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GenCon Indy 2003
Date: Monday, August 11, 2003
Author: Jsgolfman
Provided By: None
Page: 1 of 1
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I think it was poetic that my first trip to Gencon was also Gencon's first trip to Indianapolis. It finally moved from Milwaukee after 35 years and I think it was a success, from the standpoint of both the attendees and vendors. According to unofficial figures as many as 25,000 people attended this year compared to 23,000 last year. Although I have been a gamer and RPG player for a number of years dating back to my high school days, I've never gotten involved in the gatherings. I wish I had. It was an eye opening experience for me. Little did I know how immense and lucrative this industry can be. My major regret for this year was the timing of the event. I had planned a previous combination business trip/vacation and miscalculated my arrival date back to Indy; as a consequence I missed the first three days of the event and have been kicking myself since. I vowed to make up for lost time by spending the entire day at the convention center.
The Good
I'm proud to say that one of the best things about this year's enclave was the city of Indianapolis itself. The local merchants actually seemed happy to see the gamers and some even went above and beyond to make them feel welcome. A couple of the restaurants set aside rooms for some all-night gaming and just about everyone expressed an interest in seeing the crowds back next year. Nothing puts a smile on a businessman's face like cold, hard cash.
Another highlight of the weekend was GenCon CEO Peter Adkison receiving the key to the city from Deputy Mayor Michael O'Connor. I think that was probably the best expression of the attitude of the city toward the entire show.
On the written word front, Arcana Unearthed had the best showing selling out every copy of the variant player's handbook. I hear tell that they had a second shipment sent in and that went as well. Not too bad considering there was considerable stress about moving the show to the new venue and wondering if anyone would show up. Of course, that wasn't the only award earned over the weekend; the ENnie Awards were distributed as well. Mutants & Masterminds won for Best d20 Game, Best Electronic Product went to Magical Medieval City Guide (also winning for Best Free Product or Web Enhancement) and Best Publisher went to Malhavoc (publisher of Arcana Unearthed). There were numerous other awards and I congratulate all the winners for their efforts.
There was a huge amount of space for this event. I am sure I missed some of the rooms and some of the fun, but I think I got the overall feel for the show. There were games going on just about everywhere you looked. Most of those were card/board games; it's the nature of the genre, although there were also a number of PC games as well. There was Atari (formerly Infogrames), Bandai, EA, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Wizkids, Vivendi, Nvidia (yes, Nvidia) and too many more to list. You could play Horizons, Magic the Gathering, Neverwinter Nights, Ultima Online, Earth and Beyond, Terminator 3 and countless other mind altering favorites.
Another interesting part of the show were the seminars. Want to learn how to start a gaming company? Head on over to the Marriott Ballroom, section 5. How about Future Trends in Gaming? Marriott Ballroom, section 3-4. Are you a little tired from all the walking and window shopping? No problem, make your way over to the Fan Films, sit back, relax and entertain yourself with some fellow gamers ideas of a good RPG movie. It may sound cheesy, but I sat through one of them and it wasn't too bad. It wasn't "Lord of the Rings", but it wasn't "Strange Brew" either. I say kudos go to the individuals willing to submit their movies, it took a lot of effort and imagination.
One of the other hits of the show was the True Dungeon. It's a simulated dungeon environment that emphasizes wit, teamwork and problem solving to navigate. Teams of six took two hours in their attempts and prizes were awarded to the winners.
What would an RPG convention be without costumes? I managed to spot of few Klingons and the spare Star Wars extra as well. It's all in fun and I imagine people enjoyed slipping out of their mundane skins to become Boba Fett for a few hours. There were plenty of celebrities on hand for the duration as well. Sean Astin of Lord of the Rings fame was there Saturday and Sunday, Virginia Hey from Farscape on Thursday and Friday, Traci Lords (aaaaaahhhhhhh) on Friday and Saturday, Richard Biggs from Babylon 5, Robin Atkin Downes, etc. There were also industry celebs making their appearances. Richard Garfield of Magic the Gathering fame, Jordan Wiseman from Wizkids, Monte Cook from Malhavoc Press, novelist Bob (S.A.) Salvatore and Katherine Kurz and some fine artists such as Ed Beard Jr., Lawrence Williams, Henry Higginbotham, Terese Nielsen and Mark Zug. That's not an all inclusive list, but as many as I can recall from my notes.
One of the funniest items on the agenda this year was the Klingon Jail-n-Bail. You could have someone arrested by the Klingons, for a small donation that went toward Project SEED. How they got out of jail is a mystery, although I do recall seeing one gentleman performing some mighty fine singing. Just to clarify, Project SEED utilized local high school students as interns and allowed them to interact with gaming industry professionals who heavily relied on a compelling mathematics education in an effort to further education.
Autograph hounds could satisfy their cravings for a few dollars and see the likes of Kenny Baker(R2-D2), Ray Park (Sith Dark Maul), Daniel Logan (young Boba Fett), Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) and other stars and extras. It's not as exciting as a Playboy autograph session, but what is?
The Bad
There simply wasn't a whole lot of "bad", at least from my standpoint though there were a few negatives. Most of them stem from areas that GenCon has no control over but not all.
Some restaurants ran out of food before Sunday. This can be attributed to the fact that it was Indy's first Gencon and they underestimated the sheer mass of humanity that would converge on downtown Indianapolis. I expect next year there will be no shortages.
Registration for some was abysmal on Saturday. Attendees who hadn't pre-registered often had to spend hours in line to get their badges or sign up for events/seminars/games. My understanding is that it was a virus that caused system problems. GenCon had set up stations inside the hall where visitors could surf the web, check e-mail, etc. Apparently, security measures were not adequate and this caused major problems. GenCon has acknowledged this and set about rectifying the situation. You can obtain a partial refund of your badge price, only if your purchased a one-day Saturday badge on-site. Peter Adkison has an open letter to GenCon Indy that addresses all of the issues, real or perceived, related to the event and it looks like they are taking them seriously. I won't take the time to reprint the letter here, it is extensive, if you have any questions about the policy you can contact Peter himself at peter@gencon.com.
The layout of the hall was a bit jumbled. Some of the aisles were logical while others seemed to be poorly thought out. It's not a huge deal, but something that would make the experience more enjoyable.
Conclusion
The ugly for the show is mostly on my part. The first would be my poor scheduling so I missed a great deal of the parties:. The other would be forgetting to put new batteries after the trip. It's amazing how much juice you can use taking pictures of a warehouse, not to mention LegoLand. I had enough power left to take two pictures, one of which I will close with and the other you will see in my discussion of the Valar Project. All in all, it was a fine time and I can't wait to go next year. Fortunately, the event does not fall on a bad weekend for me and I will be able to attend all the festivities, including the wonderful press parties. Believe me, you haven't experienced a show until you've seen it from the press box. I pre-registered, so had no trouble with lines. They had a nice press room replete with press packets from select vendors, coffee, juice, cola and snacks. If you needed a quiet space to conduct an interview, you had it. So, that's my take on the Best 4 Days in Gaming, hope to see you there next year. Oh, almost forgot the picture. I swear I was going to take pictures of the actual convention, too.
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