For obvious reasons, I’m not going to be attending Gen Con in person this year; I’ll be doing the online variant instead.
Last year they did an online version because there could be no in-person convention, this year they’re doing both, though the in-person one is reduced in number of people, number of events, and indeed hours of the day. ( they’re closing at midnight to allow for proper cleaning time; normally that sort of happens around the events? )
For last year, I just stayed in my flat/apartment, because there really wasn’t any other option, but this year the travel restrictions are fewer, so I’m heading up to Edinburgh, to stay a few nights in a surprisingly affordable apartment hotel I know there, and to, as it were, get my nerd on.
And also be somewhere other than this place.
Here’s what the schedule looks like when you’re not in the EDT zone; There are some late nights in there, but the hotel has a TV visible from the bed, so as long as it also has an accessible HDMI port, I can merrily fall asleep to the seminar of my choice.
It’s what happened last time.
Most of these are seminar events.
I decided not to try to play in any RPGs; Those are hard enough to play online at the best of times, at least for me, so when you add in ‘a group of random strangers’ and ‘significant time zone difference’, it just makes it a non-starter for me.
On the plus side, I don’t have to feel guilty about falling asleep if that’s what happens, or simply wandering away if the event isn’t holding my attention, and the convention part is costing me nothing but my time. Unlike the hotel and the train up and back, which is costing actual money.
My selection criteria for this are pretty much “does that sound interesting?” and “what the hell is that?”.
- “The Aliens are Invading, and my Dad’s Going to Miss the School Talent Show!” attracted my attention with the title, and locked it in with the phrase “Squid on the Mantelpiece”
- “Playing with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Board Gamers” is of personal interest anyway, but the fact that it’s an event presented in sign & interpreted in voice sealed the deal, because I’ve never done a thing like that
- “Integrating Consent Culture into RPG’s and LARPing” is there because, to be blunt, that shit’s important and I don’t know enough about it
( I’ve seen the X-Card used once in a game, and that was in a ‘can we please not?’ way because the particular piece of imagery had come up in three games in a row for that player and they were just plain getting creeped out by it )
for anyone bored enough to read down this far, here are the event descriptions. also, seek help.