Who Killed the Con Chair?

[jducoeur]

Having just been reminded by alexx_kay of some of the other games I've run at Intercon, I've edited my Ten Year Meme accordingly. I am reminded that, if anyone wants to see just how silly I can get when I'm really pressed, take a read through the home page for Who Killed the Con Chair?, the "con game" that I wrote in a couple of weeks flat for Intercon the Thirteenth...

(Edit: It occurs to me that, in the interests of truth in advertising, I should point out that many of the ideas in this game came from vortexofchaos. He and I spent several very long BS sessions coming up with the concepts, and I then coalesced it together...)

Comments

[laurion]

One of the handfuls of things I regret is not going to Intercon 13. Intercon 14 was my first Intercon. Thanks for fueling that regret. *grin*

[jducoeur]

Well, in the interests of truth in advertising, Who Killed the Con-Chair? crashed and burned. It was a clever idea, but revealed to me an important point: you can't make people play a game.

The game was a fairly deep secret, known only to a few members of the Concom before the con started -- everyone got a sealed envelope at the door, a character packet that was to be opened during Opening Ceremonies. Problem is, the game was supposed to be played in the interstices of the convention, and especially at the Saturday evening dance, but most folks needed that downtime. So the game never really got critical mass.

It was fun to write, and a good learning experience, but the main scenario Saturday evening simply didn't gel. It's a pity: it was intended to be fun, silly and lightweight, but it really did require at least 60 people actively participating in order to work and simply didn't get that.

So, live and learn. Experience says that guerilla games can work, but only if they are structured so that they work with a modest fraction of the con participating actively, and don't depend on any specific players. (For an example of a guerilla game that worked really well, see hungrytiger's zombie game a few years back. Trivial and silly, but exactly the right weight to play for a few minutes here and there...)

[laurion]

Oh yes, I remember the Zombies thing going around. I helped out with a similarly structured game at I-Gazebo called Impressment! about being impressed into a variety of naval crews, but the format of the con made it trickier for that to get off the ground.

[jducoeur]

Well, bear in mind that hungrytiger's game had one great advantage over all others of this form: it gave people the excuse to wander around going "Braaaaiiiinssss" for five minutes every now and then. That's remarkably cathartic, halfway through the con...