KEEPCON

[Flamme Noire]

Alright, so here's the gist:

I was talking some things over with a few friends earlier tonight, among them being a possible meeting between Keeples sometime this coming summer.  We decided that it would be interesting if we could get a group of people to sit down and commit to hosting a weekend gathering as a way for us folks to finally meet the people we RP or OOC with on a daily basis.  I've outlined a few things, below.

SOME IDEAS:

After some discussion, we (again, we being a few of us folks who hang around the arena) decided that the fairest way to choose a convention location would be to hold it somewhere near the geographic center of the continental United States.  (We picked Omaha, Nebraska as a prime location)

Perks to having the Con in Omaha:

- Easy access for people coming from all directions (presumably)

- reasonably large city but not overly so

- many hotels w/ banquet hall rentals available (this part would need the most input, in terms of who would be willing to front the money for individual hotel rooms, the hall itself,  etc.)

- a downtown area that would offer some extra things to do for visiting Keeples

These are just some of the many things offered.  Now, in my personal opinion, having the ENTIRE gathering at a pre-agreed upon hotel would seem to be the most logical course of action, with the obvious convenience being that one's room would be but an elevator ride away from the banquet hall.

The cost of driving/transportation to the con would obviously be the financial responsibility of the attendee, but perhaps a deal could be worked out where hall rental costs are concerned.

Feel free to message me with any questions...I'm just getting this out here to show that there is some interest.  

Sincerely,

Flamme_Noire, aka Chibi_Noire!

Send me an email at sreiter88@aol.com if you have any really specific questions or if you'd be interested in taking a leading role in making such a convention happen.



Here's an example to get everyone started, I'm going to continue to look around at other places:

http://www.eventective.com/USA/Nebraska/Omaha/464385/Holiday-Inn-Downtown-Omaha.html

[Silent.Kamikaze]

This looks like fun.
And like a chance for me to throw fire people.

[Furr]

How about no...

This has been a suggestion several times over the years. The general idea is good, but there'd have to be armed guards present as I'm fairly certain there's gonna be fights between some people.
Not everyone is all super-happy with everyone, I can tell you as much. Besides, 90% of the Keep doesn't use the forum. So it's fair to say, this is going out to a very small group of people.

You'd have better luck arranging a gathering of the people from the Keep that you prefer, instead of trying to get everyone in.

But at least you've picked a decent location. I've been to Omaha once, and it is indeed a fairly nice place.

[Flamme Noire]

The idea that there "could be fights" has definitely crossed my mind, Furr.  I do not think any serious fighting would be likely, given that the event would be held in a reputable venue that would naturally have security of its own.  Either way, the great excitement that could come from an event of this magnitude grossly outweighs the threat of complications.  Everyone has the "walk away" option at their disposal.

[Silent.Kamikaze]

How about no...

This has been a suggestion several times over the years. The general idea is good, but there'd have to be armed guards present as I'm fairly certain there's gonna be fights between some people.
Not everyone is all super-happy with everyone, I can tell you as much. Besides, 90% of the Keep doesn't use the forum. So it's fair to say, this is going out to a very small group of people.

You'd have better luck arranging a gathering of the people from the Keep that you prefer, instead of trying to get everyone in.

But at least you've picked a decent location. I've been to Omaha once, and it is indeed a fairly nice place.

Fights?

Dude, we're talking about a bunch of nerds.
They're not exactly the ones that get in bar fights, so much as the ones that stand awkwardly in corners trying to fit in.

[SilverStreak]

"Keepcon?" ...

Certainly some of my Keep-mates and I have discussed the idea of getting together, but never something as 'formal' as this.

I respect the idea of an open 'con' for TK, but it begs the question ... what would we even do?

Having any kind of fun (i.e. DJ, Catering, Contests?) is going to cost extra money on top of travel expenses and accommodations. What you'll end up with is a group of, say, 20 people, who stay in a hotel together for a few days and end up playing DnD ... or worse, end up LARPing. Now, I suppose in theory, there could be organized 'outings' (i.e to clubs, bars, movies, etc.), but I somehow imagine that kind of stuff being a bit tricky to execute, and still falling a bit flat with this crowd.

Personally, I'd rather just call together a meeting of my closest Keepmates, get smashed, cop a few inappropriate feels, spend the night on the floor of someone's house, and just call it a weekend.

[Devin`Asures]

I think it's a cool idea for you guys who want to get together and meet IRL. I'm guessing you'd only really invite people you got along with online (other arena dudes) etc, or else it'd suck because you'd have to spend time with a bunch of people you thought were annoying, and yeah, might want to punch them in the face. (I know if I ever met that Alliyah bitch IRL, I'd like to introduce her to the back of my hand, then a brick, and then the bevelled side of a cricket bat. Fuck, I hate her. Oh, and if she attends, someone kick her in the cunt for me and tell her it's from Devin.)

I wouldn't participate in this "Keepcon" because I'm not an Arena person, I live in Australia, and meeting people from the internet isn't really my thing. I'm a closet geek (as in I'm actually cool IRL and no one knows I RP because it'd ruin my 'image' ahahahaha), so I'd be totally out of place anyway.

BUT! I think this is a really fun idea for those that want to do it! You guys could stay at a backpacker's lodge (if they have them over there) because those are waaaay cheaper than a hotel, and some of them have dorm-room style accommodation which might be a benefit because then it'd be like one big sleep over party (yay). You could all go out to pubs, restraunts and clubs at night, and do touristy things during the day, which would be especially fun if you're not from Nebraska yourself. Screw staying around a hotel playing games! You guys could have an absolute blast, and then come tell us how successful or disastrous this was on the forums. Oh, and pix or it didn't happen. Yah huh.

GOOD LUCK! I'd never attend, but I like the idea!!!

[Pink]

Omaha is NOT close, also there's nothing there. Nebraska---really!? Why not pick a REAL city that has things to do other than stare at lonely nerds for a few days.

[Pink]

"Keepcon?" ...

Certainly some of my Keep-mates and I have discussed the idea of getting together, but never something as 'formal' as this.

I respect the idea of an open 'con' for TK, but it begs the question ... what would we even do?

Having any kind of fun (i.e. DJ, Catering, Contests?) is going to cost extra money on top of travel expenses and accommodations. What you'll end up with is a group of, say, 20 people, who stay in a hotel together for a few days and end up playing DnD ... or worse, end up LARPing. Now, I suppose in theory, there could be organized 'outings' (i.e to clubs, bars, movies, etc.), but I somehow imagine that kind of stuff being a bit tricky to execute, and still falling a bit flat with this crowd.

Personally, I'd rather just call together a meeting of my closest Keepmates, get smashed, cop a few inappropriate feels, spend the night on the floor of someone's house, and just call it a weekend.

qft

[Inquisitor]

Honestly, you might as well go to a furry convention. It's about the same crowd, really.

[Silent.Kamikaze]

Make it in New York. Then I can come.

[Dalton]

Honestly, you might as well go to a furry convention. It's about the same crowd, really.

[Web Janitor]

Alright, so here's the gist:

I was talking some things over with a few friends earlier tonight, among them being a possible meeting between Keeples sometime this coming summer.  We decided that it would be interesting if we could get a group of people to sit down and commit to hosting a weekend gathering as a way for us folks to finally meet the people we RP or OOC with on a daily basis.  I've outlined a few things, below.

SOME IDEAS:

After some discussion, we (again, we being a few of us folks who hang around the arena) decided that the fairest way to choose a convention location would be to hold it somewhere near the geographic center of the continental United States.  (We picked Omaha, Nebraska as a prime location)

I wanted to let you know I support (in an unofficial manner) this unofficial, tK-fan convention.

"Unofficial," aka, please don't sue theKeep if anything goes wrong. : )

Good luck. I know Brandon was mooting doing this a few years back as well.

[Dalton]

Honestly (and in a non-sarcastic manner this time) You guys are better off picking an already established convention and agreeing to meet there, as opposed to making your own convention. Even if anybody shows up, you'll have limited resources and shoddy, unprofessional panels, making for a lackluster experience.

[Lugh]

Bad idea. Sounds like Gooncon, which is an abject failure.

[CaptainRobin]

Honestly, this is all charming-- but what you want is "Arenacon" or an "OOCcon." There is a lot of hate that flies back and forth even in single rooms, nevermind cross-room (MH vs. Lobby preconceptions come to mind); what's more, it's been brought up that few enough people use the forums (and when they do-- point in case myself-- they do so sparingly) and even then, there are solid examples of why there just shouldn't be certain people attending. Unless Inquisitor's an Old Spice man, I am positive there would be a group dead-set on lynching him. A lot of people in the Arena, too-- to name a few I've seen in passing, Kade, Atheism and Petra come to mind for people whose reputation is simply not... positive across the board. You'd have to have a whitelist-- people whose coming must be prevented for thought of their continued health. I wish this were sarcasm, trolling or otherwise not serious-- I'm dead serious when I say I've listened to people go on huge rants. You can't simply assume everyone on TK would be peachy-keen on getting into a room with some of the others. After all... the reason people don't 'troll' in real life is for fear of losing a few teeth. Take that restraint away, and...

It's a respectable idea to try and bring a community into a 'realistic' sense, but honestly-- TK's got trolls and assholes that many people otherwise consider 'friends' while others would like nothing more than to abort the children they'll thereafter never have. I'm going off a general sense of what I read in light passing, and I know it's not the most solid basis to judge this on, but-- seriously-- denying that there is a lot of hate that goes around on TK is not only naive, it's probably just lying to yourself.

No offense to Kade, Petra, Atheism or Inquisitor; if there's any taken I'll edit this accordingly. It just helps to have some better-known examples to illustrate my point.



Besides, "Keepcon" (as opposed to, say, "Arenacon" [for the most part]) encompasses furries.

Yeah, I went there.

tl;dr?

Fun in theory and on paper, I'm sure; practice would probably result in disappointment or disaster, though. Or both. Maybe other bad things.

Also, furries. Boogah boogah!

[MadMusician]

What's sad is that at the very least, people make it seem very very hard to put aside petty differences that don't matter.

[Devin`Asures]

Pie for Robin!!

Also, Mad? What's 'petty' is a matter of opinion.

In my previous post, I was politely trying to say that this would be more of an "Arenacon", but even so, I still think it's a fun idea if the people who are all friends in the Arena (or any other room) want to put together a meeting IRL.

I also think it's a valid concern that violence might break out RL between people who don't get along (because there's a certain person whose name begins with A and ends with lliyah that I'd happily commit violence against if we ever met RL), but then again, trolls and internet tough guys are normally huge pussies IRL with zero social skills (myself not included), so maybe they'd act completely differently to people's faces because they KNOW they'd be forced to deal with the repercussions of acting like dicks.
What I'm trying to say is that the 'nasty folks' of the internet probably woildn't be nasty IRL because they can't get away with that IRL, and if they do? Well, the rest of the people at the convention could ask them to leave (IRL /kick lol!). Of course, if the accomodation is shared then leaving might present a problem for an interstate visitor. Maybe just exclude the troll from social activites then?

Maybe the people who know they aren't liked will just steer clear of the whole thing? Who'd turn up to a party where they knew they weren't welcome anyway?

[Inquisitor]

You realize how much money this would all cost, right

It's just a bad plan because you're trying to organize an event for a bunch of nerds on essentially no budget and I doubt you'd get more then a dozen people, max, to show up

[Pink]

Honestly, this is all charming-- but what you want is "Arenacon" or an "OOCcon." There is a lot of hate that flies back and forth even in single rooms, nevermind cross-room (MH vs. Lobby preconceptions come to mind); what's more, it's been brought up that few enough people use the forums (and when they do-- point in case myself-- they do so sparingly) and even then, there are solid examples of why there just shouldn't be certain people attending. Unless Inquisitor's an Old Spice man, I am positive there would be a group dead-set on lynching him. A lot of people in the Arena, too-- to name a few I've seen in passing, Kade, Atheism and Petra come to mind for people whose reputation is simply not... positive across the board. You'd have to have a whitelist-- people whose coming must be prevented for thought of their continued health. I wish this were sarcasm, trolling or otherwise not serious-- I'm dead serious when I say I've listened to people go on huge rants. You can't simply assume everyone on TK would be peachy-keen on getting into a room with some of the others. After all... the reason people don't 'troll' in real life is for fear of losing a few teeth. Take that restraint away, and...

It's a respectable idea to try and bring a community into a 'realistic' sense, but honestly-- TK's got trolls and assholes that many people otherwise consider 'friends' while others would like nothing more than to abort the children they'll thereafter never have. I'm going off a general sense of what I read in light passing, and I know it's not the most solid basis to judge this on, but-- seriously-- denying that there is a lot of hate that goes around on TK is not only naive, it's probably just lying to yourself.

No offense to Kade, Petra, Atheism or Inquisitor; if there's any taken I'll edit this accordingly. It just helps to have some better-known examples to illustrate my point.



Besides, "Keepcon" (as opposed to, say, "Arenacon" [for the most part]) encompasses furries.

Yeah, I went there.

tl;dr?

Fun in theory and on paper, I'm sure; practice would probably result in disappointment or disaster, though. Or both. Maybe other bad things.

Also, furries. Boogah boogah!

Are you retarded? Have you heard of these things called "police" that exist in "real life"? I highly doubt any of these skinny nerds are going to get mobbed or lynched. Besides, it's the INTERNET. Anyone willing to cause violence to anyone over a stupid grudge on a chat site where you PLAY PRETEND is a sad, sad individual who will have a fun time getting raped in jail.



Is anyone here like that?

[Inquisitor]

lol @ anyone trying to lynch me

[Web Janitor]

Your best option is to do it at a cheap cultural centre, or someone's decently sized house, since you would be getting about 8-20 people which is a good size for a meet-up.

It's even better if you can manage to get it going at a time when a bunch of people where headed to that place anyway, so they may as well stop by.

[Lugh]

You realize how much money this would all cost, right

It's just a bad plan because you're trying to organize an event for a bunch of nerds on essentially no budget and I doubt you'd get more then a dozen people, max, to show up

Exactly. What would be the point of a "convention" in this case? Your average nerd con has like... guests? Shopping? Things that actually attract people to it.

Conventions are people of a common interest who are all strangers by default (no matter how into them you are, you don't know everyone into comics or anime or gardening or cars) attending a show organized by some sort of at least remotely professional group in an at least somewhat controlled environment. In addition, this interest usually has niche celebrities associated with it, issues to discuss, products to feature and preview, etc. What the hell would be the point of renting out a banquet hall? There's no celebrities associated with the Keep, and there are no products to sell.

Thing is, there's already a model for what you're talking about - it's called Gooncon. At first it had a reason but little of one, the founder of Something Awful was there, the writers for the website were too, etc. They had discussions, I guess. Eventually though it became "let's openly invite anyone from this website to a random city to awkwardly drink and maybe go to a strip club and take pictures and oops looks like some assholes showed up to make fun of us and oops look like one of the guys who we openly invited to our thing grabbed a girl's tit because he doesn't understand social and physical boundaries and also he figures there will be no come-uppance because he really doesn't know anybody involved" It just isn't a good idea. I'm not saying that all online people are inherently weirdos, I'm saying that you increase the chance of a bad apple who just sours the whole experience showing up by making it an open invite.


If you want to invite people you know on here out for a drink, even people who don't necessarily live near you, that's one thing. That's fine. Even call it a con if you really want. Hell, post a thread asking anyone if they're interested, but arrange the details in private and only with people you trust. But an open invitation to an internet community is just asking for trouble.

Are you retarded? Have you heard of these things called "police" that exist in "real life"? I highly doubt any of these skinny nerds are going to get mobbed or lynched. Besides, it's the INTERNET. Anyone willing to cause violence to anyone over a stupid grudge on a chat site where you PLAY PRETEND is a sad, sad individual who will have a fun time getting raped in jail.



Is anyone here like that?

I agree that no one would like stab Dan for something he said online or whatever, most likely, but open invitations to internet communities are just asking for trouble.

[Fahd]

lol @ anyone trying to lynch me

haha

They couldn't do it the traditional way. They'd need an I-beam and some high tensile cable.

[Silent.Kamikaze]

First of all, who the fuck says I wouldn't be welcome?
Sure there are quite a few people that dislike me, but I do have friends in the Arena and in the keep. =O
Secondly I consider Flamme to be a friend, and I'm sure he wouldn't bar me from coming or whatever.

Thirdly LOL
DO YOU GUYS THINK GUTLESS NERDS WILL FIGHT? At best, I expect people to glare at eachother.

I'll kill all you bitches >=c