Quote from: rytrasmi on August 10, 2023, 02:27:42 PM

Quote from: Svenhelgrim on August 10, 2023, 02:15:30 PM
I saw some other nonsense as I strolled the convention center in between running games.  There was the BIPOC lounge that had about three people in it.  I guess there aren't as many BIPOC as they thought there would be.

Well, I hope it's people refusing to be patronized.

Imaging going to Japan for, I dunno, an anime convention and there's a white people room. "What the fuck" is what I'd say.

white people are crazy enough to travel to Japan just for that specific type of event though.  that's a pilgrimage.

Quote from: Svenhelgrim on August 10, 2023, 02:15:30 PM
Two people, an old lady and a woman with a stroller (seriously, who brings their baby to a gaming convention?) got trampled by crowds trying to get their hands on Lorcana, a game that will be in every store in about a week.  The waiting line for this game was 13 hours.  From what I hear, there were people trying to cut the line saying "Let me through, I'm a GM!" As though that gives you some privilege. 

I saw some other nonsense as I strolled the convention center in between running games.  There was the BIPOC lounge that had about three people in it.  I guess there aren't as many BIPOC as they thought there would be.

>looks it up
>Disney CCG

(makes loud retching sounds)

Top 4 things I saw while there:

1.) EVERY door to the convention center had a "Harassment is not tolerated here" sign with a QR code to scan for the policy and to report things you saw.

2.) Lorcanna fans.  Seriously, they were awful.  The lines, the scams, the entitlement, all of it.

3.) People in general.  Walking around with their phones out and just not paying attention to their surroundings. Walking in groups and stopping in the middle of rows causing traffic jams.  Wearing those big fucking bricks of a backpack for board games and not realizing how far that sticks out from them.  People pushing/pulling wagons around the dealer hall with their kids in them.

4.) More Ma'ams, bearded women, men with poofy blue/pink/purple dyed hair, pronoun people, etc than I have ever seen in my entire life up to this point.  Funny thing is, they were almost completely in the dealer hall.  Once you moved out to the smaller play rooms and stadium area, it was the more stereotypical gamer types.

Runner Up: A call out in the program book pointing out that the convention was on Native American land.

Overall though, I had a good time there.  Talked with a bunch of indie creators, found some cool new games I hadn't heard of, caught up with a couple friends I haven't seen in a few years, played a few demos.

Quote from: Svenhelgrim on August 10, 2023, 02:15:30 PM
I saw some other nonsense as I strolled the convention center in between running games.  There was the BIPOC lounge that had about three people in it.  I guess there aren't as many BIPOC as they thought there would be.

The Origins convention was like always 99% white.   
I saw maybe 10 black individuals while walking the sales floor during prime time on Saturday out of thousands.
My last GenCon experience, GenCon 50, was similar. 

Quote from: DocJones on August 10, 2023, 10:07:25 PM

Quote from: Svenhelgrim on August 10, 2023, 02:15:30 PM
I saw some other nonsense as I strolled the convention center in between running games.  There was the BIPOC lounge that had about three people in it.  I guess there aren't as many BIPOC as they thought there would be.

The Origins convention was like always 99% white.   
I saw maybe 10 black individuals while walking the sales floor during prime time on Saturday out of thousands.
My last GenCon experience, GenCon 50, was similar.

That, and also maybe some non-whites don't prefer to hang out in the "Black People Sit Here" section at a gaming convention, for some weird reasopn.

So the South was way ahead of the curve when it had segregated waiting rooms for coloreds people of color, separate water fountains for them, etc.?  Huh.  Never knew that.  I somehow had the impression that it was considered bad by liberals at the time, but I guess I was wrong.  Well, kudos to Gencon for bringing back this great custom of social justice!  Maybe we should take this further, like... I don't know... maybe having reserved seating for BIPOCs on public transportation, like in the back seats or something?  Or reserving certain sections of theaters just for them?  That would show them how much we care!

Quote from: THE_Leopold on August 10, 2023, 02:32:26 PM

Quote from: rytrasmi on August 10, 2023, 02:27:42 PM

Quote from: Svenhelgrim on August 10, 2023, 02:15:30 PM
I saw some other nonsense as I strolled the convention center in between running games.  There was the BIPOC lounge that had about three people in it.  I guess there aren't as many BIPOC as they thought there would be.

Well, I hope it's people refusing to be patronized.

Imaging going to Japan for, I dunno, an anime convention and there's a white people room. "What the fuck" is what I'd say.

white people are crazy enough to travel to Japan just for that specific type of event though.  that's a pilgrimage.

Everyone is crazy that way. When "Dallas" was a TV show, we had lots of people from Japan (and other places) coming to Dallas to see Southfork.

Quote from: Tod13 on August 11, 2023, 06:55:20 PM

Quote from: THE_Leopold on August 10, 2023, 02:32:26 PM

Quote from: rytrasmi on August 10, 2023, 02:27:42 PM

Quote from: Svenhelgrim on August 10, 2023, 02:15:30 PM
I saw some other nonsense as I strolled the convention center in between running games.  There was the BIPOC lounge that had about three people in it.  I guess there aren't as many BIPOC as they thought there would be.

Well, I hope it's people refusing to be patronized.

Imaging going to Japan for, I dunno, an anime convention and there's a white people room. "What the fuck" is what I'd say.

white people are crazy enough to travel to Japan just for that specific type of event though.  that's a pilgrimage.

Everyone is crazy that way. When "Dallas" was a TV show, we had lots of people from Japan (and other places) coming to Dallas to see Southfork.

Yeah but that was back in the dark ages. Bet you didn't even have a Japanese only room.

Been to many convention in the past 4 decades.

Small cons are the best.

Even tiny cons are considerably more fun than the "big cons"

We need more OSR cons.

Quote from: rytrasmi on August 11, 2023, 09:09:37 PM

Quote from: Tod13 on August 11, 2023, 06:55:20 PM

Quote from: THE_Leopold on August 10, 2023, 02:32:26 PM

Quote from: rytrasmi on August 10, 2023, 02:27:42 PM

Quote from: Svenhelgrim on August 10, 2023, 02:15:30 PM
I saw some other nonsense as I strolled the convention center in between running games.  There was the BIPOC lounge that had about three people in it.  I guess there aren't as many BIPOC as they thought there would be.

Well, I hope it's people refusing to be patronized.

Imaging going to Japan for, I dunno, an anime convention and there's a white people room. "What the fuck" is what I'd say.

white people are crazy enough to travel to Japan just for that specific type of event though.  that's a pilgrimage.

Everyone is crazy that way. When "Dallas" was a TV show, we had lots of people from Japan (and other places) coming to Dallas to see Southfork.

Yeah but that was back in the dark ages. Bet you didn't even have a Japanese only room.

No, but all the liquor stores were in one small area. For a year or two, I didn't know so much of Dallas/Fort Worth was dry, since I drove through the several blocks of liquor stores every day. Twice a day.

Quote from: Yin on August 09, 2023, 11:08:04 AM
I would watch (listen) to a Tim Kask video regarding past Gencons and find a strange nostalgia for something I never experienced. He would talk very positively about events before social media and it's really sad such an era can no longer be experienced. No where can you go now that is just a fantasy related convention that isn't infected with (what I'll call) "the social virus." Where ever you go is going to have some degree of "The Current Thing," and that's really just exhausting. It would be nice to have a time machine to simply experience events with a conglomerate of actual normal people. The closest thing I can think of at the moment is watching those "last day of high school" videos from the late 90s and the early 2000s.

Very. All the companies were so different back in the 90s when I got to go to several GenCons. But this was the beginning of the 90s era wokeness and things were already turning darker. I miss meeting up with the Games Workshop folk for example. But by 2000 that was all gone. Felt like every company was sinking into underhanded behavior of one form or another.

Quote from: rytrasmi on August 10, 2023, 02:27:42 PM
...
Imaging going to Japan for, I dunno, an anime convention and there's a white people room. "What the fuck" is what I'd say.

BTW, there are themed restaurants in Japan that explicitly state no foreigners allowed or that foreigners must be accompanied but a Japanese person.   

Quote from: Spinachcat on August 12, 2023, 05:32:03 PM
Been to many convention in the past 4 decades.

Small cons are the best.

Even tiny cons are considerably more fun than the "big cons"

We need more OSR cons.

Here in Uruguay there are a lot of "little cons", which are either set up by some of the gaming clubs, and sometimes subsidized by the government's youth ministry. They're very fun, usually more fun than bigger cons I attended in North America.

Quote from: THE_Leopold on August 10, 2023, 11:08:38 AM
What are the 4 things so I dont have to waste time watching a video.

Short version:

1) AI art D&D scandal
2) WOTC new deck of many things book
-- the deck is apparently created by a Paladin and their Medusa companion by a "new" designer
3) "Garbage" awards - notably diana jones Coyote and Crow and WotC radiant citadel
4) "Latine" and BIPOC lounge rooms

4 is the one that is explicitly GenCon. 3 is gencon related, since they are announced there I believe? 

Quote from: RPGPundit on August 15, 2023, 06:19:54 AM

Quote from: Spinachcat on August 12, 2023, 05:32:03 PM
Been to many convention in the past 4 decades.

Small cons are the best.

Even tiny cons are considerably more fun than the "big cons"

We need more OSR cons.

Here in Uruguay there are a lot of "little cons", which are either set up by some of the gaming clubs, and sometimes subsidized by the government's youth ministry. They're very fun, usually more fun than bigger cons I attended in North America.

I do love me some small game cons. They are more personal and relaxed, easier for me to find time to actually game.

Even as a vendor, they tend to do just as strong as some big Comic-cons and FanExpo's for us. When you are the only vendor with a whole bunch of current RPG titles . . . that gives you a nice boost.