But here I am again!
So, GenCon!
Amazing event, really. It's awesome to be able to see and try so many great events. The vendors were awesome this year, Steampunk as far as the eye could see.
I met two of my all time favorite authors this year, Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weiss. If you haven't read their work, I highly recommend it. It was so exciting to finally meet people that started me on my journey in reading fantasy, all those many years ago. They are both very personable and engaging. Mr. Hickman is a really funny guy, on top of being a great writer.
Met Wil Wheaton as well this year, very cool guy. It's really awesome to see him wandering the con and being the same excited fan boy that the rest of us are.
Mayfair games was out in full force with Star Trek Catan. Interesting game, and we went home with a copy.
All the D&D stuff was really interesting this year. I got to take a first look at the Neverwinter Nights MMO that is still in pre-alpha stage. Very nice graphically, but I'd have to say I need to see more before I can say I really like it. Seems kinda par for the course, but it's still really early in the development stage. They do plan on having a armor dye system, AND gear that levels with you (much like the SWTOR orange modable gear), so that's kinda awesome. In talking with the lead dev, it sounds like they have a lot of good ideas, and I'll be interested to see what makes it into game and what doesn't.
More D&D, they are pushing new product this year centered around the Drow. Nice story lines, and sometimes it's just fun to be evil. So they had a ton of product demos. And, really cool thing...you got free dice for each event you did to make a complete set. AWESOME! Game demos and free dice. Win. So here is what they look like, and I literally finished the last event 30 minutes before the con ended. Whew! Talk about cutting it down to the wire.
And! Excitement!
I got paint miniature figurines again. I used to do this as a hobby, and I have always loved it. My first two tries were kinda cruddy, but the last one I painted turned out great!
Not professional great, but still awesome...considering I haven't done this in 10 years.
Here is some detail of the back of my fig.
Whew! I'm tired all over again.
So, now to the down side of cons...for a lot of ladies anyways, but this is my experience.
I get to the con and I'm all like this!
And then I slow down to start looking at things and asking questions. But a lot of the booths are filled with well, things kinda like this.
But the thing that really bothered me, is that hardly any booths were engaging me. I'd walk up, poke around...and the dudes working there never said hi. Never asked me (or other ladies) if I had a question. Bummer. And no, it wasn't because they were busy. I can't fault them for being engaged with other people. That would be a tad bit unreasonable.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not all like "OMG! COVER ALL THE SKIN!" "BAN THE BOOBIES!" That's not it, not at all.
I get that barely dressed ladies have a firm niche in the fantasy and sci-fi markets. I don't think it will ever go away, and it probably shouldn't. It is fairly iconic of the genre and a lot of people appreciate it. And I know some RL ladies find skin empowering. That's cool. I have no problems with that. I think the female form is quite beautiful.
But this idea that women are eye candy and have to be shown cavorting around in magical chain mail bikinis gets, tiresome. Women "warriors" wearing two leather straps, body oil and some bunny fur, while writhing around with a giant snake is old.
I think that's the best word for it, tiresome. It's predictable and tiresome.
And sadly, this idea of women being objects seeps through the culture to a certain degree.
So how about some balance? Why not have a little bit of something for everyone?
So after all that, I was pleasantly surprised to come across the DGS Games booth. Why?
I was instantly greeted, and I noticed something startling about their figures, the women were dressed.
No really!
Check it out... http://www.dgsgames.com/
So cool, and yep, there is skin. But, it is very tastefully done.
Like this!
I gotta hand it to the folks at DSG games, they have done some wonderful sculpting and kept the femininity, and sensuality while not venturing into the trashy category.
Kudos to them.
So while it's not always sunshine and daisies at Cons...I still have to say it's a good time. And hopefully int he future, we'll see more of a balance in how female characters are portrayed in the genre.
Just remember your deodorant. No one likes gamer funk. No one.
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