Facebook REPOST From Suburbaknight, with his permission:
I want to be careful how I write this since it's intended to be reassuring, not condescending or judgmental. If this comes across as trite or dismissive please attribute that to an error of communication and not intention.
Anyway, here goes:You're going to have a good con.Really, that's it.
You're going to go to Gen Con and you'll have a good time there.I've seen a lot of posts over the past few months about trying to plan every aspect of the con from where to eat to what games to play to how to meet people to planning routes to walk the Dealer Hall. And there's a lot to be said for planning! Gen Con is only four days, it's a big investment in both time and money to go, and people have very diverse needs so it makes a lot of sense to do research and plan out as much as possible.
I absolutely understand and applaud that urge (although I wish people would use Google or check the Gen Con site before some posts). Planning Gen Con is a good thing.But...If you don't have everything planned out, don't worry. You'll get there and yes, it will be overwhelming. There will be too much to do and not enough time to do it and you'll make less than optimally-efficient decisions and in spite of all that you'll have a good time.
Gen Con is summer camp for geeks. It's a chance to do our favorite things with our kind of people. So don't worry if you don't get to do your top thing because you'll get to do your second or third best choice, maybe even something you didn't know you wanted to do. You'll meet new people. You'll try new things. And in the end, you'll have a good time.
I'm delighted at how many posts I've seen in this group about, "I'm new to gaming, where should I start?" Welcome to the hobby! Way to jump in the deep end! And you know what? There's no way you can learn about everything Gen Con has to offer and plan a schedule to take advantage of all of it. Ain't gonna happen. By all means, do your research but resign yourself to a bit of ignorance. So you know what you'll do? You'll wander the Dealer Hall and see cool things you didn't know existed. Demo a game you've never heard of. Sign up for an event just because it fits in your slot. Go to dinner and sit at the bar; talk to whomever's next to you. Don't know what to say? Try, "What are you doing with your con?"
With 70,000+ people and 25,000+ events it's impossible to plan the perfect Gen Con, but you can make up your mind now to have a good one.I've seen a lot of posts saying, "I'm new, what should I do?" Here's my hit list:- Make time to wander through the Dealer's Hall. While there, demo whatever's offered and take time to look at anything that seems interesting.- Sign up for your favorite game you don't normally get to play.- Sign up for a game you've never heard of purely because it fits into your schedule. Even if you end up not liking it at least you'll have a better idea what's out there and why you like what you like.- Go to a seminar. They're free and they're offered on just about everything. If you don't like it, walk out.- Stay up late and game with strangers. All the surrounding hotels - yes, even the non-downtown hotels - have late night gaming in the public spaces. Wander around and you'll find pickup games forming. If you're feeling bold, start your own.- Everyone here feels socially awkward. Be the one to start a conversation. You will be there hero.
Good conversation starter: "What are you hoping to play this weekend?"- Other good conversation starters: "What's your favorite thing you've done this weekend?" "What have you discovered this con?" "What are you bringing home?"- Every downtown restaurant offers takeout. It's far more efficient to get takeout, wait 15 minutes, then go eat in a hotel lobby rather than wait two hours for a table.- You can get better food for less and with a shorter wait if you walk three blocks out of the downtown convention area.
Forget The Ram and Scotty's; while they're great they're not worth the hassle. Best meal I ever ate at Gen Con? Ten minute drive to The Jazz Kitchen (hope I tagged the right one).- Embrace chaos.
The sooner you realize you can't control your Gen Con experience the more you'll be able to enjoy it.- Plan anyway. You may not be able to control your Gen Con experience but you can influence it. Despite all the jokes about "Plan to be spontaneous" it is still the best advice I can give.- Your time is precious. Don't waste it on a bad experience. If a game sucks, leave it and go wander the Dealer Hall or find a pick up or grab lunch or do literally anything else. That game has shown that it's a bad use of your time; find something better.-
Give yourself permission to have fun.
PS:
I disagree about Scotty's... :)
I will be enjoying an early Pathfinder Society adventure at Scotty's on Wednesday. Looking forward to a very good "brunch".
This is my first GenCon. I don't plan on having a good con. I'm planning on having a GREAT con. I get to see a sneak peek at a GenCon performance next week, and I get to meet a game publisher that I've been chatting with once I get to Indy. I'm probably overbooked (because there are too many interesting looking seminars!), and I'll be sleep deprived; this always leads first to exhaustion and then a giddy punchiness that is super fun. This pretty much summarizes the last month for me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjlUHY2cbC8
P.S. What's a Scotty's?
P.P.S. How far outside of downtown is full of freewheeling gamers? I ended up finding a room south of I-465. Is that within the gaming radius?
I can't give this post enough thumbs up! I am looking forward to hanging out with all of you nerds and geeks and meeting up with old and new friends.
True, if you go out even 4-5 blocks you can get some good eating.. BUT its the whole do people have the time to spare that can be a killer there..
Scotty's is a restuaunt/brewery near the convention center.
Outside the 465 loop is probably too far for most of the Gen con crowd too book, but you might want to try starting a post with your hotel name in the title and see if anyone else is staying there. Or hang out in the lobby and people watch a bit, see if you see anyone else wearing badges.
I don't know if that's necessarily true. You may just go and not like it. I'm not sure I will. I didn't really like Gencon the last time I went, 13 years ago. I'm only going this year because I moved to Indianapolis in October and I don't have the same travel / lodging costs that I did last time.
Just as a reminder, the Quiet Room is available to help you have a good con, at ICC 211. Thanks!
So, give it a clear chance, ignore the crowds as much as you can and see what you can get yourself into. That's what I had to learn to do! :)