The Fansite Festival 2016, Retold with GIFs

This second annual Fansite Festival was an idea that originated with the crew at Adventures of the Spiral, and spread out across fansites all over the community. It grew into a full day of action-packed fun, including multiple events being hosted at once. Just in case you missed any of them, here's a quick recap... in GIF form.

The Fansite Festival Begins

Just this morning at 11 AM CST, the Fansite Festival kicked off. This year, the events started an hour earlier, in part to accommodate the larger number of events happening this year as opposed to the first Fansite Festival. People began by heading to the Commons for the first event: Paige's Dance Party. (With ten events, this page may take a moment to load the GIFs before they play properly.)

Paige Moonshade's Dance Party

For as simple as it is, the Dance Party is always an extremely popular event, and this year was no exception. Faces from around the community, as well as some who just happened to drop in at the Commons to find a large group of people dancing around the pond, attended. And what a perfect opportunity to grab some fish! *Performs lucky fish dance*

Secrets of the Spiral and Frostcaller's NXP & Scrip Event

Autumn Dreamwalker of Secrets of the Spiral and Frostcaller co-hosted a nautical experience and scrip farming event in Aquila. This provided the perfect opportunity for new players and old players with new characters to grab some experience and potentially some scrip... even on their lower-level ships!

Vanessa Mythdust's Bingo

This event was one for which players had to register in advance by submitting their boards on The Untold Spiral. It is always a popular Twitter event, but this first hosting during the Fansite Festival brought on an even larger crowd. Of course, those familiar with Bingo events will have missed a favorite face - Jason Goldenshield. I happily filled out my Bingo Jason-style in his honor.

LotS and Stormgate Pirates' Screenshot Contest

The Legends of the Spiral and Stormgate Pirates teams gathered large groups of players in both games for a screenshot contest. With promises of bundles and crowns, players took advantage of the opportunity. Rapid-fire screenshots, commence!

Duelist101's Mid-Spring PvP Bash

Last year's PvP was a favorite, and this year was just as great. Shadowfishy decorated a beautiful house for the main PvP event, and there were several connected homes that accommodated lower levels and others who wanted to battle. There were also plenty of options to watch and enjoy the festivities. And even if PvP wasn't your thing, there were free therapeutic head rolls... who could refuse?

Mercenaries101's Battle Royale

One of the more unique events comes from Mercenaries for Hire and Mercenaries for Charter. In the Battle Royale, wizards were given hints for five bosses, with the twist this time around of all being side quest bosses. They must track these enemies down and get pictures of their defeat. The first to follow the hints and complete the fights were named the winners!

Petnome Project's Pet Sparring

For those seeking some lighthearted fun and perhaps a bit of nostalgia in Pirate101, Petnome's pet sparring event was the perfect opportunity. Pirate regulars and returning players alike stopped by to face off. Getting a match started took some time, so I'd say this was a pretty accurate description of our excitement when we got one:

And likewise, this was an accurate description for when we found out we were facing Duncan the Pet Master:

Nordic Champion's Track Meet

One of the new events this year came from Nordic Champion, who hosted a Wizard City race - no mounts, no speed-boosting gear, just good old-fashioned running. There were three different running events for pack prizes and a screenshot contest for bundles and crowns.

Johnny's Hide & Seek

Another new event this year came from Johnny of Wizards and Pirates of the Spiral. He held four rounds of Hide & Seek in which he provided worlds and realm hints for wizards to search through. Winners received bundles or crowns.

Vanessa's Scavenger Hunt & Tag Party

To wrap up the Fansite Festival, Vanessa Mythdust hosted a housing games party - tag and scavenger hunts in her Polarian Shipwreck. The turnout for this event was impressive, and the massive house allowed for plenty of space with twists and turns for tag and hunting Zeke's items. I do love these housing games.

ManOfBass's Live Coverage

Many couldn't visited or participate in all of the events, and some of the current readers of this post may have missed part or all of the festival. Fortunately, Edward Anvilshared (a.k.a. man0fbass) livestreamed almost all of the events. If you missed the broadcast, you can watch the events HERE on his Twitch channel.

The whole Fansite Festival was pretty awesome and overall extremely well-attended and very popular. I'm hoping the same thing returns next year with more events and more attendees. Getting in-game with friends to participate was great, and there was a multitude of bundles, crowns, and other items given away very quickly by all of the participating site owners. If you went, I hope you as much fun as I did!

What did you think of the Fansite Festival? Which events did you attend and which were your favorite?

Thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral!