What is wrong with gamers today??? - CharCon 2010

ghost_prime · 10-20-2009, 04:36 PM

So I watched three guys I work with play magic the gathering today during a lull in training. They were old school players of the game and seemed to be geeks at heart.
So what do I do??? Of course, I tell them about Charcon. Fun, excitement, games, games, and more games and its IN TOWN!!!!
Their response....well, I heard it was expensive...or...I'd rather sleep....even...I only play magic for fun, not compedatively...
What the Hell!!!! I told them the prices (not even close to what they thought) and they still shrugged noncommitedly. It would be better if they weren't the first ones I had run in to in the last couple of days...
On the positive side, another guy I work with is writing a comic and will be coming with his lady for at least one day so all my advertising at least did something.

See ya all there

Doug James · 10-21-2009, 05:55 AM

I've had the same problem. I tell them what it is- Great! I tell them when it is- Cool! I tell them where it is- Awesome! I tell them what it costs- it's like i grew another head.

ghost_prime · 10-21-2009, 03:39 PM

Do they have any idea how much cons that cost a million dollars in gas cost when you get there, let alone the convience of having it still somewhat close to home or close to a good hotel that doesn't want to cost you half of your firstborn child to stay at, cost themselves? People need to pull their heads out!!! (and I need to learn that periods are good things to use once and a while

Travis Reynolds · 10-21-2009, 03:57 PM

The gaming culture here in WV is pretty much behind what it is in other places. Changing that is one of our primary goals, using CharCon each October and this website throughout the year to try and do what we can.

I understand the hesitation of some folks to pay to attend such an event. The first year I had a guy ask me why they had to pay to get in. I just looked around the Civic Center and told him that we have to pay to use this space and that there are many costs involved.

This is also one of the reasons we offer a visitors badge that allows you to see what is going on at the show. There are a lot of gamers in the area who have never seen some of the things we bring to CharCon, like Zombie Buddy, Larry Elmore, qualifiers for national championships, tons of prizes, the wits & wagers game show and so on.

I think that if we can only get them in the door, they will be hooked just like the rest of us. Getting them in the door is the trick. Tell them about the visitors badge. It is only $5. It lets them walk around and shop at the vendors (but not play games). Then, if they decide "Hey, this is worth the money after all", they can upgrade by paying the difference at our registration desk.

One of our other struggles is in getting families to come out. Exposing children to all the gaming opportunities that are out there that don't require pushing buttons is another of our goals. Bringing families together to play games that require reading and math skills and teach problem solving, logic and tactical skills to children is awesome. We just want to convince more families of that. Those kids are the gamers of the future.

In short, I know your pain.

TR

Doug James · 10-21-2009, 04:19 PM

	Quote:
	Those kids are the gamers of the future

Plus, they make for really easy opponents! :P

mike_houghton98 · 10-21-2009, 04:29 PM

I think I know the guy you are talking about travis... or atleast on of the many. I know of a really nice guy who only wanted to go in an buy some stuff from the vendors. I understand the need to cover costs. I also understood his frustration.

Charlie Davis · 10-21-2009, 05:30 PM

	Quote:	mike_houghton98
	I think I know the guy you are talking about travis... or atleast on of the many. I know of a really nice guy who only wanted to go in an buy some stuff from the vendors. I understand the need to cover costs. I also understood his frustration.

I don't understand his frustration. The entry fee is posted on the CharCon site. Come to the civic center any weekend and ask if you can get into the car show, gun show, knitting show for free and see what the response is. I have gone to tons of events where there is nothing to do except buy stuff and I still had to pay to get in. CharCon is about the games and playing them. Vendors are icing on the cake and a benefit for the paying customers. The visitor badge is a very nice compromise and I hope that people with questions use the opportunity.

Travis Reynolds · 10-21-2009, 06:21 PM

	Quote:	Charlie Davis
	I don't understand his frustration. The entry fee is posted on the CharCon site. Come to the civic center any weekend and ask if you can get into the car show, gun show, knitting show for free and see what the response is. I have gone to tons of events where there is nothing to do except buy stuff and I still had to pay to get in. CharCon is about the games and playing them. Vendors are icing on the cake and a benefit for the paying customers. The visitor badge is a very nice compromise and I hope that people with questions use the opportunity.

Yeah, I think I have to agree. $5 is a great price to gain access to the variety of vendors we are lucky to pull into the Civic Center.

TR

artempress · 10-22-2009, 11:27 AM

I have confidence that the gaming culture in WV will improve to the levels we'd like it to, it just takes time to warm people up to new concepts. Simply the fact that you guys have been able to run a relatively small convention multiple years in a row without going bankrupt is an amazing feat for this area, and something that I think will only improve.

Call me an eternal optimist, but I see a lot of good and promising things happening in this area. A successful new game store in Charleston, a yearly convention, nice website to help network folks, good word of mouth campaigns....all of it has contributing to a growing gamer culture that I've been noticing in the past few years. Just think of what kind of gaming atmosphere there was in this area before Charcon came about? And now think about how things are now?

There's still a lot more work to be done, but I always love a challenge. On another positive note, I was talking with a girl in my class who's fiance is a big comics fan, and I invited her to bring him to the con this weekend. I even told her about how she could just do the visitors pass or just pay for one day if they weren't sure they could do the whole weekend price, and she thought that was a very good deal. I even sweetened the deal by telling her about the two guest artists that will be there (she's an art student like me) and that she should check their work out.

My biggest complaint about the art community as a whole is its elitist mentality with only accepting post modern abstract or political works as 'true art' and its refusal to accept other genres like fantasy and science fiction. These two artists that are coming to the con this year are amazingly talented and their works are beautiful, yet you'll never see their work displayed in a New York museum or Chicago Studio. Cons like these are the few places that artists of these 'pop-culture' genres can really show off their work.