ICON 2009

[claidheamhmor]

I took a day off from work on Friday, and we went off to the ICON 2009 games convention. We hung around a bit, bought some rather pretty dice, coffee mugs and stuff from some of the stands there, and munched on curry and hotdogs. It was nice to chat to magependragon, who had flown up from Cape Town to be there, and to meet phaezen. We were hoping to find ourselves a game to play, but the convention rules (more about that below) were not conducive to casual games.

On Sunday we went again, because the afternoon games are apparently meant to be re-runs of modules from previous years. We met up with ticktock_za, and looked for games, but at 14:30 it seemed the morning sessions were still running, and time-wise, that was definitely going to be an issue.

Some comments about the convention, from the point of view of someone not involved, and someone who is a casual gamer (at least from the point of view of those who belong to the gaming societies):

• Bad hair abounded - far too many people (especially males) with long, lank, unwashed hair, and with scruffy facial hair. Also, it seemed that far too many people thought wearing goth outfits made them look cool.


• The stalls there didn't have much of interest (well, to me, at least). I suppose if you're interested in overpriced 6" figurines and comics, it must be paradise, but there were no novels, and a rather so-so (and very overpriced) selection of game books.


• There's no place there for the casual gamer who wants to drop in with his/her gaming group and play one of the modules for fun. From Friday morning till Sunday morning, all the modules are either competitive or semi-competitive, and according to the rules (which are not mentioned on the brochure), groups are split up so that the don't sit at the same gaming tables. This is because the scoring for the modules is apparently done by peer voting (I say apparently because the brochure does not state how scoring is done), and the assumption is that teams will vote each other higher scores. This means there's no way for a group of friends to play together, or for casual groups. Since that's the major reason I'd want to play in the convention, it's a bit of a downer. The Sunday afternoon session (if it even took place) was too disorganised.


• Organisation seemed somewhat iffy. I can see a bunch of people went to a heap of effort, especially with things like catering, but the gaming side of it wasn't too good. Registration tables weren't clearly labelled, were usually unmanned, and games seemed to be starting hours late (and I gather this is an issue every single year).


• The convention is not at all inviting to casual players or new players.

I can think of a few things I suspect would improve aspects of the convention:

• Provide free shampoo samples. (OK, seriously now...)


• Encourage the stall resellers to bring along science-fiction & fantasy novels, and to provide show discounts.


• How about a stall from one of the music/movie stores, like Phase 2 or Look & Listen, selling a selection of science-fiction & fantasy DVDs?


• Make the brochures clearer and more detailed. If it's a problem for printing, at least make a link to a web page with the details.


• Stick to the schedules. If a module is scheduled to start at 9AM, start at 9AM, and let latecomers be penalised.


• In the module descriptions, detail how scoring is done, and detail rules like how groups are split up. I also wouldn't mind the odd module that's scored the old way - by the group reaching objectives or defeating obstacles.


• Make some effort to cater for new/casual gamers. This could be things like "demo" tables where volunteer GMs run newbie players through simple adventures (the boardgames people had something like this), and allowing gaming groups to play the modules as groups, but unscored, so they don't get rated and ranked against competitive players.

Of course, all this is my opinion. I've only been playing role-playing games regularly for 26 years or so; more experienced people may have better ideas, and no doubt some of this has been considered by the organisers before

Comments

[claidheamhmor]

*grin* Seems typical of some university groups...

[mighty-jo.livejournal.com]

-grin- I remember previous Icon's used to be much worse... lol, I terms of hair, and trenchcoats and general emo-ness.

But in the ness of agreement, the roleplaying section is always badly organised and bordering on chaos. Its pretty awful. Not exactly a shining beacon trying to bring new players into the fold.

I gave up roleplaying at conventions ages a go. Its a waste of time.

[claidheamhmor]

I must admit, I thought the early ICONs were pretty good. That said, I think the whole face of gaming has changed, so I can't ascribe current issues with poor organisation.

[windrider-09.livejournal.com]

I have had the same complaints for several years now and to be honest this is the reason I stopped playing at Icon several years ago.

I find that the wargaming and board games sections are far more welcoming. Part of the problem, with the brochures and rules and bad organisation is that this is still a purely voluntary effort. That means noone gives you hell for not doing what you are supposed to do and people just try to make do with whatever expertise possible.

Also, because this is mainly voluntary, it means that the organisers have no money or decent sponsorship to organise a proper venue(which is easy to get to) with credit card facilities, rules by which exhibitors must abide (e.g. insisting that some of their stock will have some sort of a discount), lack of people to do demos (not everyone can sacrifice the time) and the service of a proper event management company. the only happy people are those in the Jabula centre who do the catering.

[claidheamhmor]

I agree on some of the other areas being more welcoming - the boardgames area this year was especially so.

And year, the voluntary nature of things is a problem... :(

[capnoblivious.livejournal.com]

Hrm. We don't do competitive games over here - the idea is really odd. It's like a page out of gaming history.

[claidheamhmor]

What do you do there instead?

[capnoblivious.livejournal.com]

Sorry, didn't mean to leave this unreplied-to for so long.

You run a game for teams of people. Prizes are awarded for subjective (possibly arbitrary) reasons according to the GMs. The subjective (possibly arbitrary) nature of the decisions devalue the prize, which means players tend to be more interested than having fun than "getting it right".

Most of the games run these days at Aussie cons are rules-lite or systemless - there's a set of - I'm not sure how to describe it - "playing assumptions" that go with it.

[surelle.livejournal.com]

Posted in the game room of the last con I attended:

The Four Rules of Con Survival
1. Get at least five hours of sleep each night.
2. Eat at least two meals a day
3. Do not confuse Rules 1 and 2.
4. Shower, brush teeth, and change into clean clothes at least once
a day

If we all can do this, I promise this will be one of the most
enjoyable weekends you’ve ever had.

[claidheamhmor]

Oh dear, I think a lot of people missed #4.

[herne-kzn.livejournal.com]

Re: The registrations table and lateness.
I'm afraid this is one where two of the things you're looking for conflict with each other. The more on the day registration you're going to accept, the later things will run. IIRC they've been trying to encourage early reg. for that reson.
The Sunday afternoon session does always get unfairly shafted by the lateness problem.

The thing about playing in your own group is that a lot of people are rather more keen taking the opportunity to play with new (or old) faces rather than the people they always play with. It's certainly the big draw for me.

[claidheamhmor]

I can understand that many people may want to play with others...but I suspect many would also like to play with their own team/friends, whether from a competitive or a social aspect.

[phaezen.livejournal.com]

I do find the random players and gm to be one of the better parts of playing at cons myself. I play with my friends 2 to 3 times a month, and it is occasioanly a breath of fresh air (hygene issues aside) to play with different people. I find it tends in improve my gming abilities by having players react in ways that I am not used to.

But that sais, I can understand that some people are not comfortable gaming with strangers, and ways should be looked into to allow for that.

[claidheamhmor]

Good point on the GMing, especially; one can certainly get into a rut when you know your players too well.

Getting new players

[jebbx.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

You've made a very valid point. I have been speaking to a friend of mine here in little old East London (ZA) about how to get new players, and the thing is, you need to have a gamer table where people can walk up and say - "How do I play?" and of course "Can I play now?"

I think serious effort should be made at the next Icon to have demonstration tables and walk up games. I don't really know how they're going to do that, but I think it would be an excellent idea.

Re: Getting new players

[claidheamhmor]

I hope they do do something like that next time...

How is it, finding players in EL? Must be quite tough sometimes. It'd be nice to chat to some of you next time I'm down in Kei Mouth.