... You got a ticket! And the panel was super relevant and inspiring. \n\nThe party is AWESOME. You pile into branded buses to reach the venue, and the whole way there the fast-paced tech talk doesn't end. You talk about hackables and makeables. \n\nIn fact, the bus has wifi so that you can tweet about your conversations with the hashtag #mobilejamsesh. That way people can network and inspire one another even if they're on DIFFERENT BUSES. \n\nYou guys might even make it onto Wired's liveblog, which is like, you've basically made it by then. One of the top 800 influencers according to some list of all SXSW attendees is on this bus!! \n\nYou had an amazing time! \n\nDid you see everything there was to see at SXSW? When you get home are you going to already miss it? Did you make tons of great friends and come away inspired and excited? \n\n[[Start again!|begin]]

Current Sentiment: META\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nAudiences have gathered to watch a woman drawing a meticulous mural. A lot of people are snapping and tweeting pictures of her. Her mural is also being photographed by people with DSLRs who are probably real bloggers. Occasionally she stops doing art to give an interview about the art, but there is a rope you and everyone else have to stand behind since you don't have the right bracelet to be able to approach. \n\nYou gather that this person has come all the way from San Francisco to do art that expresses concern for the homeless of Austin. She says it's something she's been wanting to express for a long time. \n\n[[Instagram this!|art2]]

Wielding your Android device, you take and tweet your first official #sxsw Instagram, and experience a suffusion of joy and excitement. \n\nParticipatory social media culture, I am in you, you think. \n\nOh man. That's good. You tweet that one too, and add the official hashtag. \n\n([[Continue|begin3]])

Welcome to the Unofficial SXSW Game! \n\nIf you've never been to SXSW and are wondering what it's like, this game is for you. \n\n[[Next|next]]

Current Sentiment: LEAN-FORWARD \n---------------------------------------------------------------\nYou get a bright yellow piece of card with some artful, lacy shapes punched out of it. The incredibly innovative sharp edges should help it stick at a retrievable angle inside your hoodie pocket. \n\nIf you take the voucher to a certain barbecue restaurant between the hours of 11 AM and 2PM tomorrow you can receive an official lanyard and two drink coupons for [[the Outdoor Star Wars Cantina Event Brought To You By Brisk Iced Tea|vouchers2]].

Current Sentiment: ENGAGED\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nOh, wow. You're totally not sure what these people are doing and what they have to do with SXSW. Maybe nothing. It's so cool to see Austin taken over by weird art for this one special period of time! \n\nA lot of other people wearing SXSW-related lanyards and really cool glasses frames have gathered to watch the performance artists through their phone cameras, so [[you do too|artists2]]. \n\n

Current Sentiment: REVOLUTIONARY\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nYou see a lot of Tweets about a cool experimental film screening. It's a true-life documentary about guerillas, apparently.\n\nActually, it turns out the movie is about guerilla marketers. At one point a man decides to be the first person in Florida to walk around in public wearing Google Glasses. There is some slow-motion footage of him going about his business, brushing his teeth and looking like a forlorn, misunderstood futurist while others stare. Arctic Monkeys are on the soundtrack.\n\nAs you file out of the theater you hear someone say that James Franco was sitting in the first row!! Amazing!! \n\nNow, you can...\n\n[[Try to get into a cool party|party]]\n[[See what that long line is about|line5]]

Current Sentiment: ENERGIZED\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nYou attend a panel on how a small team of college students are solving a water purification problem in a small Russian town by 3D printing. It was super inspiring, you think, still buzzed from the cold coffees and all the Blue Moon ales.\n\nYou had to stand in the back and you couldn't really hear anything because the students mumbled nervously and stared at their feet but you did get to wait in line to fill out a raffle ticket to win your own 3D printer!! Oh man. What if you get one?\n\nYou have to be back in line in a few hours if you want to hear Pete Cashmore reveal the winner of the 3D printer. For now, you can...\n\n[[Check out some indie music|music]]\n[[Try to get into a cool party|party]].

Current Sentiment: PARTICIPATORY \n---------------------------------------------------------------\nYou accept a tiny, long can for free from a social media intern who has been cheering unintelligible things at attendees. The energy drink has green tea, guarana and phelpotemines, a rare disease-reversing bacteria that was discovered on the bellies of female Peruvian ants last year. \n\nOh yeah! You've seen a TEDx talk about this. You think it was called "A million tiny miracles: Fractals in emotional problem solving." You're not sure. \n\nYou reckon the energy drink tastes like milk thistle with a touch of taurine. It's okay. If you were the brand's social media consultant you might have [[pushed the ant angle more|drinks2]].

Current Sentiment: BLEEDING EDGE\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nAndroid device, promotional lanyard and Stumptown Cold Brew coffee in hand you take a look around...\n\n[[See what that long, long line is about|line]]\n[[Follow the sound of cheering in the distance|cheering]]

Current Sentiment: INSPIRED\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nThat was totally the right answer. Your time at SXSW (sxsw!!) is off to a super-fab amazing start! \n\nThe weather is gorgeous here and the streets are crowded with...\n\n[[People handing out energy drinks|drinks]]\n[[People handing out vouchers|voucher]]\n[[Performance artists|artists]]

Current Sentiment: YOLO\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nOh, man. You heard Puro Instinct was going to be at the Converse x Gorilla vs. Bear showcase. And Purity Ring was supposed to be at the Vans x Pitchfork showcase. And Purling Hiss was going to be at the Brooklyn Vegan showcase sponsored by VitaCoco. You can't make up your mind! \n\nYou heard a lot of rumors about Daft Punk playing the Vine party but you probably can't get into that. \n\nYou pick a showcase that includes bands you've never heard of before, because #SXSW is totally the place to discover tiny little indie acts that no one has ever heard of so that you can tell people about them next year when they get famous. \n\nYou get to the venue early because your ticket price includes free beer from 8PM until 9PM. You forgot to eat dinner, though, and everyone's Instagrams about authentic Texas #BBQ are making you hungry.\n\nYou end up getting a free hot dog from a cart outside, but then you can't get back into the venue because you're wearing six plastic bracelets but you must have dropped the one that goes to this venue. \n\nWhen you tweet about your difficulties you end up being given the opportunity to liveblog #SXSW for a brand new tech website! They'll pay you $30, too! Isn't that awesome? Your name will be on the masthead when they Kickstart the website! \n\nYou had an amazing day!!\n\nDid you see everything there was to see at SXSW? When you get home are you going to already miss it? Did you make tons of great friends and come away inspired and excited? \n\n[[Start again!|begin]]

Current Sentiment: YOLO\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nOh my god: It's a LIVE Kickstarter fundraiser. Six different panelists talk for a long time about their gripping personal experiences with Kickstarter, and then they announce they're pooling their resources for an exciting NEW Kickstarter. \n\nVitamin Water employees distribute big inflatable 'K's for everyone to wave around. \n\nThe team wants to raise $500K today to explore prototype technology for hoverboards. Hoverboards!!\n\nAn excited man whose business card reads 'serial entrepreneur and roustabout' donates $1000. Flushed, he turns around and says to whoever is listening, "I just bought a hoverboard, bro!" \n\n[[Donate to the Kickstarter|donate]]\n[[Decide not to donate|nodonate]]

You wait about nine hours, at which point the line moves a little bit. Halfway through, everyone who tweeted about Pepsi Max gets a free lunch, though, so it's totally worth it so far.\n\nYou listen to the conversation in front of you. It's about an artspace collective-space where people are breaking. You aren't sure what they are breaking. Maybe they mean breakdancing. The conversation is tangentially related to the Grumpy Cat, somehow. \n\nYou tweet a picture of the insane line, with a quip about how much you can't wait for this event. Eventually it gets dark, people start breaking out tents, and you decide to [[try something else|new2]].\n

You ask her what the line is all about. She looks up from her Galaxy SIII and winces when she smiles, because of her lip piercing. \n\n"It's the panel for the Girls That Look Like Skrillex Tumblr," she says. \n\n"Are you one of the girls that look like Skrillex," you ask.\n\nShe looks slightly off-put. "If I was, don't you think I'd be in VIP? I'm waiting because Tard the Grumpy Cat is supposed to be here."\n\n[[Wait to meet the grumpy cat|line3]]\n[[Go someplace else|new]]

After the podcast you get a little lost because a bunch of people were saying they heard on twitter that Shaquille O'Neill was really here and inviting people to hang out with him, and you thought that if you followed the crowd you might get to meet Shaq.\n\nTurns out the fuss was actually about a guy who performs a Shaq parody twitter account. You totally met that guy, though! \n\nNow, let's...\n\n[[Check out some indie music|music]]\n[[Go to another panel|panel]]

(I've never been to SXSW either, so this is just totally a guess.)\n\n[[Next|next2]]

Rad!! You hope that supplies last and you don't lose the voucher in the unbridled revelry you feel certain you'll experience in the days ahead.\n\n[[Continue|begin3]]

Current Sentiment: TRENDING\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nYou go to the Doritos Invention Tent, where a very intense-looking man describes to a packed room of Tweeters about how now-obsolete Iraq war drones are being re-engineered and repurposed to distribute tiny light-refracting particles into weak atmospheric zones in order to reduce global warming. \n\nThe most exciting part is that the particles can be made from a byproduct of human combustion. Instead of just being cremated, your ashes can help shield others from the sun's toxic rays. \n\n"You can now become a part of the solution," the man says. "Literally."\n\nThe audience gasps and applauds. In the question-and-answer portion a woman raises her hand and says she is a teacher and this is her first South-by-Southwest and she talks about her students for about ten minutes. \n\nThis is an amazing day. What next?\n\n[[Attend a live podcast|podcast]]\n[[Check out some live art|art]]

You are SUPER lucky that you walked past the Warner Bros Food Innovation Experience right in time for dinner. You are one of the first 100 people in line, so you are a VIP! \n\nYou wear a lanyard hung with a VIP flag and enjoy the envious looks. YOU stand in the line now, suckers, you think as you are led to a table to enjoy macrobiotic something or other to the thrum of dubstep. \n\nYou can't really identify everything that's on your plate, but it looks great on Instagram. You had an amazing day!\n\nDid you see everything there was to see at SXSW? When you get home are you going to already miss it? Did you make tons of great friends and come away inspired and excited? \n\n[[Start again!|begin]]

"Welcome to the disruption, dude," someone tells you excitedly, clapping you on the back. \n\nPeople tweet about you and your Klout score goes up! This day has been AMAZING. \n\nFor dinner you order stacks of ribs and frozen strawberry caipirinhas at a 'legendary' BBQ 'joint.' You have seven different plastic bracelets now, 20 business cards from people you don't need to contact, and three lanyards.\n\nWhat a great haul! You can't wait to Tweet and Instagram your #SXSW #BBQ from #Austin! \n\nDid you see everything there was to see at SXSW? When you get home are you going to already miss it? Did you make tons of great friends and come away inspired and excited? \n\n[[Start again!|begin]]

As you keep walking, finishing the drink, you start to feel a rising buzz of excitement about the fact you're in exactly the right place to find people who would love to hear about your idea to put QR codes on energy drinks that let you download TEDx talks. \n\n[[Continue|begin3]]

Current Sentiment: STOKED\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nYou've just arrived in Austin, Texas for this year's South-by-Southwest event, an exciting pastiche of technology trends, creative communities, music and learning! \n\nEveryone knows you're here, because you posted a Facebook update saying you were going to SXSW, and you Tweeted about it twice from the airport, and once as soon as your in-flight wifi kicked in. \n\nAlong with everyone else you have already started using the official #SXSW hashtag, and you even totes coincidentally met another attendee in the airport Starbucks and discussed with them whether it looks cooler to write the official hashtag as #SXSW or #sxsw. Does it make a difference? \n\n[[Lowercase is more rebellious|begin2]]\n[[Uppercase is better visual design|begin2]]\n\n

The SXSW Game

Current Sentiment: YOLO\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nThe hottest party is the Klout party, and you apparently can only attend if your Klout score is 60 or above. Who the heck has that kind of score?\n\nYou try tweeting aggressively and you do get some friendly people to help lend you influence, but it's not enough to get you into the party in time. Besides, you think, standing on the sidewalk near the street performers, you came to #SXSW to learn and be inspired, not to have your face in your device.\n\nOh man. You start to think maybe you should write a blog post about how our definition of technology commnunity is changing. You have an app that acts like a temperamental AI that is supposed to be endearing and encourage you to accomplish things. You tell the AI about your blog post and she adds it to your to-do list. \n\nThere are all kinds of app startups throwing lavish introductory events but you're not yet convinced these new folks are entrepreneurial and disruptive enough to join the revolution. \n\nTurns out that if you attend the CNet panel on location-based social apps you might actually find a ticket to the Foursquare party taped under your seat, Oprah-style. \n\n[[Continue|party2]]

Current Sentiment: PSYCHED\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nA line weaves around one of those portable structures, walls with screenprinted white sheets. The walls have corporate logos and the names of blogs listed on them, but you can't tell what kind of event it is. \n\nThe line's so long people are sitting down to use their mini-tablets. Everyone is 'tethering.' The closest person to you is a girl who looks a lot like Skrillex. She has a lot of neon bracelets on. Maybe Skrillex is here!! \n\n[[Ask her what everyone is waiting for|line2]]

Current Sentiment: HACKY\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nYou attend a live taping of a comedy podcast! You totally kind of know who these people are. Or you kind of thought you did when you lined up and got your plastic bracelet to enter, but now you're not so sure. \n\nIt's okay, though. It's really funny! It's just like listening to a podcast at home, except this time you can look at the podcasters AND listen, and sit on a hard chair while you and a lot of other people read Twitter. \n\n[[Continue|podcast2]]

Current Sentiment: META\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nYou ride a bicycle rickshaw to get to the last sesh you wanted to catch today. It's about something called "Mecha-GPOY: The future of Tumblr Aesthetics."\n\nWhile you are waiting outside you hear two men talking about how "swag" actually means "curtain" and isn't just an internet word. Then it turns out Kitty Pryde is supposed to be inside the tent and you can't get in, but you do get a picture of a lot of crowds trying to take Kitty Pryde's picture.\n\n"Who is it," someone mumbles. \n\n"I don't know," someone else says, holding up his phone. "'Kitty Pryde'?"\n\n"She's a Tumblr rapper," someone interjects.\n\n[[Continue|panel2]]

For dinner you take a lot of pictures of your authentic Texas barbecue and spicy margarita. It's awesome. After that you go to the Discovery Channel Lounge and get a bracelet to join an ARG that will be taking place across all users of this interative reading app all week. \n\nYou can't wait to participate in the ARG! \n\nDid you see everything there was to see at SXSW? When you get home are you going to already miss it? Did you make tons of great friends and come away inspired and excited? \n\n[[Start again!|begin]]

You wander on to the part of the Microsoft and Bing Live Art Experience Event where Converse has hung a huge canvas with tons of outlines of Converse shoes on it. \n\nYou get to grab a marker and design your own Converse shoe! You put some quirky little stars on it. OMG cute.\n\n[[Instagram this too!|art3]]

Current Sentiment: PUMPED\n---------------------------------------------------------------\nYou wander until you see a big outdoor field festooned with plastic bunting and Blue Moon pale ale logos. There are coolers of Blue Moon! This must be the right place.\n\nYou form a semicircle with some other SXSW attendees and watch a demonstration of all of the design innovations that people can do with bacon. There is a bacon sleeping bag! There is a bacon Death Star!! What's next? A 3D printer made out of bacon that prints bacon?! Oh man. \n\nFor $8 you get a beer and some of the bacon from the inventions. There are eight different flavors of hot sauce to choose from. One of them is "bloody mary" and one of them is "maple syrup." \n\nYou tweet about the "bacon bacchanal," feeling incredibly proud of yourself. \n\n[[Continue|new3]]

You decide to save your money and spend it on a musical river cruise that's supposed to happen later. You heard a rumor that Daft Punk was going to be on the boat.\n\nYou would have had to start lining up a few hours earlier to afford a ticket, though, as they're sold out when you get there. That's okay, Daft Punk was not on the boat anyway.\n\nYou watch the sun set while reading your Instagram feed to see who else you know is at #SXSW. You tweet, "who else is at #sxsw?!" \n\nIt's the perfect ending to the perfect day! \n\nDid you see everything there was to see at SXSW? When you get home are you going to already miss it? Did you make tons of great friends and come away inspired and excited? \n\n[[Start again!|begin]]

There's no way to win this game.\n\n[[SYMBOLIC?!|begin]]

By @leighalexander