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

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkvictory/]

We still require people like you to share their passion with other fans. We still require a commitment from the "potato salad" group to bring the potato salad to the potluck.

I don't think it's specifically generational. I think the customer base for "I just want to pay $15 and be entertained" has grown as SF has become mainstream popular entertainment.

To tie in to the potluck analogy: suppose it's time for supper. I can go to House o' String o' Chains, where I pay so many $ and know exactly what they are going to bring me, or I can pay $50 and go to a potluck at the Fan Palace, where I bring my own potato salad and sample whatever else everyone else brings. It's up to me to make the Fan Palace experience worth my time and money. Two different experiences that appeal to two different groups (though there is some overlap).

It's harder to find "it's up to me" people, but I believe they are out there.