Something missing at GenCon this year?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

1) Lack of good swag being given away. Sure the economy is doing fine, but are the gaming companies not booming or are they just not feeling generous?

The economy might be doing fine in Sigil, but I assure you it is not evenly so across the United States. And since people cut back on luxuries when times are tight, I suspect this was a very conscious decision by at least some companies at GenCon this year.

2) And more importantly... I didn't see a single 'booth babe', nor have I seen any threads with booth babe pictures like we've seen in past years. There was an average amount of eye candy going around for both genders in terms of folks in costume this year, but not associated with trying to attract attention to booths in the dealers room.

I've worked one of the biggest trade shows in the country, E3, for several years. It's one laden with booth babes. And let me tell ya, the professionals knew, even if the journalists and the few fans who slipped over the wall did not, that there was an inverse relationship between booth babes and how much quality product there was to show.

If you didn't see booth babes at GenCon, that likely meant you were looking at the real good stuff.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Did not make it this year but 2004 GenCon was great for swag but swag is like a sea shell thrown up by the tide, some times you have a lot of stuff and other time you don't.

Booth babes - the problem with GenCon and booth babes is that you do not always know if it is a gamer in costume or a vendor.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

As far as booth babes, I have noticed the lack of sexy women dressed up in strange outfits. On the other hand, I have noticed an increase in the amount of attractive women who are working for a company that happen to be working the booth. The girls giving out the VS cards and t-shirts come to mind. They were young, friendly, attractive and their attractiveness - as Whizbang pointed out - didn't lead me to believe that it was 'hot woman' with no good product. These girls were the actual year-round employees of the company as opposed to a model they pay for a few hours to all weekend in order to show up at their booth and fend off advances from gamer geeks.

As far as swag goes, I have noticed a steady decline in it, too but its still there if you work for it, get in lines, play demos, etc. In other words, you can still get the swag but the dealer's are making you actually do something rather than just walk up, take it and go on to the next booth like some kind of GenCon Trick or Treat.

 

[JediSoth]

I noticed the lack of swag this year too, but I suppose it was about on par with what I got in '03. Last year may have had extra swag 'cause of the 30th anniversary of D&D. I also noticed that booth babes were less prevalent this year. Of course, I only consider booth babes to be models hired by the company to stand around and look bored..errr..pretty while gamers drool over them and tell them how they like their stuff. If a beautiful woman is actually employed full-time by the company, I don't generally count them...unless they're dressed provocatively to draw in more customers. I did notice a statue of a booth babe over by ummm...World of Warcraft was it? It was at the purplish elf. One of the best booth babes I've seen in years. She didn't sigh, look bored, yak with her booth babe friend about how geeky gamers are when they think no one's watching...

Of course, those are just my observations and opinions...I could be wrong.

JediSoth....whose post count always spikes right after GenCon

 

[diaglo]

yeah i was asking some friends on other boards about the free swag and they said the same thing. very poor this year.

diaglo "who lives for freebies" Ooi

 

[Enkhidu]

As far as I'm concerned, the only thing missing from GenCon this year was me.

 

[diaglo]

As far as I'm concerned, the only thing missing from GenCon this year was me.

you should've hired a proxy. that's what i did.

 

[Frozen DM]

1) Lack of good swag being given away. Sure the economy is doing fine, but are the gaming companies not booming or are they just not feeling generous

Well since this was my first GenCon I can't really compare, but I came away with a fair amount of swag. T-shirts, minis, dice, books and the assorted buttons and key-chains. Of course more swag is always better.

2) And more importantly... I didn't see a single 'booth babe', nor have I seen any threads with booth babe pictures like we've seen in past years. There was an average amount of eye candy going around for both genders in terms of folks in costume this year, but not associated with trying to attract attention to booths in the dealers room.

Anyone else besides me notice this?

Well from my recollection there were the ladies at the Mongoose booth, a very attractive woman doing Allegience demos, the girl showing off the Wench! game, a woman at Fanpro's booth selling SR4 (not sure if she was in costume though) and several of the costime dealers had ladies showing off the gear.

So nothing noticeably lacking there

 

[shaylon]

I noticed quite a few "Booth Babes". As a matter of fact, there was a lengthy discussion regarding Tigra VS all others, at True Tavern on Friday night.

Uh yeah, she was awesome! Fiery Dragon had a booth babe as well.

As far as the swag, I too was slightly disappointed. Last year I came off with 2 T-shirts and a few minis along with a bunch of other stuff. This year there was the free dice from Gamestation but other than that it was pretty light.

-Shay

 

[devilbat]

Speaking of things missing from Gen Con. This year was my first Gen Con since '98, and I'd like to know when they stopped giving out certificates for individuals in roleplaying games? At the last Gen Con we attended, my friend and I came back with a number of certificates that were handed out to players the DM thought was, for lack of a better term, the MVP of the game. It doubled as a coupon for a few dollars off any purchase in the dealer's room. This year, I noticed no one gave away anything. Even in the company sponsored games. When did this stop?