Game Fest and Musing of San Diego

From my rant that I posted on rpg-sandiego.org

must have been blind and deaf because I don't know what happened this year. Now that I've been buying/playing at GT for a year and familier with the staff and regulars I was shocked and appalled by the lack of support by the gaming community. There was a community there... the Game Towne community. Perhaps I was niave in thinking that Game Fest this year was going to be as good if not better than last, and year before.

In the two games I ran, and the one I played only 1 person did not have a GM ticket (free entry for anyone who runs 2 or more games). Last year we had 3-4 players with tickets in Uhlan's games. Count Zero warned me but I stuck it out in hope that Game Fest would come through. I even ran full fledged d20 Fading Suns because the d20 community is so large and vast that certainly they would be interested. I also ran vampire and I quickly discovered that there is only 1 vampire player in San Diego. Or maybe it is only 1 vampire playing in San Diego who shops at Game Towne. Or, it was 1 vampire player who was aware of Game Fest. Or 1 vampire player who cared.

So it seemed consistant with all the games. Lack of interest with the exception of the regulars who are waiting for a game at 6, showed up to another game that got cancelled ex ex.

Since writing that I got to play in one more game and had a lot of fun. I also discovered why I was so disappointed with Game Fest this year. Game Fest last year was probably on par but it was magical. This had to do with the fact that I'd only been living in San Diego for 2 months and only knew a few people. It was at Game Fest 03 that I would meet a lot of people who would become good friends.

Perhaps I was wanting to do that for someone else. Wanting some new gamer to walk into Game Fest looking for people to meet and I could help show him the way. In some ways I got to do this when my old friend Scott and his wife, Denise, moved to San Diego. It was nice to show someone around the city. Show them my favorite places. It made me feel like part of the city.

Of course it didn't help that on my way to Gamefest on Saturday I decided to the back route getting directions from a friend who is native to SD. Of course I get confused and drive into incoming lane. Luckily, I managed to spin around before any traffic was heading our way.

So, I realize that in a year I've learned a lot but still have a lot to learn.