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Geneseo Area Gaming Group • View topic - A Community Event
So I mentioned something about Running GAGG to a friend, because that's what I've been talking about lately.
He decided to volunteer several dozen suggestions, some of which we've covered, some of which were pointers that I'll have to research, and one of which was new and didn't belong to anything I'd thought of before, so I figured I'd throw it out onto the table and listen to the deafening roar of people with reasons it wouldn't work.
Quote: : Community Event.
Yes its fun being at a con, yes you can meet intresting people...
But as most of us are horrible, horrible geeks, we need incentive to talk to people, hence why on the first or second night, its best to have some sort of con-wide mixer, like a masquerade ball, or some other event that encourages everyone to hang out together in one big lump sum of humanity
EDITed for using the wrong closing tag.
Quote: : Yaoi is lesbian training wheels.
Quote: : Quote: : [E]veryone knows that the web 2.0 initiative is a thinly veiled vehicle for dynamically generated, community based porn.
Isn't everything, in the long run?
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Hmmm....well, while we don't have anything labeled as such, the Charity Auction serves fairly well as a con-wide social event, and we usually have some kind of show or large event opening night.
I would be more than willing to listen to viable suggestions that fit the bill.
I feel like a masquerade (vampire-free) would be ridiculous amounts of fun.
Cosplay ball, perhaps?
I'm RIG.
When I chose Descartes as a screenname back in high school, I didn't know who he was.
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Thing is, the show-type events don't necessarily encourage interaction.
I think a cosplay ball would rock, especially if we advertised and got Anime Club involved and stuff like that.
Something where we could be social without the dice/minis/mouse/whatever.
Quote: : Yaoi is lesbian training wheels.
Quote: : Quote: : [E]veryone knows that the web 2.0 initiative is a thinly veiled vehicle for dynamically generated, community based porn.
Isn't everything, in the long run?
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Quote: : Thing is, the show-type events don't necessarily encourage interaction.
I think a cosplay ball would rock, especially if we advertised and got Anime Club involved and stuff like that.
Something where we could be social without the dice/minis/mouse/whatever.
"It's," *roll* "a pleasure to meet you!" Curiosity killed the cat, Herbert West brought it back.
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Quote: : Quote: : Thing is, the show-type events don't necessarily encourage interaction.
I think a cosplay ball would rock, especially if we advertised and got Anime Club involved and stuff like that.
Something where we could be social without the dice/minis/mouse/whatever.
"It's," *roll* "a pleasure to meet you!"
Oh dear god, what were the other options?
"It's," *roll*, "GOATSE TIME!" or something?
Crit miss? Quote: : Yaoi is lesbian training wheels.
Quote: : Quote: : [E]veryone knows that the web 2.0 initiative is a thinly veiled vehicle for dynamically generated, community based porn.
Isn't everything, in the long run?
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"Whoa baby, you just made me critically fumble in my pants!"
And now lets watch this thread degrade into an exchange of geeky pick-up lines.
Even though mine was stolen from an old Something Positive strip.
I'm RIG.
When I chose Descartes as a screenname back in high school, I didn't know who he was.
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There should be geeky pickup lines at the community event.
We should get someone to dress up as a squirrel and have it go around using them on people.
OK, it should probably be serious ideas time at some point.
Quote: : Yaoi is lesbian training wheels.
Quote: : Quote: : [E]veryone knows that the web 2.0 initiative is a thinly veiled vehicle for dynamically generated, community based porn.
Isn't everything, in the long run?
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Quote: : "Whoa baby, you just made me critically fumble in my pants!"
And now lets watch this thread degrade into an exchange of geeky pick-up lines.
Even though mine was stolen from an old Something Positive strip.
Mine was stolen from Futurama.
Curiosity killed the cat, Herbert West brought it back.
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I like this idea a lot.
It is a major undertaking to organize an event of this magnitude within the confines of the convention.
You'll need a complete different organizer for it.
We might want to do some polling for interest though.
I fear setting up a dance and having 6 people on the floor because everyone else is off playing games.
[Zul'jin: Lellik] [Zul'jin: Spyless] [Zul'jin: Warph]
[Zul'jin: Malexkurg] [Zul'jin: Dadwarfeater] [Zul'jin: Soulcolector]
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Also, where would we put it?
We're already using the Ballroom for the center of operations.
Could we steal the Knight Spot?
How much will it cost?
Or...
And perhaps this is a blasphemous idea, but perhaps we could move the base of operations out of the ballroom.
We were already talking about moving the regdesk to a more prominent location, at one point?
The questions that appear most prominently in my mind is: "Where will we put the vendors?
Will they object if we move them?
And we want the LAN gaming in the ballroom because it's so energetic and lends such an active feel to the con.
What about that? But would the Knight Spot be too far away?
If we put together a panel, where will that go?"
It all becomes a huge, huge space issue.
I think we can definitely get more use out of the Union lobby than we got last year, especially since there are people who come and set up tables in the lobby all year long.
It would lend greater visibility to the con, too.
We want to put the vendors and the LAN gaming in locations that are both CENTRAL (because we want people to go there) and SECURE (due to the expensive nature of the merchandise/computers).
Did we use the...
Is it the Hunt room?
The room next to the study room downstairs in the Union.
Did we use it last year?
Could we use it this year if not?
Would it make a good vendors' room (if we could get traffic downstairs)?
It would, however, be hard on setup.
This room would also be a good place for a panel.
Or what about the little art gallery with the entrance near the Ballroom?
It might be too small in terms of square-footage (it says it has a maximum capacity of sixty people ) and it might be already reserved for, well, art, but it might also be an ideal location for vendors due to the art-gallery lighting.
Then we could possibly put the LAN gaming around the edge of the ballroom opening up a big open area for dances or Ricochet Robots or whatever else we wanted to put there!
Also, putting the vendors in a smaller room near the center of activity but with fewer exits could ease the burden on security.
I don't know; I'm just throwing ideas around in hope that some of it will prove malleable into a feasible form.
The problem I see with the Union is that while it's great in some respects, it's got a lot of space that's dedicated to certain uses.
It would be, for example, extremely difficult to impossible to convert the Grind or the Corner Pocket to con use because (a) they're purpose-specific areas that (b) Geneseo students use.
...Oh, and they've also made some changes to the Union.
I'm not sure if it's all outdoors changes or if it materially affects our con space, but we potentially need to take these into consideration.
Quote: : Yaoi is lesbian training wheels.
Quote: : Quote: : [E]veryone knows that the web 2.0 initiative is a thinly veiled vehicle for dynamically generated, community based porn.
Isn't everything, in the long run?
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When I think "community event" for a gaming convention, I think "weekend-long game involving everybody who wants to play".
There are always these sorts of games at the Game Developers Conference, and I've heard that GenCon does these sorts of things as well.
The question is "what game do we play?"
The one at the GDC that I went to was interesting.
It was a strategy game, played with stickers on 4 different maps at the same time.
When you signed up, you got some stickers of the color that you were assigned to.
You got stickers through various means (I'm assuming playing games would be a good idea for our con), and there were different types of stickers which would have different effects on the battle field (I think there was even a "build tree" - in order to get certain "units", you had to achieve some sort of goals).
It was kinda cool, even though I didn't really get into it.
The players talked to each other about strategy, and where to place what stickers.
That's probably a little complicated for us, though we could probably bend it to our theme rather easily.
My point is that gamers like to play games, and will talk to each other about games.
This means that if you have the whole community playing a game that requires some talking, they'll talk about that game.
I doubt a mixer would do any good, unless it's just an agreed upon dinner location - as Tigger implied: gamers want to play games.
P.S.
- If the game involves some sort of cheap resources (like stickers), then that also provides easy prize support for games that didn't have it before.
"Hey, you won Fluxx!
Have some stickers!" If the reward for winning a game is continuing to play a larger game, then I think we all win.
P.P.S.
- Anybody who plays a game should get some resources - the winner should just get more.
[Zul'jin: Iaria] [Zul'Jin: Thireas] [Zul'Jin: Phai]
http://ryankinal.cogia.net
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Quote: : Also, where would we put it?
We're already using the Ballroom for the center of operations.
Could we steal the Knight Spot?
How much will it cost?
Or...
And perhaps this is a blasphemous idea, but perhaps we could move the base of operations out of the ballroom.
We were already talking about moving the regdesk to a more prominent location, at one point?
The questions that appear most prominently in my mind is: "Where will we put the vendors?
Will they object if we move them?
And we want the LAN gaming in the ballroom because it's so energetic and lends such an active feel to the con.
What about that? But would the Knight Spot be too far away?
If we put together a panel, where will that go?"
It all becomes a huge, huge space issue.
I think we can definitely get more use out of the Union lobby than we got last year, especially since there are people who come and set up tables in the lobby all year long.
It would lend greater visibility to the con, too.
We want to put the vendors and the LAN gaming in locations that are both CENTRAL (because we want people to go there) and SECURE (due to the expensive nature of the merchandise/computers).
Did we use the...
Is it the Hunt room?
The room next to the study room downstairs in the Union.
Did we use it last year?
Could we use it this year if not?
Would it make a good vendors' room (if we could get traffic downstairs)?
It would, however, be hard on setup.
This room would also be a good place for a panel.
Or what about the little art gallery with the entrance near the Ballroom?
It might be too small in terms of square-footage (it says it has a maximum capacity of sixty people ) and it might be already reserved for, well, art, but it might also be an ideal location for vendors due to the art-gallery lighting.
Then we could possibly put the LAN gaming around the edge of the ballroom opening up a big open area for dances or Ricochet Robots or whatever else we wanted to put there!
Also, putting the vendors in a smaller room near the center of activity but with fewer exits could ease the burden on security.
I don't know; I'm just throwing ideas around in hope that some of it will prove malleable into a feasible form.
The problem I see with the Union is that while it's great in some respects, it's got a lot of space that's dedicated to certain uses.
It would be, for example, extremely difficult to impossible to convert the Grind or the Corner Pocket to con use because (a) they're purpose-specific areas that (b) Geneseo students use.
...Oh, and they've also made some changes to the Union.
I'm not sure if it's all outdoors changes or if it materially affects our con space, but we potentially need to take these into consideration.
Moving the vendors from the main ballroom will be problematic.
Our vendors love that they are in the middle of the central hub of the convention and will be quite upset if we box them up into the Ballroom Lounge (Art Gallery) or Hunt Room (which we use for one of our largest and most successful events, Jeff Hanes' FRP).
Placing vendors in the Union Court has huge security issues as we can not secure that area and we can not reasonably count on the fact that we will be the last ones out and the first ones in each day as UP has a habit of opening the Union at random times in the morning.
In addition, the registration desk is set at the back of the ballroom for a reason;
It 'forces' attendees to come in and past the vendors and other events, exposing them to some of the different elements of the convention, provides a visible face of contact for vendors, and offers an additional aspect of security for the convention (one that we greatly need as we have a history of having empty slots on the security list and no shows for filled slots).
There has been some talk about rearranging the core setup of the convention;
I question the value in these choices.
Running GAGG is a small convention, this is a fact that is unlikely to change (I, by no means, am suggesting that we shouldn't think big and shoot for major events and ideas) based on our event facilities, timing of the convention, regional placement, resources, and realistic continuously dedicated long term personnel.
One of the biggest values that we offer our attendees is the small convention feel, people greatly enjoy the idea that they come into the ballroom and have so much to browse, yet still have individual rooms for more private gaming.
Organization, setup, and attendee/GM interaction has been Running GAGG's shining star within the gaming community.
That is not to suggest that things can't be improved or tweaked to make better;
However, I'm not hearing much discussion about what Running GAGG has been lacking more of the last few years...
EVENTS. Our convention booklet has become less and less impressive with each passing year, setting up a room schedule from the submitted events list has become quite easy on me (which isn't a good thing, I love the frustrated feeling of tearing my hair out trying to fit all the events into the space available because it means we have so many events to offer our attendees), and our registration desk is spending more time trying to 'find' an event for attendees that is of their interest, run by a quality GM, and not full already.
Focus of this fantastic and well welcomed energy and enthusiasm might be better utilized toward creating new individual events, tournaments, and convention long games.
We need quality GMs that are running new games.
We need seminar ideas and hosts.
We need a real video gaming schedule that is not primarily put together at the night before the convention.
We need a poker tournament organizer, a pool tournament organizer, DDR event coordinator, LARP storyteller, a Noobs-to-gaming host, a pain-N-take director, Settlers of Catan/boardgames in general tournament organizer, Counter Strike/computer games networker, a campus club liaison, and a plethora of other type go getters.
Our attendees want to come and play games and that is what we need to work on getting more of.
[Zul'jin: Lellik] [Zul'jin: Spyless] [Zul'jin: Warph]
[Zul'jin: Malexkurg] [Zul'jin: Dadwarfeater] [Zul'jin: Soulcolector]
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Quote: : When I think "community event" for a gaming convention, I think "weekend-long game involving everybody who wants to play".
There are always these sorts of games at the Game Developers Conference, and I've heard that GenCon does these sorts of things as well.
The question is "what game do we play?"
The one at the GDC that I went to was interesting.
It was a strategy game, played with stickers on 4 different maps at the same time.
When you signed up, you got some stickers of the color that you were assigned to.
You got stickers through various means (I'm assuming playing games would be a good idea for our con), and there were different types of stickers which would have different effects on the battle field (I think there was even a "build tree" - in order to get certain "units", you had to achieve some sort of goals).
It was kinda cool, even though I didn't really get into it.
The players talked to each other about strategy, and where to place what stickers.
That's probably a little complicated for us, though we could probably bend it to our theme rather easily.
My point is that gamers like to play games, and will talk to each other about games.
This means that if you have the whole community playing a game that requires some talking, they'll talk about that game.
I doubt a mixer would do any good, unless it's just an agreed upon dinner location - as Tigger implied: gamers want to play games.
P.S.
- If the game involves some sort of cheap resources (like stickers), then that also provides easy prize support for games that didn't have it before.
"Hey, you won Fluxx!
Have some stickers!" If the reward for winning a game is continuing to play a larger game, then I think we all win.
P.P.S.
- Anybody who plays a game should get some resources - the winner should just get more.
Some Meta-gaming during the convention as a whole could be a lot of fun.
Maybe link it our vendors as well, demos and the like.
Also, maybe certain key events offer you more/better stickers to encourage people to try a host of different game genres.
[Zul'jin: Lellik] [Zul'jin: Spyless] [Zul'jin: Warph]
[Zul'jin: Malexkurg] [Zul'jin: Dadwarfeater] [Zul'jin: Soulcolector]
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Actually, at our last EBoard meeting, the Anime Club seemed to really like the idea of a Cosplay Ball at Running GAGG.
Everyone was really getting into the idea, and we were already making suggestions about how we're doing music stuff.
The idea seems to be to let Alyx be DJ for a while and then let Lunar Cross play some of their stuff.
Hopefully, we'll be able to do it.
And speaking of Lunar Cross, I had been speaking to them quite a bit, and they seemed really keen about the idea of playing for us.
I'm pretty sure I mentioned them before, but they're worth mentioning again.
They do some pretty good stuff, mostly Japanese- and video game-related music, and they play for the fun of it.
Matt and Goki are the ring-leaders of the group, and it helps that I've known Goki for a few years, so I know he's pretty reliable.
I introduced the idea of them coming to our con earlier this summer just to see if they'd be interested, and it turns out they really like the idea.
I talked to Jerry about it, and I told them to take a little time to discuss with the other bandmates and stuff.
So things are looking pretty promising there, and I'll just need to talk to Goki some more to confirm and double-check things.
So I figure, we can do another community event with them since they don't charge for their shows.
Also:
http://myspace.com/lunarjujika
So you can all see some clips of what they do and hear samples of their music.
The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it.
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*deep breath* Before I begin: I hear your frustration.
(Or I think I hear it and am totally wrong about it.) Please be patient with me.
I don't come preinstalled with a Con Knowledge chip.
And forgive me if I'm on edge in the following.
I'm trying to think of everything, but I don't have the intimate knowledge of the con mechanics that other people probably do, and I'm trying to figure it out, and I'm trying to ask questions and provide options, and I know it's all probably a more-or-less futile exercise, but I do want to help.
Quote: : Moving the vendors from the main ballroom will be problematic.
Our vendors love that they are in the middle of the central hub of the convention and will be quite upset if we box them up into the Ballroom Lounge (Art Gallery) or Hunt Room (which we use for one of our largest and most successful events, Jeff Hanes' FRP).
I thought that might be the case, but I wasn't sure, and wanted to offer alternatives.
Question: What have we used the Fireside Lounge for in the past?
Could we put stuff there?
Quote: : Placing vendors in the Union Court has huge security issues as we can not secure that area and we can not reasonably count on the fact that we will be the last ones out and the first ones in each day as UP has a habit of opening the Union at random times in the morning.
I was not suggesting placing vendors in the Court for that reason.
I was suggesting putting events in the Union Court, however.
Putting a game of Apples to Apples in the Court, for example, where it will be loud and exiting and get us noticed by the students.
Perhaps we could run something like this tournament-style for a slot in the Court (provided it's not cost-prohibitive or whatever;
It's what popped up in my head when I was trying to figure out a way to pass a gladiator battle by SA).
The thing is we're having ideas for events, right (and isn't any sort of ball or con-wide thing an event?), and I want to talk about having a place to put these things as part of a "is this feasible" thing.
Quote: : In addition, the registration desk is set at the back of the ballroom for a reason;
It 'forces' attendees to come in and past the vendors and other events, exposing them to some of the different elements of the convention, provides a visible face of contact for vendors, and offers an additional aspect of security for the convention (one that we greatly need as we have a history of having empty slots on the security list and no shows for filled slots).
There has been some talk about rearranging the core setup of the convention;
I question the value in these choices.
Running GAGG is a small convention, this is a fact that is unlikely to change (I, by no means, am suggesting that we shouldn't think big and shoot for major events and ideas) based on our event facilities, timing of the convention, regional placement, resources, and realistic continuously dedicated long term personnel.
One of the biggest values that we offer our attendees is the small convention feel, people greatly enjoy the idea that they come into the ballroom and have so much to browse, yet still have individual rooms for more private gaming.
Organization, setup, and attendee/GM interaction has been Running GAGG's shining star within the gaming community.
The thing is that I felt like the Ballroom had a lot of dead space last year.
There was a cluster of activity around Boldo and the LAN gaming, and then there was a debris-strewn obstacle course of tables and chairs.
So I wondered: Why don't we clear out the Ballroom some and make room for more active events?
(Or this could be a moment brought to you by JP is Stupid and Gamers Don't Like To Move Around.
And the letter D.) It appears that there are a couple of reasons for this: there's the stage for the auction and tournaments (though I would like to seriously question the amount of space that miscellaneous chairs ate up last time), there's the LAN gaming, there's the dealers who like to be in the middle of things.
I just wish it didn't feel like such a maze, because that's what I was getting last year (and again, maybe I'm just crazy and maybe it was just last year).
I don't know what this Ricochet Robots thing is (anyone care to enlighten me?), but it sounds cool, and it sounds like there would need to be open space for it.
And the biggest reason I wanted to move the regdesk was because I would never have found it if I hadn't been there for setup or known before where to look.
It was not, to my way of thinking, an intuitive location.
Put something really cool in the back of the Ballroom!
Expand events to the Union Court and put the regdesk in the middle of that!
I understand the theory behind what you're saying, but if no one knows where the damn thing is, then there's no point.
And maybe this is a problem that could be solved with better signage and clearer paths in the Ballroom.
I still don't know what half the things that were set up last year were for, so if we could get some labels out there to let people know what's going on, and where to go, and that sort of thing...
Maybe; I don't know.
Tell me what your perceptions were, Tigger, because you've been there many more years than I've been there, but I got there last year and had no idea what was going on where in the Ballroom.
I had trouble figuring out how the con book worked.
Setup ran through the first slot.
My experience has been skewed.
Tell me how to do it right, what you think should go there, what you think should go where there.
Quote: : That is not to suggest that things can't be improved or tweaked to make better;
However, I'm not hearing much discussion about what Running GAGG has been lacking more of the last few years...
EVENTS. Our convention booklet has become less and less impressive with each passing year, setting up a room schedule from the submitted events list has become quite easy on me (which isn't a good thing, I love the frustrated feeling of tearing my hair out trying to fit all the events into the space available because it means we have so many events to offer our attendees), and our registration desk is spending more time trying to 'find' an event for attendees that is of their interest, run by a quality GM, and not full already.
Focus of this fantastic and well welcomed energy and enthusiasm might be better utilized toward creating new individual events, tournaments, and convention long games.
We need quality GMs that are running new games.
We need seminar ideas and hosts.
We need a real video gaming schedule that is not primarily put together at the night before the convention.
We need a poker tournament organizer, a pool tournament organizer, DDR event coordinator, LARP storyteller, a Noobs-to-gaming host, a pain-N-take director, Settlers of Catan/boardgames in general tournament organizer, Counter Strike/computer games networker, a campus club liaison, and a plethora of other type go getters.
Our attendees want to come and play games and that is what we need to work on getting more of.
That is a great list.
Thank you.
I'm interested in setting up some sort of framework to put plans for these things into, and it will be easier to tag people to do this sort of thing when we're back at Geneseo, but this is a great starting point.
....I feel like there's a bridge between online-GAGG and campus-GAGG, and I want it to be shorter and less treacherous.
Quote: : Yaoi is lesbian training wheels.
Quote: : Quote: : [E]veryone knows that the web 2.0 initiative is a thinly veiled vehicle for dynamically generated, community based porn.
Isn't everything, in the long run?
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