If A Con Fell In The Forest Would You Hear It?
Gen Con. For tabletop gamers those two words are ingrained in our lexicons just the same as words like critical, saving throw, and base to hit are. That mythical Mecca of gaming goodness held annually since the late sixties.
Unfortunately the temple that gaming built is beginning to show a few cracks. First, George Lucas filed a lawsuit against Gen Con LLC, apparently because they decided they’d rather keep money from a charity auction then give it to the intended charity: the Make-A-Wish-Foundation. Hey, those kids will be dead soon anyway, it’s not like they’ll miss it, right?
Now Gen Con LLC has filed for bankruptcy. (As of writing the site appears to be experiencing difficulties, so you may have to try again to bring it up.) For myself the key sentence out of the release is:
“This action became necessary as a result of significant unforeseen expenses associated with attempts to expand its core business to encompass externally licensed events.”
Unforeseen expenses such as facing a lawsuit from someone who is capable of fielding a law team that dwarfs the population of Rhode Island?
Now, bankruptcy doesn’t always mean the end. Delta is still hanging around, as an example. But let’s just say that 2008 is the year Gen Con dies. What would its effects be on the gaming world?
I would assume suddenly Origins just becomes a bigger show, and Gary Gygax would end up quite disappointed to learn that. From a 1982 editorial he wrote in Dragon magazine concerning Gen Con and Origins…
“Origins is now a feature of the association known as GAMA. Avalon Hill and most of the remainder of the industry belong to this association. Since the association’s sole function seems to be sponsorship of Origins, TSR does not belong to GAMA. TSR does belong to the Hobby Industry of American Association. We will be pleased to join any association which represents a broad spectrum of game manufacturers (such as Parker Brothers, Atari, Milton Bradley, Mattel, and so forth). Assuming that such an association would be formed to promote the whole spectrum of games to both the trade and the general public, TSR would give it full support.
Meanwhile, there is no reason for GAMA, as it does nothing but attempt to sponsor an event which was formed to compete with the Gen Con show, lessen its repute, and seemingly “teach” TSR where we belonged.”
Okay, but now let’s imagine that doesn’t happen. After all, there is already a lot of cross-over nowadays between the people going and exhibiting at Gen Con and that of Origins. So maybe the demise of Gen Con provides a slight bump for Origins, but it doesn’t really make it that much bigger.
Origins has been struggling lately. Attendance has been down, definitely so from the glory years of the hobby. For Origins 2008 they hope to draw a more non-gamer style crowd in by offering a separate “festival” style area.
Since we’re pretending that Gen Con ceases to be, let us also pretend Origins becomes another gaming memory, like alignment languages.
Poof! No more Gen Con. No more Origins.
What would this mean?
About the only thing that cons really offer in the Age of Information is the social experience. It’s cool to get together with like-minded gamers, maybe try out some new experiences, or meet up with old friends. But long gone are the days where cons meant discovering new product, or the thrill of being able to purchase something long since OOP.
So, would we miss these large cons?