I was able to go to the 2018 Salt Lake Gaming Con for a few hours on each of the two days, and thought I’d share my thoughts.
I think I’ve made it clear that I love games. I was a big RPGer back in the day (read THIS), but as we move on through life, some things get left behind. But if I could, I’d still be playing.
Video games–classic arcade games and early console stuff–I also love. What they’re putting out today on PCs and consoles are incredible in comparison to what I grew up with…. and I suck at them. But man; the effort they put into storylines and graphics is amazing, and I wish I was better at them.
Like the people who go to Gaming Cons and enter tournaments.
But now, some pics:
Some real world Kart Racing:
More space for CCGs than you can shake a stick at (and this is just some of those with dedicated space set aside):
Including those crazy Warhammer folks, lol. That’s commitment, right there!
Lots of love for old-school RPGers (*sniff*):
Free Play area for console gamers to get their game fix in:
I don’t know if LARPing is a game, per se…
But what the heck; let’s play, right?
And for all you parents out there, something you’ve been training for since you had kids:
But the best sign I saw, one which should be at every single con of every type, EVER!
The event felt fuller this year than last, which is a good thing. Gaming should be its own event, not shoe-horned into a larger, generalized event, like a comic convention (fuck you, San Diego). The amount of space dedicated to allowing people to come and play, whether CCG, video, tabletop, console, even a LAN party for Pete’s sake, is impressive, and speaks to the wider gaming culture here in the Salt Lake City area, specifically.
I’m going to link you to a video below, hopefully to give you a more complete sense of what it was like and what was going on. I wish I’d had more time available, or else I might have sat in on a game session or two, but if you love games, you’ll get the gist of it.
Hope to be back next year!
My Own Little Shadow 