What we’re about
Hello everyone! My name is George and I welcome you all to checking out my group. Please read this description fully before opting to join... just so there are no misunderstandings (yes this is a loooong read but informative for your benefit).
**If you do not use MeetUp regularly and/or are too shy to attend events, please do not join my group (I sympathize with folks who have anxiety and shyness as I have dealt with these throughout my life but don't be hesitant to face your fears). I will need accurate headcounts / rock-solid RSVPs for venue organizers (to provide exclusive group discounts) and I am very serious about group member engagement. I do not care if this group never exceeds 100 members if only 5 people will participate here and there; the only metric I care about is percentage of active participants relative to group size. If we want to grow big, let's make sure that we will see one another IRL. Not every event, but as many as you can make it to. If we can be a uniquely active group of a large, respectable size, I am all in!!! Let's go for it! Sorry, no digital nomads or lurkers!**
Alright, now the fun stuff...
Mass VGA is a passionate endeavor of mine to build, grow, and maintain an active, engaging community of adults (mainly 20s/30s/40s) who seek social events tied to the theme of my group, video games (primarily) and adventures / activities at various attractions (i.e. sports, entertainment, and travel), local and somewhat afar.
Why the primary focus on video games? Other than being an avid gamer and lifelong fan of them, video games have helped me a lot in getting through tough times. I bet a lot of folks agree. For me, what I especially savor are the friendships made and the company of people coalescing around and amidst the gameplay on several game consoles and TVs, whether competitive or casual, as long as it's fun!
To provide some background, I annually staff PAX East in Boston (the largest video game convention or "expo" on the East Coast) and am a regular at "video game nights" advertised via Eventbrite, staged at random breweries; I have plans to stream and talk about gaming on YouTube & Twitch in the immediate future and finally, I am a game collector and "historian". Tying all that into this group, my biggest goal at the time of this writing is to provide / promote / produce video game "freeplay" events at various venues around Eastern Massachusetts. Essentially, I would like for folks like me to have the means to game and socialize at any point during the year and not have to wait for PAX or CT Gamer Con or rely on the very few arcades that exist these days to enjoy this great hobby and meet/reconnect with fellow social gamers...
I have a list of contacts with whom I have built a relationship with over the years, many who would love to accommodate their venues for potentially FREE video gaming for adults as it would help their businesses given the right amount of foot traffic coming in... hence, why I REQUIRE this group's members to be active users of MeetUp. Regarding the location of these venues, I will be aiming to cover as much of Massachusetts as possible (Greater Boston is the focus with extended areas into NH and RI being viable) so no one gets left out geographically.
So yes, range of area covered and frequency of game events are focus areas I am promoting... what else? Oh yeah, the games. I would be working with the venues to provide the appropriate selection of games and consoles. Retro, new and anything in between. Multiplayer and single-player. Even I would pitch in, grabbing games and consoles from my collection (I will share this: I simultaneously own the oldest and youngest home video game systems in history: The Magnavox Odyssey and the Nintendo Switch 2 – a 53 year old gap between the platforms). This is not just bragging, it's to tell you all that I love this hobby and would love to share it with as many people as possible.
Expect the mainstays of games: Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Mario Party, Sonic the Hedgehog, Pokemon, StreetFighter, Tekken, Tetris, Super Monkey Ball, etc. Expect multiple TVs, many controllers, hours of fun. Wanna be competitive? Be competitive. But don't get carried away, okay? Please?
Depending on how successful I can make this work (ideally, a monthly video game gathering, rotating between locations to start), the next step I'd like to take this group should it grow alongside the frequency of the events, would be inviting interested people to accompany me while live streaming! And holding tournaments! I will provide more info on that in a video to be released to this group in the future.
Moving on to the non-video gaming focus of this group: the activities at various attractions. I'm not just only an avid video gamer but I am also an adventurer. You know how your parents would beg you to get off the TV to go outside and play? You remember the attractions and sight-seeing that you'd be embarking on with family and friends (whether you ended up enjoying them or not)? Well, consider this group to offer activities that provide a second chance or even a very belated introduction to some of the amusement you miss or missed out from your youth. Obviously, these will be adult-focused gatherings and promoted as such at many of these venues that primarily cater to children (the kid-at-heart crowd). Plus the usual fun for all-ages fare (movies, trivia night, hiking, sight-seeing at local points of interest, holiday events).
I will provide a detailed list of attractions and entertainment ideas for this group in the near future – there should be enough to fill an entire calendar year for every season, and for annual returns!
To wrap this up, I don't exactly know how big the overlap is between video gamers and those seeking out recreational fun, unplugged from the TV and looking to connect with nature (don't take that quite literally; arcades will be visited but so will parks and trails). I personally know some people who practice several hobbies but don't have the same overlapping friend groups sharing multiple interests, which is normal.
Perhaps this group will be viewed as too niche or will be judged for its main draw rather than the social aspect that I hope draws people who at least casually like the mix of activities that I am describing / alluding to for my group.
Regardless, I really hope that I can attract anyone reading this who is looking for consistent friends, doing consistent activities, and at consistent places of fun for the future memories to be created and cherished.
We're living in a rough time and the best we can do in my opinion is to band together, in pursuit of adventure for the sake of our health in navigating our adult lives. Which reminds me: games are therapy. And so are having friends you can talk to, play with, and rely on for support. This is my group in a nutshell.
One final serious note to address: this group – my endeavor to build and grow a passionate, tight-knit community centered around the themes I have laid out – comes at a particularly tough time in my life of heavy loss and grief. In honor of my youngest brother whose adult life was cut extremely and unfairly short (there are simply no words that would explain the anguish), I aim to make a profound difference in social inclusiveness and adventuring. There's more to say but I will leave with this: if you are in a dysfunctional setting or have been and need relief from the chaotic, strenuous day-today life of work and responsibilities, let me offer you a setting that puts you at ease and make life a little more bearable to navigate through.
If you choose to join this group, please make a promise to be active on this platform (I will enforce mandatory roll calls every six months to better gauge accuracy and forecasting in group sizes for planned events). Comment publicly, feel free to reach me here via a DM. RSVP. I don't expect you to attend every event but make an effort to come to them once in a while. Yes I know life is busy, especially for of us who are married and have children but if you have breaks in between family life and work and need a fun outing worthy of your deserved break, definitely make some time for this group.
To anyone looking to join – the one thing I don't want anyone to feel is uncomfortable. I genuinely look forward to meeting people and make it a personal goal of mine to keep anyone in my company at ease. I'm very sensitive towards peoples' feelings so don't at all be overwhelmed by trying out a new group and meeting new faces. You won't regret it.
- George Yazbeck
P.S. Stay tuned for a video I will be producing for the group that will go into more details about this group as well as its future plans and goals.
