Gamers and anime artist predominantly all over the East Coast and others throughout the United States came to Baltimore Maryland to attend Otakon, which is an Anime Convention. Empire Arcadia decided to make a trip to Baltimore to check out the gaming community at Otakon. The convention held a female gamers panel which would discuss issues concerning female gamers and how they can produce a greater impact on the gaming community. The Panel of female gamers consist of Jessica aka "Jtari", Isa aka "Isami or Koko", Kaitlen aka "YamiRyoko" and Mimi. Their back ground on gaming gives gamers a good understanding on how much they want to make a difference in their community unlike other female gamers who just play casually and are not really that concerned about the matter. Jtari and her crew have played console games ranging from River City Ransom, Super Mario RPG, Project Justice and Initial D. However they are not limited to just console games as they also have PC experience and have played games from Starcraft, Diablo 2, World of Warcraft and Guild Wars.

As the panel began the girls opened up by asking the audience, particularly the female's gamers about gaming with male gamers. One after another female gamers stood up and professed their testimonials about matches that they had against male gamers and how they defeated them in the games that they played. One female gamer in the audience was not pleased with what she considered to be a waste of time and a panel created for female gamers to brag about how well they play against male gamers. One of the female panel members quickly dispelled that impression by changing the subject.

As a new topic came into play it caught the attention of EmperorTFGM and EmpressWyldflower. "What are some of the problems that hinder the growth and development of the female gaming community?" Several attendees of the audience gave their opinions on the matter stating industry lack of female involvement to lack of female characters. Others stated the derogatory exploits of females in videogames but that is easily contradicted as Anime depicts female's far worst than gaming ever could. The female community in Anime is actually stronger than the males. EmpressWyldflower then got her chance to introduce herself and the Empire. She gave her opinion as to why the lack of the "female gaming community". EmpressWyldflower explained that females needed to be more visible to the public the same way they attend in healthy numbers at Otakon the same should be done at videogame events. The panel asked EmpressWyldflower what she did she do as a member of the Empire and EmpressWyldflower told them that she was a member of the Valkyries of Arcadia, a sister entity of Empire Arcadia and that she helped educate, promote and train with male gamers on how to play the games that she like. One of the females from the panel asked EmpressWyldflower why do the male gamers of Empire Arcadia have to train her how to play videogames, and her reply was, "So that I can be good at what I play and love, the same way they do among other male gamers."

EmperorTFGM held a supporting point to his wife about female gamers supporting their community saying that "No man can create a female gaming community because we are not female. We can only encourage you to pursue what you so desire." The audience applauded TFGM's statement. Even with that said other patron's in the audience felt that the industry and market was at fault as they felt only the industry could provide a community for female gamers through the games created and the genre's "assigned" to them. EmperorTFGM was upset at the suggestion and stated "Why should female gamers be limited to only one genre?" The ladies in the room exploded into a cheer. EmperorTFGM went on to point out that female gamers need to can do more to help their community by simply attending gaming events which EmpressWyldflower pointed out earlier in the panel and suggested that the Empire would host a female targeted videogame convention. Quickly one of the female gamers said that none of the females would come, and when EmperorTFGM asked why, another female gamer said that society is the reason why female gamers are reluctant to come out and play. EmperorTFGM then said, "If we as male gamers support you and encourage you then who is it in society that is holding the female gaming community back?" One of female gamers across the room stood up and said "female gamers".

As the Panel came to a close EmeprorTFGM reiterated to the audience that they need to pioneer their community and do more to help it grow. Empire Arcadia supports the initiatives of the greater gaming community especially the female gaming community. For a list of sites that support female gaming please visit the list below.

http://www.Disengamers.com
http://www.gamegirladvance.com
http://www.gamegal.com
http://www.drunkotaku.com

Otakon held other gaming related events like their game room which held open games and tournaments. Games like Smash Brothers Melee, Counter Strike, Bubble Bobble, Dance Dance Revolution and more. The main attraction event for the gaming community was more of a concert than a panel or tournament. Piano Squall performed live at Otakon recomposing Final Fantasy music both old school and new on his piano while a live video of the games that he was playing the music to was running. He was not just limited to Final Fantasy though, he also did music from other games like ChronoTrigger, Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda and Xenosaga.

In one of his performances Piano Squall invited two of his friends on stage to help him with his "Aeris's Theme" song. As the two performed on stage which looked like they were professing their love to each other, the song came to a close and Matt propose to Sarah on stage in front of the live audience which changed the mood of the concert tremendously. Sarah said yes, and Piano Squall added the "End battle theme" from Final Fantasy as the crowd erupted into a frenzy.

Piano Squall gave a back ground bio about himself and what he loved doing. He expressed to his fans that they should keep doing what they loved and it would one day pay off. One of his fans said that she was inspired to continue to take her piano classes because of Piano Squall. As the concert ended Piano Squall invited his fans for autographs and merchandize table, before he was finish offering the audience rushed the stage which was stabilized by Otakon security staff to create a single line. The large line had to be moved outside of the concert room to make space for the fans. Brendan and EmperorTFGM waited on the side to speak to Piano Squall for about 2 hours as they wanted him to have time to his fans. Upon speaking to Piano Squall EmperorTFGM offered him to attend M4 . Piano Squall was more than happy at the offer and told Brendan that he would check his schedule to make sure that he would be able to fit in M4 as he had other conventions that he was lined up for.

EmperorTFGM told Piano Squall that as the musician that he is he is a prime example of the depth and culture that videogames has and that he supports his continuing efforts to entertain gamers who love the timeless classical theme's found in videogames. If you wish to find out more about Piano Squall please visit his site at http://www.PianoSquall.com. Brendan, Kreymore, Midus, EmpressWyldflower and EmperorTFGM all took a picture with Piano Squall before concluding their visit to Baltimore and the gaming community of Otakon. See you next year.