Gamers Slandered In NY Times

[Pielorinho]

Anyone know what convention happened at a Marriott in Quincy last January? Maybe the organizers oughtta look into a different hotel, if the owners of that one are so grateful for gamer business that they sue Marriott over it.

Daniel

 

[KnowTheToe]

It is just an economics issue. He would not have cared that nerdfest happened if they paid full price. Being a nerdfest that was discounted is all the better because most mainstream people don't sympathize with gamers and he can use that to bolster his arguement.

You are also correct that 99% of conventions don't care what happened there last weekend and neither do attendees. I have been to more trade shows and conventions than I can count and not once, while booking one or attending one did I think to ask who had there convetions there before. Yes you ask for a list of references but, the D&D group would not be one of their references.

 

[Griswold]

It is just an economics issue. He would not have cared that nerdfest happened if they paid full price.

I don't think so. Read the article. I can see how, If I were an orthopedic surgeon, I would want the same price as the RPG people, but then the attorney, Wallace, goes on to say:

From NY Times

"Once you get those guys, you're not going to get the orthopedic surgeons convention"

So tell me that isn't offensive! I play a game, so I'm not good enough to lodge or meet with fellow gamers in the same hotel as a group of orthopedic surgeons using his example?



G.

 

[Moon_Goddess]

Anyone know what convention happened at a Marriott in Quincy last January? Maybe the organizers oughtta look into a different hotel, if the owners of that one are so grateful for gamer business that they sue Marriott over it.

Daniel

From what I can find digging around WOTC held a Magic the Gathering: Torment tournament on January 26, 2002 in the Marriot in Quincy

So beyond just how rediculous this is, he isn't even attacking the right group!

 

[ForceUser]

To the uninformed, it's all D&D and it's all weird. Can't those weirdos grow up and get a real job so they can move out of their parents' basements?

 

[Pielorinho]

From what I can find digging around WOTC held a Magic the Gathering: Torment tournament on January 26, 2002 in the Marriot in Quincy

So beyond just how rediculous this is, he isn't even attacking the right group!

Oh! If it's Magic players, never mind, then! Can't believe I was defending them .

This may be a situation where a polite letter to the hotel from the con's organizers, expressing their dismay that the hotel's lawyers express such a sentiment and asking whether they need to find another place for next year's convention, could do the trick. The hotel surely wants the business, and so they'll tell the law firm to knock it off, and the law firm will tell this tweaker to knock it off.

It's like business judo.

Daniel

 

[Dr Midnight]

I only read the first few posts, so sorry if I'm repeating anything, but...

I've been to Gencon. Here's a generalization: Gamers are cheap, smelly, unkempt, and don't really care that much for what they leave behind. None of this adds up to an appealing crowd for a convention.

Some of us aren't like that, of course, but based on what I've seen- the horrid majority of us are.

 

[Lizard]

I only read the first few posts, so sorry if I'm repeating anything, but...

I've been to Gencon. Here's a generalization: Gamers are cheap, smelly, unkempt, and don't really care that much for what they leave behind. None of this adds up to an appealing crowd for a convention.

Right-- but assuming the hotel cleans up, how will this keep another group from renting the hotel LATER, which is the issue at hand?

It's one thing to say "Don't host gaming conventions; the gamers do so much damage that the cleanup costs eat up the profits." (Provably false, since most cons are hosted in the same hotels year after year). It's another to say "Don't host gaming conventions, because then the orthopedists won't rent the space from you three months after the gamers have left."

 

[Jeph]

Once you get those guys, you're not going to get the orthopedic surgeons convention

John Flescher lives down the street from me, and is a gamer, with 2 gamer children. He is also an nuerosurgoen. Go fig.

 

[Mercule]

I've been to Gencon. Here's a generalization: Gamers are cheap, smelly, unkempt, and don't really care that much for what they leave behind. None of this adds up to an appealing crowd for a convention.

And in an equally broad generalization:

Have you ever been to a sales convention? Most of those guys spend their time hiring prostitutes, getting drunk, and doing drugs.

(I've met more than a few who were proud of it, too. Ah! The amazing things you discover working on the fringes of marketing departments.)