August 26, 2006: Disorganized Worldcon Report

So here I am in Anaheim. A good time is being had, but Stevie's tired. The Chaos Machine seems to be a big hit. It's almost always extremely busy . . . so busy that just picking up the bits that people leave on the floor is nearly a full-time job all by itself. And the convention is short enough on volunteers that none of the promised gophers have materialized; Monica and I haven't seen much of the convention yet, because we've been Machine-watching. Fortunately, some friends and MIBs have popped up to help. And it's still FUN . . . but my, a few more breaks would be good, so we could, well, visit Worldcon.

And the next time I do this, the "No Unattended Children" rule will be more prominent than "in the handout AND on the large-type sign near the entrance." It will be in 144-point type, boldface, and, if possible, red and flashing. Because yes, there are parents here at Worldcon who have quietly walked off and left their young children in a busy crowd of strangers who are playing with swallowable objects, electricity, and hot glue . . . and then been sullen when the public address called them to recover their most precious possessions. I haven't had any bad children here yet, but I've met some bad parents.

OK, vent mode off. I don't mean to sound totally negative, because I'm not! We have been given a large and well-lit area, the con staff is uniformly helpful and intelligently supportive, and our visitors are building with such great enthusiasm that I'm out of some parts. That has never come CLOSE to happening before.

And in other news, the one panel I managed to attend gave me some great ideas for making a certain project more realistic. I've gotten to talk to a lot of people that I don't see often enough. A playtest set of Munchkin Cthulhu is in the gaming area and getting good reactions. And I have had two darned interesting discussions about digital gaming.
-- Steve Jackson

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