I Have Seen the Future...

[kevin_standlee]

...of SF conventions and fandom, and it frightens me. Any of you who think I'm a lunatic for trying to do anything I can to drive down the cost of Worldcons and that $200 is a bargain for what it provides (I know it is, but how do you prove that to anyone who isn't already an insider), go look at this Journal and this one for a glimpse of what people really want.

Among the tidbits: regarding the local 400-person SF con, currently costing (Canadian)$50 at the door, one person in particular said that the most s/he would consider reasonable for an SF convention of that size would be $15, tops. Maybe $7.50 for a single day.

Here's another particularly depressing post:

Basing a convention around bringing people together to chat won't work anymore. It was fine in the eighties, but we have the Internet now. I can get together to "share my fandom" with people in Panama, Poughkeepsie, or Paraguay for, essentially, free.

I'm not sure where the "potluck" analogy came from, but I don't care for it. Not because it's not an apt simile for Con-Version's vision, because it is. Rather, because potlucks only succeed when every attendee does an equal amount of work. I don't want to do work in order to go to a con. If I wanted to do work, I would join the concom. I pay $50 to have work done FOR me. I give you money; you show me things.

I hate to sound like I'm grousing about the younger generation, but if this is really what the next generation of would-be fandom thinks, We Are Doomed.

Comments

[redneckotaku.livejournal.com]

As a new person to Worldcon in 2007, I am having a hard time justifying in my mind Worldcon. Maybe, I am thinking of it too much like Balticon (a regional convention of 2,000 people). I cringe at the thought of a $200 registration fee to go. I doubt I will have the money for $180 registration fee by June 30th unless I pay with a Credit Card. The most expensive I con I have ever registered for is Otakon this year at $50 for 3 days. If a Worldcon bid decided to make it a 3 full day event (without a membership cap), I would vote for that bid in a new york minute because it may mean a $30 savings at least for a membership.

[avt-tor.livejournal.com]

Maybe, I am thinking of it too much like Balticon (a regional convention of 2,000 people). I cringe at the thought of a $200 registration fee to go.

This puzzles me. You can afford $2000+ for roundtrip airfare and hotel to go to Japan, but you can't afford $200 for membership?

I am mystified by the argument that we should act as a free marketing agency for the airlines, and that people would be happy to spend many hundreds or even thousands of dollars to see a convention where nothing happens.

[redneckotaku.livejournal.com]

No, I couldn't have afforded the airline tickets to Tokyo without winning them from a local radio station. My apologies for not being clear on this. The only way I can even consider 2007 Worldcon is because I won those tickets.

My trip is going to be 9 days in Japan. When you have 5 of those days in a Worldcon, that is over half of your trip in one place. I am trying to figure out whether a foreign Worldcon is worth the time and money to attend or should I put the extra time into seeing the country.