If you go to the Origins gaming convention website right now, you'll see they have an image randomizer as the header. I'm always fascinated by how niche hobbies (gaming, comics, video games, etc) market themselves, because they almost always just end up speaking to the converted... even though they bluster and worry about expanding the audience beyond those of us who are already presold on the concept. "We've got to get more people interested in gaming! It's not just a hobby for self-loathing losers!" Nine times out ten, the whole thing just comes off as creepy to anybody on the outside looking in.
Take the image that loaded first for me tonight:
Nothing weird about that, right. Cute teen girl and dessicated corpse, perhaps the victim of a horrific car crash.
Now, I happen to know that's from the Twilight Creations booth, makers of the Zombies!!! board game. In fact, last year I tried to get Clark to pose with the dead body, but he would not go near it. But is that the kind of dopey image you'd want all by itself at the top of the page, without context? It speaks to con-going tabletop gamers, but anybody else would think they've wandered into a Dateline NBC expose.
Then I got this image, the Gamers in Prison POV:
Nothing says fun like a shot of people waiting in line!
For as long as we've been going to Origins (since 2000), they've had this weird problem with marketing the event like it's some kind of boring family reunion. My favorite was the year they sent out a direct mailer with pictures of the event organization team standing behind stacks of game boxes. As if a bunch of old white guys is going to rally people to sign up. They looked like they were awaiting execution.
OK, that's more like it. This is the Blue Ocean pic. Gaming's next generation.
Yeah, there is a TON of minis gaming at Origins. It's a big deal. Even as a non-minis gamer, I always walk around the extravagant arenas and cities and forests and castles, admiring the craftsmanship.
That said, without showing people standing around the table, it's impossible for a casual onlooker to determine what this is. Could just be some kind of art show, for all anybody knows.
THAT said, it is really hard to get decent pictures of dudes in a tabletop miniatures game. You either get incomprehensible closeups like this one, or you get faraway shots of fat dudes standing around a folding table with their hands in their pockets.
Hey, it's Andrew Looney of Looney Labs! This seems like a nice choice as it actually shows people who might be having fun, in the process of having it... not waiting in line to perhaps have it.
Underage. Underage. Underage. Again, sort of hard to defend without the proper "hey, it's a pop culture thing" context.
We saw these girls last year. Nice cosplay. Doesn't have crap-all to do with gaming, but nice cosplay.
Overall, this just isn't the kind of event you can sell to people without multiple, juxtaposed photos. Taken one at a time, it seems like you already have to be on the inside in order to understand what you're looking at.
I know I've issued this warning before about ceasing this annual trip, but our enjoyment of Origins has dropped off over the past few visits... mostly because the big name companies just do not seem to attend this con any more. WizKids went bankrupt. Wizards of the Coast has their own convention.
I don't even think there will be a Pokemon presence at this year's Origins, which will suck because that was a huge deal for Clark last year.
It always used to be that we would go to the con, do a ton of demos, get a lot of free junk, play a lot of games, and buy heaps of cool stuff. Lately, it seems like there simply is not as many demos or giveaways, and we only end up playing with the folks we came with. Which we could do anywhere.
I love the 24 hour convention atmosphere, I love walking around to see the kinds of games people enjoy, and I love that Columbus is a reasonable drive from home. But everything else just doesn't seem as robust as it used to be. I am sad.
Leave a comment