DreamHack, the Rise of an Event
While it holds the title of biggest LAN in the world from the Guinness World Records, DreamHack still is a mostly unknown event in North America. It was first thought-up in the early 90s by two gaming enthusiasts who wanted to share a weekend of coding and hacking with their friends. Due to it’s success and innovation, DreamHack became the largest LAN in Sweden in 1997, held at the Elmia Exhibition centre in Jönköping, a three-hour drive south of Stockholm. In 2002, DreamHack held its biannual events for the first time; DreamHack Summer and DreamHack Winter. Not only is the event a LAN but it also hosts festivals, expos, gaming competitions, digital arts competitions and live concerts. Its main circuit is in Europe: Sweden, France, Spain and Romania are it’s primary locations, but they’ve also held other events in Russia, Germany and England.
DreamHack Austin, the First Step in a Worldwide Circuit
After being acquired in 2015 by Modern Times Group, one of the biggest companies in Esports at the moment, DreamHack is looking to expand to North America for the first time. This long awaited announcement received a warm welcome from the North American gaming communities, making it a strong possibility for the company to produce more future events on the continent. The event will happen in Texas, at the Austin Convention Centre, on the weekend of May 5th-7th 2016.
Let’s see what DreamHack has in store for his attendees:
Sadly, there is no news about the Dream Expo at the time this will be published, but further announcements will be posted on the DreamHack Austin website.
As far as the esports and gaming section is concerned, DreamHack offers a lot to its visitors with five official gaming tournaments and smaller BYOC competitions that have yet to be announced. The biggest tournaments are as follows: Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone, Starcraft II, Street Fighter V and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Most of these competitions offer points to the winners, helping them advance in their respective game’s season championships.
Starcraft II, My Reason to Travel
I am travelling with the intention of enjoying the event as fan but I will also have the pleasure of interviewing some friends; women who have made their way in the gaming industry as casters, streamers, interviewers, hosts or editors. I will be meeting with Navneet “Nav”, Assignment Editor for theScore esports; Tracie “MissMagitek”, journalist, streamer and host who worked with Ubisoft and MatchGrade; Helen “Zepph”, Starcraft II caster for WCS SEA; Jessica “ZombieGrub”, Starcraft II caster for BaseTradeTV and player; and Olivia “Olimoley”, former assistant manager and content manager for Axiom, admin for BaseTradeTV.