As the culture of geeky-ness expands, fan-themed conventions are doing their best to grow with the times. What once was a comic book only venue may now host content for anime, gaming, cosplay, tabletop, LARP, and other nerdy content. All to attract more people to their event. And that's a good thing! The nerd cultures should mingle and expand their horizons by communicating with those on the other end of the fray. It brings people together and allows us to enjoy our fandoms without fear of retaliation from the outside world.
But one of the areas that I see fall flat year after year is the gaming room. You know them by now. Loads of conventions carry them. They're usually tucked away in a small corner, or lingering around on the tallest floor that a hotel has available, in the tiniest of spots. The amount of gaming content for consoles is always thread-bear. There might be 12-20 games available and 10 consoles in the room. There is always Smash Bros and Street Fighter. The rest is a concoction of dance games and, if you are lucky, Rock Band or Guitar Hero. There are few stations. More often then not there are more tables then there are consoles and chairs. This has been happening for years, decades even since I began attending conventions (anime, comic, etc.). Even gaming-centric conventions that offer free-play areas for consoles, or open arcades and tabletop, they tend to shuffle them to the smallest areas and rarely promote the content. When they do promote, it's always over-the-top compared to the products that are showcased.
When gaming tournaments are involved, unless it's a top-tier gaming convention, it's usually volunteer staff members handling the events. And in many cases, they don't know what they are doing. That's not a slight on them as volunteers. The gaming world can be tricky to maneuver when you have to handle tournaments. You need people who understand how the process works, from set-up to the rules to what happens if there's a disqualification. Few do. Those that know the process are being paid to handle tournaments - they don't offer their services to conventions for badge compensation (which doesn't cover food, hotel stay, or travel; let alone a check to cover the bills).
Fan conventions don't give the proper care to their gaming content. This was very apparent to me over the weekend when I saw the "arcade" room at an event I attended. It was kind of sad. I only remember seeing 8-10 console stations and a load of empty tables. It was a lot of Smash and one Rock Band. That's it. The games available were Smash, Smash, and Smash. I understand that Smash Bros. is a popular game for multiplayer but there are other games. The room was bare. The staff seemed less then impressed. Some of the consoles were dusty and worn. There was a thick layer of dust on a PS4 - it was disgusting. One system was running updates, making it unusable.
And yet we accept these adequate conditions. They have become part of the norm, and it's made the gaming sector at cons feel so lifeless. We're seeing fewer people sign up for tournaments, prize pools are dwindling, and donations are dropping.
Fan conventions. If you want the gaming crowd to return, you have to step up your game - pun intended.
Listen to the community. Ask them what THEY want and try to provide it. Get gamers on the gaming room staff so they can help the area grow. Don't cheap out and only accept donations. Invest in the gaming room. Buy systems and controllers that work. Keep them clean and up to date. Engage gamers by getting them involved in the process. Gamers are a big part of the fan community now, and giving them sub-par content will only push them further away.
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