A Quick Trip to London for RuneFest

11/20/2013 4:50 PM

By Sarah Hanelt ’15

Nathan Lorentz, a sophomore at Bradley double majoring in Marketing and Interactive Media returned from London where he attended RuneFest, a gaming convention on November 2 for the Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), RuneScape.  

RuneScape is a fantasy multiplayer online role-playing game.  It is a graphical browser game and incorporates 3D rendering.  RuneScape takes place in the world of Gielinor, a medieval fantasy realm.

RuneScape is developed by Jagex Games Studios, the largest independent game developer and publisher in the UK based in Cambridge. The studio has won numerous awards, including the 2009 & 2010 Golden Joystick for the ‘UK Games Developer of the Year’.

Lorentz worked with a small handful of individuals from the RuneScape fan site, RuneSlayer, a community help site that offers guides, forums and tools. During the summer of 2013, Lorentz registered his work at RuneSlayer as an intern in Bradley’s Internship Program.  Due to time constraints, he had to give up his position with the start of the Fall 2013 semester. 

Lorentz returned to organize and produce live-event coverage of RuneFest. Their production, referred to as “RuneFest LIVE!”, aimed to provide live video streams of sessions, live tweets from the event, live photos, interviews with Jagex Staff and giveaways to attendees.

Known by his online name, Boomer-One, or just Boomer, Lorentz ran the production’s social media pages: @RuneFestLive on Twitter and RuneFestLive on Facebook.  He put together a social media strategy with the intent to reach as many attendees and fans of RuneScape as possible.

Lorentz did all of the graphic design and multimedia work for the production as well.  He designed this year’s current logo and a poster to be hung up at the event’s designated fan site booth.  Lorentz also created promotional graphics for use with social media and a custom skin for the RuneSlayer website.

Lorentz had been part of the RuneSlayer website for three years, where his role was that of a community manager, providing outreach, engagement, retention, and promotions through social media and events.  He aimed to provide a unique experience to set the site apart from competitors, which led to RuneSlayer having one of the most influential fan-run RuneScape related Twitter accounts.

Lorentz said one of the most memorable part of this year’s RuneFest was the sense of community and the number of people who knew his name and work.  Putting a face to the online presence of people he has been associating with throughout the last few years was something he will never forget.  The feedback he received from online players gave him an amazing feeling of knowing how much his work is appreciated.

The photo in costume is credited to Christy Falk