What brings you to Con?

[Eric.Legion.Events]

I help set up the gaming area at the Wizard World Conventions and would like to see more people attending. You don't need a badge to enter the gaming area. However, if you want to attend the con you can get a discounted badge by playing in an event.


With this being said what brings you out to a con to play? Do you come out for the prizes? Want to play somewhere other than with your local group? To meet new people?


I would love to hear some feedback.

 

[Kralin Thornberry]

I've been attending cons again since I got into LFR. There's not a huge LFR community here, and so we go to the cons to play with different people, to be able to play together as an entire group, or just to see and play with people we have met at previous cons.

 

[darjr]

I go to cons to meet new people, mix with folks I have not seen for a while and to game, game, game, and game.

All kinds. To dozens of people in Cash-n-Guns LIVE! and dozen people games of Are You the Werewolf to RPGA and rpgs I wouldn't otherwise get a chance to play.

I go to help spotlight the hobby and help others find groups and learn about what is going on within it.

 

[Piratecat]

I've been to somewhere between 100 and 200 cons. Originally I was drawn for classic-style RPGA roleplaying (modules with pre-gen heroes and character interactions), and I'll still attend a con if I know such adventures will be run. With the growth of bring-your-own-character games, however, now I mostly attend cons to see friends who I also know are going. I get plenty of good gaming at home, so I need something more than "you get to game even more!" to draw me in.

 

[JediSoth]

I go to Cons (and I typically only attend Gen Con) to see & game with friends from far away, to do some networking, and to look for the coming thing. The opportunity to play games I wouldn't normally get to play in my home game is a big draw, too.

I find that people who game competitively tend to be too hardcore for my taste and the few times I've played in tournaments and such, I felt like they were a waste of my money for the amount of fun I actually had.

 

[darjr]

Heh, the last 'Are you a werewolf' game I played had upwards of forty people in it. I'm not sure I could comfortably fit that many people in my house.

But I get ya, sometimes I just want to hang out.

 

[Steel_Wind]

What brings me out to a Convention?

#1: Kill it and Take its Stuff: If a large convention is a monster then I'm the adventurer on a mission. Sure, fighting it can be fun and talking to it has its moments as well. Even travelling to the monster has a certain level of excitment and is a change of pace.

But what I REALLY want to do most to the Convention Monster is to kill it and take its stuff.

It's a toss up for me as to what the #1 attraction at GenCon is. Sometimes I consider it to be the Dealer Room (Main Exhibit Hall), other times, it's the Auction Hall.

In either case - it's The Stuff that I love the most.

#2 Talking About New Stuff, previews of New Stuff, and talking about how best to use the Stuff I already have: I like seminars and discussions with other gamers and dealers and representatives of game companies.

Sharing my passion for gaming and gaming stuff with other like-minded individuals is hellafun.

#3 Playing with Stuff (Old and New): I prefer campaign gaming as opposed to convention RPG gaming. I'm primarily a DM so crafting adventires and running them is of interest. Playing? Not so much. I do enjoy boardgames at conventions though, as I rarely get a chance to play those at home and convention boardgaming is often better than home boardgaming. I do enjoy an opportunity to meet and play RPGs with other ENWorlders too and to see how other experienced DMs deal with issues that arise in their games.

 

[Umbran]

With this being said what brings you out to a con to play? Do you come out for the prizes? Want to play somewhere other than with your local group? To meet new people?

I go to science fiction conventions for the sci-fi and fantasy content (usually panels, but merchants and art shows also draw me). I've never been so much as tempted to play a tabletop game at a con.

I go to an Intercon or two every year. But I'm guessing those are enough unlike what you're doing that I don't expect things are really transferable.

I will dive into and run games at an EN World gameday - and I think the similarity between the gameday experience and Intercon is why I like those, and dislike more usual convention play.

 

[Stormonu]

Dealers. If you don't have a decent dealer's room that I can spend hours drooling over gamer geek toys, it isn't worth it.

Second to that, while I used to go primarily to play D&D, I now go to try out games that I don't normally get the chance to play - whether it's Flames of War or a game of Apples to Apples, it's a chance for me to stretch out from my normal games and try stuff that I may have been missing out. I especially love introductory games that let me glimpse some other system I've been contemplating buying or running.

However, I really, really hate RPGA events and I won't touch them with a 10' pole. Ditto for most other tournament-type games. I'm there to relax and have fun and I don't like the sort of ugliness these types of games tend to induce in other people.

 

[karlindel]

Assuming time and location work out, the biggest draws for me are:
Trying out new games
Playing old games that I don't get to play often
Playing with new people
Browsing in a good dealer's room

Although a panel usually will not draw me into a Con, good panels can improve the experience while I am there and so will encourage me to return.

Cost is another factor that can make a difference, as I am unlikely to spend a lot of money to go to a Con unless I am sure it will be worth it.