"My Historycon 2014 report" Topic

Couple quick points:

I said before that leadership of HMGS is part of the trend to non-historical, non-military – either actively or passively. The figure painting situation again proves my point. Painting fantasy stuff at an HMGS shouldn't even be an option. The bit about the money is just an excuse.

I did not miss Nazrat's point. That was humor. The 20 guys are not staying home boycotting HMGS conventions, most have simply moved on. That was my point. HMGS cons, for many, no longer must attends – for a variety of reason. I just came off a big re-enactment weekend so doing two back to back weekends away was an option. I made a choice and am happy with it. Hope those that attended had loads of fun.

Doc, I was there 3 days and had no trouble getting a parking space nor did I notice it being crammed full as you stated.

As someone who did not go and relied on the usual pictures/videos it did seem that non-historical gaming is taking an increasing chunk of the con. The problem with that for Historically minded gamers is we are already a tiny fish in a large pond – by letting the big fish in the kiddie pool Historicon is going to end up like Gen Con in regards to historical gaming.

The BOD has to make a choice on this, most likely soon, or it will be too late to save the historical side since the membership will be mostly non-historical and thus vote for a non-historical BOD.

I'm not saying this is good or bad, just a fact. Niche groups that do not protect their niche get overwhelmed.

I enjoyed HISTORICON 2014. My friends and I had a great time. The gut-feeling and early sights, as well as leaks from HMGS staff, indicate that attendance is going to be higher than past conventions. The registration line on Wednesday was extremely long. The lines remained long through Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. True, the gaming hall was not packed Saturday evening.

As far as the "historical" games versus the sci-fi/fantasy games, I have lightened my attitude towards them. They are here to stay. Indeed, I see nothing wrong with the young kids that are arriving to play in the games. They too bring money and they can see the historical games that are being played.

When it comes to "messy bathrooms, I lay the blame at us, the attendees. If you can't clean-up after yourself, then you have a problem. How tough is it to flush a toilet, throw away your tissues, etc? I don't blame HMGS or the convention work crew. They can only do so much.

Finally, its my understanding the convention will be there through 2017. The efforts by HMGS and the convention center to improve and address some of the complaints are noticeable in the form of carpeting, sound curtains, more male restroom capacity (at the expense of females who were actually present in large numbers), the registration process, and improved chairs. Nothing is perfect, but the efforts are having an impact.

Mitch
Oklahoma

Mitch, so basically what you are saying about the attendees is that they are to blame for the bathroom issues that people use to complain about at the Host. And if that is the case I definitely will agree with you on that.