"Former HMGS-East Members: Would It Bring You Back?" Topic

According to a recent poll – TMP link – HMGS East should do five things to bring back disgruntled ex-members:

* better financial accountability
* find better venues for the cons
* free access to dealers' hall
* more transparency at all levels
* reduce politics and infighting

If HMGS East did these things, would you come back?

* yes
* no
* I'm already an HMGS East member
* I've never been an HMGS East member

I never left.

I would consider it. They would also need to start actually listening to their membership, rather than taking the 'I know better' attitude that so many of the officers have had through the years.

I'm a founder and life member…

And when did the hmgs board stop beating their wives? A lot of those solutions remind me of that question

I left when the "H" in HMGS began to include a bit too much fantasy!

No. None of those goals are realistic, due to the human factors.
I used to go to all three of the conventions. Now, I'm lucky to get to one.
As far as I'm concerned, HMGS-E is about nothing but the conventions.

"Reduce politics and infighting….."
Good Lord. How do you expect to do that? There are ELECTIONS OF OFFICERS!!!! How can you not have politics?

"Free access to dealers' halls."
Well, why not give everything away? Throw in a puppy and free beer too.
Sometimes I go to a con with nothing to sell at flea market, and no time to play a game. Having to pay a nominal amount to go to the Tennis Barn will not keep me away.
I bet that none of the people who voted for this as a factor to bring them back ever went anyway. Cheap s.

Having all three cons in Lancaster would slightly increase my chances of getting to at least one of them.
"Better venues…."
Give me a break. We're cheap bastards, and the Host is the only suitable venue in our price range. Deal with it.

No
Had been a member, went to an occasional con but did not get any benefit beyond that. Tried to join a special interest group within HMGS to get something out of membership. Was denied, no reason given, no recourse. Of course I was embarrassed at that, then got ticked when I thought what if I was someone just getting started in wargaming and getting the business like that
The incident soured my image of the club. Maybe in a few years might think about rejoining, we'll see

Already a member, and am mostly in agreement with Winston on the factors mentioned.

+1 Ogdenlulimus

It depends--for those of us from out of the immediate (say, four hours) driving distance of the conventions, shopping is very important. To bring us back, HMGS needs to lower vendor costs or whatever else it takes to encourage sellers other than hobby shops with their plastic kits to attend.

I think the specific venue is not as important as we have made it seem. As much as having a fancier/nicer venue is a laudable goal, it seems to me that a majority of members want the predictability and familiarity of The Host or such. If we want to "grow the hobby" and expose non-historical minis gamers to our hobby, the emphasis should not be on holding a more visible convention, but on promoting historical events at other gaming conventions. It does more good, IMHO, to put on several great historical games at GenCon/Adepticon/etc. than to move Historicon to a fancier venue.

I am still a member. I normally go to all three conventions and drive all the way from Dayton, Ohio.

I agree with Winton's comments.

Tom

I've been a member for years and concur with Winston Smith's comments.

I would come back if they moved Historicon to StLouis and billed it as a National Convention

A site that's within shuttle-bus distance of an airport.

A site that isn't filled with ever-increasing mould that makes my head explode.

I've been a member several times through the years but since I only get to a convention once every couple of years it's not really worth it to me to be a member. Maybe if there were events during the year that I could attend be game days or seminars it would be worth it.

I agree with of Winston's points. When I go to a con it's mostly to shop the dealers and flea market. The fee for that is worth the ability to see the product first hand.

It is good to be the King:

There is no natural law that says Historicon must be the largest convention. It became the largest because of its proximity to active (though often petulant and whining) players, GMs, and dealers. When it moved away from major population centers, the attendance went down. I have always asserted that the best location for Historicon is in the Philadelphia area, due to proximity to major population centers, but when we lost Valley Forge, there seemed to be no appropriate venue in that area. Lancaster is a good venue at our price point.

I wish folks in other parts of the country would stop trying to "take" Historicon. Develop your own convention in St. Louis, Fredericksburg, Altanta, Nashville, or wherever. Moving Historicon to another part of the country is just moving the name. If you want to have a big HMGS convention in your back yard, you have to grow it yourself. That means cultivating GMs, players, dealers, etc. It won't happen magically by putting the Historicon brand name on a local convention. If you don't have the population of gamers to support the event, it will not work, despite the name. If you feel like you do have the population, why don't you already have a Historicon-like event in your back yard? What will happen is that the HMGS East guys who attend Historicon will lose the convention they built over many, many years, and the new Historicon won't be the old Historicon transplanted. That is a lose-lose. So stop trying to take Historicon to St. Louis, Nashville, Fredericksburg, or Burkina Faso. Keep Historicon where and what it is, but grow another convention in your part of the country.

Buck Surdu

+1 Buck
Develop your own convention, you Mid Westerners!
As Charlton Heston says in Planet of the Apes, "Get your hands off Historicon, you……"

Seriously though.
It's a LOCAL convention run by LOCAL people, not professionals, in their spare time.
Those who want to move it to Vegas or St Louis are implicitly saying that the locals in their area are not capable of running a convention on their own. They must steal somebody else's.

and free beer too.

This

a good venue at our price point

This is the key, and what all the complainers just don't get.

YogiBearMinis, you make a very good point about promotion. Almost every week someone in our club runs into a historical and/or miniatures gamer who never heard to HMGS or Historicon. Perhaps the board of directors could put some emphasis on marketing and promotion. My impression is that the flyers that come in the mail are largely preaching to the converted. Mailings go out to folks who already attend the HMGS conventions. What are we doing to place enticing posters with local gaming groups, schools, and hobby stores? As far as I can tell, the answer is "nothing."

I am a life member of HMGS-east, and enjoy the cons, even with all the problems Bill cites. it is just getting too far for an old man to travel there, from the midwest. So I will attend Midwest cons -- Adepticon and Little Wars.

"HMGS East should do five things to bring back disgruntled ex-members" All they ever had to do is have " a good venue at our price point ". Then yes I would.

That end maybe not say things like members can/will be replaced with new members

I'm a life member never left. The politics suck but where is only one way to get rid of that.

Other than that I agree with Winston. I believe that I shall nominate Winston Smith for the BOD.I also agree with Buck.

I know who you are Winston.

" So stop trying to take Historicon to St. Louis, Nashville, Fredericksburg, or Burkina Faso. Keep Historicon where and what it is, but grow another convention in your part of the country."

I agree with Buck here. As I've seen and said; Little Wars is growing quite nicely.

Other than that I agree with Winston. I believe that I shall nominate Winston Smith for the BOD.I also agree with Buck.

I know who you are Winston.

Does it pay well?

Be careful what you wish for. I just might move Historicon to Wilkes Barre.

Fine by me Winston, that's only half as far as Lancaster.