wherever it is, I'm going next year.

I'll tell you what though -- I'll give the Host credit. Between us we probably went through eight or ten bottles of whiskey between Thursday and Sunday morning (two of them were mine) and if they wanted to be up tight about it they could lower the boom and force us to buy our provisions from the hotel bar that's just a few feet away. They even give us empty glasses to drink it in. That may have saved us $1000 at normal bar prices.

So next year if we're at the some new ritzy place with that charges $175 a night and posts ushers in open gaming to make sure no one brings outside food or beverage, are we going to maybe pine a little for the easy ride we got in the run-down old Host?

Here's looking forward to another bacchanal in the Lancaster Room next year!

S.

SuperflyTNT wrote:


There goes the neighborhood.

Sagrilarus wrote:


Then you will be able to see the true expertise of ThirstyMan rise to the fore....smuggling alcohol into places where you shouldn't have it!!!

Sagrilarus wrote:


This. I feel for most of the staff at the Host, because they bear the brunt of the customers ire when yet another bubble gum and bailing wire contraption breaks down. Like the bartenders who deal with constantly malfunctioning beer taps.

Msample wrote:


100% agree. I saw some appalling behaviour from customers to the one bar staff the hotel put on, who clearly could not deal with everyone at the same time. Patience is clearly not a virtue for some.

BTW, Sag, I cleaned up the FAT area before I retired on most nights, collecting the empties and suchlike, most of which were mine!!

A WBC badge costs $90 for a week, $70 if you purchase early. That's all inclusive. No extra fees to participate in tournaments or use the game library. That's only $10 -$13 a day. Even with the air conditioning out for 4 days in one of the many rooms, I'd say people got their $10 a day worth from the event, especially since the WBC staff did their part to relocate events scheduled in that room to other rooms, and made additional space available in other rooms for the war gamers to play.

The "I paid $100+ for a hotel room across the street or down the road from the Lancaster Host, and therefore I deserve better service than provided at an event that I paid $10 a day to attend," is a bullshit argument. The $100+ a night complaint is only applicable it you actually had a problem with your hotel room, and if you didn't stay at the Host, then you should take that up with the hotel you stayed at. Considering that the Host was completely booked for next year within hours of opening up reservations for next year, I have to assume that most people who actually stayed there had no major complaints about their actual hotel rooms at the Host, and anyone who wants a more upscale sleeping experience can pay more to stay at one of the 40 other hotels in the area, several within walking distance of the Host.

By the way I followed up with the spokeswoman from Lost Battalion Games and she said she had every intention of stopping by for the podcast but ran out of steam. She had started a game already and by the time it finished she was done for the evening. She promised next year.

S.

ubarose wrote:


First, No one is complaining about the convention and it's relative value. The complaints in this thread and elsewhere on the net have been directed at the sorry state of the venue. So if there is bullshit is in that first paragraph as you refute an argument nobody has made.

Second, you can assume that people had no major complaints about their hotel rooms by the fact that it is already or soon to be sold out for next year. However I say that the sell out is based on the strength of the convention not the hotel. Even the brief perusal of other mentions of the Host I made through a web search shows that dissatisfaction with the state of the hotel is not limited to attendees of WBC.

That I stayed across the street and not at the Host and therefor I have no right to comment on it's dilapidated state is also bullshit. The Host agrees to have the convention. It assumes the obligation of providing an environment conducive to the enjoyment of ALL attendees at the convention. I expect the spaces used for the convention to be of a tolerable temperature. I expect to have sanitary rest rooms. I expect the roof to keep rain off of me. I did not comment on the guest rooms because I wasn't in one.

Matt is right when he says it doesn't matter because the weekend was a blast.

As to the bathroom conditions, I have to say that gamers, by and large, are some of the nastiest motherfuckers that have ever inhabited the earth.

I go to 2 big conferences every year, one in Vegas, the other sometimes in Vegas, otherwise in San Diego. 10-20K people attend in a 4 day span, and it's packed like sardines at least one of the days. Not once in 15 years have I walked into the shitter, looked at it and thought of Lovecraft.

At GenCon, I wouldn't shit at an Indy Convention Center shitter unless I was going to shit my pants. Same goes for Origins.

I don't blame the convention halls or staff, I blame gamers' mothers.