What is QExpo?

QExpo is akin to E3 - only it features the modders and enthusiasts of a persistent, flexible, and strong series of games. For 11 days QExpo offers a chance to all diehard fans of these three Quakes to express their dedication in a myriad of forms.

More specifically, QExpo is a virtual convention. In the days prior to and during the event, people may register to create their own virtual booth, customized to showcase their Quake related content. People often get very colorful with these booths, featuring "booth babes", comics, short works of fiction, long works of fiction, screenshots, and of course mods, maps and engines.

This QExpo breaks the usual two-year gap between events as a special event to revel in a full decade of the original Quake, which still thrives on the servers, and drives modders and mappers to new levels of creativity and skill, and deprives player and content creator alike of much-needed sleep.

Birthed out of the Inside3d forums and catalyzed by CocoT, the first QExpo was setup in 2001 by Horn, Nane and JBallou, graciously assisted by FrikaC, LTH, Akuma, and Koolio. It returned once more in 2003 by many of the same people, including FrikaC, Quest, and SantaClaws. For 2005 it was hosted by MauveBib, Wazat, SantaClaws and Echon, and featured for the first time the inclusion of Quake II.

Who's behind QExpo?

For 2006, QExpo is being run by scar3crow for general oversight and news, with Sajt as co-administrator and PHP 'savior', hosting generously provided by Echon, and assistance in a menagerie of methods from a variety of people across the community. The site design was created by Randy.

In previous Expos, contributors included Horn, Nane, JBallou, CocoT, FrikaC, LTH, SantaClaws, Akuma, Koolie, MauveBib, Harbish, Wazat and Ghostface as well as many others.

What makes this QExpo different from past ones?

Besides breaking the tradition of occuring only once every other year, like 2005's QExpo, this one introduces another game to the fold: Quake III: Arena. However this Expo's primary focus is on the first Quake in celebration of its retail release date of July 22, 1996. Also of note: previous QExpos were mostly derived from the QuakeC communities with participation from mappers and various others, but this year we hope to more fully embrace mappers, engine coders, players, and total conversion authors.

Where can I find archives of past QExpos?

Unfortunately, archives of QExpo 2001 and 2003 are mostly lost, although fragments can be dug up on internet archive sites. QExpo 2005 is fully intact and can be accessed here.

Why aren't Quake IV or other newer games included?

As newer games are released, people who play and mod games for fun move on, leaving behind a small, laid-back core of people who love the game for what it is. We feel that Quake IV will need some time until the recreational fans are separated from the true fans. Also, countless amounts of sites are dedicated to brand new games, leaving older games in the dust. We hope to represent these games and give them the respect and the publicity they still deserve.