SPEAKING UP

from Art Department Weekly | Issue 95 Vol. 10

FIVE THINGS

BOOM LEARNS TO TURN AROUND A BAD SITUATION

National Geographic’s booth had no line for their VR experience, so Boom was able to jump in right away and say he wanted to look at glow worms. The exhibitor takes the headset back, seemed to select something, then put the headset back on Boom, told him to click the remote, and then took the remote away. Boom turned his head around but never really reacted to anything. Enough time passed, the exhibitor said it must have ended, and all Boom got were marks on his cheeks. Watching the videos, he was angry. “Why didn’t he load it for me? Did he think I was big enough?” He cried that day when I asked him what it was like and the only thing he had seen was the menu.

**The exhibitor preparing the virtual reality for Boom**
Madline Strum Photography

**Marks from the Occulus headset**
Madeline Strum Photography

So, later on, we went to Rooster Teeth’s booth to play the Bendy and Ink Machine video game. We showed up when the line was short, but no one was working the booth. The same people kept playing and letting their friends take over their machines. I decided not to stick around. At the end of the day, we exited to complain at the main desk. The woman who was registering my story didn’t seem surprised and asked if we wanted to go back to play. Boom didn’t remember getting the VIP treatment of having a ReedPop employee help him cut the line. I was hoping he learned to speak up. —MV