Convention 2010. The convention is not open to the public and brought together many Paradox Interactive developers and partners. Additionally information about the contest can be found here.

While Gerard was visiting Paradox Interactive in Sweden, he also wrote about his experience. You can read all about it on the Paradox Interactive forums here. A special thank you goes out to him, as well as Paradox Interactive, for making this interview possible.

GamerSyndrome: What was your first reaction when you saw that you had won the Paradox
trip?

Gerard: “O my, I’ve won. Yay! But wait… I’m too late with responding! Argh!” Due to circumstances, I hadn’t checked my Facebook page after the 18th of December. The first time I glanced at it, was at the 2nd of January, after all the holidays and such. I thus saw on that moment that I had won, which made me almost shout out loud in disbelieve. But my joy didn’t last very long, since I then noticed that the message was frm the 21st of December, asking me to respond before the 23th of December. I felt a deep disappointment that I saw it too late. But since it was the weeks of the holiday season, and I saw on the Paradox Facebook page that they would check out again after they had returned to work, I though: “Maybe they haven’t contacted anyone else yet,” and so I still responded. It happened to be that they did contact other winners, but those hadn’t responded by the time I send my message. When I thus got the final message stating that I was declared winner, I felt a great relief, besides the overall joy and excitement.

GamerSyndrome: What was your favorite part, overall, of the entire trip?

Gerard: It’s really hard to promote one part as my favorite, since I liked my entire stay and all the activities. The party n Thursday evening was among the heights of the week. But the best part of all, I think, was the Q&A on both Thursday and Friday. Not only did I get a chance to play with some of the upcoming games, and see them in more detail then at the presentations, but I had a lot of nice talks with the different developers. The combination of just talking with them and both learning more about the upcoming games was the best of the entire event.

GamerSyndrome: What did you look forward to most upon arriving?

Gerard: Meeting the Paradox people. And dinner! Of course I was looking forward to the entire event, to all the different aspects, but its the people that ultimately make it. And I’m not disappointed, on the contrary! They were all so great. And about the dinner part… Well, after a eleven hour journey (including the waiting on different stations and airports) I was quite hungry.

GamerSyndrome: What did you think of all of the Paradox Interactive members?

Gerard: They are wonderful people. Nice, great to talk to, understanding… And véry involved with their fans. Their enthusiasm was contagious, since it spread among everyone. I was already very enthusiastic beforehand, and that only grew when I met them and had the chance to talk to them all.

GamerSyndrome: Which Paradox game do you look forward to most in 2010?

Gerard: Actually two titles: Vainglory of Nations and Victoria 2. It’s a coincidence that they play in the same period. I look forward to the first once since it reminds me of a game I have enjoyed for many years: Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Also the enormous depth of the various details, as in history, gameplay and graphics, and the feeling the game breaths. I look forward to the second one because it might even top my favorite game of the past two and a half years, Europa Universalis 3. The depth in the social reforms, the entire feeling of the Victorian period and moreover the fact you don’t micromanage every tiny detail, but more like guide your nation into greatness while being influenced by all kinds of global and local events, make me long for this game.

Again, thank you to Gerard for answering these questions. I’m glad you had a great time with the Paradox Interactive team!

Article from Gamersyndrome.com

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