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Archon's the Collinsville-based (roughly St Louis-area) sci-fi convention I try to make it to every year. It's your standard Friday-Sunday convention, though for a little while, it was actually up to Thursday-Sunday. If you don't know about it, it's known locally as a party convention and when I was younger, it really felt like it was the area convention to get to. That was long before I could drink, and this is a place where the beer is free after 5 PM. I was really bummed when Kay and I didn't have enough money really for even one ticket last year but this year, thanks to spending wedding gift money on them months ago, we were able to both go even if we couldn't afford costumes or hotel rooms.
Okay, so we both had a good time. There were a lot of people in cool outfits and we both got our drink on in a strange, nerdy environment. I mean, that's the upside. We're both glad we went. But I can't help notice that Archon's a convention that's in decline when it comes to stuff to actually do. The panels weren't especially interesting sounding (to me), and seemed really uninspired. (There was a huge amount of Dr Who programming on Friday, and I get it, I do, but even if it's the anniversary, I think that's largely bad programming because there wasn't much besides Dr Who.) There used to be foam fighting, and now there's not. There used to be rooms that would show anime series and sci-fi movies, and now there's not. The programming book used to have details on where and when gaming events and tournaments were being held, and there either wasn't much of that this year or they just didn't tell anyone. The open gaming room in the convention center looked blocked off on casual observation. I mean, and this is as much a problem with Amazon and Ebay as anything else, but the dealer's room hasn't sold me anything but snacks in about half a decade. I couldn't even get Japanese snacks this year, which is usually an easy purchase.
So, what's up with that? I assume various conflicts of interest. For example, I heard that there was some bickering between the convention head and the people who ran the video rooms, and the rooms they used to use were remodeled in the hotel, and people just sleeping in those rooms was terribly common which the hotel probably wasn't keen on. The weapon binding rules are so tight, I think that actually precluded foam fighting. Cutting pages in the program surely saved money, and programming might just have been a mistake. None of that's really my responsibility, though. Like, it's not my call. All I know was that until 5 PM? The convention was actually pretty dull. 'Pretty Dull' is usually not good enough to get me to spend 50+ dollars per ticket to take up a whole weekend.
Everything else has been catching up. I picked up Alice's Adventures in Wonderland from our shelves at home, since I've never read it and I guess it's a classic, but it hasn't exactly hooked me.
Okay, so we both had a good time. There were a lot of people in cool outfits and we both got our drink on in a strange, nerdy environment. I mean, that's the upside. We're both glad we went. But I can't help notice that Archon's a convention that's in decline when it comes to stuff to actually do. The panels weren't especially interesting sounding (to me), and seemed really uninspired. (There was a huge amount of Dr Who programming on Friday, and I get it, I do, but even if it's the anniversary, I think that's largely bad programming because there wasn't much besides Dr Who.) There used to be foam fighting, and now there's not. There used to be rooms that would show anime series and sci-fi movies, and now there's not. The programming book used to have details on where and when gaming events and tournaments were being held, and there either wasn't much of that this year or they just didn't tell anyone. The open gaming room in the convention center looked blocked off on casual observation. I mean, and this is as much a problem with Amazon and Ebay as anything else, but the dealer's room hasn't sold me anything but snacks in about half a decade. I couldn't even get Japanese snacks this year, which is usually an easy purchase.
So, what's up with that? I assume various conflicts of interest. For example, I heard that there was some bickering between the convention head and the people who ran the video rooms, and the rooms they used to use were remodeled in the hotel, and people just sleeping in those rooms was terribly common which the hotel probably wasn't keen on. The weapon binding rules are so tight, I think that actually precluded foam fighting. Cutting pages in the program surely saved money, and programming might just have been a mistake. None of that's really my responsibility, though. Like, it's not my call. All I know was that until 5 PM? The convention was actually pretty dull. 'Pretty Dull' is usually not good enough to get me to spend 50+ dollars per ticket to take up a whole weekend.
Everything else has been catching up. I picked up Alice's Adventures in Wonderland from our shelves at home, since I've never read it and I guess it's a classic, but it hasn't exactly hooked me.
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From:
A structural decline
1. The internet. This is the clear reason for the dealer room's decline. Basically anything non-perishable that you want you can find cheaper and more conveniently online throughout the year. People don't buy stuff, so dealer's don't come, or aren't willing to pay as much (one of the reason for the increasing prices despite reduced content for individuals). Most of the people who set up shop ever year at this point are doing it out of habit. I used to save all year to buy something big at Archon, I haven't done that in a decade. The people who run the con claim the video room is a casualty of the internet as well, since it's stated purpose was to help people see stuff they couldn't find locally. Now that reason is gone. Even the panels are a casualty of this. I love Doctor Who but I didn't bother to go to any of the "Coming soon!" or rumors panels because I've already read all of it online.
2. Hotel/Convention relations. Archon had a sweet deal going with the mobbed-up Holiday Inn by the convention center for years, until the hotel was found guilty of tax evasion and taken over by the city. After Hilton (Doubletree) bought the hotel, they've insisted (horror of horrors) on following the law, restricting alcohol consumption and people sleeping in public areas (the real reason the video room is gone). When volunteers ran Hospitality they used to start serving beer again on Sunday mornings! That's crazy! (And fun...)
3. The Staff is old. The people who run Archon have been doing it for decades. They don't recognize the con as being in decline, and they don't seem to care about most of the stuff you're talking about. Take the boffer weapons, for example. Those were brought about by a local group that offered them to people for fun. Those guys don't do it anymore. And the con staff has made no effort to replace them. Any complaints about the con will be met with, "Well, why don't you do it then?" I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they don't recruit guests anymore, they just wait for people to e-mail them.
They really do see their job just to make the reservations and let the con-goers do the rest. Pre-2007 there was an intense push by the group that runs Archon to improve the con so that they could win NASFIC in 2007, but since then nobody seems to care. Archon is on auto-pilot, which is not so great when the plane is pointing downwards.
The internet is a big problem for conventions designed for a pre-internet era and the people in charge don't seem to recognize it for the existential threat that it is -- they're in the newspaper business in 1999. And the hotel situation just makes it worse, but since the only thing the con staff really cares about is the Masquerade* on Saturday night they won't switch to a more accommodating site since nowhere else in the area has a big enough space to use for it.
Anyway, we're doomed. Well, not really. But the con won't change until new people are running it, and I don't expect to see such turnover for at least another five years. It's my understanding that Archon has gone through soft periods before, it'll either dwindle in size until new people right the ship, or it'll get cannibalized by Kawa-Kon.
*Also note that zero interesting panels are permitted between 2 PM and 9 PM on Saturday, since the people who run the con are all at the Masquerade, they won't schedule anything they want to go to during the run-up.
From:
Re: A structural decline
If I have a surplus of money and I'm able to do it easily, I'll probably return to Archon next year. If it strains my budget or it's particularly difficult to schedule, it probably won't be worth my time. I mean, I really like going, but it's not because of the convention, it's because my friends are there to party.