The Good: The food at the Ram was much improved. Super nice room at the Holiday Inn Center City. Great gaming area in the hotel that was kind of a hidden gem.
The Bad: Finding tables for open gaming at the ICC. We try an do the right thing and ask if there open tables and everyone has always been helpful. On Friday night around 11PM, we asked at the HQ table if there were any tables available. Two ladies told us that we should go to the JW Marriot. I actually laughed because I thought they were kidding because there were literally 50 tables within my sight that were empty. I said "none of those empty tables are available"? She said that people had paid for those. I get it; a vendor had paid to use those tables, but it was late at night and no one was using them . It wasn't like we were moving them or anything. I realized they were serious and just walked to the far corner and setup games and played until 2AM without issue. Really silly if you ask me.
The Ugly: Nothing really.
Roderick Union Stationmaster
I can't speak to why you were told not to use the tables; I wasn't over there. Heck, I've never been allowed to work in the ICC, so I can't even speak to the practice of 'reserving' tables. It's possible that there was supposed to be an even on them in a short while (which then might have been canceled), or the HQ staff were unclear on the 'reserved' tables' status, I don't know. But usually, HQ staff will allow people to play on tables if they won't be used for several hours.
Heck, next time come on down to the Union Station; we try hard to place open gaming.
the will call lines were terrible. Every morning the lines were over an hour. There has to be a way to manage that better. Thank goodness they let us go to the customer service line to get tickets for an event that was added last minute - although we only found that out by asking someone. otherwise we would have been back in line. Such a waste of time. it's great that it was open 24/7, but not everyone can go at night.
Loved using the Lime scooter to get to hotel and back. with all the standing/walking it was a lifesaver.
Hmm, any way to get better access to Lucas Oil, or do they charge by the square foot they open?
Things that would be rather good, More bathroom access. Right now all of them are past one end of the field. If you need one it is a long walk if your game is in the far endzone.
Two, only one entrance open. With all the parking at the stadium, would it be possible to open an entrance on one side, rather than walk all the way around?
The Good: Almost everything. I LARPed all weekend. I got to wear chainmail and hit people with a boffer. I got to wail in despair and shoot myself in the heart over my husband's corpse. I got the payoff of working for months on costumes because they turned out great and people really liked them. I ran my FIRST EVER Gencon event, and it was GREAT. Full capacity of players, they had a good time, and I feel like a very fancypants person. Also, the people were really nice this year. Not that most gencon people aren't mostly nice most of the time, but this year people just seemed extra nice. Someone helped me get a big cart up a ramp and held a door. A couple that witnessed our Hotel Drama saw us in the dealer hall two days later and came up to ask if everything turned out okay. Our GMs were awesome. Our fellow players too. And while I know that many other people had problems with Giant Backpack Man and The Stank, I did not. No one bowled me over out of sheer inconsiderateness or gave side eye when we bumped into each other. And while I had several experiences of VERY farty spaces, and plenty more where there were some very sweaty people, neither of which was pleasant, I didn't personally find myself in the vicinity of a non-bather.** And I got to fangirl at Mikey Mason and Randy Milholland, and also tell the Elder Entertainment people how playing in their awesome games inspired me to start a whole new thing myself.
The Bad: Not much? I wound up with a mild stomach bug for the first half of the weekend, so that sucked, but it didn't stop me from doing anything. Being too tired (partially from lack of coffee bc I was being careful of my poor tummy) to go to Secret Hitler and Werewolf late at night. I only went to the dealer hall twice, and while on Friday it wasn't TOO bad, on Sunday it was REALLY crowded. I know there's limits to what they can do without turning a lot of dealers away, but I do feel that the room was over capacity as far as aisle width. And keep the grid layout stable. Please.
The ugly: Showed up at my hotel to check in Wednesday night. Long story short, they tried to charge my card at 2pm that afternoon, without me there, which triggered a fraud alert, which declined the card...so they canceled my reservation and sold my room. We REALLY lucked out finding an opening not far away that was just as convenient, but we had to pay twice as much. A VERY angry letter is winging its way to the corporate office right now.
**There was ONE demo guy with some pretty intense halitosis. Listen, folks. Society has rules. And one of them is, if every someone pulls out mints and offers them to all present, take a mint. Always. Take. The mint.
Also, the people were really nice this year. Not that most gencon people aren't mostly nice most of the time, but this year people just seemed extra nice.
I also ran into a whole lot of extra nice people this year. There are always the 'head down short choppy steps in a hurry through the exhibit hall' people who will attempt to knock you over because they don't understand they can't fit through that space between people (knocking over doesn't work when I'm bigger than you). But this year there were a lot of times when I and someone else would casually/gently bump into each other, or accidentally get in each other's way, both end up in the same gap in the aisle, and both sides said "Oh, sorry" and meant it. That was nice.
I have had that problem almost happen with a hotel before--I now call my banks the morning I am leaving home and tell them A) I'm traveling to Indiana and B) there will be vendors there from all over the country and possibly other countries, so a lot of charges may show up. It at least eliminates the bank as a problem. Then it's just the hotels. Had the Embassy Suites one year--found out at checkout, after I had stayed all week--decide that they should put my room under the name of a completely random unassociated other attendee. Charge it to them instead of me. As luck would have it, I knew the person who they randomly put my room under (from here at the forums :) and they happened to be in line right behind me to checkout at that moment. Funny.
My friend and I created Terror and Tentacles, a group (and system) for running Cthulhu-esque LARPs. The event was Cafe Abuelita, wherein some people tried to destroy the world for their Dark God, and others objected. A few hiccups, but overall, a good time. We got some very encouraging feedback from some of the players, and a few that said they'd look for our game next year.
Yeah, while the bank is technically the bit that threw the wrench in the works, I have never had to call them before. I've used that very card at Gencon before, alls well. I think the thing that set it off was that they ran the card six minutes after I got gas 1-2 hours north of Indy. The card was already sorted out long before I tried to check in, but by then it was too late. Then they lied and said they ran the card at six. This is the shortish version, but they broke several of their own posted policies, and how the corporate office responds is going to determine exactly how big a fuss I make.
Being provided reusable cups then finding out that correctly fitting lids were not provided was the worst of my experience. Just the occasional spill walking around, in the dealers room and gaming table. No biggie at all.
Overall it was excellent.
We (BYOV) run LARPs too, I'd love to see the rules system you're using, professional interest :)
The lying thing is something I'd be furious with, no doubt. Maybe you can get your GC 2020 hotel comped. That would go a long way to making me happy in your shoes.
Having now been burned twice by this chain, I'm quite done with them, honestly. But we'll see what they do.
Anyway, when I've gotten the block, I've actually wondered what would happen or how painful it'd be if my hotel res got lost because of it. I was especially worried this year because I had rooms at 2 different hotels on my card. Anyway, sorry that happened to you.
You know, JimmytheSaint, the hygiene seemed worse to me this year, too, and particularly considering I may have spent an all-time low amount of time in the Exhibit Hall, that is even more surprising. And here I thought the mainstreaming of Gen-Con would lead inexorably to better hygiene...
YAY: Auction, Auction Store, Exhibition Hall, and basically every other part of Gen-Con. Another year feeling like the only convention attendees who know about the Fat Rooster, the absolute closest-to-Gen-Con restaurant that is somehow always empty (and has a great buffet complete with custom-made pasta bar to boot). My 18th Gen-Con, and I hope I am just getting started! Still my favorite part of every year.
BOO: I forgot to go to Bee Coffee this year :( Oh and another year of being perpetually overheating and hearing people complaining about the cold convention center ;) (no I get it, I have always been the heat-outlier my whole life). Oh and I tried to pick up the D120 from Lou Zocchi at Gamescience (he had them at Gary Con, but only took cash, and I had absolutely none with me then)...only to find that he could not locate them. Yes I realize I could just get one online, but that is no fun.
HYPERBOO: I really cannot think of anything extraordinarily bad that happened for me this year, other than the show ending. Well O.K., someone stealing our group's balcony flag from the Embassy Suites was total crap, but it also makes for a good story, and certainly has nothing directly to do with Gen-Con.
Though ADCJones saying he will not look at the Auction Store again in the future because there were people pricing things too high this year is kind of a hyperboo. New year, new people; you kind of have to go every year if you want to always find the good deals. Agreed though that it makes no sense for people to put things in the Auction Store at regular price if they are still available for purchase elsewhere.
The Good: Almost everything. It was my first GenCon since the 1980s (stupid career) and I had a really good experience. I have some anxiety issues which were concerning, but every person I met was wonderful.
Having to find an urgent care wasn't great, but there was one fairly close that opened 7am on Sunday. (Inflamed achilles tendon-which I already knew). Hobbling around with a boot wasn't ideal, but didn't stop me from having a great time.
The Bad: A few things I could nitpick but honestly, most of the problems were better than I was expecting.
Will-Call line: I signed up for a couple events that were added after the packets were mailed out. The will-call wasn't just an inconvenience or an oversight. It was a management decision to not fix a known problem. Unacceptable.