Encounters with the "Living"

[Walking Paradox]

Most people who have gone to or run gaming cons will have seen a "Living" gaming group (LG, LFR) or similar company-sponsored event in action. Has anybody here ever witnessed them interacting badly with other events? Things I am thinking of here include "advising" attendees that other events are "not sponsored," aggressively encouraging people to attend their events rather than others, claiming to be the organizers of the con' when they are there to run events, trying to get as many tables as possible, and so on. I don't want to identify any specific cons or groups but I will say that I've seen some things that did not correspond to the idea of gaming conventions as a community event.

 

[cdrcjsn]

Those sorts of things should NOT happen.

If it's happening, you should report such activity to the organizations responsible. Most likely, it's a local organizer that's either overstepping their authority or it's a communication issue.

If you're not going to reveal which convention it is, then there really isn't a point to this thread other than to gripe.

But to answer your question, not really.

Most living groups I've seen organized around the SF bay area have too many players and not enough DMs. They have to turn people away.

They're also usually sequestered in their own area and left to run their own schedule and sign-ups, so they don't really interact much with the indie or non-campaign tables.

 

[Walking Paradox]

If you're not going to reveal which convention it is, then there really isn't a point to this thread other than to gripe.

I am making a general point here, but if you really want to know which con' it was most recently, it was Fan Expo 2010 in Toronto. I am writing about this to find out if anybody has a similar experience to mine. All of the things that I talked about in my OP happened that weekend. It's good to know that the player-to-DM ratio is so high in Northern California but surely you know that it isn't like that all over the place.

FWIW, I was not an organizer of that event (more than 60K people showed up that weekend), just an attendee. There were a lot of RPG events scheduled for all kinds of RPGs that had to be cancelled because the players were being hijacked into participating in LFR events (or turned away utterly) because things that somebody at the sign-in table was telling them. I heard this person say "well, nobody's going to play in any of these games. Why don't you play in a game with a lot of players?" It's true, they did have a lot of players, sometimes 10-15 at a table; they easily could have done with 5-10 players and the other players could have played in one of the other events that instead got cancelled. A lot of non-LFR DMs and GMs were walking away with their tails between their legs because they had no players; and they probably spent a lot of time getting their games ready for this con. Do you think they will want to come and run a game next year after this?

 

[Umbran]

I wouldn't expect this to be a characteristic of "living" games in general, so much as one particular person who had an agenda and a position from which to further it.

The convention staff should be told about this, so there's a chance this person won't be allowed near a registration desk in the future.

 

[Festivus]

It could also be a misinterpretation of what is being said. Without proof it's very hard to prove that it's happening.

We had someone at our local meetup claim that someone was directing players away from his non-organized play game over to a organized play table. I don't have first hand knowledge of the events that occurred, and it comes down to a persons word against another.

Happened or not, there was that perception that it did occur even if it didn't. Therefore, as a result, our group took steps to help outreach to non-organized play at our meetups, and clarify that we welcome ALL role playing games.

 

[Walking Paradox]

It could also be a misinterpretation of what is being said. Without proof it's very hard to prove that it's happening

Anything that anybody says anywhere can be subjected to that logic. You have a right to deny the validity of anything that you want to deny, just for the sake of denying it. Just like you can block the progress of a dungeon adventure by assuming that everything that your character sees is an illusion, and then roll to disbelieve.

The trouble is, I was there, I heard it with my own two ears, and I even said so in my last post.

I heard this person say "well, nobody's going to play in any of these games. Why don't you play in a game with a lot of players?"

I hope, then, that you are not accusing me of lying or making this up?

 

[Festivus]

Anything that anybody says anywhere can be subjected to that logic. You have a right to deny the validity of anything that you want to deny, just for the sake of denying it. Just like you can block the progress of a dungeon adventure by assuming that everything that your character sees is an illusion, and then roll to disbelieve.

The trouble is, I was there, I heard it with my own two ears, and I even said so in my last post.



I hope, then, that you are not accusing me of lying or making this up?

Ah, I am guilty of not reading the entire thread before responding. My apologies, your initial post made no reference to anything specific, so I was only letting you know of my experience with a similar issue. I would hope that the organizers, if made aware of the situation, would take steps to remedy the problem.

 

[LostSoul]

There were a lot of RPG events scheduled for all kinds of RPGs that had to be cancelled because the players were being hijacked into participating in LFR events (or turned away utterly) because things that somebody at the sign-in table was telling them. I heard this person say "well, nobody's going to play in any of these games. Why don't you play in a game with a lot of players?"

Did this happen Saturday or Sunday?

 

[Walking Paradox]

Did this happen Saturday or Sunday?

It was on both days. It was the same woman, and she said that she owned a store and that she represented LFR in Toronto.

 

[LostSoul]

Huh. On Saturday I actually wanted to play D&D, but it was too busy (so I played Freemarket instead). I got there late, though. It wasn't so busy on Sunday.

I know they had issues with volunteers not being able to get back into the con on Saturday. I wanted to play this year, so I didn't volunteer to run any games - even though you do get in for free when you run a game.

Here's the link to the guys who organize it: http://www.torontoareagamers.com/messages/boards/ Maybe you can talk to them.