| Aggiecon 40: notes and a rant |
[Mar. 28th, 2009|09:12 am] |
NOTE: this is a rough draft - a proper con report will be in the 14th issue of Askance (May, 2009):
Agggiecon technically started late Thursday afternoon at 4:00 PM with the Writer's Workshop. Besides that, the only thing happening was only the initial set up for the dealer's room, art show, etc., so I didn't bother. Unlike a "normal" sf convention, this one is held on campus at Texas A&M University, so there's no real con hotel, and the con suite is always just a meeting room set up as a lounge with snackables, sandwiches, some hot stuff (like chili and hot dogs), and soft drinks. That was in the process of being furniture arrangement Thursday night, so again, not worth the effort. Thus, around 5:30 PM yesterday (Friday), Dan and I grabbed his friend Peter on the way down to campus.
To cut costs - and also because I hadn't pre-registered before March 1st - we were only buying one-day passes for Friday and Saturday (passing on Sunday this year, since it's a REAL dead day), and I am glad I opted for this plan. At only ten bucks per person per day, we'd save $20 in registration fees alone for the at the door full weekend rate. Not only that, after getting our badges, we learned that there is no computer gaming room (as in LAN set up) because at the beginning of March, the MSC (Memorial Student Center) sold all of their non-essential computers - which they have always graciously loaned to Aggiecon for weekend usage - because starting this summer, the MSC will be undergoing a multi-year, multi-million dollar renovation. So, no computer gaming room this year. That supremely bummed out Dan and Peter, because that is a major draw for a lot of the kids who like to attend the con every year. By this I also include the high school and college students in the area.
See, Aggiecon has become a con heavily oriented towards media and gaming in the past dozen years, even more so since the 21st century began. Call it a sign of the times. This doesn't bother me too much since I enjoy playing computer games (do this a lot with Dan at home on his Playstation 2, Nintendo, and X-Box; and PC games, too), but the thing that really sticks in my craw this year is the way I had to find out this development: in person and by asking around.
That should not have happened. Aggiecon has an on-going website, and I could not help but notice that quite a few sections of the site are woefully out-of-date, thus sorely lacking key information. Some of the site links I can understand: the photo gallery of past Aggiecons, history of the club, and such - yes, those are ongoing affairs. But not having the full weekend schedule of events posted (this has been done, I know from experience, for the previous three years) at least a week before the con is Not Good. All they have posted on the site are a few major events, such as the Cosplay contest, the human chess game, and the perennial fave Rocky Horror Picture Show showings on Friday and Saturdays at midnight; none of the panels are listed at all, and the locations of some big events are not listed either. These have been done before; WHY weren't they posted this year? Not only that, something as majorly important as NO LAN GAMES should have at least been put on the home page. By the way, the site is still saying the LAN Party exists as of this morning. Courtesy of the wonders of copy/paste, here it is (I have italicized the text):
LAN Party Computer Gaming has undergone a marked improvement from last year. Computers will be provided, and we hope to draw a much bigger crowd this year. Check back here from time to time to get updates on the games we'll be playing and to find out more about possible tournaments.
Frag ya later.
Now, in deference to the concom, I know that preparing for a relatively popular and moderately-sized con (on average, 500-600 members each year) takes a lot of time and effort. Not only that, maybe the MSC made their decision to sell their old computers within the last two weeks. That doesn't give the concom much time to find alternatives for computer gaming. So, how long would it have taken to update their website with this info, or even to put an announcement on Aggiecon's homepage that there would be no "LAN Party" this year? I can't imagine simple updates of this nature taking longer than 30 minutes. This is a major attraction of the con, and any information affecting it should have been passed along. Bad form all the way 'round, kids.
I know this may sound a bit like sour-graping since it affected my son and his friend, but Dan and Peter met up yesterday with some other school friends who like to go each year. One of the girls, Heidi, was dressed in an Anime outfit, and I plan to get some photos of her and Dan's other school chums in their costumes this afternoon when the Cosplay contest happens at 3:00 PM. That in itself is an odd time slot since it's accustomed position is Saturday night at 9:00 PM (I checked the program books for Aggiecons 37-39 for verification), which is then followed by RHPS.
On the positive side of things - which are many, I must say - the registration went very smoothly, the events are laid out in their familiar meeting rooms, the Art Show is bigger and has a lot of fine work on display, the dealer's room appears to be larger with a heavy media influence (no surprise there) and tons of comic books on sale for 50-cents each, and the silent auction benefitting Scotty's House has some really cool things up for grabs. The local SCA chapter gave one of their scheduled fencing displays last night, too. So in general, Aggiecon seems to be moving right along. However, I still have to wonder how their lack of website updating and loss of the LAN Party will affect the con.
Not only that, another major problem looms for Aggiecon. Way back in my second paragraph I mentioned the renovations the MSC will be undergoing starting this summer. This poses a HUGE obstacle: where will Aggiecon 41 be held next year? The concom members I talked with last night have no idea. At least, not yet. My guess is that their plan is to get past edition #40 and work with the University later. I hope they start soon. There are convention venues in town that could handle the crowd; for one, the College Station Hilton has major convention facilities, and the Brazos Center could work, too, but that could be problematic due to its floor plan. In any case, I am interested to see how this will all play out later this year. Needless to say, I will post updates here and in my fanzine, Askance. My other hope is that the Aggiecon committee will be open and communicative about future developments; based on the lack of on-line communication I have witnessed this year, I really hope they learn from their mistakes. It would be too bad to see a respected con like this be irreparably hurt.
Well, that should do it for now. I really must get in the shower before heading down. Pat Virzi's in town - not so much for the con, but because her daughter Maddy attends TAMU - and I'm meeting Pat outside the dealer's room at 11:30 AM. More fun in taking pictures with my new cellphone. I didn't take any photos last night because there wasn't much in the way of photogenic subject matter. That should be very different today because of the Cosplay contest.
Until later then, ciao!
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