Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;975058The irritating part was comparing it to McDonalds'.  What's the opportunity cost of halting the game, a ten minute walk to your car, a ten minute drive to McDonalds', another ten minute drive to the convention, five minutes looking for a place to park, and a ten minute walk back to the table.

Or pay $12 for a burger and fries, including tax and tip, and keep playing while it's brought to you.  Yes it's more than McDonalds, but the convention hotel makes its money off food and drinks, not the rooms.

That's closer to economically stable adult logic. I'm used to hearing about young people getting into the Con for free by running a game, cramming into a room (sleeping any and everywhere), and carpooling everywhere in groups of 3+. So every dollar matters in that budget logic. I get the cheapness.

But I always found Cons a bad value, even with all those cost saving tricks.

Jumping back in concerning cons and cheap gamers.
I just spent last weekend at a con in the UK running a multi-hour game of CoC over two days.
Cost of return train fare to Sheffield (it's a 5-6 hour drive and my prostate can't deal with that at the moment) £76 and change with a senior discount.
Hotel room for 2 nights £130
Bar food and a couple of drinks about £30 (full English cooked breakfast was included with the room).
The room was a decent sized (for the Uk) double with shower, free tea/coffee.

Total £235, less than $300, for the weekend, well worth it for the enjoyment but some people who hadn't travelled as far bitched about the cost. God knows what they'd have to say about the cost of four days at Gencon.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;975103The burgers were meh.  Not bad but not good.  The pizzas were actually fairly nice, if simple.

Hotel convention food is expensive, we all know that.  But not out of line.

The hot sliced beef and cheese for $15 was hit-or-miss; good once, dry the next time.  So it goes.

So cafeteria level food at low-end restaurant prices?  Bleah.  Could they do deli sandwiches better than Oscar Meyer and Wonderbread?

I'd pay for the convenience of someone to deliver, but Christ at least let me order food worth eating.

I ended up buying  the core 2E books on my own much to the general surprise of my overall cheap gaming group at the time. I had to do a lot of chores, errands, and cut lawns to do. They kept complaining about the cost of the books at the time yet did NOTHING to try and make it easier for them to get the core. I don't have much respect for gamers or anyone who wants everything, now, yet does not want to pay for it. Or pay very little. It's a sad state of affairs in the hobby when people are complaining having to spend 10-15$ for a meal. It cost 40$ if not more in my neck of the woods to get a decent meal. Having worked in collections I also don't have much sympathy for any age group leaving beyond their means. Can't afford to eat at a gaming con. Don't go to the damn gaming con it's that simple. I paid off a 5 digit student loan back in 2011. It took my ten years and it meant not going out in trips or out in general as much as I liked. The trips to Gencon were not happening. In terms of food and cost what do you expect for 10-15$ a filet mignon. Cheap food is just that cheap and not usually the best tasting or quality. It's not to say one can't find decent food at that price yet it requires either bringing it with you (if it's allowed) or looking far and wide.

Tabletop RPGs are like one of the cheapest hobbies around. And gaming in general tends to be on the middling to low end of hobby prices -- depending mainly how quickly you chase the new thing and/or chase collection completion. I neither begrudge people their budgets, nor their attempts to be frugal, but it is one of the more affordable hobbies out there for the dabbler.

That said, I am pretty damn good at squeezing that buck for more bang, if I do say so myself. Conventions' costs are just much better spent for me at shows and events, (y'know things that won't likely happen again anytime soon, if ever). If the Con has a panel or star designer that I care about, that raises its value in my eyes. As does seeing old, distant friends, or checking out a good collector's market for rarities; those things would get me to ante up. But just to play games with strangers, and often for one-shots? There's FLGS and online fora better for meet and greets like that. I'd rather stay home and catch up with my art or reading.

Not my bag. :cool:

It's not the main reason, but a contributing factor to my main group being so long running is that it's hard to get entertainment for a cheap as we pull it off.  One complete set of rules, several extra PHbs, dice, good homemade food for lunch and dinner, 7-8 times a year, for an all day game.  Even not stinting on the food, our average cost per day started moderate, steadily went down, and now is under $5 a person.  Though admittedly it's easier to do that with a big group than a small one.  That tends to alleviate that approximately $250 (Amazon prices) in 5E purchases pretty darn quick.  Especially since half of it was me, and the rest was spread out over the rest of the group.

I could afford more now, but not everyone in our group could.  And I've still got a touch of the late 70's price consciousness.  Mainly, though, I don't buy a lot of books because then I'd need to store them, or if a PDF, I probably wouldn't read them.

Quote from: CRKrueger;975128So cafeteria level food at low-end restaurant prices?  Bleah.  Could they do deli sandwiches better than Oscar Meyer and Wonderbread?

I'd pay for the convenience of someone to deliver, but Christ at least let me order food worth eating.

That would be a first at pretty much any convention venue I've been in.

I've been going to game cons since the 70s.  This is a bit better than most cons, honestly.

The caesar chicken wrap was $9 and pretty good.  The chicken caesar salad was only seven, but salads are a bit clumsy to eat while gaming.

I picked up 13th Age. Pretty good value at £32 for the game. One book.

I will admit to being envious of Benoist & Lord Vreeg's culinary entertainments. Dinner and a show for about as inexpensive and intimate as you can get.

Quote from: RPGPundit;974996For as long as I can remember, cheap gamers have been complaining about how expensive D&D was.

Yup.  Here's a copy of a 1974 review of D&D.

Second-to-last paragraph:  

Beyond the problems involved in play (find an intrepid referee), the other discouraging factor is price.  These booklets are roughly comparable to "The Courier" in physical quality, but at $3.50 each are priced rather high.  Worse, all three are necessary.  Graphics, considering the format, are decent, with some excellent illustrations, but some space could have been saved without compromising appearance.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;975246That would be a first at pretty much any convention venue I've been in.

I've been going to game cons since the 70s.  This is a bit better than most cons, honestly.

The caesar chicken wrap was $9 and pretty good.  The chicken caesar salad was only seven, but salads are a bit clumsy to eat while gaming.

Doesn't sound too bad then.  Do they let people deliver stuff?  Can you just order a couple pizzas from the best place in town?

Quote from: CRKrueger;975682Doesn't sound too bad then.  Do they let people deliver stuff?  Can you just order a couple pizzas from the best place in town?

You could probably order them to your room.

On the other hand, the venue makes its money off food and drink and gives GaryCon a break on room rates for a guaranteed sales volume of food.  Same as pretty much any other convention I've been to.

Considering some of the shitty meals I've had at conventions for a lot more money, I really have a hard time crying much about a slightly dry burger.

Quote from: Harlock;975061$12 for a burger and fries hand delivered, tax and tip included sounds a right bargain to me. I bet I couldn't talk my wife into making me a burger and fries and bringing them to the game table for less than that.

To be honest, $12 seems expensive to me (the best burger in town, which I order quite often, costs about $12 with home-made fries; but an average burger here will tend to be quite a bit cheaper than that).  But that comes with the territory of living in South America, where food is relatively cheap.

Quote from: RPGPundit;976137But that comes with the territory of living in South America, where food is relatively cheap.

An so much fucking better... Gawd, I miss those luxuriant smells from the grocery aisles!

Quote from: RPGPundit;976137To be honest, $12 seems expensive to me (the best burger in town, which I order quite often, costs about $12 with home-made fries; but an average burger here will tend to be quite a bit cheaper than that).  But that comes with the territory of living in South America, where food is relatively cheap.

You have to remember I'm talking about in a convention hotel, which ALWAYS has a wicked markup.  Yeah, it's overpriced, but it's a convention hotel.  Their food has been famously bad for decades.