Friendlier Events

DeluxeSquishi

Hey Guys,
So I have a question and I thought I'd ask the gaming community for advice.
I help throw a number of gaming events at the college, and just yesterday I was invited to a gaming event a the local university. This was the first event I attended as a guest. Now I knew a lot of people at the event so it was okay, but when I walked in to that room I found it very intimaditing. All sorts of gamers playing their games, really into what their playing. I found that everyone was staring at screens and that seemed very anti-social. I didn't know how to get a turn to play or who to approach. All 'n all I found the event very scary and I could see how people who are not into the gaming community could find a gaming event scary (or even people who are into games but not into socializing). I thought so many people loved games a gaming event would go hand-in-hand, but these gaming events did seem strange and made me feel I would rather stay at home and game.

I managed to get by and meet a few friends because I am very social, but I am racking my brain trying to think how this event could've been more friendlier. It makes me think maybe my events are really not that social and I am clouded because I am there having fun throwing my own events. I wonder what can make the events more social. I consider pubs and stuff like that, but there's gotta be something other than booze that makes people socialize. If you guys have any ideas I am very open to suggestions.

Kyougu

I'm guessing it would depend on the games being played. Probably more party, "casual" games would encourage more of a friendly atmostphere.

dispatch.o

It needs to be a social event that happens to have gaming as a part of it. Other shit needs to be going on. Some games are also more social than others. A crowd all playing Lineage or CS:S is going to be kind of zombified, where a group taking turns at DDR or Airhockey may actually interact with one another.

It sounds like the event you attended was more just an excuse to go play games somewhere else, not necessarily with people. If the people attending don't want to see new shit, there's not much you can do.

admanb

How are your own events structured?

Lail

DeluxeSquishi wrote: »

I didn't know how to get a turn to play or who to approach.

Sounds like if there had been an obvious "host" or a someone to greet you at the door who could welcome you, explain how things were being run and maybe throw you into a match that was just about to start, then everything would've been ok.

I guess for your own gaming events, you should think about how you welcome new faces. Are newcomers introduced to the group? Are you actively trying to include everyone?

admanb

The other thing is whether or not there's some period where people aren't playing games. Downtime between or during rounds of a tournament, that kind of thing.

Reznik

Rock Band!

Rock Band is great for bringing up the atmosphere. It's popular, easy to pick up and gets people playing together. It can also draw a crowd of observers too so even if people aren't playing they're still having fun.

DeluxeSquishi

cool,
well I like the host idea.
as for social games, the games being played were fighting games and I figure they would allow quick turn over. But I like the ideas none-the-less

Robman

Rock Band/Guitar Hero World Tour are great bar games - you can even award things like a free drink to anyone who finishes a song on the hardest difficulty.

Otherwise yeah, most games are fairly antisocial in nature because people are staring intently at monitors/TVs.

Zombiemambo

People playing games like Street Fighter 4 or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 are much less likely to socialize than if they were playing, say, Guitar Hero or Uno. It's the nature of the game. Same with board/card games: you won't find a ton of people reaching out to socialize if they're playing Magic: The Gathering or that ridiculously complicated space 4x game than if they're playing Uno or Carcassonne.

So, if I were you, choose the games you want to play carefully. Choose things that allow for a less competitive atmosphere so people are more willing to socialize while playing.