“It’s 2014, and I was walking around the back of the south hall because it was always a faster route/less crowded. I see a really young boy sitting at a table with a guy in his forties and an older woman in her sixties. They have a little swag bag, nothing major, and you can tell the kid is trying to be excited, and the adults are trying to be excited for him, but this is E3 2014 and it isn’t designed for normal people. So I stopped and said hello, thinking I could give the kid some E3 stuff.
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I introduced myself to the guy, who said his name was Jason, and he introduced me to his mom, and his son, whose name was Kane. Kane is a bright-looking kid but clearly not well, and his grandma tells me that being at E3 is Kane’s wish. As in Make-a-Wish.
I immediately walk over to Activision’s booth and ask to talk to an agency rep for Call of Duty stuff that I’ve worked with a bunch. I say it’s important and time sensitive, and because he’s a good guy, he comes down to floor to chat. The rep and I agree that there’s got to be something we can do, even if it’s just to give Kane some stuff…Basically, the Call of Duty stuff just isn’t going to work. It’s Advanced Warfare this year, the demo is very graphic, etc. but Activision has another shooter here that they could show Kane.
It’s 2014, and the other big game at Activision’s booth is Destiny. [They] offer to give Kane the whole Destiny demo, and he and his family accept. At this point I’m actually late for an appointment, so I confirm with agency guy they’re all set and leave.
Later that day, I get a text from [Kane’s] grandma that some Bungie folks really went all out for Kane and gave him a full Destiny experience. Just bags of stuff to take home. She asks me to put her in touch with the agency guy to thank him.
E3 was a huge, complicated, conflicted machine. But it gave me a chance once to help some really kind people at Bungie and Activision do something amazing for a family that needed that kind of day. I’ll be grateful for that always.”
—Arthur Gies, Wirecutter
