Before I get into the meat of this article, let me first mention a very interesting survey done by Wizards of the Coast. It surveys gamers and non-gamers, and then asks the gamers some very good questions. Read it. Think about it. It's worth your time.

I love conventions.

When I was growing up, I lived in a small town about 300 miles away from a major city. We had one small game/hobby store and it didn't stock the wide variety of games I needed to survive. So going to a DunDraCon or one of the other San Francisco Bay Area conventions was a big deal. In my post-high school days, I'd borrow my father's big blue van, get about 8 of my friends together and do the 7 hour drive to "the big city." We were all poor college students, so we'd sleep at the convention, or one year we were able to crash on the living room floor of somebody's relative.

As soon as I got there, I'd make a beeline for the dealer's room, and spend hours wandering and prowling the tables, making sure I didn't miss a thing. Then I'd go to the auction, or the flea market, or I'd just find a chair and read whatever things I'd bought. New (or new to me) games were the reason I went, but even still I managed to play a game or too.

I remember one year at DunDraCon, I bought a copy of Dinky Dungeons, a cute little RPG that was very light on rules. I decided I wanted to run a game, so I filled out one of the flyers that they had to advertise pick-up games. When I came back the next day to run the game, the flyer wasn't hung up where I put it. I asked one of the convention staff about it and they said that they had taken it down because it was a joke, "No one would actually play that game," they told me.

I remember another convention in Oakland (I forget the name of the con, but it was great!). It was the first time that I played a miniatures game. I was very excited about getting into miniatures after that, so the guy who was running the event took me aside and gave me a long lecture about the evils of miniatures gaming, how it takes over your life and sucks up all your money.

But even though I didn't go to convention to game, I always wound up gaming, and I still do. Even the most introverted gamer can go to a convention, sit down at a game (especially a roleplaying game) and immediately be talking up a storm.

We were a pretty tight knit group, my friends and I, all of us outcasts from mainstream society, brought together only by the our love of gaming. We'd arrive at a convention and pretty much stay together. If one of us ran a game, we'd all join in as well. It seems kind of silly, after all we gamed with each other 2 or 3 times a week as it was. I was roommates with one of them. But even still, since the game was open to the convention, we'd always have some other people in the game. New people, we'd never met before, who would probably become friends if we didn't live so far away.

That's one of the great things about conventions. Not only do you get to play games, you get to meet people. And not just any people - but gamers. Gamers who love the same games you do. Gamers who, while they may not be the most sociable of people, love games. They want to play games. They want to talk about games.

Even groups like my old group. Cliquish and introverted, even disdainful of other gamers at times, they are there because they love games and gamer related things -- like sci-fi, anime, movies, books and all those other things that "normal" people don't really understand. Even though they may lack the social skills to properly relate to the other gamers around them, that's want they want to do.

And even the best gaming group can use a change of scenery to experience different styles of gaming. Get out, try a new board game, or roleplaying game, or even, if you must, a collectable card game. Go to some of the seminars. Watch a fighting demonstration. Visit with your favorite writers or game designers. Remember that all of the guests are real people, not gods, and you may even get in a nice conversation with them.

Don't rule out science fiction conventions either. RadCon, in Pasco WA, is an excellent sci-fi con, that boasts excellent gamer turnout and two huge gaming rooms. Many of the "writing" seminars are just as appropriate for gamers. There was an excellent one that I missed at RadCon (but heard all about) regarding myths and clichés in fight scenes.

Try new games. I met someone recently who said he made it a rule to learn a new game at each convention he went to. That's such a good and simple to follow guideline that I've decided to take it up as well.

Maybe this has been a rambling little article and I apologize for that. In many ways, gamers are a very independent lot. Once they find a good group to play with, there is a great temptation to just stick with those people. But we are also a community, and the only way we come together as a group is at conventions.

And I can't think of a better place to do it.

--Tim Morgan

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