I arrived in Bacolod early Friday morning in preparation for a series of talks at schools such as University of St. La Salle and AMA. I was booked for Friday afternoon and then 3 more talks in Saturday (I just came home from a team-dinner and celebration after the successful event).

With Apol, our Sales Director and my boss, Jake (Marketing Director). Apol gave talks centered on emerging trends in gaming, ICT and career opportunities. Mine featured tips on responsible gaming and showed them our “Level Up Honor Roll Program” and also how to go about with the Level Up “Unplugged” program (controlling game time by asking an account to be partially banned). Being a La Sallite myself, I was proud to come to a “green” event.

Here’s a photo during my talk at La Salle.

More about my trip and adventures in Bacolod after the jump

The Gaming Scene

Bacolod is a small, quiet city with sugar as its primary source of income. A lot of Negrense come here to study at prestigious schools such as La Salle. That’s why there’s a huge strip of Internet cafes along the area near the university. Of course, with cafes come gaming. But we were not here to promote the games, we went here to show the values of “balance” between studies, family, and relationships and how we can somewhat diffuse the stigma (or negatism) of online games among the academe, the government and the parents (hence, my talks).

But of course, I was curious to find out more about the gaming community in the city. Thanks to close friend and LUG loyalist, Mark Delfin: gamer, cafe owner and president of the Negros Occidental Internet Cafe Association, I was immediately briefed and updated on the MMORPG stuff within their province. Mark was also instrumental in making this event a reality and we owe him a lot (thanks, dude).

While chowing down delicious “inasal” (grilled) chicken and seafood, I was told that Perfect World is hot in Bacolod and Ragnarok is still a byword among players here. I met with some PW guilds (TriboPipo) and they are excited about the game, the features, especially the city battles. The questions never stopped but I was happy to answer all if I am able. I also took a video of their guild. I promise to upload the video to youtube and post it here as soon as I get back to Manila with a better connection (am only using my wireless connection).

Btw, do you know that the Freestyle champion from LIVE 2006 came from this city? Also, one of the biggest ROSE guilds hail from Bacolod. Now, according to the reports, they are playing PW.

I’m now in the hotel. It’s 2:09am and my flight leaves early tomorrow. I plan to hit the sack and I promise more posts about the trip when I get back to Manila. But not before giving thanks to Mark and our LUG staff led by the hard-working, Ryan and to all who helped us in this event – the student body of La Salle, the various faculty and staff of the different schools. Thanks for all the support and the warm welcome.

This trip won’t be the last.

‘Nite,

GM T