Gen Con Bingo

An anonymous reader writes "Gen Con begins this week in Indianapolis. This convocation of the geek is epic in its scope, encompassing all aspects of the gaming subculture. Rabbit over at GamersWithJobs kicks off their coverage with a hilarious little game of their own called "Gen Con Bingo." From the list of potential Bingo squares: The Inappropriate Card Game - Ever see 12 year old boys playing Magic in a public bathroom? It's not pretty. Ever since I've been going to Gen Con (not forever, but long enough that I consider myself a veteran) there has been an entire subculture of teenage boys who will play Magic, or whatever the collectible card game of the moment is, anywhere, anytime. Their therapists say they have 'boundary issues.'" I got that square at my very first Con. I actually thought they were dealing crack in the stall at first, but the mention of a 'Mox' quickly dispelled my imagination of normalcy.

Comments

Let go to the restroom!

[Maxhrk]

Do you want to play the magic with me?

Behind Closed Stalls

[Admiral Justin]

"C'mon kids, I know a place we can play 'magic'. Lets go to the bathroom... I'll show you my Big Furry Monster"

Re:Behind Closed Stalls

[Synic]

He's going to have to seriously tap that shit

Less to pack!

[Aeonite]

I'm going to GenCon for the first time this year and I was just sorting out what to pack.

It's good to know that I can leave the shampoo and deodorant at home.

More room for dice!

Woot.

Just give me a warcraft subscription

[wookychewbacca]

World of warcraft seems to have all the competition beat. Not much has a chance.... http://www.thesecondchancemovie.com/_site/mediapla yer/index.php?id=59a362eacbeaeda153f8e3fdf493c508

Re:Just give me a warcraft subscription

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop plugging your fucking retarded flash on Slashdot, you stupid little cunt.

Good times

[Mayhem178]

Looking forward to it, myself. This'll be my first Gencon experience. I meant to go last year, but I had something else come up at the last minute (don't remember what). Anyways, now that I live in the Indy area, I suspect I'll be going every year.

I'm looking to get into the Living Greyhawk tourney on Saturday. We'll see how that goes.

1 Corinthians 13:11

[neonprimetime]

FTFA -

1 Corinthians 13:11
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

I think we need an age limit on this stuff. Anybody 30 or over, who's still playing Magic or whatever card game, has issues. Start reading the Bible instead.

Re:1 Corinthians 13:11

[Mayhem178]

Yep. All those middle-aged guys playing Texas Hold'em, they need to be committed.

Re:1 Corinthians 13:11

[teflaime]

The Bible is best burnt. Magic: The Gathering, on the other hand, loses its appeal when you can play poker for real money.

Re:1 Corinthians 13:11

[Anonymous Coward]

Magic for real money is pretty fun aswell.

Re:1 Corinthians 13:11

[jonask]

I think we need an age limit on this stuff. Anybody 30 or over, who's still reading the Bible, has issues. Start playing Magic or whatever card game instead.

Re:1 Corinthians 13:11

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the Parent is a victim of poor moderation.
/. FAQ says "How does moderation work?: Do not promote personal agendas.".

Re:1 Corinthians 13:11

[lotsotech]

Yeah, mature people should be busy listening to crappy Christian (redundant I know) rap.

Re:1 Corinthians 13:11

[bsartist]

I think we need an age limit on this fairy-tale stuff. Anybody 30 or over, who still believes in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or any kind of God, has issues. Start reading Playboy instead.

Re:1 Corinthians 13:11

[Rachel Lucid]

My Dad goes to these things, and I assure you:

There is no age limit on having a good time, particuarly if part of that good time is laughing at all the half-naked girls in fairy outfits.

Of course, I just stick to DragonCon, so maybe you guys don't get the half-nekkids as much...

Re:1 Corinthians 13:11

[bsartist]

The "fairy-tale" stuff that I was talking about was the Bible that the fundie suggested as a "grown-up" alternative to RPGs. So unless your dad really does go to a church where there are half-naked girls in fairy outfits, I think you misunderstood. :-)

Re:1 Corinthians 13:11

[Anonymous Coward]

My wife said "I hope you're not distracted by all the hot scantily-clad women at Gen Con."

I assured her that there was no possibility of that happening.

Re:1 Corinthians 13:11

[Macgrrl]

I remember going t a gaming convention in Canberra (Australia) the year that Magic the Gathering was released. There was a charity auction with a carton of magic packs as the main draw. A group of hardcore (context is important in all things) roleplayers grouped together, won the auction and held a ritual burning of the unopened cards.

It seemed witty at the time.

From memory it was the same convention which saw the one and only sanctioned RPGA Master's Tournament that I'm aware of ever being run in Australia. We lacked the numbers of Master's ranked players for this to be a regular thing.

Re:1 Corinthians 13:11

[teflaime]

Actually, I kind of vaguely remember a group of hardcore dice chuckers having a big "tear up the cards" party at Gen Con the year Magic came out too.

BlackCobra 1:1

[BlackCobra43]

Anyone 30 or over who still believes that a man in the sky (who conveniently creted everything) sent himself down to Earth to die for his own creation's sins against himself, thereby redeeing said creation, has issues. Start reading the news and caring about the present rather than following the gospel of some dusty book from millenias past.

Another first-timer

[Robotech_Master]

I'm also going to GenCon for the first time this year (I can actually afford to thanks to getting in for free due to a friend who's doing a presentation there, and staying with my brother who lives 8 miles from the convention center), and it's interesting to read these things.

One thing that he didn't mention in the article: take extraordinary precautions with your wallet. Big gatherings like fairs, festivals, conventions, and so on draw the criminal element, and that wallet poking out of your back pocket makes a convenient target. Me, I'm going to stick my credit cards, driver's license, and some cash in my PDA wallet which I always keep in a front pocket, and leave my wallet at my bro's house.

Re:Another first-timer

[Mayhem178]

Yeah, gotta watch out for those Rogues. A few points into Pick Pocket and they think they're master thieves.

Re:Another first-timer

[BenEnglishAtHome]

Good point about watching your wallet. The ONLY time I've ever had my pocket picked was at a comic book convention. I was about 30 and surrounded by mostly kids, so I let my guard down. Next thing I know, I'm making a police report when a hotel janitor brings up my wallet (the staff had been instructed to look for it), minus the cash. It had been found in the men's room wastebin.

Yessiree, "extraordinary precautions with your wallet" are mandatory. Don't learn like I did, the hard way.

Re:Another first-timer

[Red Flayer]

You should never keep your wallet in your back pocket, anyway. Besides the fact that you can be pickpocketed anywhere, it's bad for your back and spinal alignment when you sit on it.

Keep it in the inside breast pocket of your jacket, or deep in your front pocket with seomthing (like keys or cell phone) on top of it.

Finally, I suggest studding it with staples or tacks points-outward. Not only does this deter pickpocketers, but you'll be able to tell as soon as someone's lifted it, due to the sudden lack of scratching agony on your thigh.
br.OK, that last one's a joke. The first two aren't.

Depressing

[Control Group]

Ever since I've been going to Gen Con (not forever, but long enough that I consider myself a veteran) there has been an entire subculture of teenage boys who will play Magic, or whatever the collectible card game of the moment is, anywhere, anytime

That's the most depressing thing I've heard in the gaming community in I don't know how long.

Magic ruined GenCon, for my money - it was vastly cooler before the hordes of "gamers" whose only exposure to fantasy gaming was M:tG took the con over. Not that I'm innocent of playing the game (though I'm happy to say I got out by the time 4th ed. came out), but I can't even properly express the annoyance factor when, suddenly, it got hard to find anything not CCG related.

(Admittedly, part of my general disgust towards M:tG revolves around WotC, in my opinion, driving it into the ground. When the only way to maintain game balance is to start saying large numbers of existing cards just can't be used anymore, you've done something wrong)

The decision to move the GenCon two states away from its namesake Lake Geneva, of course, is a whole different travesty.

Bah.

[/old fart rant]

(there's something vaguely dismaying about being an old fart at 29)

Re:Depressing

[Mr. Ghost]

I have to agree with this statement about GenCon. But Origins does not seem to suffer from this same problem. I believe this is because Origins appears to be more of a gamers game convention than GenCon is. Origins even has the Origins Awards which are internationally recognized awards along with Spiel des Jahres.

I was extremely happy with by Origins visit this year and am actually bowing out of GenCon this year.

This year Origins introduced the "Board Room" which was a nice place to find pick up board games which in past years was always accomplished in a haphazard manner while roaming the halls, of course hall roaming is still a great way to find a good pickup game.

Re:Depressing

[dieman]

GenCon 96 was the last and only gencon I went to, and it sounded like it was really the last one worth going to. Pfeh.

Re:Depressing

[KyolFrilander]

Yeah, I used to go to GenCon annually when I was a teen in the early 90's because it was local and convenient and good clean nerdy fun. A few years back (last year in Milwaukee? Year before?) I went with my wife and stepson and good lord, it was CardCon. If it wasn't a CCG, you didn't see it. That added to the change in venue from the crusty old Mecca to the Midwest Express Expo Center and eeeyugh.

Re:Depressing

[Captain Chaos]

I feel the same way about what Magic did to GenCon. Not only was it harder to find non CCG related content there, but it was hard to get around due to the players. It seemed as if many players strove for locations that caused the most inconvenience to others. I am innocent of playing the game and still fondly remember the bumper stickers that said "Save Gaming, Kill A Magic Player Today".

I won't even touch the topic of them moving to Indy. I haven't gone since the move as it was only a 30 minute drive before, though I am going with 2 friends on Saturday this year. We've been curious to see how it has changed since the move, so we are making a trial run this year to see if we would want to go for more days in the future.

a slightly older fart :)

Re:Depressing

[Peter La Casse]

Maybe it was the games you liked. I've never had a problem finding the miniatures hall (except for that one year when it was on the other side of the partly-demolished Mecca.)

Gen Con ftw!

[heartless_]

Gen Con is really one of the only mainstream events that gamers can show up just to play together. So far the game companies that have shown up follow that mantra. They bring playable games to Gen Con instead of just previews and this is something I hope will always continue. Unfortunately I've never been able to attend, but since my HS days I always get a hold of the break down of the event from whatever sources offer it. Luckily some folks I talk with regularly will be going so this is the first year I will get to pick their brains about the event. Gen Con has the right format for gamers and I just hope the E3 mindset and E3 booth crap stays away for many more years.

Magic in an elevator

[noldrin]

I once saw people playing Magic on the floor of the elevator at a Con. Since they were girls it didn't bother me.