Museum of Dungeons & Dragons Poll

There's a group who are working towards creating a Museum of Dungeons & Dragons, and they need our help.

They want to decide on a location based on the opinions of whom this museum is for. Us. Below are the main locations they are considering, but there is the option to put in your own choice. I doubt it will end up in Salt Lake City, but I had to try.

As this is my very first post on EN World, I cannot post the link. However, you can find the Museum of Dungeons & Dragons on Facebook, and museumofd&d on blog.com.

The URL for the blog is at museumofdnd.blog.com/2013/01/22/survey/

Lake Geneva, WI
SUMMARY: Where it all started, and where many of the artists and game designers who worked for TSR still reside. This area is rich with D&D gaming history. Also, it is fairly centrally located in the US.
PROS: A large number of former-TSR employees still live in the area, and a museum in this location would have their hands-on assistance in ways that wouldn’t be possible in any other location. Lake Geneva is fairly centrally located in the US, with Milwaukee and Chicago both being less than two hours’ drive away. GaryCon (gaming convention) is held here every year. In addition, the local community is likely to be quite supportive of the museum.
CONS: Lake Geneva is not, in itself, a destination spot for most people (particularly international visitors). It is a fairly small, seasonal town.
Orlando, FL
SUMMARY: Dave Arneson taught game design in this area for almost 20 years. In addition, it is an area where most people will travel at least once in their lives (Disney World is located there, after all). It would be the most likely to allow international fans of D&D to visit the museum.
PROS: Many people from all over the US (and from all over the world – 55 million in 2011, according to the Orlando Sentinel), visit here at least once in their lives – for families who have one member interested in the museum, there are a multitude of other things for the rest of the family to enjoy in place of the museum. MegaCon (40,000 attendees – fan convention) and a number of smaller conventions are held here every year. There is no “off” season in the Orlando/Kissimmee area.
CONS: It is not centrally located, being in the far southeastern US. The museum would be one tourist attraction among many.
Indianapolis, IN
SUMMARY: Where GenCon (where D&D became a smash hit) is currently being held. Tens of thousands of gaming fans flock to this area every summer.
PROS: 40,000 gamers travel to Indy every summer, so a trip to the museum would be convenient, and the press leading up to the convention would draw attention for local residents. In addition, it is geographically fairly central, and a large city in its own right – so although the museum would do the
lion’s share of its business during GenCon, it could stay steady throughout the year. Winter Fantasy (gaming convention) is held nearby every year.
CONS: This area doesn’t have a connection with any of the founders of D&D, or the company currently producing it, and the convention could move in the future.
Seattle/Renton, WA
SUMMARY: Where Wizards of the Coast, the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons since 1997, is headquartered.
PROS: There are many current and former Wizards and Paizo employees who could be available to run games, and contribute to the museum in a multitude of ways. PAX (fan convention) is held here every year, drawing 70,000 fans in 2011.
CONS: This area is not central (being in the far northwestern section of the US).
Other Areas Considered
CHICAGO, IL: Where Gary Gygax was born. Also centrally located in the US, with a large population.
MINNEAPOLIS/ST PAUL, MN: Where Dave Arneson was born. Needs to be considered if we are considering Chicago.

Minneapolis, Seattle or Chicago make the most sense if you want more people to go. Those are major metro areas, with other reasons to be there. Museums in small towns just are about olde time tradition, not about getting more people to visit, which should be the only real goal.

I vote Seattle for purely selfish reasons. I live in Portland. But also, it is where the current owner of the title is located. It does make sense.

Current owner of the title means nothing...are they going to build it ajacent to the WotC offices and let people tour their workplace? I doubt it.

Lake Geneva, sez I. It's where it all started...and there's a yearly Con there...histroically relevant people (people working on it now are not historically relevant...in 5-10 years, they might be. But not now.) AND, it's a con with the name of the originator (or the biggest name of originators that people know, anyway).

While I have never felt a need to go to Wisconsin before...if you want to do a museum to the history of the game...that seems the only real choice. And if it DOES bring some people into some sleepy midwestern town, where's the downside?

This is a "destination" type of endeavor. Putting it in Seattle or Chicago because it's "easy access"/near travel centers isn't really a good reason, imho. Let's put a Queen Elizabeth museum in Atlanta. What? People can fly right in! Or move Neufschwanstein castle to Munich. It's just easier to get to than Fussen.

See? Doesn't quite work/make sense does it?

Just my two coppers, of course. I doubt it'll happen...but I think it should. Put the a D&D museum in Lake Geneva...<invokes best Mommy Dearest>"...where a D&D museum OUGHT t'BE!"</invocation>

PS: What about the possibility of opening TWO?! Put the historic mostly physical stuff with digital details and audio tours and everything, in Lake geneva (again, where it belongs!) and...if they're interested in pure "traffic"/revenue (which any museum would be) put the commercialized/tourist trap one in Orlando. Orlando would, undoubtedly, make enough money to finance both locations. Swap "exhibits", speakers and special events between the two.

I've gotta put my vote in for Chicago since that's where GG was born. I think his family would feel very honored if that location was picked for that reason.

Lake Geneva...hands down.

I hope you folks are putting your input on the poll site: museumofdnd.blog.com/2013/01/22/survey/

I don't believe that a physical museum devoted exclusively to D&D is sustainable. I said as much in my comments to the survey. I firmly believe that they would be better off associating with an established museum (the museums at Balboa Park, San Diego come to mind). Or, working out an arrangement with GenCon to display the history of D&D.

Jacob Marley said:

I don't believe that a physical museum devoted exclusively to D&D is sustainable. I said as much in my comments to the survey. I firmly believe that they would be better off associating with an established museum (the museums at Balboa Park, San Diego come to mind). Or, working out an arrangement with GenCon to display the history of D&D.

Click to expand...

That's largely what I said when I responded to the survey too. Get the collection cataloged and conserved and then make a set of thematic traveling exhibits out of it to ship around to various conventions. A larger segment of the gaming community gets to check the stuff out without having to travel to a static location, it can draw on (hopefully) a larger pool of donations or entrance fees, and the display doesn't become stale but changes each year (or couple of years as it makes the con circuit).

But if they had to pick a static location - Lake Geneva is the most appropriate choice.

Well, depending on various factors, I think it is possible to have a museum devoted to DnD, with one big hurdle being the brand being owned by WotC/Hasbro. Are they going to let some 3rd party use the term "official Dungeons and Dragons museum"?

Ignoring that, I volunteer at a small local community museum so I see things from a sorta kinda insider perspective, but not really an insider since I'm just a volunteer, not a mover or shaker.

With terrain, dioramas and miniatures, that is a good visual piece to compliment rows of books, painting, etc. And with some of the larger, but more common minis, you could even have a hands on area for kids. That'd be iffy, since things could be pocketed unless there was a docent who handed each child in a group of say 4 to 8 a box with various things in a "let's slay the dragon" simplistic version with a big foam die.

You also can have a video area where people watch either the cartoons, (who owns the rights could be a problem again), or the movies, or documentaries.

Computers with video games is another example of interactive museum areas.

Of course location, cooperation, funding, are just some of the problems I see as well. The museum I volunteer at has half its floor space dedicated to a gallery where artists pay a small sum to show their works, or where events are sometimes held like lectures or Kids and Queen Victoria, a funny event where a teacher dresses up like Queen Victoria and students sing "God Save the Queen" with her. (I live in a town with many Victorian houses, so while it is weird, I understand the inspiration). Anyway, this plus a small sum from the city budget and fund raisers help keep the museum going. And the gift shop. People donate stuff all the time and if it isn't related to the history we are interested in, we sell it (or recycle it because sometimes one man's junk really is another man's junk too).

Hell, there's a museum dedicated to lace in Berkeley.

Anyway, it can be done right, but it requires work. And if you want to get accreditation, well that's a whole other ball of wax.