Chiefs Gencon 2011 Review

After 2 months of grueling work as an archery director I loaded into a van at midnight with my parents and departed on a grand adventure across the country. This road trip was going to be ending in Indianapolis, Indiana, the mission was to take part in the grand event called GenCon.
Alright, I am going to skip to the good part. So this year I managed to come out to GenCon 2011 (big thanks to my parents, they paid and drove to the event as a graduation gift!) Overall GenCon was great, I got to play lots of scape and lots of video games. I was able to look at the dealers hall as well. Do not worry though, I am not here to tell my tales, only to give my about GenCon its self. Lets start off with the first day.
The convention center its self is very nice, very spacious, has lots of restrooms, and a good number of drinking fountains. Due to my lack of research I had to put in ticket orders while driving to the event, this then required me to use the will-call line. This line was (unusually everyone said) over 3 hours worth of waiting in long. Everyone in the line was very upset and the staff controlling it were very unfriendly and seemed to snap and yell at all of us. Once you approached the will-call stations they had managed to pack the tickets in backwards into the receptionists boxes. This made things even more painful. At this time I need to note this is my parents recollection, as they waited in line and let me go to the Heroscape event I was scheduled to play.
For my personal approach, I too was yelled at and upset with the will-call line. But once I left it was a whole different world. You new you were going to have a fun time. As you walk through the halls you see people dressed from the average joe, to a costumed D&D player, to a perfect replica suit of Bobba Fett walking around. Some costumes are quite outstanding and very nice looking. Others not much, you also have those occasional ladies (old and young) that wear very ... skimpy outfits.
As a heroscaper I headed to our event tables for the CTF tournament. When you first approach the tables and event section you are ... overwhelmed. We were located in a 5 x 5 or so set of tables in the middle of a giant room. Our surroundings were Magic, D&D, War Machine, and many other popular games with gigantic setups and huge groups (in the hundreds) But we had our little piece of heaven. When you finally make your way to the Heroscape section you encounter a few various groups of people discussing whatever it may be. Everyone is pretty nice and introduces you into the circles and you get to know everyone else and finally put faces to the names of all of those well known heroscapers such as Hendel (who is very intense when you play him, but a very very nice gentleman and very thoughtful.) Dok (who I already know) and many many others. There are also a great number of others who are just great people, very nice, smart, and outgoing. Then immediately you just start playing the game we all love.
Over the course of the week I entered into various video game events and Heroscape events, every time there were prizes and great people. (excluding the kid I made scream and throw down his controller because I kept killing him in Call of Duty) generally the other players are very chivalries and thoughtful, but still very competitive. The judges are very fair and know the rules and their events inside and out. As you travel around the convention center there is just to much to gaze at when your not competing.
The main things that attract your attention are game rooms and costumes. The costumes are about 50% of the outfits in the buildings. There are lots of great well planned costumes that are entertaining to look at. The event staff (convention and GenCon) are for the most part very nice, help you find your way around, and great at serving food (which is not to bad.) The only other thing that you would need to look at if you travel all of the halls, from room to room, is the dealers hall.
Overall the dealers hall is an ... exciting experience. It is the one place that is packed with people and does not have quite enough room, but it is not terrible. Most of the booths are designed well and have great products, but under manned, so expect a 5 to 10 minute wait to buy anything you want to purchase. The art exhibits are very impressive as well, lots of talent and lots of art, I was slightly in heaven. The best thing of the dealers hall is the demos of games out and to come out, the previews of new products, and most definitely the freebies from the tickets in your door prize bag and from playing a demo. The people are pretty great as well.
This leads me to my closing opinion. Over all GenCon is a great event, as anything else it has some minor hiccups but the day goes on. It is quite euphoric to see all of these people around you with a similar goal, game game game!
The Heroscape events themselves are ran excellently and we know its because of our great members and all of the great time and detail they put into it. I would recommend GenCon to any moderate gamer or above. Even the occasional gamer (such as my self) who enjoys games, but plays few, will love it. It is a great cultural experience and gives you a desire to want to game even more, which does not hurt anyone. Any extreme gamer will have fun, dressed up or not you get to experience your community you love to the extreme and will make you have some life time friends and experiences.
Chief

P.S. my favorite thing at GenCon 2011 was getting to meet fellow scapers, Truth (as a game designer running his booth) and definitely Craig V. the maker and legend of Heroscape and the rising Battleship Galaxies.