RPGaDay: Comfort

I miss in-person conventions, so I'm thinking about what makes me, a shy introvert, feel comfortable about going to an in-person convention.

Familiarity is a big one.  The conventions I'm most likely to go to are ones I've been to before.  I have the logistics sorted out.  I know how to get there, where to park for a reasonable price, and how to find the venue.  (It's usually possible to find a convention just by following a trail of nerds, but I try not to be dependent on that.)  I know what the tea and coffee situation is, and where I can get lunch.  I know how the convention itself works, particularly game sign-up.  And I know some of the faces I'm going to see.

Familiar faces are also something that make me more comfortable with trying a new convention.  Spaghetti ConJunction was an easy sell having run into Simon and Pookie plenty of times at Concrete Cow.  I've spent enough time talking and gaming online with the Manchester crowd that I'd be quite happy going to any of the conventions up there if it wasn't for the fairly horrendous journey.

And travel is a big one, of course.  Concrete Cow is a short drive for me.  Spaghetti ConJunction is further, but still reasonable for a day trip.  I'm absolutely more open to trying something new if it isn't going to require an overnight stay.  So far the only convention I've stayed over for was the Dudley Bug Ball, and that's because I knew I'd be able to spend any free time hanging out with Gill Pearce.

North Star at the Garrison was supposed to be my first venture into full weekend pre-booked conventions, but of course 2020 happened.

What all of these conventions have in common is size.  None of them are particularly big, with sizes ranging from around thirty to around seventy.  I'll cheerfully go to this kind of event, but big conventions don't appeal in the same way.  I'm pretty nervous about running a game at UK Games Expo this weekend, and I only signed up for that because it's virtual.  I haven't signed up for any other games at it either.  I avoided GenCon entirely, despite it being virtual too.  Right now, small conventions are more comfortable for me.  Perhaps once we're playing in person again and I can start doing more events, that might start to change.  There's this one in a holiday camp that everyone seems to think is amazing...

I like to know there's a code of conduct.  I don't think I've ever seen one have to be used, but as a female gamer, knowing that if something does go wrong there's a procedure to deal with it is very reassuring.  Codes of conduct also serve to dissuade a certain type of gamer from showing up, and we're all better off without an infestation of edgelords.

A lot of the hurdles in getting me to a convention can be overcome with a decent internet presence.  A website doesn't have to be particularly sophisticated.  If it's got a photo of the venue, information on nearby car parks, descriptions of where lunch can be obtained, and a code of conduct, it's already well on the way to convincing me to show up.

And next year, it's going to be a particularly easy sell.