Just to get in mood for The Gathering 2004, we took a little trip outside the ship, to the parking lot to look for some of the participants who arrived earlier this cold Tuesday evening. They are already in party-mood and they will wait all night long to be the first into The Gathering 2004.
Written by Mats Frøiland aka Cart Photos by Helge Øyvind Hoel aka vvizard
We talked to several different people and groups and there are many different reasons why they will wait outside the ship, freezing, just to be the first ones in the queue tomorrow morning. Some of them arrived when the check-in started last year, and they were tired of standing in the queue for several hours, so this year they would skip most of the queue by getting to Hamar early.
There are people from all over Norway , and even some people from Germany , who are here on their first TG. There are also people who have been here each year since 1996.
One of the groups of people who is sitting outside, are a group of Stavanger-people. They were at The Gathering for the first time in 2003 and returned this year because of their very positive experience last year. They come to TG to learn different things about computer, like what make they work, what you can do with it etc. Some of them want to learn about hardware, and others want to learn how to code demos etc. They all feel that The Gathering is a great place to learn things like that, because everyone is very helpful and it's very easy to come onto people you don't know.
One of the guys, Håkon, is here for the first time. He was dragged to The Gathering by his friends' stories about last year. He heard that it's more like a party than the LANs he is used to hear about. He feels it's like a break from the ordinary day. Some of his friends back in Stavanger are saying that they would never spend their Easter holiday inside, in front of a computer, but Håkon disagree. He says that every person have their own interests, and should practice them in the way they want. He means that The Gathering is a great place for computer-interested persons to get their hobbies set alive.
We also met another group of people from Eidsvold. They are here for the 7 th time this year. They come every year for the social gathering of old and new friends. Some of them also come here for gaming. Competition is an important factor in the social life between these guys and it's great status winning the intern competitions. They have never arrived this early before, but it is worth a try for getting a better place in the queue.
The last people we talked to outside the Vikingskip was a group from Oppegård. They had no special plans for the night, except chilling outside the Vikingskip, make some BBQ-food and sleep, just waiting for the party to begin. It was three boys and one girl from Oppegård arriving this early, and they all were coders, who really wanted to show us a representative production in the PC-Demo compo. They would also make a release for some of the fast compos. We wish them the best of luck.
There was quite good life outside on the parking lot tonight, so we hope you'll bring the party-mood into the ship and make this the best gathering ever.
One of the groups of people who is sitting outside, are a group of Stavanger-people. They were at The Gathering for the first time in 2003 and returned this year because of their very positive experience last year. They come to TG to learn different things about computer, like what make they work, what you can do with it etc. Some of them want to learn about hardware, and others want to learn how to code demos etc. They all feel that The Gathering is a great place to learn things like that, because everyone is very helpful and it's very easy to come onto people you don't know. 
The last people we talked to outside the Vikingskip was a group from Oppegård. They had no special plans for the night, except chilling outside the Vikingskip, make some BBQ-food and sleep, just waiting for the party to begin. It was three boys and one girl from Oppegård arriving this early, and they all were coders, who really wanted to show us a representative production in the PC-Demo compo. They would also make a release for some of the fast compos. We wish them the best of luck. 
