I want to visit Valve... How?

merc

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Hey everyone I hear that Valve is located in Bellevue, WA or somewhere like that and I live in Tacoma, Washington and I have heard of Valve giving tours to people and I was wondering how I might get myself a tour of Valve? Think they would be more willing to let me tour their facilities if I had multiple people or just me? What do I need to do and what number do I call to make a reservation or appointment? Thanks for the help and info...

-merc
 
Well what should I ask him? I am 17 and I think he might only let me have a tour if I have a reason, which I really just want to see Valve and what it is really like at a game studio..

-merc
 
merc said:
Well what should I ask him? I am 17 and I think he might only let me have a tour if I have a reason, which I really just want to see Valve and what it is really like at a game studio..

-merc

That sounds like a good enough reason, I remember the one guy that went just asked if he could have a tour and Gabe said sure. You can see the picture of him with Gabe on the frontpage. I mean you won't get a tour like the gaming magazines but they will probably show you around the place and just maybe show you something not seen.
 
I'm English and have no idea what State WA is, but Valve HQ is located on the edge of Seattle. If that's in WA then dont flame me! I'm just trying to help!
 
Game companies will NOT give tours. They only give tours if your part of a group of people AND you are very lucky. I live in Edmonton and Bioware is in Edmonton and I only got ONE tour all my life because my mother took some kids to see the company (which she was very lucky to even get a response) and they allowed myself and my brother to tag along. They very rarely give out tours and it's probably even more rare with valve.
 
RoguePsi said:
I'm English and have no idea what State WA is, but Valve HQ is located on the edge of Seattle. If that's in WA then dont flame me! I'm just trying to help!

Seattle, WA.....

dream431ca said:
Game companies will NOT give tours. They only give tours if your part of a group of people AND you are very lucky. I live in Edmonton and Bioware is in Edmonton and I only got ONE tour all my life because my mother took some kids to see the company (which she was very lucky to even get a response) and they allowed myself and my brother to tag along. They very rarely give out tours and it's probably even more rare with valve.

Valve is like the tour master. :)
 
Dear Gabe,

I am a 17 year old that is a huge fan of the Half-Life game and I have been following all the mods and Half-Life 2 info that I can get. Anyways, I discovered a short time ago that your game studio is in Bellevue, which is close to where I live in Gig Harbor, Washington! Anyways, I was just wondering if there was any chance if you had some free time that one of my friends and I could come and tour your company as we are very interested in the game business and are interested to see how a top of the line game company works. If this is not possible and if you are too busy with your current work, then that is alright with me. What ever works best for you. Keep making the amazing games!

That is the email that I just sent him... Hopefully I can go... If I can I will take pictures for you all :)

-merc
 
go there without telling them....and wen u get there tell them u travled a long way to get here and ask him for a tour
 
Make some fake airplane tickets that say you traveled from Xen or Black Mesa or something...

Scary. :bounce:
 
The Thing said:
Make some fake airplane tickets that say you traveled from Xen or Black Mesa or something...

Scary. :bounce:

aka. Get very creative!
 
i would bet they would let you in, i mean, this one guy/girl just asked them some thing about Hl2 and they offerd that person a tour and he/she didnt even ask for one.
 
dream431ca said:
Game companies will NOT give tours. They only give tours if your part of a group of people AND you are very lucky. I live in Edmonton and Bioware is in Edmonton and I only got ONE tour all my life because my mother took some kids to see the company (which she was very lucky to even get a response) and they allowed myself and my brother to tag along. They very rarely give out tours and it's probably even more rare with valve.

This is, I mean, the Valve Software? Have you not heard of them? It must get boring there...they need people to visit!
 
dream431ca said:
Game companies will NOT give tours. They only give tours if your part of a group of people AND you are very lucky. I live in Edmonton and Bioware is in Edmonton and I only got ONE tour all my life because my mother took some kids to see the company (which she was very lucky to even get a response) and they allowed myself and my brother to tag along. They very rarely give out tours and it's probably even more rare with valve.

Sweet dude, I live in Edmonton too, damn I wanna go to Bioware, maybe hax a copy of Kotor2
 
Sorry but your computer can't run Kotor2..ahahahah!!!

I don't like near any game companies. :(
 
nw909 said:
Sweet dude, I live in Edmonton too, damn I wanna go to Bioware, maybe hax a copy of Kotor2

KOTOR 2 is not being made by bioware.
 
Supero Secret Strategyodes!! ^_^ :

Two words: Bring pizza

Lots of pizza, and beer, yeah .. that'll work.
Just make sure when you make a report for us people who havent gone there, and make lots of photos!

Have fun! :p
 
Synthaxx R-or said:
Supero Secret Strategyodes!! ^_^ :

Two words: Bring pizza

Lots of pizza, and beer, yeah .. that'll work.
Just make sure when you make a report for us people who havent gone there, and make lots of photos!

Have fun! :p


Not just any beer.....Canadian beer :cheers:
 
dream431ca said:
Game companies will NOT give tours. They only give tours if your part of a group of people AND you are very lucky. I live in Edmonton and Bioware is in Edmonton and I only got ONE tour all my life because my mother took some kids to see the company (which she was very lucky to even get a response) and they allowed myself and my brother to tag along. They very rarely give out tours and it's probably even more rare with valve.

Uh, IIRC the other guy who got a tour of valve didn't even ask for one. He asked something about they way they worked or something and Gabe said something like, well why don't you just come and have a tour of the place. And the guy followed though.

Sorry, but not every game company is alike. I doubt Bioware answers nearly every community letter sent in about Jade Empire.
 
lonefox said:
Uh, IIRC the other guy who got a tour of valve didn't even ask for one. He asked something about they way they worked or something and Gabe said something like, well why don't you just come and have a tour of the place. And the guy followed though.

Sorry, but not every game company is alike. I doubt Bioware answers nearly every community letter sent in about Jade Empire.

Completely right. VALVe have given atleast 5 tours to fans in recent months

The first was by HL2.net's very own Spitcodfry. He simply asked if he could get a tour, and they said sure. He dropped by, got greeted by Gabe personally, got pictures, etc.

The second was by Algor, who I believe also simply asked for a tour.

The third was WillH.

The fourth were the Belgian students who visited VALVe, I believe.

The fifth, there was that one (CS?) clan leader who visited VALVe and got some pictures..


Anyhow, they've also clearly had countless magazines drop by their headquarters.. but, those aren't fans, per se.

Someone correct me on my recollection of who visited VALVe and when, if I'm wrong :)


Oh, and on one last note, beyondhalflife.com's Spiffae was invited to visit VALVe in an e-mail to be shown the ins and outs of HLMV
 
you better bring a ****ing camera and take pictures of everything. make sure you ass loads of batteries, cards (or film) and anything else that you might need. I hate it when people get the chance to do this and they are like "oooppse i forgot to take picutres cause i was fallling in love with gabe or they ran out of batteries"
 
staddydaddy said:
you better bring a ****ing camera and take pictures of everything. make sure you ass loads of batteries, cards (or film) and anything else that you might need.

Lol yes, bring as many cameras, batteries, films, MMC Cards, everything known to possible. I'm not joking, carry like 2 Digital Cameras and 2 Digital video cameras around your neck. Then wear a shirt that says like "The Crowbar is my religion" or "I am the worlds biggest Half-Life 2 Fan" then on the back of it have "Gabe Newell=God", that'll give you better chances of seeing some brand new stuff and possibly finding out some more new info. Take as many pictures as possible and record any video they show you. Have one camera running the entire time you are there and one for close up on the monitors.
 
Dedatorv said:
Then wear a shirt that says "I am the worlds biggest Half-Life 2 Fan" then on the back of it have "Gabe Newell=God
Would the shirt look anything like this?
 

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ok what about me getting a tour, i would have to travel from New Zealand, cost a lot to come over and see VALVe, they couldn't refuse me, i live on the other side of the world, :/
 
They wouldn't refuse you. They wouldn't pay for your trip though..
 
Don't worry, I will take loads of pictures and I will also video camera if they allow it... I will let you know as soon as he emails back, which is hopefully tomorrow. This is gonna be tight! Also, where can I host a pic of a Half-Life crowbar I just painted in honor of Half-Life?

-merc
 
merc said:
Don't worry, I will take loads of pictures and I will also video camera if they allow it... I will let you know as soon as he emails back, which is hopefully tomorrow. This is gonna be tight! Also, where can I host a pic of a Half-Life crowbar I just painted in honor of Half-Life?

-merc

try http://angelfire.com

20mb of webspace with a free account + pretty good bandwidth(not as good as geocities but the huge amount of free webspace makes up for it).
 
merc said:
Don't worry, I will take loads of pictures and I will also video camera if they allow it... I will let you know as soon as he emails back, which is hopefully tomorrow. This is gonna be tight! Also, where can I host a pic of a Half-Life crowbar I just painted in honor of Half-Life?

-merc

There is a very easy way to host your pictures, try www.imageshack.us

On imageshack.us you can upload as many pictures as you want, as long as they are not bigger than 850 kb.
 
EVIL said:
Thats like beer for pussy's right?

You kidding? The average alcohol content of Canadian-made beer is 45% higher than U.S.-made. That's why they're so laid back compared to us.
 
If they let you come, I'll have to punch you in the navel...
 
They should let you go, they let a lot of people go in so far so why not you?

I was actually thinking about maybe setting up something and try and get a tour at Valve over the summer being that I also live pretty close.

They actually let a class from my school go and visit them. They all came back with signed posters. My teacher, the one that went on the trip with the students, said they were pretty cool about it and said they got to see a lot of things. He couldn't tell me anything about the game however :flame:.

I wish I could have went :( . Oh well, maybe this summer I can go.
 
Beer? man bring a bottle of wine and some chocolates, and if you do get in, say you come in the name of Halflife2.net
 
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