With America’s premiere gaming event coming up this weekend here are ten rather simple rules to follow. If you stick to seven or eight of these rules, your trip to Indy will be a much more enjoyable experience for yourself and for those around you.
10. Shower! Every day or at least every other day. Please! During our yearly visit to Gen Con, Elliott and I were simply stunned by the odorous funk that would hang over the Milwaukee Convention Center. The nearly nameless stench would begin to settle over various common areas right from the first day and continue to grow. By the time Sunday dawned your survival instinct would nearly drive you to sprint through half the Center just to avoid having the fetid stink cling to your clothing for the rest of the week.
You might not mind smelling as if you’ve been laying asphalt, in the middle of the blazing Arizona desert, for a week straight. Those of us that have even a minimal sense of smell do…
9. Arrive Early and be Patient. No one likes to stand in lines – no one. Like yourself, everyone else in line has paid their seventy hard earned bucks and are just as anxious to get the festivities started. Especially on the first day things can be a bit harried when you first arrive at the con. The people who are working to get you checked in and handing out the badges are busting hump and more than likely volunteers. These volunteers love games as much as you do and they’ve gone the extra mile to invest their time and energy to make your Gen Con experience a great one. Take it easy on them and roll with the punches if things don’t seem to be moving along as quickly as you’d like. If you think you’re going to flip out because you just have to be the first person in the convention doors then get in line early. If you can handle being the 600th person in line then pass the time chatting with your buddies and talk with the people around you. Gaming is a social experience isn’t it?
Oh, and when the doors open to specific event or dealer areas please don’t stampede on through the door! Remember that we gamers come in all ages and flavors. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen smaller kids, older folks, or physically challenged gamers knocked all willy nilly because some goofballs just have to make sure that they get into the dealer room twenty seconds before anyone else.
8. Watch Your Mouth. Now I’ll be the first to admit I’m a master of the art of profanity. I probably drop f-bombs faster than Andrew Dice Clay in his prime. Yet at a convention you’re not surrounded by your usual gaming cronies. I do my best to watch my mouth whenever I’m playing with a group of strangers because many times you might have younger players at the table that more than likely don’t need their ears to start bleeding. Plus we tend to all have different belief systems so what you might think is relatively harmless might be very offensive to someone else. Not to say that it isn’t a natural thing to let a “damn” or “hell” or “crap” to slip out when you see the bones roll to a stop on the worst possible outcome. It’s still in your best interest to do your best to keep the swearing to a minimum though.
7. Be a Good Guest. I understand that many Gen Con visitors have been saving all year for their annual trip to gaming Mecca. You’ve worked hard and socked the dough away so you can spend four days and nights cutting loose and having a good time in Indy so you’re cocked and loaded. Trust me I get it, I really do, so if you’d like to dress up as your favorite fantasy or SF character knock yourself out and have fun! While you’re at it though keep in mind that when you’re out on the street, or hanging out having a bite to eat at a restaurant, do your best not to act like a complete doofus. You’re a guest in Indy so try to act like it. When we were in Milwaukee, Elliott and I were always dressed as we normally would dress on a daily basis. I can’t tell you how many times some waitress or bartender or person on the street would mention to us how they hated Gen Con because it brought all the idiots and loonies out.
We as gamers are already thought of as odd ducks by a great many people so do everyone a favor and have fun, express yourself, but behave as a good guest would; don’t add fuel to the fire that gamers are all a bunch of oddballs.
6. Respect the Game Organizer. When you’re playing in an event always treat the person running the game and his or her materials with respect. Not only are these folks taking time out of their own limited convention experience to present a scenario for your enjoyment for the most part they’ve also invested a lot of energy into putting it together. Maybe it turns out that the event just doesn’t live up to your expectations and, if that’s the case, just play through and look forward to what you’ll be doing next. Don’t just jump up halfway through, muttering “This sucks,” just to stroll away right in the midst of everything. Your extra hour wading through the dealer area just isn’t worth hurting other people’s feelings for.
If you really feel strongly that you want to comment about the experience always wait until the game is over and present your criticism in a friendly, constructive way. Remember you probably have never had to deal with the pressure of presenting, to a bunch of paying strangers, a hopefully fun experience. And always – ALWAYS – thank your GM, moderator, referee, or what have you for their time and effort.
5. Sex Sells but They Aren’t Selling Sex. You’ll find a lot of attractive women who are dressed a bit provocatively (Cleavage! Cleavage! Cleavage!) throughout the convention – especially in the dealer area. They’re there to catch your attention and looking to draw you over to at least take a minute to peek at what they’re selling. They are not selling sex though… You’d think that this would go without saying but I’ve seen a lot of instances where these women are treated like hookers as opposed to being models helping out the friends or family to move their products. It’s amazing what a little boob flesh can do to some people. No joke.
4. Play Nice. Winning isn’t everything. It really isn’t. Sure, we all play to win – it would be sort of stupid if we played to lose – but the game is the thing. We play for the enjoyment and the social outlet otherwise we’d all be sitting at home playing solitaire games.
I’d say I’ve had as much fun losing some games as I have winning others. Yet it seems at conventions in a good forty or fifty percent of the events you run across someone who appears to be not only be hell bent on beating everyone but ruining their day as well. Of course you might be thinking that it’s no big deal but you’d be surprised how many first time (and even long time veteran) convention attendees run into a player who is so brutal that it sours the convention going experience all together. After that these folks won’t even consider going back to Gen Con, Origins, Little Wars, or any other big gaming gathering. They just don’t think it’s worth the hassle. All because some knob is the self appointed player of XYZ game who thinks winning, or even just being right in a rule dispute, outweighs the actual enjoyment of playing. Honestly!
3. Experiment. Maybe your gaming group only plays ASL, or Magic, or AD&D, or Ticket to Ride and that’s cool; you play what you like to play. But come on! This is Gen Con! Live a little! Check out the wide expanse of all the great genres out there and give something new a try! Stop by and kick the tires of one of the small press game demos. Or give a stranger and their favorite pursuit a whirl in the open gaming area. I was always a bit surprised by the number of people who would come out to Gen Con simply to spend all four games playing the same thing they spend playing the other 51 weeks of the year. Also, the amount of conventioneers who had every waking Gen Con hour scheduled down to the last minute is a little unusual to me too.
Leave yourself time to just go with the flow. You’ll thank me later.
2. Wait for It… Wait for It… Be sure to stop by the auction. I believe it’s the longest running yearly game auction on the planet. You’ll be amazed by the hidden gems you might uncover but you’ll also be pleasantly surprised but how cheaply you can get some of the more popular games and gaming manuals, expansions, etc if you just wait it out a bit. You know there’s going to be a hundred copies of Dominion so don’t just jump on the first one you see. The same goes for just about any role playing core books. Be patient and you’ll find that you’ll end up with a lot more money in your pocket and that means a lot more money to buy a lot more games!
1. Have a Blast! As you’ve looked over many of these rules you’ve probably gotten the impression that I’m some sort of a killjoy. That’s certainly not what I’ve tried to present when in fact I’m proposing the exact opposite. Gen Con, like Christmas, comes once a year and I surely expect – and practically demand – you have a great time! I just propose that you should do your best to insure that everyone you encounter during these four days has just as much fun as you do.
You might think simply because you’re with thousands of other gamers that it’s a gathering of the converted. That’s not always the case. Regardless if someone is 10 years old or 70 this could be the fifteenth, or fifth, or maybe even their first visit to Gen Con. Act as if you’re an ambassador of the hobby and try to make sure that the people you meet, all through the weekend, go home with memories of a wonderful time that they can laugh about and enjoy for years to come. You just might find by following a few of these simple rules you’ll have those same wonderful memories too.
Just as my friends and myself have from over the years.
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