Ok, I already apologized on the matter. But, I do find it unfair that Mr. Salvius's post that I was responding to was deleted. It takes my above comments out of context. I was responding to his post that he claimed to have a 5-day convention and that I was getting a better value than GenCon, Origins or other area conventions. I then responded in detail of where other events at a comparable cost had an advantage over DexCon. I do not see how constructive criticism should not be welcomed. I never said that your events "sucked." Read them again, in a tone of me offering constructive criticism. Come out of the bubble and listen to some valid concerns.
As for comparisons to anime and comic cons and trade shows. I do not think it is an unfair comparison. It's all fandom of a sort with much crossover and I am weighing the monetary value of what I will experience at those events. I merely stated my opinion that for the money, I felt I was not getting as much as what is offered at those other events and I gave my reasons. I can have an opinion, you know. Whether others agree or not.
And for the record, I paid $40 for Spring Gathering at the door. Which is the same price you now have for 3 days of DexCon. I have already apologized for having higher expectations than what the event actually was. This is wholly my misunderstanding of what was being offered. Though, Please consult your wargaming room staff and judges as to how many of their events actually ran. I was in that room most of the con. Everyone, including the judges for the other events that were supposed to run were too busy playing Axis&Allies. At one point I even wanted to play in the scheduled Space Hulk game that was being set up. But, since I was the only player to show up. The judge decided to cancel the event. Later in the day, Mr. Tiny actually asked me how the Space Hulk game was. He was looking out for me seeing if I was having a good time. I had to tell him the event didn't run. Virtually none of the other scheduled wargaming events actually ran. Also consult the person who was running the Saturday afternoon Magic the Gathering event. At the appointed time of the event, he was not at the card gaming room. I had to track him down at his retail booth in the hallway downstairs. When, I tracked him down asking about the event, he then tells me that it is changed to a sealed deck event, where I'd have to buy cards from him. The event was listed as a free Standard constructed event in the schedule. You can see where my frustration comes from. I am really sorry I had to rat out some event judges. I was hoping to avoid citing specific examples of my frustration. I never claimed any fraud. Only the notion that, Spring Gathering, was not as good as it could have been. And that I was unsatisfied with what I paid for. And that some inexperienced people may come to that event with a higher expectation than what is actually offered. I alread apologized for my ignorance on the matter.
Actually, it wasn;t deleted - it is still sitting there in the CCG thread.
NOW, for the first time, you gave constructive criticism. I will have a talk with Andrew Sussman, who was supposed to have been running the Magic Tournament on Sunday, a free tournament as you stated. In compensation, see me at DEXCON and I'll give you $10 in product from his table.
As for wargaming, the point was that both wargaming and board gaming were not going to do very well at Spring Gathering. It grows each year, and Tom and Mark try really hard tooffer a variety of stuff in the hopes that some of it will run, for those people who are interested in wargaming.
MY basic problem during this thread was that it was pointed out to you that Spring Gathering was not DEXCON, and you continued to argue that we could be doing better with DEXCON, by comparing it to other events. The basic point of the entire conversation was that we are "overcharging" for DEXCON - that is what it all came down to - and we all contend that this is absurd. The only valid quantifiable argument about GEN CON and Origins is that they have more people at them. We have heard from many, many people that the experience of DEXCON, with obvious attention to detail and care of its attendees is far better than the experience of either of those two. And for the love of wargaming, nothing beats our ARENA - except when WE ran it at GEN CON 8 years ago.
Be careful how you condescend to a convention staff - especially when they've spent months preparing for a giant convention. Your comments came to me right after I had just spent the last month singlehandedly producing the entire schedule of 912 events - each one given special care and attention. And right now I am fielding eMails left and right, making recommendations to families about which games are suitable for their children and teaching new attendees how to choose a LARP to play in and personally checking each person's schedule to ensure that they are not overlapping in events or trying to enter something they can't play.
Hell will freeze over before ANYONE gets that kind of attention at GEN CON or Origins.
>>>Vinny
