Why Ropecon?

I had a sleepless night this week, and my thoughts wandered to how I'd answer to a reporter asking how why I got involved with organizing Ropecon. I think I ended up with some good reflection about what has kept me on it, and with the vanishingly small odds of ever getting to say it in a real interview, not to mention my lack of ability to form a coherent picture of it in spoken words, I decided to write down an imaginary discussion.

Q: What makes Ropecon as an event interesting enough to spend lots of free time on?

A: At its core, the success of Ropecon is a celebration of diversity. And it's all for the better that Ropecon organizing never consciously intended that and never marketed the event as such.

Let me put this in numbers. Ropecon, and the gaming scene, is roughly divided into five subcategories: roleplaying, live action, card games, miniature games and board games. It draws some four thousand visitors, which is far more than five times the audience of any event in this country dedicated exclusively to any of those categories. Granted, events like Tracon draw similar numbers of people, but Tracon is really just another manifestation of the same spirit. The point is, something is working there that goes beyond simple common interests.

It was in the first Ropecon I went to, in 2002, that I was first awed by the enthusiasm that is so apparent there and began to have a vague idea of what was special about it. If anything, I've grown more cynical regarding the impulsive herd behaviour, but my fascination remains as to how such different people are held together in a single event. Why don't all the rants about smelly card gamers and underdressed teenage larpers get realized as anything more concrete than talk?

What I think is that all the ranting doesn't have to be exaggerated, even though some of it surely is. Not everyone has to like everyone else in the scene, because the scene is organic. Just like self-interested species can create a vastly complex whole in natural ecosystems, the social connections of more or less narrowly focused people form a system that is the gaming scene. While the event may be centrally organized, the visitors certainly aren't. Those who are interested in more than one of the things Ropecon has to offer may act as some kind of glue, but overall a common point of contact for everyone is not necessary. What Ropecon has done right is simply to become the ideal place for that social aspect of the scene to shine. And it's always as exciting to see, and help, that happen.