When I think of Comic-Con, I cringe. When I think of DragonCon, I also *cringe*, for reasons not just related to size. I think if what you want is a *reallly* big dealers room, and a *reallly* big list of panels and a *lot* of celebrities and famous authors and big name fans you can stand in line to see, you probably would love that sort of con. If you're that sort of person, I'm sure you'd want to grow Worldcon bigger.
But I'm not that kind of person. What I want are parties that are interesting and not overrun with dickish guys going from door to door asking if there's beer. What I want is a party floor -- or party spaces -- that have room to move around, to sit, to carry on conversations. What I want is for the socializing to be intimate, without being invite-only. I want con spaces that are manageable to walk around and have lots of space for social interaction, without being too loud or crowded for conversation. I like *couches*. I want cons to be more like cocktail parties and less like stadium events.
I just don't think that happens with bigger cons. With something like a party floor, there's just a limit to how big hotel hallways are, how much room there is in hotel rooms, how many people you can fit on one floor. If Worldcon was at 30K, or even 10K people, party floors would either be constantly wedged (which they very nearly are now) or they would have to change. Can you imagine using a pass system to determine who can go to parties and when? Oh, sure, it would help with elevators, but it would suck for all the things I love about conventions.
Fanime has a mess more people than other bay area cons I attend these days. I spent about half an hour at Fanime this year, in the convention center, running an errand. I found the noise and crowding almost unbearable -- and I'm more extroverted than many people I know in fandom. Growing Worldcon? I'd end up staying home.
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But I'm not that kind of person. What I want are parties that are interesting and not overrun with dickish guys going from door to door asking if there's beer. What I want is a party floor -- or party spaces -- that have room to move around, to sit, to carry on conversations. What I want is for the socializing to be intimate, without being invite-only. I want con spaces that are manageable to walk around and have lots of space for social interaction, without being too loud or crowded for conversation. I like *couches*. I want cons to be more like cocktail parties and less like stadium events.
I just don't think that happens with bigger cons. With something like a party floor, there's just a limit to how big hotel hallways are, how much room there is in hotel rooms, how many people you can fit on one floor. If Worldcon was at 30K, or even 10K people, party floors would either be constantly wedged (which they very nearly are now) or they would have to change. Can you imagine using a pass system to determine who can go to parties and when? Oh, sure, it would help with elevators, but it would suck for all the things I love about conventions.
Fanime has a mess more people than other bay area cons I attend these days. I spent about half an hour at Fanime this year, in the convention center, running an errand. I found the noise and crowding almost unbearable -- and I'm more extroverted than many people I know in fandom. Growing Worldcon? I'd end up staying home.