Bagpuss
Legend
Anyone would think they stage GenCon Europe on the Easter weekend, knowing it would fail so they would have an excuse to stop supporting the European event.
Funny GenCon UK had been running for several years without too many problems until someone let Peter Adkison have a go. Fact he didn't even come to the event (perhaps he had family commitments over Easter) is telling enough that he never really cared about it.
You had a strategy? You never would have guessed.
GenCon Benelux was run mainly in English. They didn't seem to mind it seemed to be a common language for the most of the European gamers there. GenCon UK has been attended by lots of Dutch and Germans all the time I've been going.
So Easter isn't a family or religious occasion in the USA then? That must explain you shock at the low turnout.
and it didn't occur to you to approach the people that had been running Gencon UK to cover the European side of things?
Who do not even know what Call of Cthulhu is (the second most popular RPG) or how to deal with an event across more than one table.
So you just give up, great.
So they do the work you can't do and you collect their profits?
Funny GenCon UK had been running for several years without too many problems until someone let Peter Adkison have a go. Fact he didn't even come to the event (perhaps he had family commitments over Easter) is telling enough that he never really cared about it.
It looks like Gen Con Euro in 2004 (Amsterdam) is about to be cancelled. This from Peter Adkison:
Greetings, my gaming friends in The Netherlands,
I wanted to give you an update regarding Gen Con Europe.
We are having serious reservations about the strategy we've developed over the last few months regarding Gen Con Europe.
You had a strategy? You never would have guessed.
Essentially, we're concerned that due to language
GenCon Benelux was run mainly in English. They didn't seem to mind it seemed to be a common language for the most of the European gamers there. GenCon UK has been attended by lots of Dutch and Germans all the time I've been going.
and cultural barriers,
So Easter isn't a family or religious occasion in the USA then? That must explain you shock at the low turnout.
a large pan-European Gen Con event might be very difficult to realize. We also feel that the complexity of this task is compounded by the fact that we're an American company based in the United States.
and it didn't occur to you to approach the people that had been running Gencon UK to cover the European side of things?
Furthermore, our team has several new employees, or employees in new positions,
Who do not even know what Call of Cthulhu is (the second most popular RPG) or how to deal with an event across more than one table.
and we need to adopt a less ambitious strategy until we gain more experience and refine our systems.
Therefore, we have decided not to run a Gen Con Europe convention in 2004 or 2005.
So you just give up, great.
But we do not want to see the Gen Con brand die in Europe. Therefore we are making the Gen Con brand available for licensing, most likely on a national level.
So they do the work you can't do and you collect their profits?
Or, if someone thinks they could implement our original strategy and could develop a credible plan for doing so, we'd consider an exclusive license for all of Europe.
I appreciate the interest all of you have shown for Gen Con and your willingness to comment. While this email doesn't have great news, I thought you'd appreciate the update.
Keep on gaming!
Peter Adkison
Owner/CEO, Gen Con LLC
"The best four days in gaming!"
www.gencon.com
Last edited: