How Relevant is Gencon (or Any Con)?
MGibster
Legend
I'd forgotten about the great unwashed masses. The last time I went to a con, I was a volunteer, and it was 15+ years ago. I was a volunteer, and the first guy early on day one who walked up to me nearly knocked me over with a wall of stink. He smelled like he'd been wearing the same clothes in a sweatbox for the previous week. One of the many nice things I can say about the younger gamers these days is that they don't stink and their pants fit well enough that I don't see any butt cracks. I don't know if they just take better care of themselves or that their peers simply don't tolerate bad hygiene these days.
For those of you who have gone to cons more recently. Is the stinky con goer still a thing?
schneeland
Hero
Well, in terms of going there personally, GenCon isn't very relevant since it's a 12 hour flight and even though it would be nice to be there once (similarly for GaryCon), I don't think I want to go that bad. In general, it's been quite a while since I visited a convention (even a local one) - playing at conventions is always a bit challenging for me, since I find the noise distracting, and most product announcements I catch online already. I assume they are quite nice for creators, though, in terms of networking.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
I’ve never encountered it quite that badly. Gamehole Con has been generally pretty good.
Every now and then one will turn up, but the heat will have more to do with it these days. Gen Con has a LOT of walking and you sweat, lucky the AC is good in the convention center and people seem to practice good hygiene.
Doc_Klueless
Doors and Corners
To the average gamer? It's not. It's completely irrelevant in this age of Online Play for your average RPG player (and thus, really, D&D player). I've been playing since 1981 and never felt the sting of never going to Gencon.
Now to RPG producers, that may be an entirely different story.
Now to RPG producers, that may be an entirely different story.
Mannahnin
Scion of Murgen (He/Him)
Significantly less so than it used to be.
Oh, any why is this always brought up? It stereotypes gamers and it should be pointed out there are stinky people everywhere that have nothing to do with gaming or being at a convention! My other is saying gamers dress up, so do fans of other events, like football! It is not exclusive!
MGibster
Legend
It's probably brought up because it was a common experience for a lot of us. I could go to a lot of places that were crowded without running into someone with a bad odor. But gaming conventions were places where I was almost alwaysd sure to run into someone who stank to high heaven. Perhaps it was just confirmation bias on my part though. Like I said, I've noticed gamers today have better hygiene than they did 30 years ago. Or perhaps my sense of smell has atrophied with age.
MNblockhead
A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site
Yeah, the noise is a major drawback. Hard enough as a player, but brutal for the DM. I don't even like running games in FLGS, my voice can't take it. One of my FLGSs now has private rooms for rent, which is cool, but the price is hard to justify, when I can just host the game at home.
I've not been to game store or gaming cafe/bar in the US that "gets it right" for me. I would love to have something like they had in Taiwan when I lived there. In Taiwan, at least many years ago when I lived there, they had these cafes where there were large tables and booths separated by wood panels. Still mostly open, but kinda like cubical farms it really dampened the noise. You would pay by the hour, but it was a minimal amount. Low enough to make these places popular for high school and college students to study or relax. The first hour game with a free drink and then they had a menu for ordering additional drinks and snacks. They had HUGE selections of comics that you could read (for free).
Not sure that it would work in the USA. Part of the reason these places were popular in Taiwan is that most people just don't have lots of space in their apartments for entertaining people or to have much personal space to get some private time away from family. Outside of a small number of expensive, crowded cities like New York (and? .... San Francisco?) I don't think there is much need and people would likely be turned away by the idea of paying any amount to just be able to sit in a cafe/bar.
Off topic. Just wish there were better options for public gaming.
