Nah, dawg, that's GENCON. Prolly just before the vendor hall opens where we witness the annual running of the dorks to get limited edition, Con-Exclusive crap that will ultimately be available for substantially less on Amazon in a couple of months.
Don't get me wrong, it's still pretty damn crowded. This is from 2016 (source: http://indianatalks.com/site/2016/12/gen-con-extends-partnership-with-indianapolis-through-2021/ ), and I do believe it's well into the day by this point:
... so yeah, it's still going to be a huge mass of humanity. But it won't quite be cheek-to-jowl with no breathing room like in the opening day stampede.
Let me link to a YouTube video that will probably give you a better idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLVeGXz70lI
This is from Friday last year. If you look at the background while she's wandering the building, you'll see that it's not too bad.
And that picture is of the "running of the bulls" (no running!) moment when the dealer's hall opens on the first day. You will NOT find me there, nope nope nope!
Have they? I do not think GenCon has changed their photo policy this year.
I was very pleased to see Gen Con starting to take steps to restrict things that cause traffic problems at the convention, especially in the exhibit hall.
This is what I'm finding in the terms of service agreement that folks accepted:
I don't see the term 'banned' anywhere, though perhaps gharris read another section of the service agreement I'm just not seeing. Seems to me that the 'right' way that the op was kind enough to share continues to be the 'right' way for GenCon 50.
This is assuming that none of the people in the "right" picture want to go to the left- which they frequently do. There are bathrooms, food vendors, exits, cool booths, and friends to the left! Traffic doesn't always move in only two directions.
Note that if you do still manage to find one of these magic spots you may be part of a crowd which is also trying to get to those spots to take pictures without being an idiot- which will start to spill over, impede movement, and make you all idiots anyways.
Note too that this also applies to the groups of people blocking traffic just outside of the exhibit hall who are trying to take pictures of cosplayers, especially the big groups who gather around groups of cosplayers posing for pictures.
This rule was long overdue.
____________________________________________________ Alec Usticke, Unofficial Gen Con Indy Facebook Discussion Group
So...it's not banned at all then. Don't spread misinformation, even if you don't like cosplayers.
I'm going to cosplay using an actual steamroller and just make it through the halls that way...feel free to get my picture if you like...