The past 12 months have been tough for the Victoria convention scene.
GottaCon announced in July that their most recent convention would be their last; in October, IFCon was cancelled abruptly only days before it was to happen. But a new event has sprung up to fill in some of the gaps left behind by those conventions.
The non-profit LANtasy Gaming Society is putting on LANtasy at Pearkes Recreation Centre. The group used to be in charge of the LAN (local area network) events (LAN is a big network of computers in the same room) at local convention GottaCon, and with GottaCon’s cancellation decided to put on their own event.
“Our event is a ‘bring your own computer’ LAN event,” says Jeff Pedlow, one of the three directors of the LANtasy Gaming Society. “People will bring their own computer from home, and we will network them together with a range of electronics so people can play games together in the same room.”
Despite its name, and despite being the biggest LAN party in all of western Canada, Pedlow wants to stress that it’s an event for people who like all different kinds of games. There will be tabletop minis, board games, RPGs, cosplay, and more, as well as various types of vendors.
“Our presenting partner is Gigabyte,” says Pedlow. “They’re a large computer company. We’ve got a graphics card company and some local shops that are also sponsoring the event, as well as exhibitors who range from LARPing groups to merchandising cosplay sellers to other conventions. You name it, we’ve got it.”
Pedlow says the event planning is going well and that sales have been very positive, despite some of the stigma that might still exist after IFCon’s cancellation.
“What happened really affected the community, and it gave us and other conventions a real black eye,” says Pedlow. “It is a little more of a pain in the butt for us to get things together. A lot of us are paying out of our pockets just for love of the event, and we are all doing this on a volunteer basis.”
He says that this event is really for the gamers and hopes that all different kinds of people will come out to enjoy the event. Pedlow says they are expecting people from every age bracket and that if this is someone’s first time, there’s plenty of opportunity to learn new games. Overall, he thinks it’s shaping up to be a first-class event.
“The proof is in the pudding; people are coming out in droves,” says Pedlow. “It offers a little something for everybody. It’s nice for people who don’t always get the chance to come out to big events to meet new people, socialize, and have fun.”
LANtasy
Saturday, March 12 and Sunday, March 13
$25-80, Pearkes Recreation Centre
lantasy.com
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