Aside from that, Mrs Lincoln

[rmd]

So, the part of Arisia I did do was fun... Unfortunately, moving slow because of the tail end of freaky back pain coupled with the Saturday night onset of ick meant that I missed a whole lot of con.

I enjoyed the women in video gaming panel - it wasn't a rantfest and didn't have to do 101 at the audience[1]. Discussion ranged over the gaming industry as well as the online player environment. The panel included folks with a diversity of industry experience and a diversity of preferred game type and platform. (Thing I learned: Since I'm not a graphics programmer, it hadn't actually occurred to me that much of the skintight clothing in videogames is a way to be economical with polygons and computrons.)

I really wished I'd gotten to the Lightning Talks panel. I'm intrigued by the 'ignite' style format of "get in, say something cool, get out", and the time limitation means you're not going to be stuck with too much of a boring blowhard for too long. (I also keep meaning to try to make it to a nerdnite some time, although the talks are longer.)

I liked the expanded dealer's room -- after the hiatus in the Cambridge Hyatt, I feel like the Dealer's Room had taken a big hit, since there was never really a good place for it that was well-accessible. Having an easily-accessible dealer's room again, with con suite and art show all in the same general area was a big win in terms of "hey, I'll go hang out in that space for a while and oh, here's the art show and oh, here's someone selling that movie I hadn't realized was out on dvd yet..."

I think I would like the hotel lobby if it were about 20% smaller, or maybe just laid out differently. LobbyCon is a fun way to spent a chunk of con, but the layout there just needs something. I didn't partake of the dining shuttles, but I approve of the idea and hope it was successful enough to stay - the Westin isn't in the middle of nowhere like the Waltham hotel was, but it's pretty remote from dining options compared to the hotels in the middle of Boston (eg Park Plaza, Copley, Sheraton).

The art show was good, although it felt a little cramped or maybe just a smidge smaller than I'd have liked, presumably to fit that and the dealer's room and the con suite all in the space (the drawback to having it all in once space). I think the quality of art at Arisia remains fairly high, though.

Lots of media choices - video room, movie room, *and* anime room. There was some absolute schlock on Arisia TV, too. ("Astro-Zombies"? It almost seems wrong to run that during daylight hours - it's such a late late late show kind of movie.)

The storm trooper cake was impressive. I didn't bother heading down for the cutting/serving - I figured between it being substantially fondant and the presumed hordes of would-be devourers, I was more inspired by the art of the cake than the potential taste of the cake. A hell of an advertisement opportunity for the bakery, though - they did a great job on it, and got all manner of publicity.

[1] I *was* surprised there were people in the audience who hadn't heard about the whole "yay team rapist" dickwolves fiasco, because I think of that as having had fairly mainstream internet press, and I was a bit surprised that some of the panel hadn't heard about fatuglyorslutty.com.

Comments

[muffyjo]

Wow, I followed the fiasco and the other link...that's some heavy stuff!!!

I'm sorry you got the crud during the con and I really hope that what's tweaking your back gets resolved soon. Call/write if you need anything.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

oh, my back is reasonably fine. enough so that i had no problem shoveling and i'm about to go do some stuff down in the basement.
thanks!

[dfjdejulio.livejournal.com]

I knew nothing about that final link you posted there. It does illustrate why I have virtually no interest in online gaming with strangers, though, doesn't it? And why even on the rare occasions when I do, I have no interest in adding voice chat to it.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't necessarily expect most people to have heard of that site, but I figured the population that would volunteer to be on a panel on women in gaming might be self-selecting for an venn overlap, there.

As for voice chat... Yeah. Same here. I'll occasionally use voice chat when playing TF2 on the PC, but it's easier to find and favorite or blacklist a server if I decide I (dis)approve of their policies and whether they actually hold to them (admins booting people for racist chat or pornographic sprays, for instance).

[istemi.livejournal.com]

I'd join you for nerdnite. The next ones are scheduled for Jan 30, Feb 27, and Mar 26.

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

I love talking about women in gaming in the abstract, but the reality I see is that we're having a hard time finding people for our Warcraft guild. (http://also-huey.livejournal.com/466851.html) Granted, we're a little picky (I think there's only six people in the guild that aren't related somehow) but Mom has decided that getting guild credit for raid achievements is important, and to do that, we need more people. And I've asked pretty much everyone I know, and gotten all of four takers. And only two of those play regularly enough to help.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

You know, if I were going to sample the crack, that sounds like an appealing group to do it with.

I'm avoiding the crack, however, because I know I'd enjoy it a bit too much.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I think I would like the hotel lobby if it were about 20% smaller, or maybe just laid out differently. LobbyCon is a fun way to spent a chunk of con, but the layout there just needs something.

Yeah, I agree. There were a number of issues with the layout and shape of the lobby, at least as a space for hanging out. I spent an evening doing LobbyCon myself, but I didn't think the layout really enhanced the experience.

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

The dealers' room is honestly the only reason I'd go to Arisia any more, and I don't want it enough to buy a membership. But, wow, do I miss getting to browse a truly great selection of used SF books.