Once I got to my room, I had a lot of shower, because I really needed it.
Felt much better afterwards, so I took a walk to the mall through a mostly-empty Convention Centre to see whether I could find a cellphone SIM card; Turns out I could, so I’ve got calls & texts for the trip sorted. As a bonus, it’s on my iPhone, so I won’t be double-phoning it this year.

Got a call from Tom, who’s up to his eyeballs in work, so we’ve worked out approximate plans for when he & Stacy get in on Wednesday, mostly of the form “Give me a yell when you hit town, and I’ll wander over”.
No wrong numbers yet, but last Gen Con’s “Are You Available To Work Security Tonight?” text is going to take some beating.

In the wake of that trip, I can report that it is hot & humid out there, and that air-con is a good thing.

Frank came by in the afternoon, so we ambled through the ICC, partially to see what was happening this far out from the event (will call & other booths mostly set up) and partially to hit the mall food court, where I was able to try cheese curds (kind of a fried mozzarella stick, in this case) and a root beer. (tastes similar to when you put ice-cream in Coke, at least to my taste buds)
Basically we sat around & talked and did that thing where you’ve not seen someone for a couple of years, so the conversation sort of wanders in all sorts of odd directions.

Looping back through the ICC, we were able to peer into what will be the Exhibit/Dealer hall, and is currently an enormous sauna because the air-con isn’t on yet.
That is a huge space. I mean, it’s bigger than it was the last time I was here, but without all of the dealer stuff, it looks ridiculously large, like it’d be impossible to fill it. And yet that’ll happen.

Oh, and some of the signage is up.

Attempting to give the impression that I know a damn thing about Catan

Back at the hotel, we sat around in the bar, as is the way of things, and ended up chatting to a couple of the former VIG Lounge Volunteers, who have moved on to be involved in a sort of “High End Con Experience” thing they’re starting up.

My understanding is filtered through a very tired brain, so bear that in mind, but the idea seems to be to have tailored convention experiences, adding onto what’s already at the con.
I’d initially thought that they were talking about an operation which would essentially take over providing Very Important Gamer stuff at cons, but this proved to be completely wrong. This looks to be an externally-provided thing, with such things as a concierge option, and exclusive events,  and that sort of thing.

The idea that a person might not even need to have a con badge, because all of the con stuff would come to them, was mentioned a few times, and the more I think about that, the more it feels like their target is People With Money Who Want To Have Gone To A Con, But Don’t Want To Actually Go.
That, and it feels like they’re basing a business on Ghosting the con. This year they’re apparently setting up in the mall, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going to check that out, but being off-site and having nothing to do with Gen Con looks kind of parasitic to me; Piggybacking on Gen Con’s popularity & advertising.

In any case, I suspect that their services are not my sort of thing.
I got a VIG badge the first time because it guarantees that my hotel is sorted, and that I’ll get, if not exactly what I want, something that will easily do what I need. The VIG lounge is nice, the free drinks and swag are nice, the early-entry to the Cavernous Realm Of Things To Buy is nice, but the hotel room is why I have the badge.

Anyway, it’s 5am here, I got to bed at 9-ish and slept through to 3-ish, so I’m going to try for some more sleep.
See you tomorrow, Internet.