Mike

Mike,

For once I'm just yanking your chain :)

IMO you guys are making the BEST out of a BAD hand of cards.

I have to be honest I am still on the fence about attending, not out of fear but because its going to be a water-downed Con. (that's not a dig), I've been going for 28 years, well not counting last year, in a row. For the last 16 years I've been rooming with the same group of 25-30 guys and gals. I would say 60% of them are not attending this year. I only see most of them once a year. We do events all day them come back to the conf room we rent at our hotel and game and drink the night away. OK I admit at our age we are all in bed by midnight now after 2 drinks. 

Speaking of events after the last survey that was sent this week I am really afraid event space and number of events will be severely limited. 

I'm not sure what would disappoint me more not attending or spending all that money for a 4 day badge and being disappointed by my experience. 

Sorry for the rant it's just how I'm feeling this AM

GAME ON! 
 

You cannot blame Gen Con when individual companies decide "maybe not this year" to September's round of release from reality; sometimes, they just look at a situation (logistical, financial, PR) and make a decision.

With CMON and Paizo (and more) not doing events this year, assuming you can go (I know school, work, and International restrictions were already going to hinder many people), this may be a year to do events that you wouldn't normally do:
Perhaps it's time to try a new game system, or play that obscure card game, do some random event. find and make new friends that you wouldn't make otherwise, or just take 2021 slow and use the smaller-scale to have some relaxation time; you may even decide to travel the city during a few free hours.

If you want to go, it was already known that it was going to be smaller (I was saying it as far back as the initial announcement of the date change), but the choice is all yours and you still have time to cancel for 2021 if you need to.

This is going to be a great opportunity for new artists and small business owners so please do not count them out.  For some of us, this is the best chance we have of showing off our wares to a new group of people.

Talking with people on discord during badge registration, I think it would be a very good idea for GenCon to get out ahead of some incoming disappointment (and future conspiracy) if they were a lot more upfront with telling people about some of the vendors/companies that have cancelled.

This is going to catch a lot of people who do not frequent the forums (which is most) off guard. When Paizo, Asmodee (FFG), CMON, Live Game Auction, Privater Press, True Dungeon, etc... have all cancelled and there has not been a peep from GenCon letting people know. It is going to look purposefully done, even if it is not, and will frustrate many. Especially since many of these cancellation have been "known" for awhile.

This is just a recipe for very bad optics.

For me, im excited to see a little shakeup or change. GenCon has been pretty monotonous with regard of the same old thing, and thats ok if you like that same old thing every year. This will force me to try other things.
 

That all being said, there have always been more vendors than space, this will allow more variety of vendors to try and there will still be plenty of gaming.

The fact that people are, somehow, convinced that Gen Con LLC know who is and isn't showing up is baffling to me.  What does Gen Con gain from withholding this information; it certainly doesn't help their PR.

Paizo has an explicit statement in their forums that the May 16th date wasn't even on their radar, as exhibitor badges work very differently than attendee badges.

Here's the biggest issue I am seeing.

Let's say that we still have 35,000 in attendance.  Paizo run a ton of events usually.  Now they won't be there.  CMON, Asmodee, Fantasy Flight, True Dungeon, and all the other gaming companies that would usually be there running events will not have their events at all.

Let's say that there will no Magic events either.  You will have 35,000 people trying to sign up for events for a convention where the events may only be able to sustain 20,000 people.

So what are people going to be able to do with a complete lack of events to play?  

Now I know that things could change in a moment, but doesn't it appear that their decision not to attend is a huge overreaction to the current state of COVID?  As of now we are seeing the lowest numbers of cases across the country even with mask mandates and social distancing orders being lifted.  

I just hope that for the events that are still pending that they are allowed to hold them, such as Pasttimes Magic events, so that people can have as close to a normal Gen Con as possible.

I am sure we are all willing to work with them through an event that will not be the normal event we are used to.  However if people can't find events to participate in it will be very rough on Gen Con as people are always more willing to voice their opinions when they are upset.

If I can't get into events, I'll do 'after hours' pickup gaming.  Or whatever else there is to do: costume contest, puzzle hunt, seminars if any are available.  

So, I'm not worried.  

But if it ain't for you, it ain't for you.  

I agree that these companies dropping are over reacting and not responding to moving infection rates or CDC recommendations.   But they may have other factors like an inability to find volunteers or just a calculus of cost benefit.  It is what it is.

I also think you are underestimating attendees willingness to understand the unique circumstances at play here. 

If you are expecting to have as many options as 2019, you are setting yourself up to be disappointed. 

It is a unique year, that is for sure. It will not be a "normal" Gen Con.
It will be a Gen Con for people who want to have fun and game under unique circumstances. Some groups won't be there. No getting around that. There will be events, and less people as we will have attendance limits.

There will be more open gaming opportunities.

Come if you want to...gamers want to game is my feeling.

Mike

Mike

Sounds like, in terms of scale, it's going to be less "Gen Con" and more "Origins."

And you know what? Having gone to my first Origins in 2019, I'm okay with that being the case.

That is funny, Father Bloodlust, as I have been thinking the same thing lately, that this is going to feel a lot more like Origins than like a typical Gen-Con (I mean perhaps more accurately like a 1990s Gen-Con but we will figure out the nuances in September).  I make no secret of vastly preferring this convention to Origins precisely because I do not really go to conventions to actually game, but to do all of the other intangible stuff you cannot get anywhere else (having city blocks exclusively full of people who share your interests really cannot be duplicated).

So you might think I would not be excited for this year, but, well, what can I say, I believe even under these circumstances Gen-Con will do a great job making the area feel like Gamer City as always, and even if I end up actually doing some gaming this year for a change I will be overjoyed just to be doing large-groups-of-people-in-public stuff again.  The only time I have been around more than a small handful of people at once since March 2020 was when working at the Oregon Convention Center for the COVID-19 mass vaccination clinic, and (though there were some amusing similarities to be found, like a few times I saw graying long-haired nerdy dudes and smiled to myself) that was quite a different convention center experience than the one I am seeking.