Back in the day, there were two Fan Fests for Star Wars Galaxies. LucasArts hosted these events as a way to honor and celebrate the many fans of the game, and also to provide a way for them to all come together and meet. The 2004 Fan Fest was held at the Hilton Anaheim in June. It was a great time to be in California as the weather is great and of course, the venue was wonderful. Players had the chance to meet one another and also to talk to developers, participate in panels, and play in in-game and live events. Tickets ran from $89-100, depending on if you pre-purchased or got them at the door.
It was a lot of fun, as these types of fan events tend to be. If you played SWG back then, you will remember how close-knit the community was. In addition to it being a great game, it was this community that went a long way in keeping the game alive (even to this day in some form) and community events like this were a great way to celebrate that. It also showed that the developer cared about the players and the fans that made the game a success. It was a nice thing to see. It was much like the SWTOR Guild Summit I attended that sadly never happened again.
A fan took some video of his time at one of the Fan Fests in 2005 and he has shared it on YouTube if you want to take a look.
Here you can see it for yourself:
From the poster, Larry Barthel:
“Star Wars Galaxies had 2 Fan Fests, conventione dedicated solely to the fans of the game. I attended 2 of them, and the second time I took a small camera that had video capabiliities, and created this video as a momento of the fun occasion.”
Star Wars Galaxies is still available on Amazon, if you want the disc for your collection, or you need it to play SWGEMU. Get SWG here.
