Greg Costikyan on Origins

[Desdichado]

Know what? Nevermind...

 

[BlackMoria]

While I never met Greg in person, I played with him in a large play-by-mail diplomacy style game called Slobovia for several years. What made Slobovia interesting was that besides doing your moves/orders, you wrote fiction about people and places in Slobovia - therefore, I got to learn a fair amount about the personality of the other players through their writing.

25 years as not mellowed Greg at all, judging from his piece from his blog. He is still as opinioned as ever, as I remember him.

But that is a good thing in my mind. 25 years later, I still remember him from that game.......and I don't remember anyone else except James Ritchie, another 'colorful' person. Which says something since this game boasted more than 50 players at its high point.

 

[Mark]

What an interesting read...

 

[Psion]

Actually, it is. It has a very similar feel to the old White Wolf stuff. Now, you may think that there is a vast difference, but your scale could be similar to those people who insist, beyond any doubt, that there are vast and important differences between Budweiser and Miller.

The only gamer who would not draw a distinction would be one eager to bust WW in the chops.

I speak from experience; I used to say the same sort of thing about Trinity. I was wrong then. You are wrong now.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

PROMISE ME YOU GUYS that we'll never have a rapping Hobbit onstage.

If there isn't a rapping hobbit, then I'm not comin'.

 

[Crothian]

While Origins was the best con for gaming, I still somehow manage to have a great time every year. I'm not sure what he was looking for or even hoping for though.

The White Wolf booth with no WoD products was like a ghost town compaired to other years. Each time I went buy it was mainly white wolf guys talking to themselves.

The Great Luke Ski is a fanboy, he's a parody artist of mild talent but I find his stuff amusing. He doesn't put on the best live show though, but his CDs are entertaining.

I like Origins, there are always plenty of games that interest me and its not really that crowded like Gen Con. They have plenty of room for pick up games, its easy to find the locations, and for the most part its a fun time.

 

[Dogbrain]

The only gamer who would not draw a distinction would be one eager to bust WW in the chops.

The only gamer who could draw a distinction can actually step back and gain a little perspective to make a rational conclusion instead of accusing everyone who doesn't agree with him of being a bigot or having an ulterior motive.

 

[Nikchick]

From his description of the Designer's award program, it sounds like the ENnies came off as professionally as the Oscars. Russ, Peter A, Mike M, etc. did a great job, AND had fun with it, but PROMISE ME YOU GUYS that we'll never have a rapping Hobbit onstage.

What Greg doesn't mention, because perhaps he didn't care about this, is that the "rapping hobbit" bit was a one-song performance from the convention's Entertainment Guest of Honor that came as a transition piece between the memorial for Don Turnbull (Hall of Fame inductee and game designer who passed away this year) and the remainder of the awards presentations. While Greg himself may not have cared about the loss of Don Turnbull, many other attendees knew and loved him and were deeply saddened by his loss, and being able to turn their attention to Luke Ski's short performance before moving on to further awards presentations was appreciated by some (though they didn't run home and post screeds to their blogs about their experiences).

In order to honor our thirty years of Hall of Fame inductees, and to help educate some of the younger generations of game fans (and designers) who have never had the opportunity to meet and know some of these foundations of the gaming hobby (Hello Rodney!) Origins brought in as many of the living Hall of Fame inductees as we could. While some, like Greg, seem to resent being dragged out of their self-imposed retirement or reminded of their roots in gaming, most of our Hall of Fame guests approached me to say how much they enjoyed "coming back" and seeing game fans and old colleagues again.

I'm saddened that Greg did not appreciate the effort we made to include him, but there's always that surly cousin at the family reunion, determined to paint everything as lame and beneath him, while the rest of the family embarrasses him by enjoying the experience.

 

[RangerWickett]

I was at Origins with a friend peddling his new card game. I was actually just around mostly to help carry stuff, and to help demo the game. I don't think I actually sold a thing.

While he peddled, I had free time to shop between a dozen different card dealers to find cheap Magic cards. Cheap being a relative term, since one person's $20 Tundra might go for $10 at another booth if the thing is beaten up enough. The only actual 'deal' I got was when I bought a pair of Birds of Paradise for $12 (typically $20 to $30 for two) off a guy I met at the con. I'd won some swag at the WotC booth that I didn't want, and so I gave it to him, and when we ran into each other later and he said he couldn't find a dealer who'd give him a good deal, I bought them off him. Much cheaper than him selling them for $5 and me buying them for $20. I think his name was Brian.

But, um, yeah. I saw nothing telling me to go anywhere but the dealer's room. Perhaps the two highlights of the con were meeting Margaret Weis in Buca di Beppo (an Italian restaurant, where we got to eavesdrop on some juicy gamer gossip) and winning a backpack full of $100+ worth of cards, minis, and game books at the WotC booth. Most of that ended up being given away, so that I only get Eberron and the actual bag for myself. And the WotC notebook. Ooh, impressive.

As a business trip, dang, it went badly for us. As a 'nearly all expenses'-paid trip for me that just gave me the chance to spend $100 on Magic cards, eh, it was okay. As any sort of industry event? Well, maybe I just wasn't looking in the right spots, but it didn't seem that important to the people running the con, so why should it have been for me?

How many categories do we have in the ENnies now?

 

[Henry]

I'm saddened that Greg did not appreciate the effort we made to include him, but there's always that surly cousin at the family reunion, determined to paint everything as lame and beneath him, while the rest of the family embarrasses him by enjoying the experience.

Thanks for the expanded point of view, Nicole. Sounds like there was a lot more attribution to the individuals instead of the companies than was mentioned in the blog.

I'll still reserve my opinion about Luke Ski, however - he's just not for me.