GAMETECH: A brief look at the good side of GamerCon

LIKE a poorly designed Theme Park, or five thousand Sims corralled into a line, people waited outside GamerCon last weekend.

Way more tickets were sold than the 7,000-capacity Dublin’s Convention Centre could hold at once.

While many customers were treated terribly, the event itself was still a landmark moment for Irish gaming, with the overwhelming turnout showing what a proud gaming country we are.

Other than the organisation that led to the queuing fiasco, here are the some of the other things we learned at GamerCon 2017:

YouTubers weren’t the only draw

A strange scene took place in the main hall of GamerCon at 1.30pm on Saturday. This was a designated time for Ali-A and UberDanger, with 13 million and five million YouTube subscribers respectively, to take to the stage and answer questions from the fans. We had imagined the hall thronged with young gamers looking for a glimpse of their heroes. Instead, perhaps a few hundred people were gathered in front of the stage, the majority of which were parents with children. What was everyone else in the hall doing? Well, they were gaming….

Gamers gonna game

While Ali-A and UberDanger took to the stage, thousands of gamers in the same hall continued to do what they love best — and played games. The main hall was strewn with gaming pods for people to sit down and play the latest UbiSoft and Sony releases, among others, and attendees were only too happy to oblige. This might have been a social event, but sitting in front of a screen was still the main attraction.

Oldies but goodies

This writer hadn’t played Sonic the Hedgehog on a MegaDrive in over 20 years. At GamerCon, we had the chance to do just that. Sega weren’t the only retro brand in action — there were Super Nintendos, N64s, Pacman machines, original PlayStations and even arcade sticks. There was a stark contrast between the modern and retro sections of the main hall, with the modern games generally stark and violent, the retro games more colourful and ‘fun’.

It didn’t seem to matter to attendees — the retro section was equally popular with adults and children alike.

Next generation gaming

There were two obvious demographics at the event. The first was unsurprising: teenage boys and young men.

The second, larger group, was more refreshing: families. There were countless mothers and fathers at the show, taking their children to see the latest games and YouTube stars. Gaming in Ireland has become a cross-generational entertainment medium, one that caters to seven-year-olds and 37-year-olds alike.

Irish developers exist

For a country with such rich artistic and technological depth, it’s somewhat disappointing that there are no Irish developer firms of real note. Nonetheless, a handful of local developers were present on the show floor, including the creators of Capitalist, a first-person multi-player shooter, and MindArk, who run ‘the moon’ on Entropia, a massively multiplayer online game. We’ll have interviews here with those developers very soon.

Irish cosplayers are talented

We didn’t see many cosplayers at GamerCon, but those that came in costume were outstanding. We saw a brilliant Sans from indie hit Undertale and an even better Skull Boy from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. GamerCon certainly wasn’t Comic Con, but it showed Irish gamers are willing to have a bit of fun.

No mobiles in sight

There were big screens everywhere at GamerCon, but it was the absence of the smaller kind that caught our notice. Attendees largely kept their phones tucked away, which is the sign of a captivating event. Not only that, but mobile gaming was conspicuously absent from the show floor — emphasising how console and PC gaming still rules the hearts and minds (and thus the pockets) of Irish gamers.

The numbers game

The most impressive aspect of GamerCon, however, remains the most disappointing and controversial. The sheer numbers that bought tickets surpassed the expectations of this writer and, clearly, even the organisers themselves. Organisers have a lot of work to do in order to win back the faith of consumers. If they can do that by next year, however, we could see a real army of Irish gamers, celebrating together in full force.