So, it should be obvious to anyone that I am not going to Gen Con.

That in itself is not something that even six months ago would have bothered me.  But in life, things change.  Your perspective on what is important to you changes.  So, I am very upset with my inability to go.

To be fair, I have not been to a gaming convention (other than a tiny one in NYC this June) in years.  So, it isn't like I have any commitments or anything like that involved with this.  What I have is a need to meet some of the people I have befriended on here.  People I know that are going this year that I have limited (it is LJ afterall) conversation with on here, and would love to meet in person.  I also missed Dexcon which was actually close (in NJ) due to prior commitments. 

A few people I would love to meet.  

drivingblindand everyone else from Evil Hat, flamesrising who has a very cool website that talks about gaming and other geek related things, indie_insurgent who I have actually met.  He created a very cool game called Misspent Youth and it would have been fun to play it a the con.  Those are just a few and I know there are more.

I guess in this networking world I have gotten into, I ended up meeting a lot of people in the gaming industry that are impressive.  I am new to the Indie gaming scene, but damn it if the people I have talked to have not been nice as hell.  There doesn't seem to be an underlined competiveness you normally see when different people are creating their own products.  That is nice, since I am making a game of my own and am just trying to meet as many people as I can to learn from them.  

The friendships I am gaining on this path are truly cool and I can only hope that continues in the future.

So those of you that are going to Gen Con.  Have a great time, and someday I will be there.  :)