Geek Out Challenge Day 4 – My Worst Convention Experience

During day three of the Geek Out challenge, a wonderful set of blogging questions put together by A Geeky Gal dedicated to geek culture, I discussed what I love most about conventions.  Today, I get to flip things around and talk about my worst convention experience.  Since I only have one convention under my belt, I figured I would write about a few of the things that would make me think twice before purchasing my next ticket.

Image Source:  Wikipedia

So Many People

Like any other major event, there are a ton of people all over the place.  This can be a ton of fun, as it’s quite easy to find people with common interests when there are so many people celebrating geek culture at the same time.  Unfortunately, this also means that the lines to do anything and everything will be an obstacle in the way of having fun.  Want to get a picture with a famous voice actor?  Well, it’s probably best to set aside half of the day for it.  What about bathrooms?  There is most definitely a line wrapping halfway down the convention floor for them.  Thankfully, when I went to my one and only convention, I had my husband (my boyfriend at the time) with me, so the wait to do things wasn’t too excruciating, as I at least had someone to talk to for the entire time.

Prices

Conventions aren’t cheap.  Before even heading out for day one, registration costs a hefty amount.  There may even be different tiers of event passes based upon what panels people want to see.  Once the fun begins, however, it’s not like all expenses have been paid.  If the convention is multiple days, then a hotel room is probably necessary and many of the area chains have probably put their rooms at a premium, knowing that fans have no choice but to pay large sums of money to stay there.

Perhaps the worst part of a convention is the food, however.  If there is any at all, it’s incredibly expensive and terrible.  Not to mention that because of how many people are in the area, there will inevitably be a huge line to actually buy anything.  Basically, vending machines are an attendee’s best friend.

“My Opinion is Better Than Yours”

Geek culture is such a wonderful thing to experience in action, but there is always a darker side.  Whenever there are a bunch of people in the same room that are bound together by a generic descriptor, there are likely to be some fights.  Heated arguments over Marvel and DC or which Final Fantasy is the best can break out between total strangers overhearing each other’s conversations.  This isn’t necessarily unique to geeky conventions, as I’m sure plenty of fights break out at sports games between rival fans, but it can be kind of weird to have a total stranger break into a conversation just to state whether he or she agrees with the opinion being shared.

While I do have some negative things to say when discussing my convention experience, I really did love the one I went to and hope to go to more in the future.  What was your worst convention experience?  Let me know in the comments below, or perhaps check out A Geeky Gal’s post!  Thanks to her, I have a whole month’s worth of fun questions to ponder.

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