I find it weird that it's thought of an oddity considering GenCon had been doing it when I started going to conventions back in 1983. I mean if the Big Daddy of RPG-industry conventions does it, how odd can it be?
Yeah. Poor me didn't have an automobile. My wife dropped me off at the con in the morning and I walked back to the hotel late at night. I brought my trusty backpack with me which contained water and various snacks including homemade beef jerky.
Over the years I've noticed CPM has also disappeared from the local gaming scene (mostly). The last time I encountered CPM, it was actually two of them and they absolutely reeked of tobacco and marijuana. Had I been running the game they sat and I would have tried to find the most polite way of telling them to get lost. Their stench bowled me over and I would not have willingly sat next to them for 3-4 hours. I've also noticed a lack of butt crack man as well. I could be counted on to see many butt cracks at the game store but they all disappeared sometime after 2012 or so. It's not just con rules, I think gamers have changed.
Noise was a problem for me in the Mendota rooms and that new building as well. I only had one game in a big hall, Arkham Horror was in the same hall as Wardens of the March, and that was the only game I played where noise wasn't an issue. I had one last game scheduled in the other building Saturday night, but I just didn't feel like dealing with the noise and left early instead.
Nobody checked my tickets at Gamehole Con. I mentioned this, and one of the GMs said something like, "We don't really do that here. At Gen Con they're pretty fanatical about checking, but I won't check unless there's more bodies at the table than I expect."
I had to do the same ticket thing at Gencon this year. Maybe it's a big con thing.
Maybe I'm wrong that it's odd. I've not been to Gencon. I thought about GHC, but didn't for unrelated reasons, and I thought it was weird to charge for both. And some folks in the local area I talked to about it also said it was weird. That's why I have that perception.
What I find... interesting is if you know you are going to "sell out" of rooms at the con rate, why not have more rooms at that rate or not even have a rate at all if you want to maximize money?
You have a rate because the con represents a steady, reliable source of income and you don't want to kill the golden goose. If hotels or other accommodations are lacking, the con may very well decide to move elsewhere in the future either because their needs aren't being met.
