Gen Con 2015 Warmup

On final approach to Atlanta Hartsfield, I feel the first stirrings of excitement burning through the dull haze of having rolled out of bed at 3:15 AM to get to my flight. My destination is Gen Con 2015. From its humble origins in the living room of Gary Gygax, celebrated as the creator of Dungeons and Dragons,  the annual gathering grew and relocated to bona fide convention spaces in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, hence the name "Gen Con". In the present day, Gen Con is now held in Indianapolis, which plays host to 50,000+ distinct attendees annually. 

Although there will be computer and console games to be found if you look hard enough, such are not really Gen Con’s focus (see Quake Con). Gen Con is for gamers who play the kinds of games that existed before the advent of video games.  When the term used to describe ‘tabletop games’ was simply ‘games’. Convention goers include board gamers, role players, collectible card gamers, LARPers, cosplayers, and miniatures gamers of all stripes.

***

Waiting in the boarding area for my flight to Indy, I look around for other attendees. Some are easy to spot – gathered in groups, toting rolled up maps and game mats, miniatures cases, or any of the hodge-podge of paraphernalia readily identifiable as particular to gamers. Snippets of conversation  - sometimes boisterous – waft by. The content might seem obscure to an outsider, but clearly heralds the presence of Con attendees. Others are more subdued, particularly the <ahem> older attendees, of which I myself am one. But I’m starting to feel the excitement, and I kinda want to let others know that I’m going to Con too. I reach into my carry-on, pull out a deck box, and begin quietly sleeving cards. From time to time I look around the boarding area. On a few occasions, others make eye contact and nod briefly, smiling. I smile and nod back. I am content.

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In the mainstream press, the cosplay crowd gets a lot of attention. This is no surprise, as the painstaking attention to detail put into some of these costumes is beyond amazing. Many cosplayers are faithfully and painstakingly portraying particular characters from games or fantasy literature/manga, while other folks simply dress up as characters they like, or characters they invent. And at Gen Con, some wear costume items simply because it's fun. Here is a sampling from past conventions.

I took this picture while walking, coffee in hand, to the convention center one morning. The thought came, unbidden, “corporate flame-lords”. It simply struck me, the way they were just walking along down the street, toting their chain-sword and flamethrower, as if they were perhaps on their way to check in at the office before doing whatever it was that they needed the weapons for.

Hey, have you met that new girl over in Heretic Counseling? 
She's, like, off the chain...

Anyone sporting a good costume can expect to get stopped every fifteen yards and asked for a photo op. Dark Leia elicited applause and cheering as she walked by.

Her costume includes other people.  Hard core.

I don’t know who this woman is, but she appeared again next year in an equally impressive costume.

Yeah, hooves.

Goat Girl is... goaty

Other costumes are not quite as elaborate, as shown below. Yet this Captain America is one of my favourite Gen Con photos ever.

This is not a minutely detailed, ultra-faithful recreation of a beloved character. This is a dude unabashedly dressing up like a beloved character, regardless of the fact that in certain ways his appearance diverges significantly from that of the beloved character. He does not care. Nor should he, nor should we. Today, he is Captain America. I still remember taking this photo. His enthusiasm was infectious and irresistible, and for me, represents everything I love about Con.

For fans of Firefly, one of the coolest items to get your hands on is a Jayne hat. They can be hard to come by, though, because any serious attempt to market them commercially gets shut down by Fox over intellectual property rights. 

The colors of yarn used are an exact Pantone match. Seriously.

But in the dealer’s area, you can start your own Jayne costume with the help of this septuagenarian fangrrl, who knits them by hand.

Sometimes, the costumes aren’t even of a character. They're just cool. 

“The Best Four Days in Gaming” – six days if you do it right – brings together tens of thousands of people who exhibit one characteristic above all else: unabashed and unapologetic mirth and joy in their hobby. They don’t care if what they are doing isn’t mainstream or particularly popular, or whether anyone thinks they’re weird. They are reveling in a gloriously fun time, and express it openly, unashamed and welcoming. It’s a great vibe, and I can’t wait to immerse myself in it.

Fifty thousand game nerds.

This is my tribe. I am sooooooo stoked!