Arisia
Why I've stopped going to Arisia is touched on in this excerpt from the Boston Phoenix's review of Arisia:
The last panel I attended at the con was The Future of Etiquette.... I mentioned Blizzard's Real ID controversy in a question, and I was surprised to find no WoW or StarCraft players present, and thus I was forced to remember: no, I am not at a video gaming convention. Much as Arisia loves its LARPs and tabletop and board games, video games don't seem to be as well-represented here for whatever reason.
Like the writer, I find it surprising that Arisia has such a lack of interest in video games, both in its attendees generally and in its sessions. My spouse has tried to suggest panels, but her suggestions on the Arisia mailing lists went over like lead balloons. When Arisia does have panels on video games, they tend (in my experience) to get slotted for the worst possible time -- Saturday opposite the Masquerade.
Then there was the snide comment I heard last Arisia: "Starcraft... *snicker*... is that like World of Warcraft, but in Space? *snicker*"
Good going. You just insulted the national sport of South Korea.
I suspect that there are many reasons why video games are being excluded. I imagine some of it is old fashioned alpha-geek snobbery that video games are somehow not "pure" geek enough. There's probably the self-fulfilling prophecy that no one would be interested in these topics, because no one came to the panel last year (the one scheduled at the bad time, because no one ever comes to these things). Or maybe that video games are shallow and kids stuff. Or maybe it's just that the people in charge don't find it interesting or relevant. Or maybe they see it as a threat. Or maybe that it's just not the mission of Arisia, for all of the reasons above.
PAX East recognizes and embraces the overlap between video and table-top gamers, because they see that many of us are the same people. Other sci-fi and fantasy conventions embrace video games. But Arisia continues to ignore this segment. And yet every year, it seems to me that the average age of the convention gets a bit older.
This isn't the only reason why I've stopped going, but this issue has crystalized the harder-to-pin-down problems I've had with Arisia in the past. I used to think I'm just not geeky enough for Arisia, but having gone to PAX East last year I realized what it was. I am the wrong type of geek.
The last panel I attended at the con was The Future of Etiquette.... I mentioned Blizzard's Real ID controversy in a question, and I was surprised to find no WoW or StarCraft players present, and thus I was forced to remember: no, I am not at a video gaming convention. Much as Arisia loves its LARPs and tabletop and board games, video games don't seem to be as well-represented here for whatever reason.
Like the writer, I find it surprising that Arisia has such a lack of interest in video games, both in its attendees generally and in its sessions. My spouse has tried to suggest panels, but her suggestions on the Arisia mailing lists went over like lead balloons. When Arisia does have panels on video games, they tend (in my experience) to get slotted for the worst possible time -- Saturday opposite the Masquerade.
Then there was the snide comment I heard last Arisia: "Starcraft... *snicker*... is that like World of Warcraft, but in Space? *snicker*"
Good going. You just insulted the national sport of South Korea.
I suspect that there are many reasons why video games are being excluded. I imagine some of it is old fashioned alpha-geek snobbery that video games are somehow not "pure" geek enough. There's probably the self-fulfilling prophecy that no one would be interested in these topics, because no one came to the panel last year (the one scheduled at the bad time, because no one ever comes to these things). Or maybe that video games are shallow and kids stuff. Or maybe it's just that the people in charge don't find it interesting or relevant. Or maybe they see it as a threat. Or maybe that it's just not the mission of Arisia, for all of the reasons above.
PAX East recognizes and embraces the overlap between video and table-top gamers, because they see that many of us are the same people. Other sci-fi and fantasy conventions embrace video games. But Arisia continues to ignore this segment. And yet every year, it seems to me that the average age of the convention gets a bit older.
This isn't the only reason why I've stopped going, but this issue has crystalized the harder-to-pin-down problems I've had with Arisia in the past. I used to think I'm just not geeky enough for Arisia, but having gone to PAX East last year I realized what it was. I am the wrong type of geek.