Just chiming back in again to drop my $0.02.

Indy seems to be a great location for Gencon. I Think they made a great call moving it to Indy. The growth of the con proves that.

Now connected downtown rooms in block aren't going to be available for most (let alone all) that wants one. That is a fact of life we are all going to have to accept.

This year I have a downtown room out of block being split 4 ways that my share alone will run me more than Wed-Mon hotel stays for Phoenix comicon and Emerald city comicon ran me having a room solo and those were the same size rooms that I had to myself (well King versus dual Queen beds).

I live in Memphis and the heat here in August is more horrid than in Indy in August and I don't even want to think about Nevada or Texas around that time.

I also don't think Gencon needs to curtail events to "true gaming" cause Gencon is doing really damn good job at giving a great con experience on things that are within their control.

I honestly feel gencon attendees are going to have to reconsider their budgets for gencon by either shelling out more for downtown out of block rooms or transportation costs.

I am also in the split to two events rather than move the con elsewhere.

And again, just my $0.02!

Gen Con cannot be a generic "geek culture" show, that is way too broad and no city can handle that. Luckily, Gen Con is, in fact, "The Best Four Days in Gaming". It is a GAMING convention, gaming comes first always and accommodating gamers should always be the first priority.

Cosplay isn't gaming. Anime isn't gaming. Arts and crafts, belly dancing, and kinky rope play events are not gaming (well, maybe rope play if you are lucky...). Puppets are not gaming. Comic books are not gaming. We may not need to cut all of them all at once but cuts do need to start being made somewhere.

Ten years ago, sure, we had a little bit of room where we could accommodate some fluff. Now? Indy cannot handle it and we have nowhere to move to. 

Right now this is a housing issue. When the convention hits it will be a parking, restaurant, and getting through the exhibit hall issue. Severe housing problems are just a symptom of a bigger problem.

I also disagree that Gencon needs to make cuts to their programming, or rather the type of wholesale cuts you are talking about. We already have cuts of a sort that go on, events that don't fill up are usually not seen the next year.

Gencon is growing because it is successful and that success matters. Gencon shouldn't surrender it's position as the lead gaming convention by turning away successful events, and that should be determined by an individual event's attendance.

Perhaps the God Emperor could start his own gaming convention and invite all the like minded people who are so disappointed in their inability to get a hotel room in walking distance that they want to disallow anyone who does activities they don't like.  What perfect fun it would be for them without all that other fluff!

And, as a bonus, the more cosmopolitan among us wouldn't have to suffer this kind of irrational outburst targeted at members of the community.

Besides. It isn't a housing issue! There are plenty of hotels in Indianapolis. Now it has become a people issue. I don't even think it's a space issue--I didn't see any 'we will be all full on event space so stop submitting events' notice.

Secondly, how exactly am I being irrational?

Is population in excess of the capacity of downtown hotel rooms NOT the cause of yearly housing complaints?

Is being able to stay within walking distance of the convention center while keeping price gouging to a minimum NOT a key part of the experience for the vast majority of Gen Con attendees?

Does hitting the badge cap NOT mean that there are too many people, that gamers will be turned away, and that we need to trim back?

Are gaming and gaming events NOT the priority at "The Best Four Days in Gaming"?

Are we NOT locked in to staying in Indy for the next few years, with no realistic new city to move to, meaning we really can't expand any more?

As to the whole housing issue, it's been pointed out over and over again that there is plenty of housing out there to be had.  Every day downtown options are appearing in the portal for those lucky enough to snap them up, but even beyond downtown housing there are plenty of options within easy driving distance of the convention center (whether you drive yourself or take Uber/Lyft).

And lastly, hitting the cap does indeed mean that perhaps there will be folks turned away.  These unlucky folks will be those who didn't make plans early enough to obtain tickets - as it should be.  This year might be an unpleasant surprise to many, as previous GenCons haven't sold out.  But in the future, folks would do well to remember this and get their badges early if they wish to attend.

Also this is the 50th Gencon. It is a milestone and I have seen plenty of posts from people who haven't attended in years coming just cause it is the 50th. Attendance should be expected to rise for this one.

I am calling attention to your opinions because you have:

a. Appointed yourself as arbiter of what is and is not gaming for Gen Con and its 60,000+ attendees.
b. Identified a list of activities you have determined are "fluff" and therefore not suitable or necessary for Gen Con
c. Stated that it will be necessary to "cut" these activities from Gen Con.

The idea that one of 60,000+ Gen Con attendees is in a position to dictate to the other 59,999+ of us and to Gen Con what events are "fluff" and what events must be "cut" is an irrational idea.  

A person who expresses this idea is being irrational.

Hope that clears it up!
 

Its very important that non-gaming spouses and children have activities they can enjoy as well at Gencon. And the costumes and other things help make it the spectacle that it is.

I dont see restriction on attendees non-gaming activities as worthwhile.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but honestly: none of us forum randos have access to the data necessary to come up with, much less defend/support, actual solutions to this problem. Nothing involving 60,000+ people and the hotels and transportation patterns of an entire city ever boils down to "common sense."

It's not a matter of insight, tough-love, intelligence or passion. It's about organizers and consumers having access to different levels of data. We don't know enough to make broad declarations.  "To me, it seems like common sense that..." is a trap. We can throw out ideas, for sure (and that's what forums are for!) but the plural of anecdote is not data, and you would need actual data to solve a problem like this.

(And as an aside: "we HAVE TO get rid of 'fluff' events so that 'real gaming' can thrive" without access to numbers/trends is kind of like saying "we HAVE TO resort to cannibalism" when we have no way of knowing what's in the fridge. It does nothing but cause consternation and panic and it's backed up only by what we see right in front of us, when we're missing important info.)

Heh. My daughter, as most 'just finished getting an A in a business class college kids' will do, decided to lecture me on all the BUSINESS reasons there are for capping attendance.

There is, apparently, a model of perfect profit, where selling x amount of badges is perfect, selling a few under is okay, you still make money, and selling a whole lot more starts costing too MUCH and eating into profits. Kind of, I guess, like a sideways D. Things like insurance, security, employees, space management, agreements for capacity, chairs, etc. No clue whether it's this complicated or back to a fire marshall thing, but the poster above was right...we just don't know.

And since the con is about a month away and since I'm putting off doing actual work work, and flitting about on the forums instead, I like speculating!

Near as I can tell Gencon itself only gets money from me directly for the 4 Day Badge and Event Tickets. I seriously doubt there is a restaurant or Hotel cut, which leaves Food Truck vendors or Exhibit hall vendors as secondary sources, but depend on getting sales from customers so why would you want to limit them given not everyone will hit up most of the various vendors.

Also when I went to Emerald City Comicon last year, there were scalpers selling badges near the entrances. I really do not want a Gencon Badge Scalping trend to start and that is my greatest concern over the badges selling out at some point becoming a thing. Having your name on the Badge would be a good way of preventing it (EMCC did not have any such measure on theirs) but having to flash ID each time we flash the badge isn't going to help getting in and out of the exhibit hall.