I know I’ve already blogged a bit about GenCon, but as I sit and reflect over some of the experiences I thought I would share some of the moments for those. Today I started out arriving a bit early because I had a few things I wanted to accomplish…the first was more rings for Cecil’s chainmail. Once that was accomplished (I have the tools, and know how to make simple monkey chainmail) I headed out to the exhibit hall which was not going to open for about 30 minutes.
At Comic-Con this would have been a crowd of thousands all pushing and shoving, here it was an orderly crowd waiting around. When the door opened we calmly walked in showing our badges. No yelling, no cursing… That has been one thing I have noticed about GenCon, how the attendees definitely have some idea of personal space. At Comic-Con it seemed like everyone was focused on themselves, pushing & shoving & crowding every available foot of space. If you were in the way, tough luck. Stop to get a photo of something? Expect someone to walk through your shot. At GenCon people maybe in their own little world, but they understand that there are other people around. Maybe it’s the whole Midwest attitude vs. West coast attitude. Maybe it has something to do with space, there are around a quarter of the people for GenCon and most of those are sitting in rooms playing games, but I have to say I liked it. It was nice to be able to find a place to sit down (not the floor) and relax. People who could find a gaming space in a room took a table in a public space. There were also people zonked out on benches (not the homeless) when I entered the convention center, warriors sound asleep after a night of fighting dragons.
So what did I do today? Once I entered the exhibit hall? I decided to see about learning something about one the juggernauts of non-roleplaying games- Catan. It’s a simple gain so many points game with the mechanism for gaining points being settling a land by gaining resources and trading. Actually pretty simple with a lot of options for strategy and expansion. Which to me is what makes for a good game. After watching an abbreviated game I understand why it has such a following. I will be purchasing a set for my classroom in the near future.
After that I headed over to WizKids games (again) this time I wanted to demo the Star Trek: Expeditions game which sadly (since I own it) was a mistake. I was able to play as Dr. McCoy which was kind of cool, but the game mechanic was a little clunky for a group of first timers, this was compounded by the fact the expert from WizKids deserted us after a quick cursory explanation so he could demo Star Trek: Fleet Captains, a more expensive game. We ended up lost after a few turns either making up the rules or scrambling to ask anyone who looked official for help. While our questions were answered, the person usually ran off so within 3 minutes we would be asking for help from someone else. It was during one of these searches that I noticed there was only one table with Expeditions running and the majority of tables either had Quarriors or Fleet Captains. Oh, and a quick note for those HeroClix fans- here was no demo of HeroClix or the fancy 3-D playing fields that once graced the booth in Cons past. Once one of the other players fumbled for an excuse to leave, the demo was over.
I entered my last session (Education & Games) and was very pleased with the content and discussion. I have decided that I really need to look at starting a gaming club at school this year if time permits (then again I also want to do a comic club). I’m sure I will comment on both once I get them started.
So comparing both Cons would seem easy, they both deal with the geek community, but that is only the surface and frankly, they are as different as apples & zombies. San Diego is massive and because of that size makes it completely chaotic. It seems like most people who attend are focused on getting stuff or being seen. While it still deals with comics the sessions that get the most play are those dealing with movies & television. As Wil Wheaton (name dropping) commented “I started going to Comic-Con when it was about comics.”
GenCon is a gaming convention… So it caters to a different kind of geek. While there is overlap, these folks are into taking a more active role in their imaginary world. They seemed to be a kinder lot. I’m not going to stereotype them as the kind that tended to get picked on in school, but I wouldn’t bet against it. For most they buy their tickets and plan for 4 days of gaming, not partying, not hanging out with this “star” or that. Yes, you need a ticket to get into various sessions some cost more than others. Teddybear Chainmailing $18, Games & Education $0. This seems to be their way to keep from having the Hall H, or Ballroom 20 issues of Comic-Con. Tickets go fast for some things… This year I finally got up the courage to get some tickets- next year, who knows? I might actually play a game. Gamers do have their cliques, just as comic book people divide themselves into groups, gamers do too- it seems like human nature.
So which is better? I’d love to see more comics at GenCon, for me that could do it. As a teacher, I really wish there were more sessions at both on using games & comics in education. Then again I tend to not make it to Sunday at either con which is set aside as “Family/Kid’s Day”. The trade day at GenCon is a great way to focus on teachers and give us a track of programs to gather like minds together. C2E2 did this the first year, but it was kind of weak this past year. Comic-Con was difficult to find and what they had seemed to be squished into Sunday.
There are many different kinds of geeks out there… Here seem to to be many different Cons out there too.