"They came, they drank, they puked."

All police leave cancelled. Huge areas of London sealed off. Army units on alert at their bases. All high ranking personnel evacuated to their reinforced bunkers. All non essential hospital operations cancelled. These kind of things happen when there are expected riots, foreign military operatives on the rampage, political demonstrations…. And now the Metropolitan Police have added the Ryzom IRL to their list of “Oh why didn't I phone in sick” events.

Saturday September 16, a day that few will forget (and one or two will probably never be allowed to forget). London's Nanobyte Bar had certainly never seen anything like it. With some of the regular patron now mentally scarred for life, the new venue for the Ryzom IRL certainly stepped up to the plate (thanks to them for dropping their no smoking rules) and delivered the most successful IRL to date. With the numbers of attending players growing again (nearly hitting 50 this time) it would seem like the IRL is becoming more popular every time – as those who came to the very first at the Old Star will no doubt agree.

With a 7pm official kick off, it's no surprise that people started turning up early to grab the comfy chairs (ether that or letch at the bar maids, not sure which). Many had even started off the liquid celebrations a little earlier in the day to ensure that there would be no such thing as quiet moments or lulls in the evening's activities. CSRs Shadowweb and Tigane did their utmost to go through the entire cocktail menu, while Senior Guide Sengosha appeared to be on a quest to hug anything that moved and Souls was just being……. Souls. The CSR attendance was rounded out with Calebrien and special guests from Nevrax CS, Vince and Yogin. The bar will never be the same again.

An evening of war stories, tales of who did what to who and possibly one or two mentions of “When will we be getting……” ensued with grillings, interrogations and outright bullying all round (and that was just the Samsara ordering their drinks). Special mention has to be made of the incredibly generous attempt by someone (who shall not be mentioned) to redecorate the couch, carpet and wall where he was sat – the Nanobyte hadn't even mentioned to us they were thinking of refurbishing. With much discussion on all things game related, from the Outposts to the Ring to beyond and the future, the Ryzom community once again showed that it is closer than any other to their game and what goes on in and around it. Even after the raised eyebrows of those who realised the female characters they have been chatting up in game were actually 6ft tall northern mine workers – maybe that was what caused the re-decoration attempt. And it wouldn't be like us to let something like the closing time at the bar stop the festivities. With many hotels hosting mini get togethers and one groups Prime Root rivalling trek to find an all night bar (a Spanish bar named the Bar Celona…. Geddit?) sleep was not something that was high on the agenda that night.

Our thanks go to all the players who travelled from all over the world to make this the most successful IRL yet, and to Vince and Yogin for dealing with all the questions from players (usually the ones where the other CSRs avoided them and told everyone to “ask Vince”). All we can say is, roll on IRL IV.