Fostering Community

[tonydowler]

This doesn't address the feast so much as the first gaming session, but it occurs to me that the Friday block is the *perfect* time for an ice-breaker game. If a few people are willing to run games that are friendly to new people, large groups, and socializing, I think it would go a long way to getting the con off on the right foot. I don't know any really good icebreaking games, but I might run some kind of light-hearted dungeon crawl for a big party. What do you think?

[skinnyghost]

Some kind of Parsely game would be great for this, if someone wants to step up. It's a good ice-breaker, for sure.

[mcdaldno]

OH MY GOD
Tony !!

The perfect game for this would be Jackson Tegu's game "Future Fantastic." It's specifically designed to play in large gatherings, and with a sliding scale of participation (ranging from "I stuck this character name to my shirt, lol" to "I must solve temporal paradoxes and seek out fellow time travelers"). It debuted at the West Olympia Art Walk, and has been played alongside house shows.

I'll ask him if he wants to host a Future Fantastic game that spans from the moment that people arrive to the end of Friday night (wherein eating and playing a formal sit-down game could both just happen, with FF resuming afterward or continuing throughout).

[Ben Robbins]

I may be having a different experience than everyone else. I spent every waking minute of GPNW 2011 introducing people to each other (and the same thing to a lesser extent at GPNW 2010, when I was an actual organizer).

I think it's really that simple: if you know people, even two people, play party host and introduce them to each other. Introduce people even when you're pretty sure they do know each other. It can't hurt! Give them some point of conversation. Say where you know one or the other from or mention some cool game you played in with either of them and boom the ball is rolling.

Likewise, *tons* of people came up to me and said "hey, I want to meet X (but I don't know what they look like), can you point them out to me?" and away we'd go to hunt and introduce! It was lovely.

Make it part of the intro speech for Friday night. We bring up the "you're all strangers and that's awesome" point every session of Story Games Seattle. Encourage people to sit at random tables (like the food Donut idea Lee mentioned, which is awesome, though really it's the food Lottery).

Please don't turn the Friday Night Feast into a game. It's one of the few times people can mingle and talk.

[Ben Robbins]

Also: the Lottery is a *fantastic* way to game with people you've never met before. If you haven't been doing it, you've been missing out. The Donut too, but the Lottery is that times a thousand. We should have more Lottery sessions.

[Somnibus]

I think the disconnect that happened last year was due to the location as compared to the Hugo House. I mean it was a house, how could it not foster a sense of family.

I do like some of the ideas for on-going social games, but speaking on behalf of all socially awkward nerds I would like to vote against anything that forces interaction. Some people are good with just chilling out and playing their chosen games. A "meet new people" suggestion at the opening statements of each day would be a great start. Also perhaps a few simple board games set up in a common area where people can sit, play a few turns and move on, thus creating a reason to gather at a central location with strangers. The ongoing community mega dungeon idea might work well here also.

Personally, i 'm kindof with Ben on this one though. Last year I was in the donut for almost every block and had a great time. Ben did a great job grouping people and because of that I didn't feel that the con was too clique-ish.

[Mathalus]

So someone is going to make an announcement at dinner or something? Not much action here in the last two months.

[RoughDreamer]

If we all agree to be friendly and make an effort to make friends, then I think that will go a long way.

If you see me around, say hi and give me a hug!

[tonydowler]

Yeah, I just want to stress agian. If you see someone new at the feast, introduce yourself!

[Ben Robbins]

If you see me around, say hi and give me a hug!

That's how Feiya suckers you in. It's all "hey! hugs!" and then whammo, headlock while she drops antagonism on your dudes.