I went to Gen Con in 2003. It was okay. I drank a lot, hung out with some cool people and took care of some business with White Wolf. Good times, but do I care about Gen Con in general? No.
Gen Con is King Shit of conventions. I get that. I understand that many — too many — tabletop gamers are so dedicated to the convention circuit that it’s their primary venue for face to face play. But convention games don’t have anything to do with the kind of bread and butter RPG play that allows a sustainable hobby to exist beyond the commercial con circuit, and the irony is that the more folks talk about how they want a grassroots hobby, the more they tend to depend on these contrived venues to not only get a game in, but analyze RPGs at all.
Think of how many recent games are designed to fit a whole story arc or tour of the game in one convention game slot and you’ll see how conventions damage our thinking about what’s possible for games. The more strictly a game regulates social roles and the right to speak, the more likely it is that the game was designed to support nervous interactions between a handful of anynerds over four hours. I don’t care about any of that except to see worst case scenarios play out. I certainly don’t want to play in those situations, and it sure is sad to see people assume that this is what the hobby is all about.
What else? Well, I know it’s a great way for freelancers to hobnob and look for work, but I don’t feel like going to Indianapolis to sell myself. I’ve worked on some of the most successful games of the decade,
Panels? Not interested in the whole ritual. Hell, if I had a choice I’d break my panels up into small groups and do a non-hierarchical hobnob with plenty of snacks. Buying things? I can wait. I already have lots of things. Awards? Okay, I’ll use them for promotion when I remember, but it’s not like these things aren’t riddled with cheating and publisher-driven voting blocs so they’re nearly meaningless. Otherwise, I can experience noise, bad food, people who are way too into the Waffen SS, and military recruiters taking a long view by courting 14 year olds with an America’s Army booth.
(Did I mention the ethnic divide between venue workers and con goers? Creepy.)
Again, I had a pretty good time at Gen Con because I went with awesome people. That was a big enough deal that I’d really rather go on the road trip without the crowded money sink at the end. Nowadays I attend conventions when friends ask me to go. I’m not ruling out Gen Con but my main interest isn’t in the RPG hobby as a series of contrived performances, but as a regular affirmation of friendship.
I don’t know. Pretend I told you to hire me at a bar or that I’m glad I won or was nominated for whatever I did that was up for something, that I wish you the best at your creative work. It’s all probably true. I’ll be spending the weekend playing D&D and riding my bike in the country. Hope we all have a great time!
Well, Gen Con wouldn’t be the same without all the awesome people, that’s for sure.
Like you said, whatever we’re doing, hope we all have a great time!
(I am personally exceedingly geeked for another GC, but it sounds like we might be coming at it from different places!
The flip side to convention play is I’ve seen role-players use their four hour time slot to experiment with premises that wouldn’t necessarily be sustainable in the more traditional at-home play model: the archetypal “all evil” game, crazy mash-ups and crossovers and light, whimsical or otherwise off-beat games that wouldn’t last as a home campaign, but work great in a convention environment.
That’s a pretty good argument in favour of convention play. It’s very true that the advantages and disadvantages are aspects of the same property in that you have a different situation. But I think in terms of the recent hobby conventions have increasingly drifted away from “take home” value to become a parallel scene, and I have to admit my sympathy for that scene is vanishingly small.
Hello, being pretty curious I was wondering if you had some specific title or example in mind when you wrote: “The more strictly a game regulates social roles and the right to speak, the more likely it is that the game was designed to support nervous interactions between a handful of anynerds over four hours”.
Because I think I know many games that try to regulate the right to validate a specific statement made at a specific time during the game but I don’t know any example of games that try to regulate social roles nor the right to speak. Thanks in advance.
“Because I think I know many games that try to regulate the right to validate a specific statement made at a specific time during the game but I don’t know any example of games that try to regulate social roles nor the right to speak.”
I think you do, Leo. Try engaging again with less Columboing.
I go to cons primarily to try out new things, that includes new games, but also to play old faves with new people, so that I can get a good look at how I play, my assumptions, etc. A well-prepared con game can give you a solid taste of a game, I enjoy it greatly. Even a mediocre con game can give you the chance to socialize with some new people, some of whom will not be scary people with mold on their face. I sincerely doubt that a significant chunk of people see con play as the primary venue for their play, but if they do, and mote it harm none, do as they will.
Oh, it harms some. The reason so much of the indie community is addicted to social media marketing insincerity (you know, that stuff you tell me you hate) can be directly traced to desperate Gen Con dick waving. Small press sales patterns basically consist of 90%+ of offerings acting as set dressing for the handful of games that sell, so the main factors affecting sales are:
1) How much you’re willing to be contemptuously manipulative in your own communities.
2) The cover.
Shit, it’s not like you’re ever going to really understand gaming from an unvarnished artistic or even commercial perspective from large conventions. Panels are designed with an explicit hierarchy so you can be lectured to, so they’re not trustworthy. Play setups are either artificial or intensive marketing sessions.
Why would I want to shell out a grand or so to listen to that or buy things in a novel environment?
Panels are all bad, never go to panels.
But con gaming is fun, I’ve done things in con games I would never get to do (or want to do) on an ongoing basis.
I’m still confused about the connection between “indie” dickwaving (?) and having convention play as your primary play? I mean, most of the indie games I’ve played don’t seem to be convention-play-oriented?