divachelle wrote:
*sigh*
There are minor inconveniences in life that we overlook bc we're by and large a polite society. We're going to encounter some of those things at GenCon in the forms of big backpacks, gamer crowds congregating randomly, cosplay photography roadblocks, and a host of other calamities, including grumpy gamers.
Polite people say "excuse me," move on.
These are parents with a young child; they'd probably like to shop and play games and see all of the things in the exhibit hall like everyone else. By suggesting that they limit their con experience to make you hypothetically, possibly, maybe a teensy bit more comfortable at their expense seems more than a bit self-serving on your part, especially when they cared enough to ask a question, only to be told "don't do that" and, basically, don't stray from the family area.
Yes, it's going to be crowded. Yes, we're going to bump into each other sometimes. It's ok, though, because I'm guessing that a very small minority, if any, stroller-wielders are maliciously roaming the exhibit hall looking for prey to injure, clobber or fell. I neither fear nor sneer at the stroller wielders; instead I welcome them bc that's what GenCon is about. We're gamers of every kind, shade, variety, both with and without strollers.
I shudder to think what you have to say about people in wheelchairs.
A large part of my schooling was in helping people in wheelchairs. The big thing you are overlooking here is that people in wheelchairs don't
choose to be in wheelchairs. Good try though.
You may have had a point if I was the only one who was inconvenienced by strollers in the exhibit hall, and as a result the only one ever justifiably annoyed by them. But I am not.
Even if they mean well stroller users still cause a problem. Going with a "be polite to the problem causer or else YOU are the problem, not them" approach is neither fair nor realistic to everyone else in the exhibit hall.
And note again that there is a discounted day dedicated to families at the show. Just go to the hall then. Isn't another part of the issue that you are overlooking is people ignoring Family Fun Day and instead deciding to shove strollers through the exhibit hall when it will the maximum amount of trouble for everyone else? Is that what a "polite" gamer would do, and isn't that what a "respectful" stroller user would do?
You can't just hand wave this away. People, even (gasp!) people other than me will continue to complain about strollers for years to come as long as people keep trying to bring them through overcrowded aisles.