Dragoncon

[Fishi3]

I'm an old time gamer. Been gaming since 1979. In all those years I've participated in just about every kind of Gaming activity there is. One of the things I've done is be on the Concom, (Convention Comitee), for several conventions here in Canada.

Now there are alot of styles of cons. I've worked on two verry different types.
Fancons are conventions that service the Fan comunity and are the intellectual side of con going. You have authors and guests from television and movies and hold disscussion panels and writer workshops. There are Dealer rooms that generally focus on those items and books that fit the cons theme. There are General Fancons and thematic fancons. A general one will be usually Science Fiction or Fantasy though Historical does happen as well. Thematic is more focused. Star wars, Star Trek and etc.

Then there are gaming cons. Gaming cons usually like to pack as much game time as possible into a weekend. The focus is on playing games or running games. Games industry professionals often present new products at the bigger cons.

Most of my experiance is with Fancons. I've never actually worked on a thematic con though that may be interesting.

Ok now enough preamble.

Veldron in his pick up show yesterday mentioned someting I'd said about Dragon con. I was a bit caught by surprise that he'd remembered it and since I'm generally of the opinion that people only remember things that twig them I thought I'd explain my veiw thus why I first explained my credentials. Basically what twigged Veldron was that I called Dragoncon a wuss con for shutting down at 7pm on a Saturday night. Personally the Cons I am on the Concom for run from 10 am to 10 pm. So a con that opens at 9am and closes at 7pm seems to me to be a bit short.

Now what does usually close in those types of hours at the cons I participate in are the dealers rooms. Dealers pay for their space and generally run their booth as if it were the store that bought the booth. A con that opens and closes during dealers hours strikes me as a con that is more worried about drawing in revenue than in servicing the fans.

However that said I have to admit several things.

I have never been to Dragoncon or any other con with a Draw of more than 400 people. I'm agoraphobic and while I want to go to the big cons the idea of being in a room with 4000 people milling past leaves me gasping for breath.

I have never met the people who organise Dragoncon. Thus I can only guess at their motives for running the con. I'm probably wrong about the seeming priority of earning revenue over providing service to con goers.

I do tend to be am elitist sometimes when it comes to fandom. I am a Fan. The word Fan is a root of the word Fanatic. Like most Fanatics I have formed opinions and etc based on a dogma. In this case my Dogma is that the purpose of a con is to expose other fans to those elements of fandom that improve that fandom for the fan base in general. Basically by getting young writers or game designers into the presence of experianced writers or gamers so that they learn to avoid errors and write better books or games.

Cons are short. You want to pack in as much time in a weekend as possible. Thus the short hours of Dragoncon caught me by surprise.

Thus my statement. Sorry if it offended anyone.

[FoxyJama]

Uhm, okay.

Actually the con itself doesn't shut down during those hours, events are held 24/7. The dealers room is open for those hours, but then shuts down so that the dealers can have a chance to go out and enjoy the parties and other festivities. If the largest cons you've ever been to were only around 400 people there's no way you could comprehend the scope of Dragoncon.

I worked for a convention company for several years, and I can say that for a con this size, it is not at all unusual to have a dealer's room that closes by 6 or 7. If anything, that is done because there are a LOT more things to do at the con other than make money, and most of those things happen after dark.

I am also agoraphobic and I can't handle moving through a crowd by myself, but thankfully during the busiest times someone from our group was with me and it made it easier to handle.

[Jugsmalone]

Hmmm well hon what I can say to this is everyone is entitled to thier opinion and your entitled to yours and veldron to his.. My sugestion to you tho is to attend Dragon con before you make any kind of decision on what it is exactly... I to hate large crowds and closed in spaces and I lso have a breathing problem my health is not great I am too big to be confined but there is nothing in this world that willkeep me from next years con baring death that is .. I want to meet the people that are in my life day after day friends I admire and interact with every day but have not met .. I want a chance to thank the people that make my days pleasureable and help me dream dreams still threw a fabulous game and a wonderful group of gamers... I want to meet the crew of GSP and the creators of AO I want real life hugs and kisses and just to be able to say Thanks to each and every one of them ... so Fishi Ill be seeing you at Dragon Con 2007 h00t

[Meenstreek]

Yes, the only thing that stops at 7pm is the dealers' rooms. Boards, rock concerts, drum room, theatrical plays, film festivals, parties, parades, mascarades, and a ton of other shit goes on 24/7. It's by no means a wuss-con hehe.

[Chaimera]

and me running around like a maniac with Meenie and Tk screeming our heads off was an event all to itself i think

[Meenstreek]

LOL
every 20 mins there is the mandatory walk out to the balcony and screaming at the top of your lungs.

[Myz_Lilith]

Yeah, the Hilton boasts 24 hour gaming of all kinds...

[Jenibell]

OMG if the booth never closed then I would never have the chance to chace penguines...

or meet the greatest person ever... people yes people too haha

[ivanelme]

yeah, the Hyatt(sp?) was the party hotel during the night.

[Fishi3]

Now see thats why I posted this in the first place. Veldron didn't say that the dealers room was shutting down he said that the con was shutting down and those are two different animals entirely.

So chalk it up to confusion on my part. I really couldn't see how you'ld go through all the aggrevation, politics, and grief of putting a con together and then only have it open from 9am to 7pm. Far as that goes at the Cons I help organise the dealers room is open from 10am to 6pm so comperable hours.

Perceptions are a big part of anything and when you haven't seen something for yourself you can only form opinions based on what you hear from others.

I'll have to take at least as much blame on this as I'll assign Veldron since I should of figured out on my own that it was the dealers room and not the whole con site closing.

[Mynka]

I just want to say. I had soooooooo much fun and it kicked major ass!
I also can't wait for next year! That's all. xoxoxo -Mynka

[Boinky]

Hmm well the one con I'm most familiar with is one of the biggest Comic cons that has been going for many many years - the Chicago Comicon. Maybe it's done differently in Canada but essentially I think most American comic cons at least (and Dragoncon is similar but obviously much more gaming based) usually do shut down at least the major areas of the con around 6 or 7 usually - the dealer room usually covers the largest actual space and usually connected a exhibitor area which at least for the comicon is maybe 1/3rd the size of the dealer area. There are ofc things later on that go on. I know at least at the comic con they have an awards show normally on the Saturday night that is a big event. Often other panels etc are scheduled later or other things. I know one cool thing they had at a the Chicago comic con years ago was a midnight reading of some work by one of the big writers there. And apart from all the official scheduled stuff at these things lots of attendees just party in their rooms after the con is over for the day as we can obviously see you folks at DC did mostly it seems till you passed out.

[FoxyJama]

Wait, somebody passed out??!!

Blasphemy!!

[Firia]

man oh man oh man oh man!!

I am so jealous beyond jealous.

[Chaimera]

i am thinking of starting my own Con, i wish to call it ChaimeraCon, and it will be hosted at random bars whereever i feel like stopping, though this is just a dream, it could work, and since it would be ChaimeraCon, any misunderstandings would be solely on me, cuz ill change it up every few minutes, cuz that would make no sense, and thats half the fun

[Vallikat]

Woooh!! /me votes for ChaimeraCon in South Philly!!!

[Ashval]

ChaimeraCon. I'm there.

[Negs]

i am thinking of starting my own Con, i wish to call it ChaimeraCon, and it will be hosted at random bars whereever i feel like stopping, though this is just a dream, it could work, and since it would be ChaimeraCon, any misunderstandings would be solely on me, cuz ill change it up every few minutes, cuz that would make no sense, and thats half the fun

Dude only what 6-8 hrs away!! That's drivable .. I'm so there LOL

[Jugsmalone]

wow now thats close to home and Ill buy a round of drinks... h00t

[Sefus]

Man I was at Dragoncon but I missed all the cool partys! Nerf ME!!

Next year you guys have to tie me to the FC booth. Cuz my girl was just all over the place. We'll tie her down too.
The pics look like ya'll had a blast. Next year I won't be such a n00b

<--- What a lamer :/