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

Re: Comps?

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

I doubt I would have gotten involved on the concom of the local convention in Denver if I had to pay for my membership as well. Paying to spend my weekend shift supplies for the art show, running around for GoHs, and folding tee shirts doesn't sound like a good purchase to me.

Re: Comps?

[julesjones]

As the Magician said, it's SOP in the UK. It's How Things Are Done. I've avoided being on the committee (in part because no sane person who knows me would *want* me on a con committee), but I spent a fairly large chunk of most Redemption cons running around Doing Stuff as the conchair's personal gopher. I got a free mug one year, and that's been it. You do it because it's a way of putting back in. It can also be useful for one's CV, but I don't actually know anyone who does it for that reason. (I think.)

Re: Comps?

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

My impression is that the conventions are a great deal smaller in the UK. I mean we have around 1000 actual people attending, not adding up the number of people there each day and MileHiCon is considered a midsized regional by American standards. When cons are smaller and there is more community there is more of a reason to all chip in, so to speak. I wouldn't do that for MileHiCon because frankly it's too big for me to have warm fuzzy feelings about it.