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Gaming in the Wild, Wild West
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By Jim Butler
Picture: The Bastion Gang: Clay Cundy, Leonard
McGillis, and Jim Butler.
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Long before I was editing, designing, or managing products for TSR/Wizards of the Coast, I was a gamer trapped out in the wilds of Wyoming. I grew up in a small city of around 20,000 people situated 45 miles west of
Devils Tower (the same place made even more famous by the
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
movie). Gillette wasn’t the greatest of places to try and organize gaming events, but there were a lot of good people there.
About the only place to try and organize a convention was the public library. I was somewhat of a local legend for controversy over D&D at the time, having spoken at a number of
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school board meetings and written some editorials for the local paper in support of gaming. My first few attempts to organize a gathering at the library were a lesson in bureaucracy, and I started the convention process by securing space for our RPGA network club to meet and plan the event.
 Our first convention had around 60 attendees, and the library was shocked to see so many people show up to play RPGs. Around 20 of the players had discovered D&D through my campaign, and those 20 had gone out and brought more into gaming. It was a regular Renaissance of gaming in Wyoming.
News of gamers taking over the public library got out, though, and soon all of our meeting rooms were booked in advance by other groups. It became harder and harder to schedule our RPGA meetings, and the library informed us that the library meeting rooms couldn’t be used for conventions any more (well, not for free).
We slowly broke down into our old gaming groups, chatting with each other at the local hobby shop as we dreamed of going to Gen Con or Origins. Those conventions, as well as others, were just too far away to reach, though. We wished for something better; something easier to attend.
Fast forwarding about 20 years, it’s somewhat easier (and a while lot more affordable with all the airfare wars) to reach conventions today. But traveling to these shows is still a commitment, and there always seems to be so many more demands on our time these days.
With the Internet revolution now in full swing, new opportunities for gatherings of gamers are taking place. Conventions like
CyberCon (October 19th-21st) are allowing gamers from around the world to gather together. Technologies are coming together that are allowing old friends to game together again after years of absences. And while there’s nothing quite like eating bad convention food with friends, online gaming and conventions are only going to get better. Too bad the same cannot be said about the food.
You can view all of the previous columns by clicking
here.
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