The First Rule Of Gencon Is:

[Tewligan]

Ugh. At last year's GenCon, I was up and roaming about one night after most of the events and whatnot were over for the day. I wandered into one of the anime rooms, and wandered right back out pretty damned quickly. Good lord, it reeked like a slaughterhouse in there! Too many people with too lax hygiene habits after too many days at the con, in a smallish room without enough air circulating, I guess. But yeah, the importance of hygiene can't be emphasized enough. The majority of attendees are able to fathom the mystery of soap - it's just that enough of them don't so that it becomes standard practice to repeat this bit of advice every time the topic of preparing for GenCon comes up.

 

[VirtualWizard]

I've been to numerous conventions and really haven't noticed personal hygiene being a problem. However, one instance comes to mind.

At one game, I was wondering why one of the players kept rubbing her nose. At first, I thought that she had a cold or something. It wasn't until the player in the orange T-shirt sitting next to her raised his arm to get the GM's attention. At first I thought that I was seeing things, but no, that was a patch of green (mold?) on the arm pit of his T-shirt And then came the smell! Fortunately where I was sitting, the air currents kept most of his BO at bay. When the GM called a break, I mentioned to the gal that the seat next to me was open and had a positive refreshing air flow. I don't think I've every seen someone so grateful

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

I don't know how they are dealing with it in the new location, but back in Milwaukee, the convention center was open all night. Some people didn't even have hotel rooms and just stayed in the center. It got pretty stinky by the last day.

Had a similar experience the one year I went to Otakon, though the stink set in a lot faster (I think some people arrived pre-stinked).

 

[Ottergame]

And don't for get to wear a condom (or were the stories I heard about GenCon wildly exaggerated?)

AR

If I want anonymous sex with random people, I'll go to a furry con. Better selection of people who share my persuasion.

 

[seankreynolds]

The TSR folks in Creative Services (that's what they called R&D back in the day) always joked about getting a soap company to sponsor GenCon and provide mini-soaps in the registration bags, but it never happened.

I so have to bring copies that Something Awful strip to the show and hand them out to people who stink at me....

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Too bad you can't get a case of that soap the hotels put in the rooms and put one bar in front of the offending gamer while he's not looking...... talk about a broad hint......

 

[frankthedm]

squirt guns filled with lye should work even better!

 

[MDSnowman]

Hehe see I couldn't fathom not being clean if I was going to be elbow to elbow with thousands of people for five days. I'm a subsititue teacher and if I smell like something in a toliet I'm sure there are going to be 20+ loud mouth high schoolers willing to tell me as much. I'm also a big advocate of cologne, so that I can stink pretty instead of... well you know green mold in the underarm and shyte.

I'm also blessed/cursed with a sense of smell so bad that I can't even tell when I stink. So I tend to be paranoid about it... of course given all of this I'm bringing my girlfriend to GenCon next year, she'll be able to tell me who the stink bombs are.

 

[HiLiphNY]

FANTASTIC!!! I just can't get enough of the great hygene-assault art!

squirt guns filled with lye should work even better!

 

[Ferret]

Actualloy, at least as important - wash your hands at EVERY OPPORTUNITY.

A lot of cross-contamination occurs at a Con, involving viral and bacteriological contamination from across the country and even around the world. You will be shaking hands with these people, touching books they have touched and so on. About a quarter of GenCon attendees I know have come away from GenCon with a major cold, fever or flu. By washing your hands regularly (and properly - not just a few seconds of hot water, but at least a 20 to 40 second wash with soap), you seriously reduce the risk to yourself and to the others you may be contaminating.

I can just imagine people lining up behind sinks at the entrance, guards in bio-suits dunking hands in soapy water and steam coming off.