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FEATURES

Gen Con 1999:

Would you like to play?

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It's ironic that I, approaching my 32nd birthday, felt so old at Gen Con. Similarly born in 1967 as an informal gathering of pals to play wargames, Gen Con is also entering it's 32nd year. Despite it's relative age it's a thriving institution which has evolved dynamically to remain current, topical and interesting. Now drawing (according to it's press page) over 22,000 gamers annually, Gen Con has graduated into the ranks of major national gaming conventions. Exhibitors, gamers, and of course the just plain curious descend in mid-August on Milwuakee's MECCA convention center (and the blissful local merchant) for 4 days of gaming, buying, trading, and just plain socializing. [Gen Con Trivia: the name "Gen Con" is a dated misnomer from it's original location in Lake Geneva, WI as the "GENeva CONvention."]

But don't get the wrong impression; this is not an E3-style convention for adults only. Gen Con caters to gamers of all ages - and does it really well. E3, to use as an example, is a trade show in fact, not a convention. There is a huge exhibit hall, but that's about it. Gen Con is aimed primarily at the gaming experience, and only secondarily at the peddling of wares. Therefore, Gen Con is essentially 3 distinct events in one.

Gamers, gamers, everywhere....

First and foremost is the gaming - role playing games, wargames, board games, and the ubiquitious collectible trading card games - which dominates the convention center. There are more than 2000 official events scheduled, and most of them end up full. Further, there are an infinite number of pick-up games being played 24 hours per day on any of the available tables set up liberally throughout the facility for this purpose. Thinking about purchasing a new title? Keep looking around - guaranteed you'll find someone who has it and is willing to teach it to you (or willing to give you their more-than-$.02 opinion on why it's not worth your time)! Did you just buy a new game? Sit down, set it up, and wait. Within 15 minutes you will find several people who have either played it or are willing to learn with you.

The majority of games played at Gen Con on an individual basis is clearly the collectible trading card games, followed by role-playing games. This wasn't always the fact - when I attended my first Gen Con in 1982, card games didn't even exist (beyond the ever-entertaining Nuclear War) and RPG's were clearly the order of the day. But Gen Con was formerly sponsored by TSR (creators of Dungeons & Dragons), who was critically wounded and later bought outright by Wizards of the Coast, makers of - you guessed it - Magic the Gathering.

Wargames, always a part of Gen Con as well, still hang onto their hardcore niche of players. Of course, most of these fellows get physically nauseous at the idea of trading card games, so they probably won't be switching soon. But their ranks are thinning (and aging - I'd guesstimate that the average age in the trading card room was around 15-16, while that in the board/wargame areas had to be over 30). I was deeply saddened to see the near-total absence of historical miniatures in favor of fantasy miniatures. It always seemed to me that - given the difficulty of arranging opponents, the cost of assembling huge armies of figures, and the sheer size of some larger battles - that historical miniatures and Gen Con were almost made for each other. Ah well, it's a different world out there. I'll miss that, though.

Computer games are still a pretty small part of this. In terms of the sheer number of players at Gen Con, it's probably the largest segment (doesn't everyone play computer games?). However, the realities of the site, history of the con, and the complexities of arranging anything as elaborate as a LAN party all mitigate against a large presence for computer games actually being played at the convention. There were two small LANs set up, one mainly for Mechwarrior-genre computer games, and another (mystifyingly - since nobody ever played them) for Mazewars. But it's a start. Many attendees were (while waiting a turn at the Mech computers) griping that this would have been a perfect venue to have massive multiplayer wargames, etc. This sentiment will percolate upward and will eventually make some impact on the con organizers, I'm sure. In fact, I've even had favorable replies to my comments in this direction to one of the bigger computer game firms. All I can say to any developer or publisher reading this: if you build it, they will come. (And you will sell more.)

Gen Con 1999:

Would you like to play?

Gamers, gamers, everywhere....

Finally, the report!