Between the slump in attendance, the slew of canceled events, and the poor dealer room offerings, well, I'd say this was the worst DDC in many years.
I had fun in my Friday night game, but the rest of the convention was pretty much a wash, game-wise. The game I really wanted (525) had been canceled sometime between Thursday night and my arrival on Friday afternoon; the Gamma World d20 game I got into was a mediocre three-combats-and-I'm-spent affair.
The "first come, first serve" policy enacted this year on the double-double rooms screwed me. I heard from the hotel staff that all the double-doubles were all doled out by 10 AM on Friday morning leaving people who registered for a room months ago and who arrived "early" at 2 PM crammed into a single king with their three buddies. Given that getting an additional room at the hotel wasn't an option (soldout) I find it a touch passive-aggressive on the part of the Marriott staff to offer a roll-away bed as a solution (for which they charged me $18/night).
And the guy heading up the anime room continued to be a rude jerk this year. Politely asking for a schedule of upcoming showings once again had people retreating to lick their wounds.
Looks like it's letter writing time to let the DDC folks know what needs a-changin'. Hopefully they're receptive to input.
The stuff with the rooms/beds just blows, luckly I didn't have to worry myself living a little over 3 miles from the hotel.
