Tearing but not torn, I think. I enjoyed this year more than last, and found the crowds a little more manageable, but it's still nowhere near what I remember 7 years ago when I started this crazy ride.
I'm still working out all my thoughts and feelings about this con, so I hope you won't mind if I ramble all over your LJ here for a minute.
It's little things that have been building over the years. Rooms sell out faster and faster every year because of the panic the last year caused. Entice enough people to attend by saying there's lots of sex and booze and that's all that anyone expects after a few years. Everyone expects big guests like Shatner now when they were once content with anyone who wanted to show up. Every year is supposed to top the last in some way, be it guests or costumes or booze, and it just can't anymore.
I used to tell people the con is about 50-50 costumes to street clothes, now I think it's closer to 25% costume. It was two years ago that I went out in full costume and felt overdressed, not because I was in costume but because I was wearing too many clothes. And the fewer costumes and more not-really-costumes I see around the less time I want to spend making stuff myself. Heck, the brain slug I bought in the dealer's room was the most asked about and photographed thing I wore.
The pre-reg line requires far more than a band-aide at this point. The organizers have to make a major change either in the way badges are printed or in the number of pre-reg badges they allow. I think by now that's obvious to everyone except the PTB. They keep trying small fixes, like opening earlier, and the line keeps getting worse. (For the record, this was actually my shortest wait in a while but only because I was able to get in line at 9:45 Thursday morning)
I did have one drunken football fan get into my face at the bottom of an escalator. I still have no idea what his plans or intentions were or if he was just falling toward the nearest brightly colored object, but Marriott staff got him out of my way pretty quickly (only because he was blocking the escalator).
But these problems aren't new, just more noticed and likely more prevalent in the bigger crowds. A friend of mine was groped coming out of the Centennial ballrooms 3 or 4 years ago by a Dragon*Con attendee. I'm still mad she didn't tell me until after we'd gotten out of the building. We've had drunken (and sober) asshats in the D*C crowd forever, they just get bigger and better and bolder.
I don't know what the solution to all of it is. I don't know if D*C can or will ever go back to being the happy little convention it was. So, I guess that what's left is for all of us to make our choice. Do we stick it out and keep talking about it and trying to fix all the things that are going wrong? Or do we take our toys home and play at some as yet undiscovered con until it too grows too large, moving from con to con like geeky hipsters?
I'm still working out all my thoughts and feelings about this con, so I hope you won't mind if I ramble all over your LJ here for a minute.
It's little things that have been building over the years. Rooms sell out faster and faster every year because of the panic the last year caused. Entice enough people to attend by saying there's lots of sex and booze and that's all that anyone expects after a few years. Everyone expects big guests like Shatner now when they were once content with anyone who wanted to show up. Every year is supposed to top the last in some way, be it guests or costumes or booze, and it just can't anymore.
I used to tell people the con is about 50-50 costumes to street clothes, now I think it's closer to 25% costume. It was two years ago that I went out in full costume and felt overdressed, not because I was in costume but because I was wearing too many clothes. And the fewer costumes and more not-really-costumes I see around the less time I want to spend making stuff myself. Heck, the brain slug I bought in the dealer's room was the most asked about and photographed thing I wore.
The pre-reg line requires far more than a band-aide at this point. The organizers have to make a major change either in the way badges are printed or in the number of pre-reg badges they allow. I think by now that's obvious to everyone except the PTB. They keep trying small fixes, like opening earlier, and the line keeps getting worse. (For the record, this was actually my shortest wait in a while but only because I was able to get in line at 9:45 Thursday morning)
I did have one drunken football fan get into my face at the bottom of an escalator. I still have no idea what his plans or intentions were or if he was just falling toward the nearest brightly colored object, but Marriott staff got him out of my way pretty quickly (only because he was blocking the escalator).
But these problems aren't new, just more noticed and likely more prevalent in the bigger crowds. A friend of mine was groped coming out of the Centennial ballrooms 3 or 4 years ago by a Dragon*Con attendee. I'm still mad she didn't tell me until after we'd gotten out of the building. We've had drunken (and sober) asshats in the D*C crowd forever, they just get bigger and better and bolder.
I don't know what the solution to all of it is. I don't know if D*C can or will ever go back to being the happy little convention it was. So, I guess that what's left is for all of us to make our choice. Do we stick it out and keep talking about it and trying to fix all the things that are going wrong? Or do we take our toys home and play at some as yet undiscovered con until it too grows too large, moving from con to con like geeky hipsters?
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