Not going to GameStorm is for chumps
GameStorm was rad... again. That's my summary.
My personal goal for this year's GameStorm was to compromise properly between gaming goodness and taking care of the cutest baby in the world. To that end, Joellen and I planned our schedules so that we had a whole lot of overlap, most of the games I signed up to run were games she could teach if necessary, and there was enough slack time to allow for showers and such. It worked really well, and Riley got to hang out with us in the con. A beneficial side effect: I spent much more time with Joellen than I usually do at GameStorm, which is awesome... 'cause she's my sweetie.
We also picked up a baby backpack in anticipation of the con. We've learned from experience that the front-carry style Baby Bjorn is great in many situations, but front-carry style carriers aren't very useful when you're trying to play a game. Little hands are always grabbing little choking hazards. Sadly, as we were packing up to leave, I left the backpack propped up behind the car in the parking lot while I changed and buckled in TCBITW, and then I forgot about it, so it was just the tiniest bit... backed over. On initial inspection, I think it's unharmed, but I'll have to make a more thorough inspection to be sure.
I ran a session of Cobras in the Cockpit on Sunday. I should have decided not to play in it, though, because I trounced everybody. It's probably less fun for new players to be beaten soundly by the game designer than to compete fairly against other people who, say, haven't designed the game.
I also ran a game of Taluva with two new players, and that was fun. Joellen taught Ticket to Ride: Europe and TransAmerica to some new players during a couple of my scheduled sessions while I tended to TCBITW, which is exactly why we planned the way we did.
I very much enjoyed the panels with robin_d_laws. He is as clear a communicator about very important things in RPGs in person as he is in writing. I also played and enjoyed a game of Through the Desert, a session of the new Star Wars Saga Edition, and a session of Horror Rules with the new Old West expansion.
Joellen is such a fan of Horror Rules that she sculpted The Creature in the Crapper from the cover of the core Horror Rules book, and gave it to designer Chris Weedin as a gift this year. It's very awesome... I'll have to get pictures up soon.
After the con, we visited with Eli and his lovely wife and adorable daughter, and enjoyed some really yummy Italian takeout as well as their wonderful company, before we headed back home.
So... GameStorm itself. I'm especially interested in observing and learning from the way GameStorm is run, since I'm part of a cabal of Eugene gamers looking in to starting a full-service game convention in Eugene.
In its tenth year, it's easy to think of GameStorm as a mature convention... but, on the contrary, I think something big shifted this year. Attendance was the largest ever (I heard the figure "750") and the only complaints I heard from my friends was that it was too crowded. It's a nice problem to have! But the increase in size is, from what I've seen, only a continuation of a trend that GameStorm has been on for a long time. (As I understand it, the only year that attendance dropped off was the year that the con stopped hosting the Magic regional qualifiers.)
Several logistical areas that have been noted as weak before were much stronger. Specifically, a friend who complained last year that his experience with registration staff was less than ideal made a point of telling me that they were very polite and friendly this year. The con also rolled pre-purchases of shirts and lanyards into the registration process, and I wondered if that would be rocky (especially since my purchase had no connection to my registration!). That turned out to be no problem... somebody had marked my badge with a simple tape-on flag that said I had pre-paid for two lanyards, and the friendly staffer told me (after offering me a handful of helpful literature, including restaurant guides and programming updates) that all I had to do to claim them was turn around and hand the flag to another friendly con staffer at the merch table. No shuffling around to find my purchase record, no sending me off somewhere else to pick them up... it was perfect!
The GM schwag store was handled in exactly the same way it was last year (which worked far more smoothly than the auction of previous years), but it was much better stocked than last year, with lots of nifty stuff at lower price points for those of us who ran only a few hours of events, even on Sunday afternoon (last year, I had trouble finding anything interesting to "buy" after my last couple of events on Sunday). While I feel that GMs run games because they like to, not because of the bribe of the schwag store, I think it really conveys a sincere thank-you from the con that they recognized and resolved that particular problem.
GameStorm is also attracting more (exponentially more) vendors, especially local game stores, and more industry guests. That might be a function of some sort of critical mass (when you've got a large enough crowd of customers gathered, the merchants appear to serve them), but I think the concom has made a real effort to connect with some of the movers in the hobby and to make those people welcome. As a con attendee, I appreciate it; I like having those folks at the con. As a possible con organizer here in Eugene, I think there's a big lesson there.
As always, I think the improvements happen because the GameStorm organizers listen to criticism and come up with effective ways to make the con better. All too often in a growing organization there's a certain whack-a-mole effect... things that worked well before drift into being less-well managed when the organizers put effort into fixing the things that are broken. But that doesn't feel like it's happening with GameStorm. It feels like little leaks are being shored up nicely, while things that have always been good are getting even better. While I don't have much insight into the concom staff's inner workings, I have to think that phoenix14159 as the chair should get credit for that. It's obvious she's got a good crew, but she seems to be doing a darn good job of leading this ship. I sense that she's the sort of perfectionist that's driven to learn from past mistakes out of a desire to see things done right; it's rare that such a perfectionist is also a good delegator. I think it's telling that I sensed a lot less controlled panic from the staff... all of them just seemed more relaxed than ever before. Something at GameStorm is going very right.
So... if you didn't go this year, you should register for next year as soon as possible! This is a great con that's only getting better! Speaking of which, I forgot to pre-register myself and Joellen before I left the con. I wonder when they'll open pre-reg online....
In thinking about starting a con in Eugene, a couple of lessons really hit me while attending GameStorm this year. First, think through an attendee's experience, and try to make it smooth. Don't make them run around or jump through hoops to get what they need. Second, connect with the local game stores. I think they have a lot to offer at the con, but an alliance with them is a good way to bring the local community out in force. I've learned a lot of lessons from GameStorm in my eight visits, but those are just the ones that stick out this year. And they stick out this year because they were conspicuously right.