Are there avid gamers out there who hate cons?

[msd]

A disclaimer: I have never been to a con (although I would desperately like to see what GenCon is all about).

I am just wondering - are there people out there who are avid gamers who just don't like going to cons? Does that animal exist or would we all be at GenCon right now if time/money/circumstances permitted?

If you are an avid gamer who doesn't like cons, speak up...why not?

 

[Yeoman]

A disclaimer: I have never been to a con (although I would desperately like to see what GenCon is all about).

I am just wondering - are there people out there who are avid gamers who just don't like going to cons? Does that animal exist or would we all be at GenCon right now if time/money/circumstances permitted?

If you are an avid gamer who doesn't like cons, speak up...why not?

Sure, I'll step up. I don't like large groups of people, so I never go willingly to conventions.

 

[diaglo]

we would be at Gen Con right now if time/money/and other concerns permit.

 

[painandgreed]

What type of cons first off? When I was growing up, there had been a split between the fandom cons and the gaming cons. Some people went to both but for the most part each group disdained the other because they saw them as losers who needed to get a life. At the gaming cons, there were games and lots of games and everybody did nothing but buy and play games 24 hours a day all weekend while at fandom cons they dressed in costume, spoke in fake accents, filked, and drank. For the most part neither group cared to do what the other was doing. Personally, I liked gaming cons because I could play new and different games with new and different people and the dealers room had most of what I was interested in. As for fandom cons, I generally didn't care to do anything there except go to my friend's room parties so I never buy a badge.

I moved to the other side of the country and found the same state of affairs. The fandom con organizers didn't want to deal with the gamers* and the gamers didn't want to deal with the fans.

*To which one of my friends who helped run the large local con couldn't understand because "you arrange for a large room with nothing but tables and chairs and they'll come, pay full price for a ticket and sit there all weekend without being any sort of trouble. It's like free money."

 

[kolikeos]

A disclaimer: I have never been to a con (although I would desperately like to see what GenCon is all about).

i'm with you there. never been to gencon but will gladly like to go at least once to see what it's all about.

Sure, I'll step up. I don't like large groups of people,

i don't like people one bit. if there are too many people in one place i usually stay away.

 

[msd]

What type of cons first off?

Ah...good point. Personally, I had in mind something like GenCon, which I "assume" combines elements of both the types of cons you are talking about.

Based on the differences you described, I think I would go for and enjoy the gaming elements of the con and be bemused by the fan side of the con. Just yesterday, I was reading the website of some woman (yes, I am probably the last person on Earth to know about her) who dresses as a nun each and every at GenCon. The term nun is used loosely.

 

[frankthedm]

I go to cons to shop, not socialize. i game with friends, not strangers

 

[Len]

I am just wondering - are there people out there who are avid gamers who just don't like going to cons?

Sure! I don't have any great desire to spend a week in a jam-packed convention centre. In general, if I see a big crowd of people moving in one direction, I'll head the other way.

However, I would like to meet and game with some of the folks I've "met" on ENWorld. Maybe someday I'll go to GenCon - and spend half my time in some other part of Indianapolis.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I go to cons to shop, not socialize. i game with friends, not strangers

Same here. Cons are where I go to get new products and some cool stuff not offered everywhere else. I don't game at cons since I prefer to game with my friends. Have gamed at a couple of cons, but never really had as much fun as I do with people I know.

Kane

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

I've been to one convention in my life - Arisia, in Boston - as a volunteer. It's actually a sci-fi convention, not a gaming con, so maybe that's different.

I actually ended up working hall security for it, as well (basically, keep the drunk people from scaring the mundanes).

Let's just say that the memories of that night were unpleasant and scarring in their own way.