Dave and I attend a convention about once a month, mostly gaming conventions. We had a choice this month. Do we attend PAX in Seattle, or Dragon*Con in Atlanta? We made the incorrect decision.
(If you prefer your E to be cheerful, bubbly, and adorable, you may want to leave this post now.)
A few things influenced our decision to attend Dragon*Con rather than PAX:
- We could drive to Dragon*Con. No plane tickets necessary.
- We had heard Dragon*Con was one of those cons that every geek had to experience.
- We had already attended PAX East this year (which I’m pretty sure is where I picked up mono, but that’s unrelated). While we had fun, we weren’t sure that we wanted to do two PAXes is one year.
So, Dragon*Con it was! Our friend Jared von Hindman had been couch-surfing in the States between GenCon and Dragon*Con to avoid having to fly back and forth from Germany. We were the last stop on his couch-tour, so he hopped in our backseat for the drive to Atlanta, which definitely made the long trip more fun.
A Comedy of Car-Related Errors
We finally get to Atlanta and are trying to get to Jared’s hotel, The Westin. We can SEE it, but between the multiple one-way streets and several police road blocks, we end up circling around for what seemed like hours, getting stuck in the same intersections again and again and again. At the end of a long road trip, this is the last thing we wanted.
After dropping Jared off at the Westin, we do the same round and round and round trying to get to our hotel, the Hyatt Regency. We finally pull up, ready to hand off the car to the valet and pay ANY PRICE just to GTFO of the car.
But no, valet parking is full. I get out of the car with our luggage while Dave drives to the self-park lot around the corner. The self-park lot for the Hyatt was also full, so he parked in a nearby ghetto lot where you have to shove your dollars into a slot in a big box. At least the car was parked.
We returned the next day to pay the box again to find the car BOOTED with a sticker on the window with the number of the boot removal place. Apparently paying the box only gets you parking until 6 am the following day. If we wanted to be in the lot for another day, we were going to have to wake up at 5:30 am, walk to the box, and restuff it. Oh, and there were no receipts or anything. No way for us to prove when we’d parked. The numbers on the signs for the parking lot had no one manning the phones. $75 later, the car was free.
We drove a bit down the street and found a parking garage. The guy at the gate said “Six dollars.” We were like, “What about overnight?” “Six dollars,” he said. We were skeptical. “Are you SURE we can park here overnight?” He nodded. “Yep.” We parked, driving past a sign that said NO OVERNIGHT PARKING: VEHICLES WILL BE TOWED. Ummmm… we asked again as we walked out of the lot. “Are you SUUUUURE we can park overnight?” He said as long as we left the ticket on our windshield, we were fine.
After the Dragon*Con fiasco (more on that in a bit) was over, we carried all our luggage back to this parking garage to find the gate closed. Panic. There was a phone box on the wall with a sign saying to call the security office after hours. Dave called and luckily a friendly security guard came out, opened the gate, and let us free. No additional money for the night of parking.
Dave spoke with one of the front desk staff at the Hyatt about the parking situation and we were given the blow-off answer, “This is what happens when the dragon convention is in town. There’s nothing we can do about it.”
Boob-Watching & Eye Bleach Moments
If you enjoy breasts, you may enjoy Dragon*Con.
There are tons of breasts everywhere. Breasts in corsets, breasts in tight t-shirts, breasts in spandex, breasts in latex, breasts covered in electrical tape, breasts in body paint and pasties, and if you attend the right parties, just plain ol’ naked breasts.
If you enjoy ass, you may enjoy Dragon*Con.
There is tons of ass everywhere. Ass in short skirts, ass in thongs, ass in spandex, ass in latex, ass covered in electrical tape, ass in body paint, and just plain ol’ naked ass.
However, no matter how much wonderful T&A you may view at Dragon*Con, nothing will erase the eye bleach moments.
- On Friday, a girl who was “skinny-fat.” She was beautiful from the front… but when we saw her from behind… oh good gods. It was like her ass was made of melting wax. Jiggling melting wax. In a thong. Be glad I didn’t take a picture.
- On Saturday, a 65-year-old man in a micro-kilt. Seriously, I was expecting to see his junk waggling just under the hem. Be glad I didn’t take a picture.
- On Sunday, a large man in his 30s dressed as Captain Underpants, running down the street by the Hilton. Be glad I didn’t take a picture.
The #1 Reason Why I Won’t Attend Dragon*Con Again
Dragon*Con is the most overcrowded, unorganized con I have attended to date. Instead of being in a convention center, it’s spread out across many of the downtown Atlanta hotels. While GenCon does this beautifully, GenCon also has the central hub of the Indy Convention Center, which is easily connected to nearly all the other GenCon hotels.
Dragon*Con doesn’t have this convenience. Each hotel is its own entity. Want to know how to get to the Hyatt from the Marriott? The Hilton from the Hyatt? You’re on your own. Sure, there’s a map, but you won’t be able to stop to read it.
Which brings me to my next point…
Dragon*Con is full to the brim with impatient and downright RUDE people.
If you stop, even for an instant, you’ll get bodychecked by someone. Actually, even if you don’t stop, you’ll be bumped and jostled by more people than you can count.
Want to stop in the dealers’ hall and admire something at a booth? Maybe even make a purchase? Good luck. You’ll be pushed along by the people behind you and most likely hear a few nasty words about you blocking the way.
If you find an open spot to walk, you’ll be yelled at for walking there. Every once in a while you spot a straight shot of space between you and where you’re going. Don’t do it. You’re walking right through someone’s perfectly posed cosplay shot and you will be yelled at by a very bitchy Wonder Woman who will call you a few choice words. Sorry sweetheart, we’ll return you to your 85th self-esteem boost of the day in just a second.
Going down the escalator? There will be a giant wall of people at the bottom. When you get to the bottom, you can’t step off. You will trip off. Then the people behind you will SHOVE YOU WITH BOTH HANDS into the sea of people in front of you. This happened to me and I watched it happen to many other people. Then the person behind you will yell “MOOOOOVE!!!”
Want to see your favorite stars in their panel or get a book signed by a favorite author? One, you need to be sure the right hotel and room is listed in the program book. The one signing Dave wanted to attend was listed incorrectly. By the time he found out where the signing really was, the line was around the block. Your best bet for actually seeing a panel is standing in line for 2-3 hours OR watching it on Dragon*Con’s TV channel back in your hotel room. This is how we managed to see the Firefly panel.
You will wait for 20 minutes for an elevator to your room. At all hours. When you’re on the 19th floor, the stairs just aren’t an option. So you wait. With all of humanity. And sometimes, like us, you’ll wait 20 minutes for an elevator to have it stolen by Summer Glau and her handlers. I don’t care if you’re famous, it’s still rude.
Finally… If you go to bed at an “old folks” time like midnight or 1 am, you will be able to hear the raging parties at full volume until at least 5 am.
Need A Better Visual?
Ever been to the mall on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving)?
Dragon*Con is like that… except with twice as many people. Half of them have wings or extra arms that stretch beyond their body and they don’t have awareness of them, so you’ll get a wing to the eye while you’re trying to squeeze past them in the food court.
You won’t be able to get into your favorite store without waiting in line for three hours, and once you get in, you won’t be able to stop long enough to look at the things you want to buy. By the time you get out of that store, all the other stores you wanted to check out will be closed or sold out of the things you want.
Oh, there will be some mostly naked people there, but all the tits & ass in the world wouldn’t be worth the people-overload experience and the moments that require eye bleach.
…The Bright Side of Life…
Always look on the bright side of life…. *whistles*
The ups of Dragon*Con:
- Hanging out with Y & Sapheriel, my old roommates from Charlotte.
- Jared von Hindman, who constantly thanked us for letting him couch surf and driving him to Dragon*Con. And his lovely wife, Rachel, who hung out with us after finding out the vampire LARP she had been looking forward to attending was canceled.
- Buying a blue Chibithulhu for my Chibithulhu collection and a cute print at the art sale of crazy kitties (included Cat-thulhu) for my cube at work.
- Playing Fiasco with DaveTheGame, Rachel von Hindman, David & Rick from Gold: The Series, and Jared von Hindman, who wasn’t an actual player but hopped in to voice the various NPCs we needed. We played DaveTheGame’s new (unnamed) playset, which was basically Animal House meets Lovecraft. I was Nora the pothead dance major, who smokes to stay skinny because instead of getting the munchies, she gets horny. In the end, I was turned into some sort of tentacled something-or-other during a cultist ritual and later my mostly-lifeless body was “rescued” by my pot dealer, who threw me into a wood chipper and blended my remains into a new variety of pot. In conclusion: AWESOME. If you haven’t played Fiasco, you are missing out on my favorite non-D&D RPG.
Next Year…
I spent all of Dragon*Con being miserable, hot, and shoved around by strangers. Meanwhile, I read all of my friends’ tweets about the amazing experience at PAX. Everything at PAX seemed to be the things I *wanted* to be doing.
Dragon*Con, I have experienced you and you sucked. I hated you. Nearly every minute.
Next year, I am going to PAX.
About e
Yay PAX! I can’t say anything about Dragon*Con since I haven’t been, but it sounds like there just isn’t the awesome community that Gabe and Tycho have managed to find for PAX, although we have a few concerns if PAX gets much bigger, so make sure you buy early!
That sounds utterly horrible. I’d always heard that Dragon*Con was one of the geek “must go” conventions as well and I’d hoped to go at some point, but after reading this and some of the other things I’ve heard about D*C I’m having serious doubts if it’s really worth it. Especially when I’ve been to PAX Prime twice, including this year, and had an awesome time on both occasions. Why would I give up something I know is awesome like PAX for something unknown and seemingly full of serious problems? I think that’s an easy question to answer: I won’t. Thanks for the write up, E.
Sad to see a con that is so touted is so disorganized and so overcrowded. Overcrowding is alway a possible issue, something I have been wondering if GenCon will be able to avoid as it grows. I checked and DragonCon supposedly had 35,000 last year and expecting 40,000 this year. GenCon at 27,000 in a down year and growing so will reach those numbers soon. I have found GenCon fun in that yes there are a lot of people, and it can get crowded in places but overall I have not felt overcrowded. But I have watched tweets on bigger cons and they sound more like going to a stand in line convention, and not all that fun. Planning and dealing with growth is so important, and so often seem lacking.
So sorry to hear your Dragon*Con experience was so poor. I think this is the trend for most of the popular cons. Your experience wasn’t too dissimilar from my San Diego Con exp and I’m re-thinking going to SDCC next year. Can I really be sure that I won’t run into the same crowds, chaos and rude behaviors at PAX? Wonder-Con is sure looking good right now…
Yep, *your* experience sucked. I know the 8 or 9 people I was with had a blast. And the extra 10 thousand who showed up this year have apparently heard good things from the 35 thousand from last year so it is clear that YMMV. I’m sorry that your experience was so bad as to indict the whole con, but hey it’s your time and money. The rest of us will continue having a blast. This is my 6th year and every year is better in some ways, different in others and there is always something I wish were improved.
PAX East was really crowded and there were really long lines, but the Enforcer team is really good at keeping the peace. Check out M’s posts about PAX Prime and you’ll hear the same from her.
Also, PAX knows how big is too big and caps attendance. Dragon*Con MAY have an attendance cap, BUT… what if everyone wants to be in the Marriott at the same time? With the con spread out between so many hotels, it’s impossible to track exactly how many people are in each hotel at a given moment, which means one hotel could be extremely (and dangerously) overcrowded while another is fairly light on traffic.
GenCon’s PR dept said attendance hit 30k this year. While it was crowded in places, I never felt shoved around and overwhelmed by the amount of people like I did constantly at Dragon*Con.
This was my tenth year at DragonCon, and now I am taking a break. Next year we will do something else. I have a friend who works on the security for the Walk of Fame every year, and he told me that the “man in charge” wants to impose a membership cap for next year. I am all for this. It has gotten WAY too big for the space allotted. Things that have never had lines before, had insane lines this year. I understand everyone working the registration and security (line maintenance) are all volunteers, but it’s obviously too much for them.
This was my 13th Dragoncon, and a lot of what E is saying is right.
I’m an Atlanta Native, so I’m used to the traffic issues, but yeah, it’s nuts. Your best bet is to park near a Marta station and take the train in.
The cosplay ranges from Amazing to insane.
It’s overcrowded. The lines for major events are in the hours. Hotel elevators are not an option, especially in the Hyatt. But I’ve rarely experienced the rudeness E mentioned. With the exception of the occasional jerk, most people have been very nice.
As far as the things DragonCon does well:
Gaming: If you wander over to the game rooms in the Hilton you’ll find tons of people playing all sorts of great games who are willing to teach you or let you jump in (provided it’s not already 2 hours into a 6 hour game)
LARPing: The LARP staff is amazing, and DragonCon is home to my all time favorite game, DarkConfrontation (www.darkconfrontation.com). Seriously, it’s the reason I go to Con. Lots of fun players, a simple rule system that can be used to do many unique things, and a goofy concept that allows for serious moments. It also runs all Con long, so you play as much or as little as you like.
Parties: Yeah, if you go to bed at an old folks time, you will not sleep (especially in the Hyatt. The other hotels don’t have balconies, so the parties tend to wander downstairs for the smokers). However, if you like staying up drinking with a bunch of geeks, it’s incredible. If you don’t catch at least one sunrise, you haven’t experienced con. DragonCon is the geek house party. If you like that kind of thing occasionally and can get your mind set for it, it’s a lot of fun. If not, you grab a hotel than isn’t a con hotel so you have somewhere to escape at night, and just wander back in the morning. The Sheraton is usually pretty quiet.
Sorry to hear your experience of DragonCon was so poor. This was my second time attending and both my experiences have been much more appealing than what you experienced. But I believe that’s because the first time I went I had somebody with me that was experienced.
Yes, the con does spread out over a number of hotels, but they do a fair job of organizing the various tracks to specific hotels with the mainstream panels being in the two center hotels (Hyatt and Marriot) that are nicely connected with a skywalk (new this year) as well as easy street access.
Gaming and Walk of Fame are always at the Hilton along with small tracks like podcasting.
This year, the westin was added to help with the overcrowding and a couple of additional tracks. The skeptical track and alternate history track were the main ones there. Oh and all of the balls seemed to take place there too this year.
Other than registration, i’m not sure what was in the Sheraton. It is the furthest from the center hotels and is a pain to get to.
I do have to agree that overcrowding is a problem. It is a mass of people and often times there is jostling. However, I’ve never notice the level of rudeness you experienced. It saddens me that it was so awful for you.
Such a shame you didn’t have a better experience. Personally, I love the variety of it all and am still excited about the prospect of going again next year. But its not for everybody obviously.
I attended Dragon*Con too, and being a local I can tell you that a portion of that crowd were locals who came down to people watch. Which is another reason why having it in a convention center would be better. Random people can come into the hotels even if they can’t get into the events themselves. They can probably reduce that crowd by about 5 thousand, I bet, maybe more.
Yeah, and the exhibitionist factor, I can do without that too. Good points.
E, I’ve been to Dragon*Con twice, and my experience was pretty similar to yours. I am partially disabled, and frequently walk with a cane – I thought people were using that as an excuse to body-check me, but evidently it’s more general than that. My disability also makes it hard for me to stand in lines, but there was zero accommodation for it. At least once I was in tears by the time we were allowed into a hotel for a seminar – they hotel was over capacity.
I did have fun both times I went to Dragon*Con, but the discomfort/lack of accessibility/expense outweigh the fun I’ve had. I might try for Pax myself next year.
Ok so it was crowded. It gets bigger every year. And the reason that they don’t do a convention center is that it out grew the freaking thing. DragonCon is a panel con, not a dealer con anyway
As for the three dealer’s areas, there’s actually two things here. The exhibitor’s hall, which is the larger two ballrooms in the Marriott, and the dealer’s room, which is the large room on the bottom floor area. THe top is for game and media companies to showcase products, the lower level is for independent dealers to sell their wares, crafts, etc. These are not the same thing, though even the staffers get them confused, and allow dealers and exhibitors in to each other’s areas without knowing any better.
I didn’t see so many rude people, but every con has eybleach moments. They’re part of the package, and no con is without. Even tiny micro-cons like Technicon featured a trio of very fat girls in spandex bunny outfits making sexual innuendoes… On stage. Bleh.
Most of what you’re complaining about isn’t the Con’s fault, it’s either poor luck, rude attendees, or your own poor planning. You want to see crappy planning, look at Katsucon in Baltimore. [Edited to remove a comment that was an insult of a specific person.]
This was my second year – first in ’08 and skipped last year. This year I brought a couple of Atlanta friends with me for the first time (locals who registered, tho). I had a blast BUT I have to admit – everything e says is right. The rudeness was almost unbearable. It was tolerable because I was having so much fun with my friends and because I work on a large college campus where rudeness among our students is a way of life.
I don’t fault anyone for disliking D*C. I can’t, there’s a lot to dislike. (For the LOVE OF HEAVEN, would someone tell the folks running DCTV that comedy is best served SHORT?? :10 or :15 sec bumpers please and I couldn’t care less about seeing the credits for every skit. Seriously, if I like it I’ll find you there, no need to thank your cat on the screen. Thank goodness they seem to have a few people submitting stuff who get it.)
I will say, though, that the positive experiences outweigh the negative for me. Watching my old friends have so much fun, seeing friends I’d made at my last visit, and making the new ones this year – all were magical memories with enough punch to bring me back next year.
Though I may wander the halls only after a gin and tonic – you know, to take the edge off. It kept me from slugging a few people this year.
@GamerChick – I had a hard time getting around on my two fully-functioning legs… I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for disabled folks. I did see a few people on motorized scooters who could barely move through the crowd. And having to use the elevator EVERY time they wanted to access another floor? Gosh… must have taken forever.
@People Who Love Dragon*Con – It’s cool. I’m not harping on you or trying to say that your con experience was less than what it was. That’s why I entitled this post “If You’re Anything Like E, You Will Hate Dragon*Con.” Other people’s mileage will vary.
E, I am sorry to hear about your experience. Overall I had a blast, though I do agree there are some problems.
This is my third year at Dragon*Con and this year seemed…off. There were a lot more people, and like someone mentioned, a lot of people who are not there for the Con, but strictly there to look at the costumes.
I’ve never waited 3 hours in line before to get a pre-registration badge. They need to re-think that system as well. There is no benefit to pre-registering when the by-at-the door line is in and out in 20 minutes.
There is supposed to be special handicapped seating for the panels, but I think the shear number of people make it difficult for the Dragon*Con staff to manage. While I did bump into a few extremely rude people, most people I encountered were respectful.
They have outgrown the convention center, so there isn’t many other places to go. Did you have anyone in your group who had been to Dragon*Con before? We’ve learned it was much easier having a guide our first then rather then wondering around on our own.
We did have the same issue with parking. The reason the streets were blocked off is because there was a bank robbery across from the Hyatt. That is not typical. One member of our group got in late and had to park in that same ghetto lot. It was fun waking up the whole room at 5:30 to pay each morning.
In my opinion, there was too much T&A before “Dragon*Con After Dark”. This year seemed to lack the hi-quality costumes I have grown to expect. That or my standards have gone way up.
I agree with DM though. I can’t blame anyone for disliking it, but for me, it’s the one vacation my husband and I take each year. Each year we learn something new and how to improve the next year. The benefits out way the con’s (no pun intended) there.
It’s amazing how people can have such different experiences at the same place! I’ve been to a ton of different cons of all shapes and sizes, and Dragon is still my favorite, for the loving community feel commenters say PAX also has. Most of what you described sounded like ComicCon, not Dragon*Con. Except for the really big panels, I’m always able to get into events I want to see, even if I don’t get in line very early. It gets crowded, but this year they shut down the hotels to the public at night and suddenly it was much more manageable (not to mention the few rude people there were seemed to vanish). I love that they have people yelling at attendees to keep moving, especially at the escalators. It’d be a lot worse without them. I’m always able to shop as much as I want, I check the info booth for the Daily Dragon to know if there are programming changes, and staying at the International Tower in the Hyatt means elevators you don’t have to wait for most of the time. It gets annoying at times if you have to go from one hotel to another, but they’re all located in an “L” shape (rectangle if you count the Westin this year) so nothing is very hard to find. As for the costume choices of some people, maybe it’s just me but I don’t have a problem with people thinking they’re beautiful even if they’re overweight. If something bothers me, I know I don’t have to look where I don’t want to, and instead of dwelling on how scarred I am, I can go on with my life. Any regular con-goer should develop that skill, because Dragon isn’t the only place that happens. Also, earplugs are your best friend.
Dragon*con is the sort of thing you’ll like if you like that sort of thing.
Unfortunately, I’m not, which is why despite being local, I haven’t attended a Dragon*con since 2004. This makes me somewhat of an oddity among my friends. I actually got a call from a friend at the con in 2007, who breathlessly said “Rob! I’ve been looking all over for you! Where are you??” Somewhat bemused, I replied “Er….San Jose?” The thought of being out of town on purpose on Dragon*Con weekend was completely foreign to him.
I have many friends who share my dislike for what DC has become. I have many friends who go every year and think it’s utterly fabulous. And each and every one of us is right, because tastes are individual.
(Note to Dragon*con fans: Your con experience is your con experience. We’re glad you had a good time. Stop being so defensive about it.)
Dragon*Con has absolutely nothing to offer me that I actually want. I spent Friday night with about 40 people enjoying Marian Call’s off-site concert, hung out with a couple of friends on Saturday, and hosted an RPG session with friends on Sunday. No one will convince me that I would have had a better time if I had eschewed all of that for the convention.
I’m sorry you had such a bad time, and I perfectly understand your complaints, as I share them. Have a great time at PAX next year.
Having been attending D*C on and off since the mid-90s, I agree completely with a lot of the issues your point out in your post. The overcrowding is one of the major reasons why I didn’t go this year. The con has now spread to a total of 5 hotels, only three of which are directly attached (for those who haven’t been, there are habitrail tunnels connecting the Hyatt, Marriot, and Hilton). The elevators at the Hyatt have always been hellish, which is why when I go, I make sure to stay at the Marriott. There is another option I wish Pat Henry and the read of the Board would pursue, which would be relocating it to the World Congress Center. This, however, also becomes a matter of the extended contracts signed with the host hotels and then arranging things for people to easily get to the convention area since there is really only one hotel by the GWCC (the Omni, which is certainly not big enough to house all the attendees).
To be honest, I may actually look at giving PAX a try next year just between all the good things I continuously hear about it and people I’d like to see in person going there instead of D*C. The fact it’s on the other side of the country is a bit of a factor, but I do have friends who keep telling me I should visit Seattle anyway.
This was my first Dragoncon. Due to the poor impression the crowd volume made, it is also likely to be my last. If I hadn’t been there as a sidekick to Jim Butcher, I would have been outraged at the poor return on investment I was getting for the expense of attendance ($1000+ with all pieces factored in).
If they have outgrown the convention center and that makes it okay that they’ve gone to the hotels instead, then they need to step up and admit that they’ve outgrown the hotels as well. If Atlanta’s convention center and attached hotels can’t take the capacity, they either need to leave Atlanta or find the gumption to cap attendance at a point lower than the number they got this year.
Just as large and better organized cons like PAX are simply going to eat their lunch otherwise (and may anyway).
My convention going experience this past weekend was highly enjoyable. It was relaxing, a lot of fun, and I got to visit with numerous friends old and new.
I was not at Dragon*Con.
I was not at PAX.
I was at Mephit Fur Meet.
e, I don’t know if a convention with a three-figure attendance for a variety of geekdom that some consider off the deep end would ever register a blip on your radar, but if you ever do show up, I will personally give you and anyone who accompanies you a tour of the convention.
Ok… I hear you about Dragon*Con. In it;s defense, it didn’t used to be like that.
As a vet of over 20 Dragon*Cons (none in the last five years). I watched it claw it’s way up from the ugly label as a “party-con” to it’s height, and then the current descent back towards that role, so I think I can say with a bit of authority that the main issue with Dragon*Con is the Admin of the con at this point.
D*C prides itself on being one of the few large “fan-owned” cons in the country, and that’s true. Unfortunately, there’s the problem. It;s simply to large to be managed effectively by amateurs. Unfortunately the “powers-that-be” of Dragon*Con doesn’t (ie “won’t”) see this. Many of the tracks and events have stayed unchanged for virtually decades, becoming stale and old, and their reliance on volunteer staff and “friends.” shows in the lack of coordination and professionalism at all levels.
And it’s a damn shame, because Dragon*Con could and *should* be giving the other national events a run for they’re money. They’re *charging* like an SDCC or GenCon, it should be expected that they would comparable to them. Unfortunately it’s not.
Fixes I would (and have) suggested in the past:
1) It’s time to move on to a more professional staff. Hire a event management group to help out.
2) Utilize the facilities better. For example, I’ve seen many years that the other host hotels had empty ballrooms and conference centers, while everything was crammed into the Hyatt (One of the most unfriendly and rudest hotels I’ve ever encountered, btw… especially to an event that’s been filling them to overflow year after year). Make logical decisions and have events in *all* the hotels, not just some.
BTW this would also minimize the elevator wars.
3) *gets megaphone* NO MORE SELLING IN THE EXHIBITION HALL! You’ve lost most of your local supporters because you began to allow the companies themselves to sell their products at costs the local merchants couldn’t match. It’s why the dealers room very often doesn’t have most gaming and such.
4) Event Management: Clear events rooms before new panels…. too easy, right? Remind the bands they’re they at D*C’s sufferance and if they need to set up or break down, then need to *included* that in their sets, not after before them. With Guest… yes they’re cool and fun… they’re also being *paid* to be there. This means they’re employees… It’s not a choice for them to be at their talk, it’s their job. Getting trashes the night before work never get you any slack, right?
5) Move the damn date. A couple of more weeks toward the fall and you’re no longer in collision with SDCC and GenCon… which means more possible guests and more company participation. I have many friends in the gaming industry. most of them have to choose between D*C and SDCC because of the closeness of the dates. Also a little later in the year and you’ll get across the board better rates from the hotels.
6) Security. Ok… it’s time to bring out the “d-bag” patrols again. The last time I attended there were roves of little bastards that parents had obviously forgotten to teach them how to act in public. Some of there are 40 years old and above. Zero-Tolerance is the key here. Spit off the balcony… you’re out. Grab a mask or costume… You’re out. A 17 year old in the bar? Buh-bye. Not just out of the con, but out of the hotels. Reinstate an “adult-costume permitted” Time frame and location. Rule aren’t being oppressive, they’re being smart and at 100 bucks a pop, plus room, board and everything else for four days, you better damn well have them. If that goof-ball in the lipstick and demon wings thinks it’s his right to be loud, drunk, stinking, and pantless… remind him that when he chose to come, he chose to obey the rules. Next time he gropes someone… boot. Too easy, right?
For every jackass you lose, you’ll bring back a family.
((that goes with enforcing party floors as well))
7) And lastly… keep up with what’s really going on in the industries. Not just track heads, but everyone. Half the issues of overflowing panels/guest panels would be solved by simply knowing who’s hot and who’s not. (Come on… a Pern track… still?)).
Oh… and if D*C needs a little local refresher of what a con *should* function like… check out ConCarolinas.
@E, the lovely… I like the Black Friday analogy, that is perfect… OH, did you get to see Marc Gunn or Voltaire? Honestly, just seeing them at one venue is worth the effort for me (they usually do 3-4 shows each).
@Kenneth 1-Hire a GOOD event manager group, heh… They have already done 2, 3 is alittle more ‘regulated’, 4 they do (have friends leave 20 minutes early so you can get seats for NEXT panel), 5 – speaking from a marketing point of you, you got a date branded, don’t change, just causes confusion, 6 – Some years they have ex-military, other years it’s mister rogers, they do need to figure out a standard thou. 7 – Anne McCaffrey does a writing workshop a straight week before D*C that sells out for BIG $$ and the tracks are held in 40 person rooms that usually fill 80% (one of the like 70 rooms they rent)…won’t even talk about lines to get something signed by her. The best thing about Dragoncon is all the options, we can all like our own things
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DragonCon has been pretty annoying for me the past few years too, mainly due to how disorganized it is. There are other problems too, like the parking — I also got booted, and should have known better by now. In fact, it might have even been at the same lot! However, I have found some ways of mitigating the un-fun bits, and maximizing the fun parts. Your post prompted me to write a Dragon*Con Survival Guide on my blog. I linked back to this post in it; if for some reason you don’t want me to do that, just let me know.
I have only been to little cons so far (less than 1,000 attendees) and love them. Dragon*Con has been on our list of dream cons for a while, even though the size and location make me nervous. I’m a small town girl, and Hotlanta is huge! But the experience you and Dave had, along with Sean Patrick Fannon’s feelings on the size and chaos of the con, make us hesitant to make the trip. The whole thing with the boot on your car would have left me completely unable to enjoy the weekend at all, not to mention everything else.
Other friends of ours who attended, though, had the best time evar and didn’t want to leave! I think part of the discrepancy may be that they’re cosplayers (polite ones, I assure you) – one of them even made it into the parade in her drow costume. From an outsider’s view, it seems like D*C is catering more and more to cosplayers?
I am thrilled that you got to hang with David Nett. That guy is all kinds of awesome. We haven’t gotten to meet him in person yet, but there’s a nice mutual admiration society going between GOLD and 4 Winds. Plus he’s a North Dakota kid, so that gets him a whole lotta XP right there.
Methinks you went in ill prepared. We had nearly the same experiences you did and loved them all. Except the elevator. We stayed on 21 and only waited on the elevator maybe twice. Oh yeah, if you were on 19, we were the dunk assholes raging all night. You missed a great party!
Driving there was your #1 mistake. DO NOT DRIVE TO DRAGONCON.
I flew in from NYC and I had a great time. No difficulty with elevators or anything.
Also, don’t wait in lines. If you’re in a line, and you’re not toward the front, you won’t get in. Don’t even bother to try. I followed this rule and had a great time, especially when I attended to Gargoyles Panel and the gaming track panels.
Of course, I’m probably biased. I was one of the presenters at the NYJedi panel, so we did get some small perks.
@Corey – I’m glad your party went well.
However, if I have to prepare to love being shoved around and cursed at… well, that’s just not going to happen.
I guess what I was saying is that we knew all of the bad stuff you mentioned was going to happen. We did our homework and prepared for the worst. And ultimately, it ended up being not nearly as bad as we figured it would be. We knew without a shadow of a doubt that the Hyatt’s elevator situation was the worst at the con. We elected to stay there anyway, as it is the party hotel. Saturday night we waited an hour and a half for a lift. Otherwise the wait was well under what we expected. And the one time we rode the lift at the Hilton was a total nightmare compared to any experience at the Hyatt. We generally avoided the Marriott because of the crowds. Overall, we expected worse than we got and we just made a party of it. DragonCon is not like GenCon or Origins. It doesn’t take itself seriously and I can understand why someone would be miserable there. But we went for drunken debauchery and were not left wanting.
I agree wholeheartedly! The highlights of the weekend for me were the Fiasco game (thanks again for letting me jump in!) and karaoke at the Hilton on Friday night (not part of the Con, as far as I could tell). I really have to blame the lack of organization for almost everything I didn’t like. Last year, when going to my first con ever (GenCon), I was able to prepare by asking questions and reading their official forum. D*C doesn’t have anything like that. To make matters worse, most of their scheduling didn’t become available online until a few days before the con.
The one event I had scheduled, Dragon*Con Has Talent, was a total disaster, with an idiotic host who used up most of the event’s time with her inane brand of “comedy,” disgruntled contestants who weren’t told it was going to be styled after the Gong Show, and judges storming off the stage. Sheesh. What a waste of time and energy!
I generally didn’t have a problem with rude people, but then again, I’ve been living in Berlin for the last 7 years, and Berliners are world-renowned for their rudeness. So, I probably just didn’t notice. From what I could tell, Dragon*Con was great for Cosplay and room parties.
Oh well, next year, back to GenCon!
Dragon*Con has been on my list of cons to go to for awhile now, but after reading this post, I will probably not even bother with it. Since I have something of an anger problem, I would probably have a huge problem with the rudeness and it would be incredibly difficult for me to not slug someone. I’m also not the big partier (I’m more of the quiet, hang out kind of guy), so the raging parties would definitely get on my nerves. So, I just going to erase D*C off my list and focus on GenCon, PAX, and E3.
Ugh, sorry to hear you had such a bad experience at D*C, E! To be fair, though, bad lineups seem to be a thing at all the conventions. It was certainly my biggest issue with PAX, and one I would complain vociferously about to anyone who would listen. I’m not entirely sure why they don’t go with a ticket system like some of the exhibits at Tokyo Game Show: give out a certain number of tickets that tell people when to come back (this can work for panels or for demo booths; it’s a lot easier to get a ticket that says, “come back at 4:00 PM” than to wait in line for two hours).
Also, I will tentatively argue that the point of cosplay isn’t so much to match your own body type but rather to show your affection for a character or a series… so if someone of generous proportions wants to cosplay a character they love that just happens to have a skimpy outfit, I’m not going to begrudge them. After all, I am rather generously proportioned myself, and I would be sad if people told me I couldn’t cosplay Tifa or Sephiroth or Sailor Saturn.
But yeah, it sounds like you had a rough time, which I’m sad to hear about… but I’m glad to hear you’ll likely be coming to PAX, as it would be awesome to meet up and compare notes!
I’ve never attended but one of my friends works the company booth during convention season, and has said that if he didn’t have to work said booth he would be glad to never attend another dragon-con or SDCC again. I’m pretty sure the last one was from the year that the next booth over from the one he works was playing the battlestar teaser on loop the entire con.