Computer Gaming Area in 2019?
Posted by toeknee616
#1

I attended GenCon 2018, did not go in 2017, but saw that there was no computer gaming area like there was in GenCon 2016. 

I mostly come to GenCon for things outside of the computer gaming area, but it was really nice to sometimes take a break from everything else to just sit and play some video games for a while. I'm wondering what happened with this in 2018 and if there's a possibility for this to come back in 2019?

Posted by marimaccadmin
#2

Hi toeknee,

We did have computer gaming, but you're correct that we didn't have the large lan gaming space we had last year.  We had classic gaming consoles, and classic arcade cabinets, in that area instead.  We would like to have more modern lan gaming again in the future, however, something on the scale of what we had previously is honestly, very expensive to put on, and not a lot of groups can manage it; the previous group had other obligations last year that prevented it from coming back this past year.  So,  I would say we're definitely open to it returning, but at the moment, we have no firm plans to be able to do so.

Marian McBrine
Event Coordinator
Gen Con LLC

Posted by alans
#3

it would be great to see again - although obviously not the main Gen Con draw, my son and friends like the Halo tournaments!

Posted by djc664
#4

The cabinet arcade game room for 2018 was extremely underwhelming. The selection wasn't great, but more importantly many of the controls were malfunctioning or completely broken. So half of the games you couldn't even play. :(

I hope that can be addressed this year with a better selection and maintained machines.

Posted by freebiegrabber
#5

It's almost as if GenCon is INTENTIONALLY trying not to be E3 or CES!  ;-)

Posted by toeknee616 freebiegrabber
#6

freebiegrabber wrote:
It's almost as if GenCon is INTENTIONALLY trying not to be E3 or CES!  ;-)

Again, it's not about trying to push more PC gaming at all and push out tabletop gaming. It was just a call out that it was a fun time to take a break from all the tabletop stuff just to sit and play PC video games that I would normally do at home because walking around the vendor halls and moving from event to event can get exhausting for people. 

Posted by rayken
#7

I don't have enough time in the 4 days to sit down and play video games. Maybe 10 minutes to check it out but that's it.

I don't know why anyone would pay 120 dollars for a 4 day badge, plus hundreds or possibly thousands in hotel fees, spend exorbitant time, and money, and effort to get to Indy, to go sit down at a computer or do whatever they would just normally do at home. 

Posted by buffythecatslayer
#8

The computer gaming area held a lot more than just current games.  There were a number of classic consoles & arcade games, which many of us do have some nostalgia for.  In 4 days, there is plenty of time to try a bit of everything, sometimes even going back to our (relative) youth.

Posted by toeknee616 rayken
#9

rayken wrote:
I don't have enough time in the 4 days to sit down and play video games. Maybe 10 minutes to check it out but that's it.
I don't know why anyone would pay 120 dollars for a 4 day badge, plus hundreds or possibly thousands in hotel fees, spend exorbitant time, and money, and effort to get to Indy, to go sit down at a computer or do whatever they would just normally do at home. 

One could say the same about going to GenCon and playing Warhammer, D&D, Pathfinder, or any other tabletop game that gets hosted there. 

There's plenty of time to do everything, sometimes people just want to stop walking around from place to place to just sit and relax somewhere. 

Posted by hendelbolaf rayken
#10

rayken wrote:
I don't have enough time in the 4 days to sit down and play video games. Maybe 10 minutes to check it out but that's it.
I don't know why anyone would pay 120 dollars for a 4 day badge, plus hundreds or possibly thousands in hotel fees, spend exorbitant time, and money, and effort to get to Indy, to go sit down at a computer or do whatever they would just normally do at home. 
My son loved it when there were Smash Bros and Melee tournaments and League of Legend tournaments and such by the old company who used to sponsor and run the room.

We can say the same about playing D&D or whatever, why pay $120 and hotel and travel just to come and play a game we can play at home? Because of the experience!

It is different, or at least it was. Last year was a huge let down, so if you are saying why pay for last year's experience, then I agree with you. I wish they could get the old event organizer back as that was a fun filled dark room of gaming mayhem...

Posted by quarex
#11

Yeah I do not really begrudge anyone's choices of what to do at Gen-Con; I mean some people come despite their anxiety or crowd-phobias or other things largely keeping them from what some of us think of as the whole point of the convention, but if they are having fun then HECK YEAH

My catchphrase is always "Gen-Con is too short for gaming," personally; the things available here that are available nowhere else are so great in number that I stopped signing up for games years ago since I would almost always want to skip them for something else anyway!

Posted by noahoscar986
#12

How was this event?

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