Hello,
Chaz Marler from Pair Of Dice Paradise here with the next installment in my Meeples For Sheepish Peoples series, discussing the social activity of board games in the lives of people who aren’t socially outgoing.

Last time, I mentioned how the idea of using tiny little pylons at a convention to signal games that are looking for players can make things a lot easier for those who may feel shy about approaching people to play.

That’s good, but it still puts you at the mercy of needing to have good timing. But let me try to make things even easier by sharing an embarrassing story with you. Oh, goodie.

I usually register for conventions online, and I find that more and more of them are starting to offer registration for events as well. At first, I didn’t pay any attention to event registration, because I thought by “events” they meant things like discussion panels or cosplay costume parades (which they could use the tiny little pylons for).

It wasn’t until after a fruitless day of trying to find open games at my first convention that I realized that by event they meant games. The events at the conventions were simply people scheduling games ahead of time. By signing up for the events, you were signing up for seats for that game ahead of time.

So, if your convention allows you to schedule events, or games that they want to play, at certain times, take advantage of it. That way, you can have a literal game plan for the convention by pre-planning an itinerary of games you’re going to be playing, taking all of the game chasing out of the picture.

In hindsight, it seems obvious. Embarrassingly obvious. But every gamer has to start somewhere, and hopefully my foible will help another shy person avoid the same mistake.

Next time: Gauge the strange change in strain when center stage.