How Does Indianapolis Feel About Gen Con?

September 2, 2008 · Filed Under Conventions 

You know, I lived in Indianapolis for a couple of years. I loved the city. There were plenty of resources for gamers, and the folks were, on average, just nice folks. My in-laws live in Indy, so when Gen Con moved to Indy I was stoked. It meant that, if we planned things right, I’d never have to miss another Gen Con.

You can imagine my chagrin when the infamous anti-Gen Con article appeared in the Indianapolis Monthly several years ago. What gamers failed to realize is that no one actually reads the Indianapolis Monthly except for bored, rich housewives in Carmel, IN. Still, it left the impression among many gamers that Indy hated them. (Strangely enough, that article isn’t available on the Indianapolis Monthly website any longer. Go figure.)

So, I thought it’d be interesting to see some of the news reports from Indy on Gen Con this year.

A couple things of note:  1)one article mentions that Gen Con is Indy’s biggest convention, now. 2) Several articles mention 85,000 attendees. If that’s true… HOLY CRAP. I know Gen Con was 35,000 the first year I went, when it was still in Milwaukee. That’s another 50,000 people in the last six years.

The one negative I could find was in the article from Anderson, I think, and it only talked about a conversation with one attendee who talked about gamer funk and the floor being “ripe” by the 4th day. Other than that, the article (and the rest) seemed pretty positive.

Indianapolis radio and TV coverage:

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8852885

http://www.wibc.com/News/Story.aspx?ID=97710

From the Star News, Indy’s newspaper:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080816/LOCAL/808160486

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080814/BUSINESS/808140430/1003/BUSINESS

A blogger from the Star News had several Gen Con reports. Here’s one cool one about dice:

http://blogs.indystar.com/geek/2008/08/rolling_bones.html

From indy.com, a feature of the Star News:

http://www.indy.com/posts/10627

From the paper in Muncie, about 30 minutes north of Indy:

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080821/ENTERTAINMENT/808210336

From the paper in Anderson, about 20 minutes north of Indy:

http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/peopleandplaces/local_story_225223410.html?keyword=topstory

What’s my point here? Well, simply that Indianapolis doesn’t hate Gen Con attendees, by any means. They might thing we’re a bit odd (lots of folks do) but they like having us, and they’re treating us fairly in their media coverage.

Are there some jerks in Indy that treat con attendees poorly? Sure. There were in Milwaukee, and there would be in Chicago or anywhere else Gen Con might go. But as a city, Indy recognizes that it’s lucky to have us.

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Comments

2 Responses to “How Does Indianapolis Feel About Gen Con?”

  1. Harrison McLeod on September 2nd, 2008 12:45 pm

    I’ll never forget the one year I went all the rooms in the local hotels were completely sold out and the NFL had no place to house the players for the game. Talk about the Jocks getting tossed out on their butts by the Geeks!

  2. Donny_the_DM on September 2nd, 2008 4:38 pm

    imagine that, a puffed up non gamer thinking he is scoring an easy hit on a group of nerds…not knowing we are EVERYWHERE!

    Best part is, even non-gamers are getting past the stereotypes, and seeing them for what they are. Attempts to minimalize the true elite crowd :)
    Donny_the_DMs last blog post..Okay, I’m sold. Assault on the lightless Depths will be 4th Edition.

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