D&D 5E Wizards not taking Gencon seriously?

[neobolts]

This is shocking! GenCon is the #1 venue for TTRPGs to connect with their market. D&D skipping GenCon is like Marvel skipping out on ComiCon.

Ehhh. Not sure if you were going for sarcasm, as Marvel DID skip San Diego Comic-Con.
http://comicbook.com/2015/06/24/kevin-feige-explains-why-marvel-is-skipping-comic-con/

 

[BrockBallingdark]

I absolutely think RPG players are in the minority at Gen Con. Between CCG players, board gamers, cos players, and folks from Indy just there to see what all the fuss is about I think we are greatly outnumbered. Most of the vendors aren't catering to RPG players, much less space is dedicated to RPG play than other games.... Even that hall that had D&D was mostly board games and Magic (D&D took up maybe a 10th of that space). Sure, some of the folks plays those other games have played D&D, but I doubt it's been a majority for many years.

Recalling what I've seen at Gen Con and your post... this is making me re-think on going to Gen Con anymore. I'm a RPG player, not into boardgames or CCGs, I'll need to find an actual (mostly) RPG con to go to.

 

[billd91]

"Huge percentage of attendees who have never played D&D"? Really? Do you honestly think there is a large contingent of Gen Con attendees who have never played D&D?

Possibly. There really are LOTS of CCG and board game players showing up. That said, it's still has a big emphasis on RPGs. I could easily imagine a good 1/2 to 2/3 of the crowd not having played D&D.

 

[Umbran]

Recalling what I've seen at Gen Con and your post... this is making me re-think on going to Gen Con anymore. I'm a RPG player, not into boardgames or CCGs, I'll need to find an actually (mostly) RPG con to go to.

Well, "in the minority" and "not a lot on a normal human scale" are not the same thing.

You can be in the minority at Gen Con, and still have *tens of thousands of seats* at RPG tables.

https://rpggeek.com/thread/1369601/gen-con-2015-most-rpg-seats-system

 

[BrockBallingdark]

Well, "in the minority" and "not a lot on a normal human scale" are not the same thing.

You can be in the minority at Gen Con, and still have *tens of thousands of seats* at RPG tables.

https://rpggeek.com/thread/1369601/gen-con-2015-most-rpg-seats-system

Ok....

That link was cool, I was curious about The One Ring seats and Cubicle 7, so thanks for that.

 

[aramis erak]

pushing out a puff piece about a 12yo AL DM running at major cons two weeks prior to Gen Con certainly isn't a confidence booster in League Play at cons.

Not that I get to cons much..

 

[Zaruthustran]

D&D at PAX is awesome! PAX is huge, and Penny Arcade itself brought a ton of people to 4E. That said, PAX is about video games first and foremost, is it not?

It is not.

PAX is about all games. Since the very first PAX in 2004, PAX has been about video games, and about tabletop games, and about computer games, and about gamer culture.

What you won't find at PAX are comics, movies, or TV. It's about the gameplay, not the IP.

 

[Lanefan]

I was very disappointed in the WotC presence around this year's GenCon from a marketing standpoint, because they simply weren't doing any. Nothing advertising D&D, or 5e, or even Magic. But every time I turned around there was Pathfinder promo stuff in my face. Again.

If they want to completely concede the fantasy RPG front then why not just say so and get it over with?

As for Baldman Games...some of us don't want to play AP and-or don't have AP characters, yet would like to try an "official" 5e game at mid-level to see how it plays. Also, if I'm WotC I'm insisting my 3rd-party representatives are running sessions for ALL editions, not just a particular sub-set of 5e play. There was almost no 4e being run by anyone, and even less 1e and 2e; and anything there was sold out in a heartbeat. (I got lucky in that a 1e game was posted late; I just happened to check the events list the day it went up and managed to get in...other than that, all my gaming this year was off-grid)

And it's not just the games. Where's the seminars, the opportunities to one-on-one with the designers, the retail space, even the parties? From things I've seen here since getting home I gather Mike Mearls was there, but there wasn't much way of knowing that beforehand and nothing in the events list.

Lan-"WotC don't just need to be a presence at GenCon, they need to be the biggest presence at GenCon"-efan

 

[aramis erak]

But what is 61,423 in the grand scheme of things if the number of players is 1,000,000 (6.14%? of the players) or 2,000,000 or 5,000,000. Is it cost effective? Is it more cost effective to pump that same money into League play/events sponsored/materials at independent game stores? Because the bucket of money is not bottomless and spending that money in ways that is the most effective way to expand the presence of D&D is really the key, isn't it?

(Again, I'm not trying to be argumentative, but am honestly looking for information so I can wrap my brain around some of the problems people are seeing.)

But most of those 61,423 have 3-5 buddies who don't attend the con - but who are just one remove away. So, they're representing probably some 200,000 people's direct interests to some degree.

Bad experiences at GenCon have much wider repercussions. About half a million to 2 million people's worth, once you get to a conservative 2nd remove sphere. Not all of them D&D fans, tho'.

 

[Hussar]

But, if Bill91 is right and 1/2 to 2/3rds of Gen Con goers aren't into RPG's, why would you bother having a presence there? What would be the point? Dropping thousands of dollars to speak to so few people? The board gamers and card gamers are there to play board and card games. Why would someone who is heavily into board games sign up to play a 5e D&D game? Or go to a WOTC seminar about role playing games?

It sounds like Gen Con itself has stopped being about RPG's if over half the con goers aren't into RPG's.