GenCon Observations from an "Outsider"

[marknau]

I haven't been keeping up with things at the Forge for about 3 years now. I saw the booth at GenCon and waded in to see what was up. Observations and comments:

* Liked the way I was approached to see if I wanted to participate in demos. Very friendly and enticing. I think mentioning the short time commitment is a very good thing. Only some who approached me did this.
* The demo-ers who were very prepared and had solid supporting materials on-hand gave a very good impression. I think the biggest hurdle to get over is a sense that the products are "fringe," "unprofessional," and/or "flaky." Having well-prepared demos with some production values did a lot to break down those barriers.
* Similarly, the fact that there were professionally-bound games there lent an aura of respectability to the setup.
* The weird spiral-decorated manilla envelope containing the strange non-game thing was IMO too much. It made everything associated with it seem a bit flaky.
* The Games on Demand idea seems awesome. I think it suffered from a lack of attendee awareness.
* At any given time slot, there are some number of attendees who are going to be milling around looking for something to get involved with. Having a more visible presence as a place where wanderers can come and get some gaming going would be a big opportunity to get exposure.
* The only thing that steered me toward GoD was randomly happening to see Emily in there after I had played a demo with her. I later noticed a brief blurb on the Z-fold games listing. I don't think that's taking full advantage of the concept. GoD should be a big screaming attraction saying "come try this for a while!"

Anyhow, I wound up grabbing a few games and really dug meeting some of the designers and being able to play so many creative and unique games. It was cool touching base again. Keep up the good work!

[Clyde L. Rhoer]

I'd like to expand on this some.

• I liked the demos also, they were quick and fun and taught me the basics of some cool games.
• I liked the friendliness of the designers and the folks just helping out.
• I hated the process of actually buying a game. The game display area was cramped, and made it hard to look at the games without blocking other people out. The games on the flyer weren't arranged so that the folks working the register could find the games you were buying quickly. Having a separate list for register folks that listed games alphabetically by title and then the code would speed things up greatly. (Yes, it does appear I just volunteered to make that.)

Now as far as games on demand. I found it was too crowded at times, since officially I believe there were only two tables. I also think the idea was to test how it worked without a lot of push. My opinion is it worked great. I played some cool games I hadn't played before and only had one experience I didn't enjoy which I walked away from. One of my friends I came to Gen Con with has been coming for over 20 years and said this was his best Gen Con experience ever, and the Games on Demand is a good part of that. Part of the reason is it's hard to find games at Gen Con with all that edifice you have to climb through to actually get to play a game. Which is strange being it's supposed to be the home for gamers. At my house we just grab a table.

[Eric J. Boyd]

This was my second Gen Con and second year checking out the Forge booth. Some thoughts:

• As crowded as the display area was, it was better than last year. At least I did not have to climb over people demoing games to see one side of the display.
• That said, the new wire display racks made it difficult to get games off of the bottom shelf without turning the book sideways or other such gymnastics.
• I really liked the white and red stickers. They made me feel my participation in the booth was appreciated, and let the designers focus on first timers when I returned to the booth.
• Every demo I participated in rocked and stayed within time. You guys sold me every game I was on the fence about and a couple more that I had pretty much decided against buying completely. Great job.
• I actually got to participate in every demo I wanted to, unlike last year. It seemed there was more table space and that was a very good thing since it put my money in people's pockets.
• The booth had a very friendly feel. When I brought a buddy over to introduce him to the world of indie gaming, Kevin was friendly and professional even though my buddy was not ready to buy anything that day.
• The Games on Demand area was awesome and a great follow-up on the booth experience. This needs to be expanded if possible and trumpeted more loudly at the booth after someone makes a purchase. If I hadn't already known about it, I would have missed it.

Overall this Gen Con was a great experience and a marked improvement over last year. Can't wait for 2007.

[Waiwode]

My first GenCon.

• I agree it was crowded around the cash register, but don't really know what more could be done in the space you had available.
• Maybe I unknowingly wear a sneer of disapproval and condescension, but although I hovered around the booth quite a bit, queued up along the opposite booth's wall, and bumped into quite a few familiar names, I wasn't offered a demo of anything for the first two days.
• For the most part, people that I talked to about the games seemed pretty interested in escaping the conversation as quickly as possible to talk to other people.
• My demos on Sunday were great.

[Editor Drew]

I didn't demo a game, but i purchased one and my buddy purchased two.  We knew exactly what we wanted based on reviews, columns, and posts on these boards so we grabbed product and scooted out of there.  IWe were there four different times and each time it felt like we were in everyone's way.  It's a shame, because i would have liked to browse the booth a bit and spoken with some of the designers who were there.  Heh, still, well done to all involved!

As ever,
Andrew

[Zach]

The two demos that I experienced (Infinite Armies and the Mountain Witch) were friendly and professionally executed. My only complaint is that there were too many people in my way, but in light of the alternative I am glad that it worked out like that.

What struck me in a fashion leaving the deepest impression was how supportive Forge/IPR people were toward small press games that were not under the protective aegis of their booth. It seems like every time that I returned to my chair at the Oppressed Proletariat,  I was informed, "Yeah, some guys from the Forge came by." I'm sorely disappointed that I could not have been around more often, in light of those series of revalations.

[stove]

Yet another person's opinion (I stopped by the booth as well as participating in a GoD session):

Good:
* No "hard sell" at the booth, which is vastly different from the experience I had in previous years. The "sales pitch" was low-key and informative without a hint of push. This was a particularly pleasant change and I hope it continues.
* Demos were great, really enthusiastic but within their time period.
* Racks were easily visible and I could find what I was looking for very quickly. (However...)
* GoD session was quite fun. (Played the roach game for a few hours.) Despite the fact that we had 7-8 people in the group, the GoD'er was nonplussed and ran a great game.

The Not-So-Good:
* The whole checkout area/purchase area was, as others have pointed out, crowded and difficult to navigate. No need to harp further on this as I'm not sure what else could've been done.

[Robert Bohl]

I agree with many of the things said above.  The only thing I would add is:

The Forge is a brand with a lot of punch, at least for me.  I know that when I compare Indie games I don't know, if one is part of IGE, IPR, The Forge, etc., I am likely to consider it and am also likely to ignore games that don't have the brand.

On a similar tip, it might be good to have all official booth folks wear t-shirts, arem-bands, something to denote their officialness.  I know a lot of you very well, and even I was lost sometimes to find someone official and ask for a demo (or to point out to another non-booth person who was looking for help).

Finally, while there were some games I knew I could get demos from out of anyone, there were some that involved tracking down one of the crew from that game's studio in order to get a demo.  Also the "sure, I'll demo that" vibe became more of a "let me get the writer" vibe as the Con dragged on.

[Adam Dray]

I think I qualify as being unaffiliated with the Forge booth.

First, the booth was amazing. It was hard to pull myself away from it. The energy and enthusiasm was intense.

I believe I told Brennan or someone else, y'all need a giant sign that says something like, "Ask for a 10-minute demo! 40 games to choose from!" You need to make the purpose of the area clear to passers-by.

The "sales pit" was a problem and might be rectified by getting rid of the "hole." Move the racks over to the other end of the booth, along the inner perimeter and move the tables into a line along the outer perimeter, with a channel for traffic between the racks and tables. The register can go at one end. The only thing that sucks is that it creates a wall between the Forge and Wicked Dead booths and that might not be acceptable, but you might slide the racks down so that they don't occlude the other booth (and move the register up by them).

I've drawn it up for discussion (not exactly to scale, and from memory):

Current Booth Plan
Proposed Booth Plan

[David Artman]

I've drawn it up for discussion (not exactly to scale, and from memory):
Current Booth Plan
Proposed Booth Plan

Though I was not at GenCon this year, I'd like to be next year. Based solely on those drawings above, I think the Proposed is clearly a better flow than the Original. I would suggest that the Traffic Flow area be wide enough for three people to easily pass: one looking at the racks, one looking at a table, one going between the two others. You might also want to slice out a *little* Storage in favor of having a four-person-wide Traffic Flow area near the Register: the three I mention above, and a fourth in line.

Another cool benefit that might work is that a particular table could be "aligned" with the rack on which its demo games are displayed. So someone could get up from the demo, turn around, and see the game book right there on the shelf. (Note: Doesn't quite work for the "corner" table, though--perhaps that one would be a "floater" table or a table on which the most "wiz-bang"-looking demos run, as it is at an intersection of aisles?) No matter what, it is great that the Sales area isn't cut off from the demo tables: demos have been shown to be a strong driver of sales, in other posts, so it's great that a racks browser would simultaneously be browsing the demos.

Just 2¢ from the peanut gallery!
David

[Sydney Freedberg]

I believe I told Brennan or someone else, y'all need a giant sign that says something like, "Ask for a 10-minute demo! 40 games to choose from!" You need to make the purpose of the area clear to passers-by.

I am suddenly struck by the image of a big blackboard, with Tony Lower-Basch standing on a stepladder beside it wearing a porkpie hat and a tie knotted but very loose around the neck, scrawling notations as he hollers, "Okay -- I have two slots left for Burning Wheel galactic jihad demo-- two for Breaking the Ice -- three for Capes two-fisted time travel -- step on up, step on up, it's free!"

I think there's an actual practical idea in there somewhere.

[Adam Dray]

I warn that my drawing is not at all to scale, especially around the middle. I can't remember what was between the Wicked Dead section and the Forge sales pit. I think there was an empty space full of boxes, but I may be misremembering. But it's something to consider next year when setting up the booth. I accounted for the probability that the racks need to be bent at a 90-degree angle at some point to remain standing, too.

[Denise]

As a neophyte to most indie games, I would have liked to see more interoperability between the Wicked table and The Forge.  While I was glad that the Wicked folks pointed me around the corner to buy the stuff I was looking for, if there were increased cooperation between the two groups with everyone's product all together might be nice.  And I agree, it was difficult to navigate around the sales pit.  Not impossible, though, and I'm glad to see peeps making the effort to reconsider the layout for future years. 

Also, from my experience with booth volunteers, it definitely works well to have no spot behind the table to sit down for the volunteers.  It encourages more interaction with the passers-by.  Good job!

[sean2099]

I feel like the others have posted their experiences, which mirrored a lot of my own but I felt compelled to post since this was my first GenCon (I only got the Sunday pass as a birthday present.)  Nevertheless...

1.  When I passed by the booth a few times, it seemed busy to me.  That is a good thing although I wanted to peruse the books more.  I am a bit stocky to say the least and I was blocking the aisle of people who clearly knew what they wanted.   I saw a lady purchase several of your products at once.  Most of the people I saw in line had one or two books in hand.

2.  The GoD was a good idea but I had no time for it.  In 5 hours, I had barely had enough time to see everything, let alone actually play any sort of game.

3.  I managed to speak to a couple of people associated with the forge, Malcolm and Greg Porter.  They were both very friendly.  I wanted to say hello to Paul Czege but he was working the cash register and I didn't want to interrupt the steady sales.

4.  I agree with David in that if you are demo Capes for instance, it would be nice to have a rack with that title on the demo table.  The person doing the demos could also have a money belt and take payments for that particular title, taking advantage of the adreneline rush of playing the game (perhaps?)

5.  Overall, I will have to get a four day pass. Hopefully, I can be there as a volunteer for the booth next year.

Sean

[Turbo]

Here's another Non-Forgite's tale of his interactions with the booth at GenCon this year.

I left GenCon with 11 Forge games.  I'll tell you what these games are, and why I bought them, as well as other comments on the booth.

For context, GenCon 06 was my sixth GenCon.  I think.  I've officially Lost Track.

Before the Con started, I already knew some of the games I wanted to look at.  I'd heard about Shock:, Cold City, The Princes' Kingdom, and 1001 Nights through the Have Games, Will Travel Podcast.  Before the Con, I also knew I wanted Dogs in the Vineyard, which I'd seen in 2005 but passed on because I didn't have the time to sit for a demo and didn't hear enough about how the whole 'Mormon' thing actually worked.  As a somewhat-bitter Ex-Christian, I shied away.  My loss, corrected this year.

Shock: was the first of the games I bought.  I went to the booth, looked at a copy, and was quickly directed towards Joshua to get a demo.  The demo was direct to the point, highlighted the worldbuilding element as well as displaying the story-making and conflict-resolution mechanics, all with a very creative collaborative experience with Joshua and the other demo-ee, whose name I cannot remember, sorry.  We had Issue:  Utilitarianism, and Shock: Post-Scarcity, and our protag was a Spin-Doctor Politician.  Good stuff there.  Instant sell, though I was already leaning towards buying the game as a SF fan and scholar.

Cold City -- I demoed this later in the day with my friend Lisa and, I think, a Forge affiliate who rounded out our four, with Malcolm running the song and dance number.  I met Malcolm last year, bonded over China Mieville, and then bought his A|State books, which I lament that I've done precious little with, as of yet.  Thus, since I already liked the chap, and I liked the game's concept, I was doubly interested.  Good concise background info to set the stage, and the focus was correctly, IMHO, on the secret agendas and the interplay of trust.  Sell the setting, the feel, and the system that ties them together.  I picked it up in a big batch of stuff.

The Mountain Witch -- I demoed this right before or right after Cold City, but I do remember thinking about the use of trust carrying over from Mountain Witch to Cold City, as the first of many 'inheritances' I'd learn about over the weekend.  This demo was just Tim, Lisa, and me.  I liked the idea of the secret fates, the setup for Trust was cool, but I didn't get it as fast as I would have liked.  --I'd suggest re-examining how the demo info regarding trust appears to a cold read.  It wasn't clear to me at first when trust refreshed, so I was suprised at the limitations.  I wanted the coolness of being able to give assistance constantly and diversify what the trust could do.  The inclusion of the campfire scene was good, though I think the game is a hard one to demo on the story level, since MW came off as Reaaally focused in what it can do, as given.  As in, "I'm not sure I'd play this game more than once through."  I still picked it up, at least as much as the origin of the trust mechaic in the Forge tradition (as far as I could tell).

After that, I don't remember which demo was when.  I did most of my buying on Fri and Sat, though.

Mechaton -- I demoed this with Meg, when Vincent was away from the booth.  Very stripped-down version of the game, near as I could tell.  Very fun, especially once the smack-talking got going.  My lack of knowledge of where my Legoes combined with my aversion to buying legos just for the game kept me from picking this up, as much as I wanted to.  Also, I was focusing my purchases on the more RPG-y games.

1001 Nights  -- After the Mechaton game, I asked Meg to demo 1001 Nights.  We grabbed two other players.  I was the hostage prince, we also had the astronomer and the dancing girl(?) -- Meg did the main narration for the framed scene, which was, as Meg said, Jack and Jill, with a Djinn.  As a Folklorist, this game was almost a guaranteed sale, but I also liked the interest dice as an extra level of involvement, and the fact that you had to keep track of them.  I think the game could easily break in an overly competitive group, but that's the group's problem more than the game, I'd say.  This went home with me, and my inner storyteller was made happy.

Shooting the Moon -- I'd seen Breaking the Ice in 2005, but passed on it along with most everything else (save A|State, as mentioned before, and Polaris, which I heard nothing but awesome things about all weekend until I broke down and bought it.)  I'd done a little reading about the game online before arriving, so I already knew I wanted to check out this pair of games.  Emily was a gracious hostess and demo-er, running the Beloved Trapeze Artist for the Gypsy and Acrobat Suitors (the demo-ees, with me as the Gypsy woman).  I really liked getting to fill in character bits as part of the demo, and the disposable pre-made sheets was a killer idea.  The scene framing was cool, though I wasn't completely sure about everything.  Part of that might have come from the fact that it was almost lunch time and I was making arrangements via Cell phone.  However, the concept and the demo of play was more than enough for me to take home both Breaking the Ice and Shooting the Moon. 

Capes -- Was another game I'd eyed in 05 but passed on.  I played the Flash Demo online a while back and decided to give the game another shot.  I picked it up with my big purchase (that included the other games I didn't demo), but managed to grab Tony for a demo so I could get his take on it in person and make contact.  I liked the props for the demo, everything nice and condensed.  The idea of giving the feel of the game is cool, and probably a good demo strategy for most, though I wanted to see how the rules really worked.  However, I think his demo strategy was sound.  Focus on what makes the game special, and show how play feels, if not how it specifically works.  I'd be interested to hear/read from Tony about his decision process for the simplified demo, though.  I'll go looking around the fora.

Mob Justice  -- I got a demo of this from Iain, mostly because I was hanging around and he asked, and why not?  Mob games should in fact use poker if they can make it work.  I didn't get the real feel of the modern mobster setting, due to the very limited demo, though it was talked about in the background info he gave.  Plenty of enthusiasm, as everyone had the whole weekend.  I wasn't sufficiently grabbed, though.  Maybe it was because I'd already picked up two Trust-using games, though it might have been the larger book size, honestly.  It was scaled like an RPG book from a bigger company, but on the inside, looked much like other indy rpgs.  Not bad, just distinct from the other books.  I think the disjoint between the pretty cover and size vs. the interior didn't work so well for me.  If the setting had been highlighted more in play, I might have been more amenable to buy.  However, kudos for the location diagram and the stylish chips.  The production value of the demo was very good, I'll say.

The rest of the games, I bought without demoing.

Dogs in the Vineyard -- I've talked about this one above.  I regretted not buying it in 05, but never got around to ordering online, so I picked it up at the Con.  Especially since I was already eyeing...

The Princes' Kingdom  -- I was intrigued by this from the start, both for analysis of the differences and continuities from Dogs and the fact that it really did look like an RPG you could pull off playing with children.

Universalis -- Enough people mentioned their indebtedness to this game that I felt I had to pick it up for scholarly reasons, if nothing else.  Plus, consensus storytelling is neat, push/pull aside (My thoughts on this matter to come once I've read the book through more).

Primetime Adventures   -- Someone on RPG.net was talking about how they ran a Buffy Game with PTA, and the idea of a game focused on emulating medium conventions rather than just genre conventions caught my attention.

Overall thoughts:  The booth was waaaay crowded, which led to my lack of picking up most games I hadn't either demoed or already heard about.  I wish I'd conferred with friends on Sat rather than Sunday night, so I could have gone back to pick up things like Don't Rest Your Head, Perfect, Agon, and Hero's Banner.  The people were all very cool, not pushy at all, much more inviting than I remembered the reputation being.  It was cool to get to put faces to some of the names, and I was very excited to see and hear game designers getting excited about my academic thesis work on gaming, and the ability to pre-screen some interviews -- Which I'll start touching base on here pretty soon.

All told, the Forge booth got about $200 of my money, and since I regarded the purchases as at least partially a buisness expense as an RPG scholar, I'm more than happy with my GenCon 2006 Forge experience.  Next year, I hope to make use of Games on Demand, and to find a way to hang out with some people outside of the Super-Mega-Busy-Crowded booth.