Dear Gen Con: This is not ironic. This is stupid.

Many of my friends and fellow gamers have railed on about the icon that Gen Con uses for it's non-gamer programming -- specifically called "Activities for the Better Half". I'll probably mention them at the end of this, but I wanted to get my view out on the stupidity of its icon:



What's more annoying is Gen Con's official response to Vanir's open letter to them:

Thank you all for your opinions and for calling attention to a wonderful program that Gen Con is proud to support. The process for picking the icon was not an arbitrary one; thought was put into it. It’s hard to pick one “icon” for such a diverse group of people and event types and to find one that wouldn’t be misconstrued as something else. The icon was chosen for its tongue and cheek aspect, nothing more and will remain as is for the time being.

I'd recommend that you also go and read the official letter on Vanir's website. To say that it makes one stabby would be an understatement.

I know that this isn't 10 years ago, or even 15 years ago, when having women at the gaming table was akin to a yeti sighting. I know that we see more women at these events and even young girls at these events. But to use an icon like a ball and chain is demeaning to the non-gamers who come to these events.

I won't go into the history of the ball and chain symbol, like my friend, Katie. I'm just amazed that Gen Con would call this tongue-in-cheek. Whoever thought this was a good idea has not had to sit at gaming tables and feel like they're entering a "boys club" of sorts. Or see the constant pin-up pictures. Or the shirts that make jokes about women (I won't even go into the one man's shirt that was a print of porno actresses making the "O"-face).

It's gotten better, there's no doubt, but things like this continue to give the impression that women aren't welcome.While it's nice that Gen Con has created events for the "better half" -- several of which I would consider attending as a break from dice-slinging (and are going to attend with my husband), the icon is silly.

It's not ironic. It is a blatant dig at nongamers as killjoys. I have always railed on about the stereotype of women as supposedly more "mature" and being the ones who have to rein in the "boys" from their "silly antics." Simply because someone's interests don't always mirror their partner's or family members' does not make their opinion less valid.

Overall, I agree with my friend Alan, who calls it "bad business branding." I would be careful about that Gen Con -- studies (which these Public Relations people should have learned by now) show that women are the majority of buyers in a household -- up to 83 percent in 2008, according to Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen. Do you really think that changes when they come to Indianapolis?

Just something to think about. If you're not willing to take into consideration the opinion of many women gamers like my friend, Eva, at least think about it from the business end. We women have a strong say in where the money goes, and I don't think it's a good idea to forget that.

Home again, jiggity-jig

This morning, when Jeff and I woke up to the sound of Benevolent Dictator babbling and went to say good morning to her, she greeted us with a cool look as if to say, "Where the hell have you been?"

Yep. Home life resumes as normal.

I have to say that it was a wonderful five days at Indy with Jeff during Gen Con. It was nice to reconnect as adults, play games and twice (!!!!) I got to sleep in until 9 a.m. Until you have kids, you don't know what kind of heaven that is.

Anyways, between loads of dirty laundry and helping Jeff's mom get ready to head back to Florida today, I figured I'd just post a top five of my thoughts about Gen Con:

1. Video Games Live was a kick-ass concert. It was wild seeing some of the demo movies and the video game music done by the Indianapolis Symphony. Apparently I knocked the program off of Jeff's knee with excitement when the Tetris theme was played. Then I nearly broke his thigh when we saw the concept art and some animations for Diablo III.

Mmmmm. Diablo III. Want badly.

2. The Oceaniare in Indianapolis is a must-visit if you're looking for a good date night place. The seafood was excellent, the drinks wonderful, the service was attentive, but not fawning and overall, it was a fantastic time. I had raw oysters on the half shell for the first time and yes, they are sexy to eat. There's this sour tang initially and then, when you start chewing, it's just rich and briny and good. Me likey. Me likey a lot.

Like Ruth Chris and other steak joints, you ordered the side dishes with your meal. And even at the "small" portion, they were too big for me and Jeff to finish. Next time (and there will be a next time), we're taking another couple with us.

Confidential to Brian and Kat: This is a place I can easily picture you guys at, nibbling on the food and having cocktails while dressed to the nines. In other words: GET YOUR ASS TO INDY NEXT YEAR SO WE CAN MEET UP AND EAT THERE!

3. I was very disappointed in the Mikado for sushi, food and service. While my udon noodles were good, the eel was bony and not as good as other places. Other people we were with were also disappointed with their sushi for the price we paid. I've had better and cheaper sushi in Madison.

4. The Omni continues to delight me as a good home base for Gen Con. What amused me is that the waiters at the restaurant remembered me from two years ago -- and they continued to give good service during breakfast. The rooms are pretty big, the beds were alright (even though home is still the preferred place to rest my head), if you're a Select Guest there's free wi-fi (and it's not hard to be a select guest) and it was overall a nice place to stay. If you can't get the hamster tube hotels that connect to the convention center, the Omni's not a bad way to go.

5. There's something sexy when you see your husband wearing a RPGA judge's shirt. Or maybe that's just me.

Oh, and a special addition:

6. I'm liking D&D's fourth edition and Living Forgotten Realms promises to be a lot of fun. I feel like this weekend (plus past games) have really made me feel comfortable in the new system. I can't wait to play more of Fourth Edition now.

Greetings from the Con of Gens!

Well, actually Gen Con. I'm currently reporting to you from the Omni in Indianapolis, where Jeff and I are spending some wonderful child-free, adult time doing gaming and other silly things.

As for Benevolent Dictator, she's currently hanging with her Grandma (my mother-in-law) and being a wonderful girl. The phone calls show she's happy and babbling and having a great time. Which alleviates my concerns, because I was afraid that the following was going to happen:



Yes. I am paranoid sometimes.

But it's all working out great. Benevolent Dictator is behaving. We're getting some good games in. It's lovely to be able to linger in bed a little bit instead of getting up immediately to tend to someone's needs. It's nice gaming with Jeff instead of taking shifts. It's lovely eating out in restaurants and doing things at our leisure instead of chasing BD around.

BUT THEN....

We see a baby or a toddler hanging off the hip of their mother or father. We see wee ones in the gaming area or wandering around with gaming badges on. And part of us begins to ache because both of us instantly miss our little brown-eyed girl.

Soon enough. Soon she'll be old enough to appreciate coming here and playing games. Until then, I think that we'll make this our couple time.

Curse you stupid Gen Con database!

It's that time of the year -- time for wailing and gnashing of the teeth as people attempt to register online for Gen Con and hotel rooms.

Yes, I plan on going to Gen Con. I realize that I'll have a six-week old with me. Yes, Jeff and I are hardcore. If everything goes well, we're taking our baby girl to her first Gen Con.

Anyways, we were trying to hook up with the Westin, because it connects via tube to the convention center and is located across the street from the center. The more Jeff reasoned with me, the more I realized that having the convention center close by for emergency diaper changes, feedings, etc. would be nice.

So when Alan called us last night letting us know that registration had opened up (his said he saw the phrase that hotel registration opened up at 12:00:00 AM EST) I was online and buying my badge and making my hotel reservation. To my surprise, I actually got in to register for a hotel room and managed to get the Westin!

Well, the euphoria didn't last long. This morning I got an e-mail saying that our reservation had been canceled. It took me three or four reads to figure out what the hell was going on -- apparently the convention people decided to call it a computer glitch and was canceling approximately 200 reservations made last night. We'd have to re-register again this afternoon.

What bothers me is the fact that out of the hundreds of thousands who visit Gen Con and Indianapolis, the company chose to cancel perhaps one percent of the reservations made because of a glitch on their end. They said that registration opened at 12 a.m. -- aka midnight -- not noon. The website also accepted those reservations from not just me and my friends, but 200 people in all. Not to mention, they took an extra hour to undo all the reservations, which probably messed with everyone else wanting to make their reservations to the hotel.

I'm also irritated by the fact that when I went to reregister, it took an hour for the reservation to go through thanks to time outs and slow connections. Not to mention, when my reservation was shot down, there was no information regarding the fact that the Westin was booked up. It just said that there was a problem with the date or the address information -- nothing about the hotel itself.

Fortunately we do have a hotel (The Omni, which we stayed at last year and found quite nice), but I'm very disappointed with the entire process. I'm also not thrilled that I won't have easy access to the convention center and the hotel. Gen Con's not exactly stroller friendly, so I'll have to carry the wee one, the diaper bag and a gaming bag. Either that or hire a sherpa guide.

I can hear some of you saying "Well don't go to Gen Con then. This is what happens when you have kids -- you have to make adjustments." To that, I call shenannigans. Gen Con is becoming more and more family friendly -- you don't see just children there, but also babies of all ages and sizes. I want to expose my daughter to a hobby that I enjoy and while I know that I've got to make some adjustments (less games to play; no staying out until 2 a.m.; more time in the hotel room feeding, changing, napping, etc.; and trading off with Jeff so we may not be gaming together), I don't believe that this means my life is over.

I attempted to make some accommodations, by following the rules outlined on their website, and it doesn't feel fair that my best effort got shot down because of a glitch on their end.

Stalking the wild Vin Diesel

It's Saturday -- the busiest day of Gen Con, and I've chosen to eat a leisurely breakfast, take a long shower and skip out of another session of Living Greyhawk (which is a large-scale D&D world that has a singular database that tracks characters, exp, etc.).

It's been a pretty good two days so far (as of this moment of quiet solitude where the only sounds right now are Ben's laptop playing music and my clattering on the keyboard).

I can sense him out there right now: Vin Diesel. The man who comes to Gen Con incognito to play games and get his nerd on.

You read right Sid: Vin. Diesel. A guy I know played a game with him one year in Indianapolis. He's apparently a pretty good player.

We're stationed in the Omni Hotel right now, which I've been pretty happy with overall. The king sized bed is big and plush, the breakfast buffet (a must since you eat maybe two times a day) is pretty good, service is nice and there's free wifi in your room. What could be better?

Overall, it's been a pretty good time. Busy with games and meeting people, killing stuff and taking their loot, which is always fun. There's also a dance tonight, which I plan on attending. It's either be one of three things: Really fun, boring and bad, or really fun in a bad train-wreck sort of way.

I have to say that I'm happy with Deadlands Reloaded. We played it yesterday and while I had reservations about the system, it's not bad. Basically it take the Original Flavored Deadlands and streamlines the system a bit. It's still a hell of a lot better than the D20 (aka D&D rules) system of Deadlands, which was hot. buttered. ass.

This year's True Dungeon I wasn't happy with -- too short for the $28.50 ticket and the puzzles weren't as good. There's a costume contest today, but I don't think that I'll be seeing that. Five bucks says that we're going to see a shitload of Star Wars characters, fantasy creations, women wearing as little as legally possible and pirates.

Oh, and the shopping. The sad thing is that there's not much this year except for collectible card games, which I don't like or get. I might buy a corset, but I'm still debating that one back and forth -- especially since I bought more art from the pirate guy, whose stuff I really like.

It also helps that he's a lot of fun to talk to -- about philosophy, religion and sex. We got into a conversation that ping-ponged around religion, politics, the Pope, Bill Clinton and double headed Gummi Worms, which look like a set of, well, cock and balls.

"You know," I remarked, "there's going to be a lot of girls disappointed that their boyfriends don't taste like cherry Gummi Worms."

I love the con. Where else can you find people who can talk as pervy as you do?

Every nerd must do this at least once in their life

Muslims have Hajj. I have Gen Con.

Once again, we're all piling into cars and heading off to the nerd equivalent of Mecca -- Gen Con. It'll be another four days of little sleep, lots of dice rolling and general dorking out.

The coolest thing for me right now? Grant, Tory and Kari from Mythbusters are going to be at the con! I hope I have time to see them (and if not, I might just skip out of a game or two).

This year's different. We're talking about bringing the laptop -- so there might be on-site reporting -- and we've got two roomies this time. So much for romance. Actually -- there's no romance. There's games to be played dammit!

Um yeah....

So I think I promised to do something coherent about Gen Con, but frankly, work and reality continues to get more and more weird and nutty. I've been taking refuge in World of Warcraft with Jeff and his friend Mike. But I suppose I owe at least an abbreviated list of things that I thought were cool at Gen Con:

1. Men in Kilts. The good folks at Utilikilts were at Gen Con hooking many men up with kilts with pockets. I managed to snag one for myself (it's got pockets dammit! Pockets big enough to fit small children in!). Jeff's getting one for his birthday I believe.

Funniest moment was when I was trying on a 50-inch mini-kilt (yes, it's what you think it is). It was too big, but it was entertaining to hear the vendors:

"And you said this wouldn't sell," said one guy.

"No, I said I hoped we WOULDN'T sell it," his coworker responded.

The kilts are quite comfy and nice. I'll probably wear mine to work also.

2. Call of Cuthulu isn't exactly a good game for me. The Gamemaster ran it wonderfully, but it definitely pushed buttons with me. I might play it again -- but I'll make sure to follow up with something silly and cute.

3. True Dungeon continues to rock. Even though a $5 soda in the Tavern is a rip-off. I met a really cool person in out trek. Her name was Gabriella and she was from Brazil. "I'm a gamer!" she said, "I had to come to Gen Con once in my life!"

"Ah," I replied sagaciously. "Yes, it's Mecca for many."

4. Twenty hours of gaming is a bad idea. On Saturday, I played a variety of games from 8-2 a.m., with a one hour break for dinner. Brain. Pudding. Yikes.

5. Many, many, many props to Brian for putting up with 14 people and getting us down to Indianapolis safely. It was probably like herding a bunch of smartass, surly cats, but going to Indy alone probably wouldn't have been as much fun. Also thanks to Michael and Katie for driving Jeff and I down there.

That's pretty much it. Can't wait for next year's nerding out.

Home again...and still recovering....

Made it home last night around 12:30 a.m. I'm still recovering today from the Con of Cons. Slept hardcore until 11 a.m., was surprised by the arrival of Jeff's parents at noon (so much for cleaning the house. I also had to holler at Jeff to get up and shower, since he was still sleeping), drove around in vain to find lunch, before settling in for eats, came home and promptly fell asleep again.

I'm still wonky from the trip. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight. Update about the con to follow. But a couple messages:

1. Sorry Keidra, I didn't get Rob Van Dam's autograph (I only saw him once on Friday and didn't have cash on me to buy something to get his signature).

2. Sid, after Gen Con, the though of flying out to Scotland (while appealing) next week is a no go. I be tired and I've successfully burned through all my vacation this year.

Anyways, off to get my head out of this foggy haze.

Off to Nerdvana

Once a year, to keep what geek status I have (which is pretty decent really, when you consider the fact that I'm a gamer), I must leave town in August and head to the mystical lands known as Indianapolis for Geek Mecca.

For four days, I shall worship in game, shopping and general geekiness. There I shall witness chicks in chain mail bikinis, unwashed masses drinking gallons of Mountain Dew and Rob Van Dam.

I shall dine on convention food, Trader Joe's nut mixes and glorious Italian from Bucca di Beppo (I wonder if we'll be *that* table again this year). I shall not sleep much, but geek hard.

Expect tales of my adventures fair reader and until then, check out the fine links I have on my site! TO THE CON!

If I hear one more thing about jublie jublies...

It is done. Four days of nerding out, playing games, watching chicks in chain mail, acting like a total fangirl in front of computer programmers and other gaming giants, seven hours of driving, we are home from Gen Con.

For those of you who aren't sure what Gen Con is, it's simple. It's the four days out of the year that basement dwellers who sit around playing Dungeons and Dragons and other games come out to daylight and hang out in a central setting to game their brains out.

It's hard to describe everything that goes on there -- it's a lot of stuff from shopping to watching media stars to playing games and ogling booth babes. But there's a few observations that I made.

1. It doesn't matter what type of guy you are. You will be fixated on your genitals. Now don't take this the wrong way. My guy friends are wonderful. I love them and worry about them like a deranged sister or something. But I swear, the talk about cocks, balls, testicles, jublie jublies, size, girth and other things was surprising. I didn't think that these guys would do that. But they did. A lot. I've learned now that it doesn't matter who you are. If you are a man, you'll talk about your balls. Even if it annoys your girlfriend or wife or fiancee.

2. City of Villains is going to RAWK! Shane Lacy Hensley -- the man behind Deadlands (one of the greatest games ever in my opinion) is working on City of Villains. I saw the announcement on Saturday and also promptly made a drooling fangirl mess out of myself when I talked to him. "I love your game man! Deadlands is like the greatest game ever!" Yeah. I'm a dork. If Shane does the same thing with CoV as he did with Deadlands, I'm so looking forward to being a bad girl.

3. Shaolin Soccer is a great flick. New to Gen Con this year was Hong Kong action flicks, a great idea in my opinion. I finally managed to see Shaolin Soccer -- a movie that was promised to show up in the states, but never did. It's a great movie that's funny as hell. I do suggest the import version because I heard that the United States version cut 20 minutes. Something I can't fathom doing because the movie's less than two hours and all of it is pretty damn funny.

4. David Carridene still looks good. I had to stifle my inner fangirl to keep from screaming, "I loved you in Kill Bill!"

5. You do make and keep friends from Gen Con. Last year, we met a guy named Mike who played True Dungeon (a game where you're the adventure party going through the puzzles) and he hung out with us for the entire weekend. The cool thing was that we met up again during the con. He's a cool guy and a great gamer. I can't wait to see him again next year. Hopefully he'll bring his girlfriend.

Edited to add: I forgot one really, REALLY cool thing I saw this weekend. A black chick being the gamemaster -- not a player, but running the game. It's so rare to see minority women at these sort of things. I mean, I couldn't stop doing double takes. I hope she was good at what she was doing.

If anything, that shows the changing demographics of gamers. They're no longer simply white men who are socially retarded. It's families -- men and women of all races, kids and even babies. That was awesome to me. I'm going to be one of those moms that drags their kids to these things. And hopefully they'll be beautifully behaved. Or I'll taser them.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

It's the most wonderful time of the year,
With dice that are rolling,
And fanboys watching chicks in chain-mail gear,
It's the most wonderful time of the year!

It's the most wonderful time of the year,
It's the hap-happiest season of the them all,
We're heading to Gen Con to game our brains out,
And our bosses won't be able to call
It's the hap-happiest season of them all!

I'm off to Nerdvana, aka Gen Con, for four days of gaming, shopping and people watching. Hopefully I can post on the road, but there's only like two computers in the entire hall, so I doubt it.

Anyways, I'll fill ya'll in later.