Sunday, August 8, 2010

Con-templation

Today is the last day of GenCon in Indianapolis, which is the largest convention dedicated to gaming in the country ("gaming", in this case, referring to board games, card games, RPGs, miniatures, etc). I went each year from 2000 through 2005, went to Otakon instead in 2006, and then back to GenCon in 2007, but haven't returned since then.

There's a few reasons for why I haven't been back yet -- we didn't have the best experience in 2007, so we weren't much interested in returning in 2008, plus we had taken a two-week trip to Japan earlier in the year anyway so we weren't itching for a vacation. In 2009, we still weren't quite up for it, plus our employment situations around the time when we would have needed to decide if we were going pretty much precluded any possibility of attending anyway. This year, I actually considered going back in late April, but the need to make the logistical arrangements so far in advance (due to the massive attendance and limited number of hotel rooms) meant that I had waited too long to be able to do it.

But now I am very seriously considering going back in 2011, even if I end up deciding (again) that it's the last time I go. I have a lot of great memories of GenCon, as it's where I've not only discovered games that I love to play and have introduced to other people (such as Apples to Apples), but it's also where I've met a lot of cool people and made new friends. As such, I feel I need to see if it is something I want to keep doing, or something I want to leave behind, but on a good note.

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