[Deptheads] Re: Computer Room Tourneys

[Janice Sellers]

On 2/11/08, Heather Hughes <heather at gibsongirl.net> wrote:
> Anyone under the age of 13 should be required to be with a parent for any
> event.  Anyone coming in over the age of 13 will need to be "signed in" by a
> parent, with the understanding that we are NOT a child care service, and
> that the adults will be liable for any damage done to the computers.

On a practical level, we don't have the manpower to enforce this rule.
 (Are we going to start ID'ing kids?  What would we do with them if we
find out they're under 13 and their parents aren't with them?)  On a
personal level, I've seen 10-year-old children at the convention who
are perfectly fine and who behave wonderfully when left alone, and
I've seen 15-year-olds for whom I've had to call parents to handle
"situations."  That rule may sound easy, but it isn't in reality.  And
I've had a lot of experience with this, having personally run the
computer room from 1991-2006, in case someone wonders what my
experience is.  The computer room for quite a long time has been the
place where parents have "dumped" their children.

> If males with no kids has been our demographic it's because wemon did not
> care to attend (for the most part).  Now with the revolution of boardgaming,
> wemon, wives, mothers, are MUCH more inclinded to attend, but are stunted
> for child care and child entertainment issues.
> Look and Devi and I,  and Eric Burgess and his wife Christina, and their
> children and many others are limited of an hour or so of play time because
> with no, alternative, we have to take the kids home.   So why would we buy a
>  bagde?!?

>From the con's perspective, this sounds more like an argument
*against* requiring a parent to stay with a child at an event.

> We brought friends with kids to the conventions a few years ago.  They paid
> for a room for at the hotel for a whole weekend, they both bough badges, and
> then when it came time to play, they traded off watching the kids, one
> played while the other stayed with the children, for a few hours.  However,
> the kids began to hate being there, becuase, other than the "Junior's Games"
> and one trip to the computer room, there was nothing to do but watch tv in
> the hotel room.  Eventually, the wife LEFT the convention with kids to take
> them to a movie locally.    You can BET, neither of them have ever come back
> (even though BOTH play games) becuase there was nothing for the kids to do.

A convention I used to attend in Boston has a wonderful children's
track, with gaming and other activities.  Unfortunately, it requires
lots of volunteers to keep it going, and that's something we're
dramaticlaly short of.

Janice