Awesome news! I wish them luck with this, especially being a big supporter of online gaming.

Quote from: RPGPundit;660460In other news, the organizer of the Con specifically singled out theRPGsite in thanking us for our interest and support; ..
RPGPundit

A convention organized by women gamers thanks the RPGsite?


I can hear the head's exploding from SA and TBP now

Hey guys!

I wanted to drop in and say hi as well as pass out a hearty thank you to everyone involved in this thread and on RPG Site who has shown up, donated, and supported ConTessa just in the last day. That's extraordinary!

Yesterday, we gained five new sponsors from this thread alone. That's thoroughly incredible. Due to the political nature of much of the original message, I wasn't going to come in and respond, but after that amazing turnout I decided it would be a travesty NOT to come in here and personally thank you all.

I'm willing to answer any questions anyone has either here, or at admin@contessaonline.com. I won't respond to anything of a political nature, but I am happy to respond to any other questions.

To address a few things I've seen...

No, this isn't a marketing gimmick. The convention is entirely free, and I've lost quite a bit of money in setting it all up, not to mention the time it took me to design, build, and code the website. There's no company or organization behind ConTessa, just one chick who got sick of only ever being asked to talk about what she thought about boobs or sex in games.

It has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I was seriously down in the dumps when I created the convention, sick and tired of never even so much as being asked what kind of games I like to play, much less my opinions on design, mechanics, or any other aspect of gaming that didn't include my response only being important because they needed a token woman to chime in on the subject.

Why do women NEED a convention? Why does anyone need a convention?

Why do we put women first in the title? Why do anime conventions put 'anime' in their titles?

Why not just have a con that is everything to everyone? Because that would be really boring.

Why make it online? See my note above about who's paying for this thing. I may be able and willing to put my money into an online convention, but there's no way I could afford a physical convention, not to mention doing that creates travel issues. To the pessimists worried that we'll be slaughtered by idiots online, don't worry ... we can take care of ourselves.

I really hope to see some of the women here submitting events! Event registration closes on June 17th, 11 days from now, so be sure to get your events in on time!

And guys, I hope to see you in the games and at the panels! I've got a MOUNTAIN of goodies to give away. You're likely going to come out of this with more swag than a face-to-face convention.

We're currently running a Microgame competition to design a game on a quarter-page card using 1d4, a contest to name our characters, and we'll have more contests coming up in the next few days, so be sure to come on by our community, website, twitter, you know the drill...

Again, a big, hearty thank-you. You guys are awesome!
Stacy D (Con Organizer)

Welcome Ms Tessa!

Glad the community could help out.

Hang around a bit and see if any threads appeal to you.

Quote from: Dana;660305I'm not a publisher, so I have no PDFs to contribute, but I'm going to donate some RPGNow gift cards for prizes.

I agree wholeheartedly with the premise of this convention, and I really hope the organizers are able to keep the haters and sociopaths from ruining it. If I never have to see a social justice more-outraged-than-thou flame war again, it'll be too soon.

Yeah. Let's just play some damn games, hmm?

Amen to that.

A whole lot of fail can be avoided by the simple words:  don't be a jerk.

Quote from: RPGPundit;660460In other news, the organizer of the Con specifically singled out theRPGsite in thanking us for our interest and support; apparently my post got her a huge number of views and offers from publishers.

So, well done all!

RPGPundit

Heh.  Now all you need is a like button so we can all agree without spamming the forums. ;-)

Welcome Contessa!  FWIW, I think you're doing an outstanding job.  Too bad you aren't a physical location convention (although I completely understand why), because I have a deal set up with my distributor to give away free games to conventions.  I'm assuming you're not set up to handle physical products as give-aways.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;660545Welcome Contessa!  FWIW, I think you're doing an outstanding job.  Too bad you aren't a physical location convention (although I completely understand why), because I have a deal set up with my distributor to give away free games to conventions.  I'm assuming you're not set up to handle physical products as give-aways.

I am shipping out some swag bags (really swag padded envelopes), and we have one sponsor who's donating a chainmail dice bag that will need to be shipped, but he's donating the shipping cost as well.

So we're sort of set up for it but not really. Maybe next year we'll have a physical mini-convention to go with the online one, or maybe we'll be better set up to handle shipping things out.

Quote from: One Horse Town;660535Welcome Ms Tessa!

Glad the community could help out.

Hang around a bit and see if any threads appeal to you.

This!

Quote from: One Horse Town;660477Where's all that happened?

On Google+

Quote from: Sacrosanct;660529A convention organized by women gamers thanks the RPGsite?


I can hear the head's exploding from SA and TBP now

Well yeah, the various Swine (all the usual suspects) came out on ConTessa's post to make sure to try to run my name and this site through the mud; but I hope that the organizer knows who her real "friends" are; the self-styled (fashionable) pseudo-activist feminists who have done nothing but criticize her project because it (gasp!) dares to suggest that women might just like gaming as it is and want to game rather than have panel discussions about the patriarchy, or the regular gamers who have been waiting ages to hear some women stand up and say that those people don't represent them.

RPGPundit

Quote from: ConTessa;660530No, this isn't a marketing gimmick. The convention is entirely free, and I've lost quite a bit of money in setting it all up, not to mention the time it took me to design, build, and code the website. There's no company or organization behind ConTessa, just one chick who got sick of only ever being asked to talk about what she thought about boobs or sex in games.

Nobody ever asks me that . Anyway, good luck with the convention. I may swing by to play.

Conventions (physical ones) are hard to organise, at least in the beginning. But in my history of going to ones in Poland, and in helping with quite a few (about 10), I've only came across one that lost money. All the others turned up profit. Don't know about US and convention finances there, though I expect sponsors are much easier to find.

Then again, we're admittedly used to a lower standard, less commercialised one, but one that's also taking place in a school rather than a convention hall - though that's changing.

Quote from: ConTessa;660530Hey guys!

Hi! Welcome to theRPGsite! I hope you'll stick around after this and maybe take a look around, and post. We're very low-moderation so we're not an "emotionally safe environment" but you don't seem from your posts on G+ to be the sort of person who would really need that.  And theRPGsite could certainly benefit from more women gamers writing here, about gaming.

QuoteTo address a few things I've seen...

No, this isn't a marketing gimmick. The convention is entirely free, and I've lost quite a bit of money in setting it all up, not to mention the time it took me to design, build, and code the website.

Regarding that, some people on the thread have expressed desire to help financially too, so if you've figured out how you want to do that, please let us know here!

QuoteIt has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I was seriously down in the dumps when I created the convention, sick and tired of never even so much as being asked what kind of games I like to play, much less my opinions on design, mechanics, or any other aspect of gaming that didn't include my response only being important because they needed a token woman to chime in on the subject.

Yes. Round here, we believe tokenism sucks. Gamers are gamers.

QuoteWhy not just have a con that is everything to everyone? Because that would be really boring.

Beyond that, I do think it makes sense that you can have an event that is set up like yours (in a way that is not in any way exclusive to participation at the play level) which is meant to bring women together to celebrate their love of gaming, and this can be a great thing to hopefully encourage more women to be active in gaming in a way that doesn't insist that they're Fragile Little Flowers that have to be given all kinds of special treatment.  And if you look at the spectrum of the games people are running at ConTessa, it pretty well proves the lie about women needing some kind of special RPGs just for them, or that RPGs need to be fundamentally changed in order to get women to play.

QuoteI really hope to see some of the women here submitting events! Event registration closes on June 17th, 11 days from now, so be sure to get your events in on time!

I hope so too.

QuoteAnd guys, I hope to see you in the games and at the panels! I've got a MOUNTAIN of goodies to give away. You're likely going to come out of this with more swag than a face-to-face convention.

You know, I don't game online (I really don't much care for it), and ConTessa happens to be on the busiest Masonic weekend of the year for me (the solstice, and installation of the lodge, where I will be receiving a fairly high office), plus my regular gaming, plus the fact that I'd have to wear a bag over my head in the video chat or something in order to maintain my secret identity (or wear a balaclava, I guess, with a space for the pipe, like Commandante Marcos).  But you never know, I might just try to make an appearance.


RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;660577Well yeah, the various Swine (all the usual suspects) came out on ConTessa's post to make sure to try to run my name and this site through the mud; but I hope that the organizer knows who her real "friends" are; the self-styled (fashionable) pseudo-activist feminists who have done nothing but criticize her project because it (gasp!) dares to suggest that women might just like gaming as it is and want to game rather than have panel discussions about the patriarchy, or the regular gamers who have been waiting ages to hear some women stand up and say that those people don't represent them.

RPGPundit

The impression I get from reading the various posts by the women involved in organizing this are:

* recognize the important roles women have had in traditional male occupations (wars, adventurers, etc) that often get overlooked for the purpose of drawing inspiration to the gaming table
* stress that a lot of women just want to game, and have no desire to get wrapped up in political discussion.

And those seem like mighty fine goals to me.  Finally, someone is using common sense and middle ground.  You don't have to be an ultra-social justice WARRIOR in order to not be a bigot, and you can recognize and support the differences, highlights, and positives about women without having some ulterior motive against men.  Both groups espousing that crap need to die in fire.

ConTessa sounds awesome.

Also if this thread doesn't prove the greatness of this site...well this thread proves the greatness of this site.