Genericon

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Genericon
StatusDefunct
GenreMulti-genre
VenueRensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Location(s)Troy, New York
CountryUnited States
Inaugurated1985
Websitehttp://genericon.org/
ID badge buttons for Genericons 1 - 3

Genericon was a modestly sized

role-playing games, board games, and talks by guest speakers. The events usually began 6 p.m. on the Friday of the first weekend of March and continued until Sunday at 6 p.m. with a closing ceremony and announcement of the new "Con Chair". Starting with Genericon XXI, convention staff partnered with Jazzman's Cafe, located in the middle of the convention itself, to bring food and beverages to the convention.[2]

History

Genericon began in 1985 as a general

Barry Longyear (Genericon VII), Christopher Golden (Genericon IX), Vic Mignogna (Genericon XXIV), and Kyle Hebert (GenericonXXVI), Studio Trigger
(Genericon XXX and XXXI).

Since its founding, Genericon has been held every year, except 1993-1995, as the entirety of the staff had graduated in the year of Genericon VIII.

Ananth Hirsh
(then Panagariya; Applegeeks, Genericon XX).

In 2010, Genericon XXIV introduced a new "Featured Panelist" system, wherein the convention staff selected a group of panelists deemed to be "experts in their field (i.e. popular journalists, podcasters, or industry professionals)." The list featured a number of anime bloggers and journalists, as well as a group of RPI alumni who frequently run panels at the convention.[4]

Two new events, Cosplay Ball [5] and Cosplay Cafe,[6] were introduced in 2018 for Genericon XXXI.

Genericon XXIV's official attendee count was 1351.[7]

By Genericon XXVI the number has climbed to over 2000.[8]

Annual activities

Every year the following were usually the highlighted events:

  • Eye Of Argon
    : A famously poorly written story poorly thus reserved to play at 1 a.m.
  • "Clay-O-Rama": A RPG with Play-Doh sculptures
  • Artists Alley/Auction: A room showing submitted work that was also available for sale.
  • Video games: Everything from Atari to Xbox 360 open 24 hours a day
  • Magic: The Gathering tournaments and casual play
  • Vendors: Selling various imports and local products
  • 24-hour anime rooms : Anime was run throughout the entirety of the convention in at least 1 of the 3 viewing rooms.
  • Board gaming: Held in the Great Hall of the DCC, a wide variety of board gaming was offered.
  • RPGs: Held in various conference rooms of the neighboring Low building, a wide variety of table-top role-playing sessions were offered spanning mainstream and indie games.
  • Guest panels
  • Cosplay Contest & Masquerade
  • Cosplay Chess
  • Cosplay Death Match
  • Cosplay Dating Game
  • Genericon Dance/Rave
  • Karaoke
  • Anime music videos
    Contest (as of Genericon XX)

Problems and issues

Sleeping on the convention space was a problem, since RPI does not allow loiterers. People have been woken up by staff and told to move, or leave campus to sleep elsewhere.[9]

Challenges occurred during the MS Paint panel, wherein individual participants have used the panel to display crudely drawn and crude-in-nature images. Despite the panel being 18+, a rule was implemented requiring non-graphic images to be displayed.[10]

R. K. Milholland expressed a dislike for the con following his attendance as a guest in 2004.[11] Other webcomic artists, however, claimed to have enjoyed the con in their visits, including Jeffrey T. Darlington,[12] Jeph Jacques[13] and Ananth Hirsh.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Polytechnic Online - Features: Rensselaer to host Genericon XV convention". Archived from the original on 2006-09-16. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
  2. ^ Genericon XXI
  3. ^ [An Informal History o Genericon by Deb Atwood
  4. ^ "Announcing the Featured Panels Program". Archived from the original on 2011-07-09. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
  5. ^ "Cosplay Ball – Genericon".
  6. ^ "Cosplay Café – Genericon".
  7. ^ "Genericon XXIV Attendance Numbers". Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
  8. ^ "Genericon XXVI Attendance Numbers". Archived from the original on 2013-07-09. Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  9. ^ "Genericon XXIII". Archived from the original on 2010-03-15. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  10. ^ "Genericon Rules 2019".
  11. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-04-03. Retrieved 2007-04-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ "General Protection Fault".
  13. ^ http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=806 (in sidebar blog)
  14. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-04-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Genericon&oldid=1205638150"