On the Road (May 1999, from Boston Area Gamers Guild Newsletter)

The Truth is Out There

(Location: West Roxbury and South Weymouth, MA)

Welcome to the new generation of conventions, ladies and gentlemen. The truth is out there, and in this case, the truth hurts. My recent travels took me to the X-Files Expo at the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station. This one can safely be put into the category of more meaning less. In spite of great atmosphere and big-budget production values, the event delivered very little in the way of entertainment, especially when the $27 price tag was considered.

Not that this was a completely bad day. I started out the morning at the Roxbury Latin School’s annual yard sale. Roxbury Latin, my alma mater, uses this event to raise funds once a year. If you like books or games then this is a sale you don’t want to miss. It happens every Spring at the Roxbury Latin school in West Roxbury. Used games were priced from $.50 to $5.00, plus a huge selection of books for $1.00 to $2.00. Of course, it’s all pot luck, but I came away with an Abalone set, a copy of the boardgame All the King’s Men (one of my childhood favorites), a couple of SF novels, and a beautiful pair of silver chalices ($3.00 each; hard to beat that price, and these things are great LARP props!).

So as I headed down to Weymouth, I was in a pretty good mood. And mood can be an important thing at these types of events. That’s one thing that the organizers of the X-Files Expo were well aware of. The atmosphere of the event was perfect. Picture a run-down hangar in the midst of a seemingly deserted government installation, the entrance guarded by expressionless men in black… You get the idea. These guys had a strong sense of the dramatic, and it continued once you were inside the building. The entire con took place in a darkened hangar, illuminated by spotlights and blacklights, with a constant barrage of sound clips and effects.

The problem here is that great atmosphere cannot save a mediocre convention, and no matter how much you love X-Files, this show simply failed to deliver. Most of the dealers’ merchandise was stuff you could get at Spencer’s or one of several other mall stores. The computer area consisted mostly of a big interactive advertisement for AOL, and the autograph sessions (with actors William B. Davis, Nicholas Lea, Dean Haglund, amd Bruce Harwood) were so spread out that you had to stay the whole day to get all the autographs. They would have been much better off to hold two signings, one earlier and one later with all the guests present at once.

There were some good things: previews of the movie, a chance to play the new CD-Rom game, and blooper reels. But these things are par for the course at any decent SF convention. What was really missing was the social aspect. There was no provision for fan groups to distribute flyers (I ended up dropping the BAGG flyers I had brought on an unoccupied table in the snack area), and the place was so loud that conversation or meeting fellow fans was difficult at best. The “fan club area” was just a big advertisement for the “official” fan club, which is really just a magazine subscription.

Those of you who attend a lot of media conventions will find all of this familiar, I’m sure. It’s the classic debate over the “fan-run” versus the “corporate” conventions. Well if this is as good as a “corporate” convention can get, and as I have mentioned a lot of money went into this (and it appeared to be making a lot as well; with big crowds thanks to massive radio advertising), then plant me firmly in the “fan-run” camp. It was an enjoyable day, but I think for my part, I’ll stick with locally run events.

See you on the road.

 

 

 

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