And did you find it as disappointing as I did?

Admittedly we were only there for the final day, but the £20 entry fee felt like a massive ripoff. Poorly organised, badly laid out, no real sense of the big publishers presence, just a small trade hall and a few gaming rooms dotted across the campus. Nothing like the huge Olympia-staged events of a few years ago. My friends and I had covered the entirety of the con in a little over an hour, and that included a mini-shopiing spree.

So. Did we miss all the cool and amazing stuff by going on a Sunday, or was this par for the course? If it was then there's no way I'm going next year. Dragonmeet (small as it is) was far more fun.

I'm knackered right now (the cat woke me up early too) but I'll be posting to my blog/website about it all later today I expect.

Quote from: GRIMI'm knackered right now (the cat woke me up early too) but I'll be posting to my blog/website about it all later today I expect.

Cool. I'd really like to hear other peoples take on the whole thing. I kind of got the impression that I missed out big time on this one.

OK, I was going as a trader so my POV may be different. I didn't get to explore much of the rest of the con either, that said my views...

It was too expensive for traders considering the lack of foot traffic and given that the game tickets soaked up a lot of the punters' money. That meant there were less people browsing the trade hall, with less money and people weren't willing to risk missing their tournaments to play a demo of anything else off the cuff because of the £3 a ticket thing.

The day passes were too expensive too, who's going to pay that just to spend more money in the tradehall?

The open gaming free tables area was miles away from anything else and well hidden, making it nigh impossible for people to buy something and then immediately have a pick up game.

I made profit, but not much, most traders seemed to feel the same but we all made good contacts and wheeled and dealed which helped compensate for things.

Outside of the tradehall, on second hand information, I felt that it was a good con. GCUK has been a bit of a shambles for a while and this feels like a turnaround. The actual organisational end ran smoothly, it could just do with a bit more polish and forethought (giving tournament goers a chance to get to the tradehall for example). I also think that the _gaming_ has been lost a lot. We need open tables, free games, the ability for PLAYERS to come and play and network with each other to keep the hobby sustained. All this organised play is all well and good, but for a gaming convention there wasn't that much actual gaming.

There's also been a big shift towards boardgames/cardgames/minis games which makes it harder on us RPG players. Can't entirely blame them, that's where the money is but at the same time the computer games showing/outing was feeble. One booth by Atari and a LAN area playing older games - that was it.

I'm giving a much more negative impression than I intend to I think, so I'd best say...

I think it is a massive improvement over the last few years. The site is fantastic, the organisation is there, the problems are catering to the traders and the roleplayers and this stupid ticket system to play demos or games.

That's an interesting impression you give there, GRIM.

Sadly my experience with GenCon barely tallied with that at all. At one point my friends and I went out for a smoke, sat down on a bench and asked one another "was that it?!" We'd only been there an hour at that point.

Now I can understand that GC UK has had a chequered history, and that the folks at Horsemen are trying their best, but christ almighty this is/should be the standard bearer for the UK scene. What we got instead felt like little more than a diffused, underpopulated Dragonmeet without any of the buzzing excitement.

I returned home last night feeling thoroughly disappointed. Somewhat cheated, even. When seen in the light of the massive, technicolour gaming celebration that was GenCon USA there's simply no comparison. Now I don't think I'm being ureasonable when I say I expect an EVENT. Of course it can't compare to it's transatlantic counterpart, but man did it highlight just how big, slick and important the american version is.

Ah well. Lesson learned. Next year I'll be far more discerning and thoroughly research the whole thing before even thinking of attending.

Quote from: DrewAh well. Lesson learned. Next year I'll be far more discerning and thoroughly research the whole thing before even thinking of attending.

If you're not a tournament player or not willing to throw more money away to attend demos there's not a lot there for you to pick up. We TRIED to do some pick up games but people just weren't interested.

Quote from: GRIMIf you're not a tournament player or not willing to throw more money away to attend demos there's not a lot there for you to pick up. We TRIED to do some pick up games but people just weren't interested.

Yeah, there seemed to be a real absence of impromptu sessions. We couldn't find any at all, then gave up after a while. Looking at your user profile I think I wandered past your booth a couple of times. You had a slick, professional looking product and a good attitude. Kudos.

If we'd know you were running pick ups you would have had three eager thirtysomethings at the table there and then. Maybe next time, eh?

Quote from: DrewIf we'd know you were running pick ups you would have had three eager thirtysomethings at the table there and then. Maybe next time, eh?

Sure thing.
I think I've left things too late for Conception (again) but we'll be at Dragonmeet at least and I hope to do some more cons this year (I say that every year though).

Dragonmeet it is then. I'll pop over and say hello.

My con report and chats with a few publishers are up at MY WEBPAGE for those who want to have a read through.

Some Qin news in particular.

I'm getting a blank plage. My browser tells me everything's loaded ok, but there's nothing to see.

Quote from: DrewI'm getting a blank plage. My browser tells me everything's loaded ok, but there's nothing to see.

Bizarre, try this.

Thanks.

I stopped going to Gencon UK when it was in London, they provided no space for impromptu games and it was just shoddily run.  Dragonmeet is a vastly more fun and friendly con.

Quote from: BalbinusI stopped going to Gencon UK when it was in London, they provided no space for impromptu games and it was just shoddily run.  Dragonmeet is a vastly more fun and friendly con.

Judging by this years effort you made a wise choice.