Gencon 2012 has been over for a couple weeks now, the attendance tally's have been counted, the money counted, and without a doubt it was a hugely successful convention this year. With over 41,000 attendees this year, game companies were able to get their messages out, and their newest games flew off of the shelves at an unprecedented pace. Every game that we flagged as a One to Watch that was present at the show ran out of their supply within an hour of being made available.
Let's go over a few experiences we had at the convention this year.
The Will Call Line
This picture is from 2011, where the Will Call was not ready to handle the sheer number of people coming in to pick up their badges and tickets. 2012's Will Call was massively improved, despite losing 2/3rds of my tickets for about two hours on Wednesday. They were able to find them with minimal hassle to myself. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for the Sunday Family Fun Package, in which a line stretching from Will Call to the 500 Ballroom appeared, causing people to stand waiting for reportedly two hours before being able to get their (severely discounted) badges. Hey, speaking of two hour waits...
Scotty's and RAM have Two Hour Waits for Seating
I know my friends are tired of me beating this dead horse, but why are we gamers still putting up with a two hour wait for cold food and warm beer? There are DOZENS of great places to go eat in Indianapolis, but because these two restaurants somehow say they're catering to gamers by printing our some paper menus with gamer terms on them and playing Captain America on the TVs normally reserved for sports, people flock to them. It doesn't make sense. Gamers, you need to go out and explore and find better places to eat. On Wednesday night we walked by the RAM, and I stopped to ask a group how long they'd been waiting, sitting on the sidewalk. They said just over an hour. I tried not to laugh, thanked them, walked ten feet to a Japanese restaurant and was ordering food within 15 minutes. Not only are the waits long, but one of the waitresses at the RAM was quoted on Twitter "I don't think a lot of people are ordering salads this week" after a gamer had placed his salad order. We deserve better than this.
Pay to Play Demos
This is the first year that I actually had to pay to play an hour demo for games. Usually I just head to the hall and grab a seat at a booth and learn how to play a game. I try to keep out of the hall on Saturday due to the high traffic, so I booked some time with a few different companies to try out their games in a more intimate environment. I don't know if this is how things have worked in the past, but it was new to me, and I'm not sure I'm thrilled with it. Arcane Wonders were able to run non stop demos for free, but other games had to charge, I don't really get it, and don't really like it. We'll see what happens in the future, but I sadly think this is the way it might go in the future (if it hasn't already).
The Future of Gencon
Gencon 2013 has some mighty big shoes to fill next year, but I don't think they're going to have any problems doing it. The rising attendance and the popularity of Geek and Sundry and their amazing ability to bring designer board games to retail stores are great for the hobby, but 2013 is going to be the year of Kickstarter. Gencon 2012 had a LOT of booths with that I was able to immediately recognize from Kickstarter: Zombicide, Seven Sisters, Farmageddeon, Relic Kights, Agents of Smersh, Sedition Wars, D*Day Dice, these are just SOME of the ones that were either funded or are currently being funded on Kickstarter that were in attendance this year. Next year is going to be crazy, and it's going to draw the fans like never before.
So hey, um, Gencon... can I book my hotel room now? I've got a feeling it's going to be tough to get one in February.
