The roundup of convention ideas is here.
Templecon is a gaming convention in Rhode Island, though calling it a
"gaming convention" doesn't due justice to the diversity of the
convention. It's a convention that started as a gaming convention but
has expanded to include everything from live shows to bands to
workshops.
Of course when I see a convention like that, you know I'm going to
do a profile of it. As you may also guess, it's a convention that has
branched into "profan" panels for people who want to use their hobbies
in their careers. A few of these fit the convention's focus on doing
things differently:
-
Doing a seminar on legal issues in game development and publishing,
exposing people to important issues too often ignored, in an area of
career interest many forget. - A panel on game development by actual game developers – an area that gets too little attention as far as I'm concerned.
- Assorted workshops, including those run by known authors, diversifying the convention offerings.
- Finally, the really unusual panel – a panel on why one does not want to
turn their hobby into a job. Now as much as I emphasize using their
hobbies in their careers, I applaud a little bit of contrarianism.
Maybe sometime I'll make it out there and have a debate . . .
Templecon's constant growth includes a lot of profan panels and
getting outside of focusing on "just gaming". I'm looking forward to
seeing what they do in the years to come, as I expect I'll learn a lot,
I think they're a great example of keeping your focus while
experimenting and going beyond people's expectations.
– Steven Savage