If you were on the RPI campus last weekend, you may have noticed science fiction enthusiasts dressed up in eerie costumes, animé lovers wearing their signature t-shirts, or gaming warriors with prized Nintendo Power Gloves in tow. They were all here to participate in the 16th edition of Genericon, Rensselaer’s annual student-run convention.
A popular returning event from last year’s Genericon was the reading of “The Eye of Aragon” short story. Written by Jim Theis in 1984 at the young age of 16, “The Eye of Aragon,” has been universally described by many science fiction lovers as the worst science fiction prose ever written. In Genericon’s “The Eye of Aragon” contest, participants sat around a circle and read as much of the story as they could without letting out a single laugh, pausing, or mispronouncing a word. The person who could read the most words straight-faced won the game.
I have read some terrible stories before in my life, but absolutely nothing—and I mean nothing—could compare to those vilely awful 19 pages that comprise “The Eye of Aragon.” The absurdly long sentences in the story are flowery beyond disbelief and contain excessive grammatical, spelling, and punctuation mistakes—truly cruel and unusual punishment to any sane human. The winner of “The Eye of Aragon” contest, Cyrus, somehow—I mean miraculously—managed to read an amazing two pages straight-faced.
This year’s Genericon committee also did an excellent job of organizing new events to attract more student attendees. I was especially pleased with the reappearance of the Legos and Lego Wars events. These attractions were regularly scheduled at Genericon many years ago, but had been left out of the past three conventions because Lego sets were lost when the Genericon committee headquarters was based inWest Hall.
When you mix Legos with role-play gaming, you can’t go wrong. “There was an amazing response to the Lego tournament,” said Tim Sweeney, chair of the Genericon Committee.
Eight participants in the tournament constructed their characters out of variety of pieces laid out on the table, and assigned their characters’ name and ratings for speed, attack, and hit points. In the Lego Wars tournament, players were to battle to the death until only one character remained standing.
“[The Lego events] are a lot of fun. They’re a walk-in event. We’re seeing more people coming with children to the con, and it’s a nice pull for them,” said Genericon staff member Mary Kate Ditursi.
Unfortunately, it took forever for players to start dying in the game. At 6:00 pm—an incredible three hours after the game had started—three of the initial eight participants remained standing, and the game was declared a three-way tie.
The biggest pull in Genericon over the years has been the animé rooms. This year’s animé was shown in four DCC lecture halls instead of the usual three, and featured fewer traditional fansub selections in favor of licensed versions. “I tried to get the newest stuff that was out and show what I could ... You try to mix in some old stuff with some new stuff,” said Mark “Kato” Kadas, Genericon’s animé coordinator.
Though animé stories are usually not my cup of tea, I really enjoy the showings I attended, which presented episodes from “The Rose of Versailles,” “Puppet Princess,” and “Crest of the Stars.”
Genericon XVI also featured the usual video tournaments, live-action role playing games (LARP), board games, and discussion panels always popular among Genericon attendees.
Saratoga Springs native Kyle Jacobs noted that this year there was “better animé and better games in the game lounge ... a hell of a lot better than last year.”
The most successful LARP this year was FOCUS, a generic game that featured strange widgets, creepy disappearances, and dark-robed strangers. Sweeny, playing a cat, really got into the game and jumped onto the desk several times to steal food from the “guests.” The FOCUS version run at Genericon was the first time that the participants have ever won the game, according to its director Don Ross, who has attended Genericon for the past four years.
The discussion panels included a discussion about the state of modern gaming and web comic talk. Since the modern gaming panelists were very disenchanted with most games recently released, I wonder if I should go out and buy any games this year. I guess there’s always Minesweeper…
