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Finding Community (esp. First Timers/New to Pax)
Grimglaive
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Ahoy! I'm new to Boston and am in the process of re-acquainting myself with My People (gamers/geeks) after a long absence. This is my first convention, and it was a total delight to have too many things to do and be surrounded by so many like-minded people.
Yet also frustrating. How does one break into and find community in this crowd? Most people seem to be paired or grouped up already, typically with friends they made in their school years. This interest is still niche enough that it's not something easily sought out outside of a convention, so it's a great time to make friends. So, what am I doing wrong? A "nice outfit!" high five is easy enough but only skin deep. I should note that I'm not smelly or lacking social skills, haha. I just want to celebrate my interest with the community and need a foot in the door, and I suspect I'm not the only one! ( didn't even know there were events going on before the convention, which might've been good.)
Thanks for your thoughts. I hope to make Saturday and Sunday much better and make some connections. (Also, shout-out to the Cookie Brigade!) Private messages, tips, meet-ups -- all welcome!
Yet also frustrating. How does one break into and find community in this crowd? Most people seem to be paired or grouped up already, typically with friends they made in their school years. This interest is still niche enough that it's not something easily sought out outside of a convention, so it's a great time to make friends. So, what am I doing wrong? A "nice outfit!" high five is easy enough but only skin deep. I should note that I'm not smelly or lacking social skills, haha. I just want to celebrate my interest with the community and need a foot in the door, and I suspect I'm not the only one! ( didn't even know there were events going on before the convention, which might've been good.)
Thanks for your thoughts. I hope to make Saturday and Sunday much better and make some connections. (Also, shout-out to the Cookie Brigade!) Private messages, tips, meet-ups -- all welcome!
Grimglaive on
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Posts
I had some luck meeting neat people over in the board game section, those orange cones were for groups looking for extra people (had a great game of CaH and a couple of others)
But yeah, I'm interested too. Today we had something for those of us running booths (I'm helping some nifty people making an AR robot that's in pre-alpha but has a lot of room to grow...something I'm really attentive to and I think is nifty about their plan. Plus they made their booth out of giant Legos, what's not to like?) but I'm curious too. It was an awesome vibe and some really nifty people, but really crowded...and tomorrow's not going to be any better.
By the end of it, I did end up having a few great conversations and making a handful of friends and exchanging contact info. Amusingly, this happened pretty much exclusively while waiting in lines together. For instance, partying up with random people to do the FF14 Triad challenge -- long wait, friends made.
I thought the free play areas (console, PC, etc.) might be good as well, but they really need an LFG system like the tabletop areas had.
Tabletop also seems like an excellent opportunity to socialise -- you HAVE to -- assuming that's your interest, but I simply didn't have the chance. The Pathfinder tables were designed for a digestible 1-hour session, noobs welcome, for instance, and the LFG cones are fairly easy to spot and seem like a great way to just jump in and say hi to folks.
Overall, people were enthusiastic but a bit introverted. I'm going to follow up with people I met and also make a post about post-PAX events and see what else can be drummed up. I definitely learned a lot for next year, if I attend.
FreeWill, if you're local to the Boston area, I'd be happy to hang out with you and your pals or community-building or what-have-you.