Digital WisCON con report

[lydamorehouse]

I like the digital con experience a lot. 

I like it for all the wrong reasons, though, I suppose. As I was telling naomikritzer (who was there in-person) what I like about digital cons, especially ones like WisCON where I am not on any paneling, is that I can just attend as much or a little of it as I please. This is always true at a con? But I feel so much less guilt at a digital con when I swan off to go do something else for a day or blow off various standard events, like GoH speeches, etc.

I preface my report with this so that you're not surprised that I barely attended WisCON and,  in the same breath, I then report that I had an amazing time.

I attended exactly two panels. On Friday, I got a DM from jiawen on Discord and we agreed to hang out like we did at the last virtual WisCON. So, I popped into our usual jitsi meet space and she screen shared the "Let's Play" panel. Ostensibly, the panel was about the phenomenon of Let's Plays. If you don't know what a Let's Play is, basically it's watching or listening to someone else play a game. This runs the gamut of video gamers like Markiplier or the infamous PewDiePie to D&D podcast like "The Adventure Zone" to watching Will Wheaton playing board games on YouTube.... and there are a LOT of these types of shows and podcasts. A TON. The panel was meant to be about this phenomenon in general, I thought, but it ended up being hyper-specific to a podcast Let's Play that two of the three panelists were involved in. The conversation was interesting, but I had been hoping for a lot more discussion of the broad appeal of this entire genre. 

For once, on a WisCON panel, I kind of wanted the 101 version of this panel. But, alas.

Rachel and I still had a lot of fun using our private jitsi channel to comment to each other. As I joked to her, we were like the two women in the very back, by the door, having our own whisper conversation which is totally a Con Type, and, as a bonus, we disturbed no one since we weren't even on a public channel.

We chatted and gossiped a ton afterwards. These kinds of panels always makes us reflect on the Star Trek:RPG campaign that we are both involved in, so that was great. 

I dipped my toes into various threads on the Discord, but I never found a conversation that I felt compelled to do anything more than glance at and lurk around the edges of. I always like to read through the books and reading channels to see what people are recommending, for instance. But, I have only been reading manga lately and that never feels appropriate to add to books and reading, since most people consider anime and manga its own channel and this year WisCON didn't have a separate channel for either of those.

I also dropped my link into the Dreamwidth panel in the hopes of enlivening the discussions and connections here. *Waves* at anyone who might have followed me due to that.

I skipped Saturday, but yesterday I did another jitsi meetup with Rachel. This time we watched "The Social Contract for Tabletop Play." This one was quite good. I was impressed with all the panelists. I am not *as* much of a gamer as you'd think given that these were the only two panels I managed to attend, but it was more that I probably wouldn't have remembered to go to any, if Rachel hadn't prompted me. And, I have, in the last couple of years, become more and more interested in returning to gaming, even more than the one TTRPG that I am involved in. So, I mean, this wasn't JUST me following Rachel around to her interests entirely, either. 

That was my con? It probably sounds like absolutely nothing at all, but, even in Real Life(tm), I am not great about con attendance unless I'm scheduled to be on a panel, so it's always amazing to me the ways in which this felt exactly like being there in person often does. I mean, I missed all the cool parties, saw almost no paneling? But, yeah, I probably would have done the same in-person, anyway? So....

I had a good time, regardless.

How about you all? Did you have a good weekend? Anyone at the con in-person? Other digital experiences?

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I haven't been to a con in person in a long time and I haven't tried the digital experience yet, so it's interesting to see your feedback.

[satsuma]

I also dropped my link into the Dreamwidth panel in the hopes of enlivening the discussions and connections here. *Waves* at anyone who might have followed me due to that.

*waves back*

I'm glad you enjoyed the con! Skipping the official con events to go hang out with your friends seems like the ultimate con experience tbh

[lcohen]

i can think of worse ways to experience a con than following rachel around! and i hear some of the cool parties were canceled due to rising COVID rates, so you might not have missed many of those.

my friend, betsy, is trying to lure me to next year's wiscon by pointing out that martha wells will be one of the GoHs. so i may go, or at least go virtually--it's good to hear what it was like for you. (i remain fairly certain that we met or at least were introduced at a wiscon, but it was probably in the 00s. which, omg, yikes i've been doing stuff for a long time.)

[pameladean]

That actually sounds really great. Your report of your last year's Wiscon experience was what made me decide I would try really hard to attend virtually this year. However, I failed to attend any Wiscon panels despite that firm determination to do so. I spent the weekend having or getting over migraines -- the weather has been so weird and my head did not like it.

Did have a hilarious (to us) conversation with David about the NWS's term "stray thunderstorm" and how they should really microchip those storms so they know what they're doing. The storms, that is. The phrase "guidance is all over the place" also featured in the forecast discussion, but we didn't quite put together a good joke about that.

P.

[sabotabby]

It sounds fun! The few times I've gone to cons I've found the experience pretty overwhelming, so it sounds nice to have the option. Though tbh with virtual cons I just haven't wanted to attend because it's more screen time.

[mindstalk]

"Rachel and I still had a lot of fun using our private jitsi channel to comment to each other. As I joked to her, we were like the two women in the very back, by the door, having our own whisper conversation which is totally a Con Type, and, as a bonus, we disturbed no one since we weren't even on a public channel."

Heh. At one Arisia or Boskone panel, I did have a nice note-passing experience with a friend, using a text editor app on my phone and passing it back and forth. Not too disruptive to our neighbors.

[hrj]

Waving hi, from one of the "WisCon DW link exchange" crowd. I find online cons a weird mixture of relaxing and exhausting. Relaxing, because there *is* that ability to walk away and do something else. Exhausting, because screen time is just more wearing for me than experiencing things in person.

I second the amusement value of having separate-channel chat with people watching online panels. I've done that with friends when attending virtual academic conferences. (Academics can get really snarky when in private!)