Convention/Exposition which common folks can attend to

[vimes]

Because poeple can't stop talking about how wonderful the experience is once they were allowed to enter their first convention, I'm trying to find a way to attend a gaming convention or exposition normal people can enter for a price that doesn't imply to restrain myself from buying food during a whole month of the year.

I'm currently trying to fully understand the 'student contract' of GDC so if any of you guys could indicate me some worthy conventions that would help me a lot. Thx.

[Knar]

What country are you looking at?

[Steve]

Because poeple can't stop talking about how wonderful the experience is once they were allowed to enter their first convention, I'm trying to find a way to attend a gaming convention or exposition normal people can enter for a price that doesn't imply to restrain myself from buying food during a whole month of the year.

I'm currently trying to fully understand the 'student contract' of GDC so if any of you guys could indicate me some worthy conventions that would help me a lot. Thx.

Many industry conventions, including GDC, offer free admission and accomodations if you volunteer to help man the doors/do menial tasks for a certain percentage of the time.

[Marek]

The Games Convention that was just held in Leipzig is probably your best bet. It's primarily a consumer show, but there's also some business and press going-ons, which means it's a bit more exciting than most consumer shows. (Companies bring more exclusive stuff to the show etc.) This knowledge comes second-hand though, as my schedule hasn't allowed me to go there yet.

However, as a general rule, expos suck. Not all of them are as bad as E3, but they're always at least pretty bad.

At GDC it's the conference you'll want to check out. Don't bother going with an expo-only pass. A friend of mine did the volunteer thing and said it was pretty crappy (you'll miss 80% of the conference). But if you can somehow get inside the conference with the student program that's great.

As a student you'll probably have an easy time getting into a DiGRA conference. I was there when it was first held and I only had to pay admission and show a student ID. Be warned though, the lectures can be really slow and academic. But it's a lot better than going to an expo.

[vimes]

What country are you looking at?

Well, I don't know .. I'm supposed to work abroad for 3/4 months from May 2006, and the convention might weight in the choice of the land I'll be going to.

As a student you'll probably have an easy time getting into a DiGRA conference. I was there when it was first held and I only had to pay admission and show a student ID. Be warned though, the lectures can be really slow and academic. But it's a lot better than going to an expo.

Yeah, I was trying to find something that would give me the opportunity to put my greedy hands on exclusive stuff but, more importantly, allow me attend to conferences and lectures. But the DiGRA isn't supposed to happen again until 2007:deranged: .. if I got that right.

I've found this page which lists a lot of 'events' related to games taking place until.. April 2006 and decriptions are in french.

[`GP]

2-3 weeks ago there was a convention in Edinburgh -- £3 for seeing one of the presentations and £3 to get into the games. (Only things noticable was Nintendogs -- they had a fluffy van outside! and the new Zelda.)

http://www.eief.co.uk/

[Marek]

Wow lots of obscure events there. The Game Technology Expo 2005 in Moscow? ...

Oh man, Microsoft X05 in Amsterdam, Pays-Bas. You have no idea how frustrating it is to have such a high-profile event right on your doorstep and not be invited. (I guess Microsoft did invite me to something else in London but it's not quite as cool.)