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Worldcon: General thoughts
So, what did I generally think about the worldcon? I've had a few people ask me that.
My first thought is that it was too expensive. I had a good time, but I in no way had $200 worth of good times. Admittedly, it would have been cheaper if I'd bought it earlier, but although having five days of science fiction convention was fun, I don't think it's that much fun. Also, I shouldn't have bought my wife a five-day membership.
The convention was stuffed with what seemed to me to be 85% literary panels and events, and about 15% movie or book tie in, and I wouldn't be surprised if that 15% is a high estimate. Anime was mentioned in one panel that I saw, computer games not at all, and although there was a section set aside for Gaming and Roleplaying, it was very sparse, and some of the folks running games didn't know the games they were running very well. (There was a room showing anime during the convention, but it was in the party hotel rather than in the convention center, and I rarely saw more than a few people in it.) My wife had been interested in gaming during the convention until she ran into a game where ten turns went by in three hours.
The convention seemed to seriously skew to the older side of the fandom. I'm 38, and I felt that I was on the younger end of the spectrum. There were a few people younger than me, but it seemed to me that a large number of them were young teens brought along by family rather than folks attending under their own steam. In the middle of the convention I left to go attend my Anime meet up - where I was surrounded by 30-35 people usually *younger* than myself, some of who love science fiction and fantasy, but don't feel that they have to get it from books.
Denvention had, I was told, about 3,700 folks attending, pulled in from all over the world, costing about $200 per person. Nan Desu Kan, the Denver-area-anime convention, pulled in about 5,000 folks last year, at about $50 per person. During the same weekend as the Worldcon, Otakon in Baltimore had a 26,000 person convention.
There really seems to be a problem at worldcon. They restrict themselves to certain forms of SF, which restricts membership, which means that the membership fees have to be higher to support the size of the event. I think that with a concentrated effort to lower the barriers to attend - by increasing awareness of the event and making it more palatable to younger folks - then the attendance can rise sharply. And to accomplish this, I think the rate to attend needs to be slashed drastically. I knew of many folks here in Denver who would have loved to attend - but simply couldn't afford to pay $200 to attend the convention, or even the $85 to attend one day. Sure, Worldcon will lose money - it may lose money for several years - but once the attendance rises and you've got 8,000 to 10,000 people paying $50 a person, then you'll stop losing money, and we can stop having panels about the Graying of SF fandom.
I'm glad I went. I've always wondered about worldcons. I'm glad I was able to help out by volunteering. But I have real doubts if I'll attend any others - they really don't seem to be worth the hassle, but Otakon... I want to go to Otakon again.
My first thought is that it was too expensive. I had a good time, but I in no way had $200 worth of good times. Admittedly, it would have been cheaper if I'd bought it earlier, but although having five days of science fiction convention was fun, I don't think it's that much fun. Also, I shouldn't have bought my wife a five-day membership.
The convention was stuffed with what seemed to me to be 85% literary panels and events, and about 15% movie or book tie in, and I wouldn't be surprised if that 15% is a high estimate. Anime was mentioned in one panel that I saw, computer games not at all, and although there was a section set aside for Gaming and Roleplaying, it was very sparse, and some of the folks running games didn't know the games they were running very well. (There was a room showing anime during the convention, but it was in the party hotel rather than in the convention center, and I rarely saw more than a few people in it.) My wife had been interested in gaming during the convention until she ran into a game where ten turns went by in three hours.
The convention seemed to seriously skew to the older side of the fandom. I'm 38, and I felt that I was on the younger end of the spectrum. There were a few people younger than me, but it seemed to me that a large number of them were young teens brought along by family rather than folks attending under their own steam. In the middle of the convention I left to go attend my Anime meet up - where I was surrounded by 30-35 people usually *younger* than myself, some of who love science fiction and fantasy, but don't feel that they have to get it from books.
Denvention had, I was told, about 3,700 folks attending, pulled in from all over the world, costing about $200 per person. Nan Desu Kan, the Denver-area-anime convention, pulled in about 5,000 folks last year, at about $50 per person. During the same weekend as the Worldcon, Otakon in Baltimore had a 26,000 person convention.
There really seems to be a problem at worldcon. They restrict themselves to certain forms of SF, which restricts membership, which means that the membership fees have to be higher to support the size of the event. I think that with a concentrated effort to lower the barriers to attend - by increasing awareness of the event and making it more palatable to younger folks - then the attendance can rise sharply. And to accomplish this, I think the rate to attend needs to be slashed drastically. I knew of many folks here in Denver who would have loved to attend - but simply couldn't afford to pay $200 to attend the convention, or even the $85 to attend one day. Sure, Worldcon will lose money - it may lose money for several years - but once the attendance rises and you've got 8,000 to 10,000 people paying $50 a person, then you'll stop losing money, and we can stop having panels about the Graying of SF fandom.
I'm glad I went. I've always wondered about worldcons. I'm glad I was able to help out by volunteering. But I have real doubts if I'll attend any others - they really don't seem to be worth the hassle, but Otakon... I want to go to Otakon again.