25 years ago, with the advent of the company known as Atari, and the release of Magnavox's Odyssey home electronic game console, the cultural phenomenon known to the world as video games were first made available to the public. In the time that has passed since, video games have been embraced by the world, grown into a multi-billion dollar a year industry, and to some, become a way of life.
An enormous amount of people worldwide play, collect, and love video games from all eras, but rarely, before the prominence of the Internet, was there a way for video gamers to "meet each other", communicate, and trade games with others who shared their interest in "the newest artform". Now, a good deal of us email back and forth, post on Usenet newsgroups, and chat on IRC (and other chat networks) about video games, but relatively few video gamers in the Internet community (or, for that matter, outside of it) have actually "met each other" in person. Electronicon is here to change all of that.
Electronicon is a weekend-long classic video game fan convention, scheduled for June 27-29, 1997, at the Philadelphia Airport Hilton, in Philadelphia, PA. The convention begins at 5 PM Friday, the 27th, and ends at 5 PM Sunday, the 29th. There will be things happening at all times between those hours, provided that someone's awake. Coincidentally, our opening date of June 27th also marks the 25th anniversary of Atari's date of incorporation.
With Electronicon, we aim to provide the video gamers of the world with a great place to meet, play, trade, and celebrate all aspects of video gaming, with a focus on the golden years of home video games, often referred to as the "classic" era of the 1970's and early to mid-1980's. Every other hobby of this magnitude has dozens, if not hundreds of conventions a year, all over the world, but until very recently, it seems that convention activity in classic video game fandom was either small (confined to smatterings of regional "collector's meetings") or didn't exist at all. Electronicon will give classic video game fans everywhere a convention-level atmosphere in which to to meet; in other words, giving a huge, wonderful hobby the treatment it has for years so richly deserved.
Electronicon was founded shortly after the successful RGVC-Con I (a small, but incredible gathering of classic video game collectors who met through the EFNet IRC channel #rgvc, and on the rec.games.video.classic newsgroup; some of the attendees have been quoted as calling it "the best time of my life".) was held in Dayton, Ohio, in October of 1996. A group of people who attended RGVC-Con I were very enthusiastic about there being another convention as soon as possible, and began laying the groundwork for the event, which started out as RGVC-Con II, but has since evolved into Electronicon. There is a good chance that there will also be an RGVC-Con II in the near future, and we at Electronicon wish the organizers, whoever they may turn out to be, a great deal of success, as without the first RGVC-Con, none of this would've happened, or even seemed plausible to us.
Events at Electronicon will include home console video game tournaments, including games of all eras; a live video game auction, where con attendees can hawk their extra gamestuffs, or leave it to our "professional" auctioneers (this is a carry-over from RGVC-Con I, and was a HUGE hit there); tons of buying, selling and trading of video games of every flavor imaginable; and a few more surprises that we're working on, even as you read this.
As more events and activities are finalized at Electronicon, we will be making announcements via the rec.games.video.classic newsgroup, our email list, and our Web site, which will be up and running as soon as possible (a URL will be announced when we go live). Electronicon's Web site will be filled with more detailed information on Electronicon, including registration information, the latest news on the event, and direct links to other items of interest to congoers.
Also, as we are still working on the firming up of activities for Electronicon, we are still open to suggestions, and still looking for help with the various events, as well as looking for people to help with the on-site coordination (i.e. greeters, set-up, etc.). If you're interested in helping us, or have a suggestion, let us know.
In addition, one of the biggest reasons we picked the city of Philadelphia, and the time of year that we did, is because Videotopia will be at the Franklin Institute during our stay in Philadelphia (as well as throughout the summer). For those of you not familiar, Videotopia is a marvelous travelling museum exhibit about the history of video games. All congoers are strongly urged to check out Videotopia while in Philadelphia for our event, or otherwise. For more information on Videotopia, visit their web site.
Finally, if you know of anyone who is not aware of Electronicon (either because they don't have access to a computer, or for whatever reason), but loves classic video games, please spread the word! We'd like to see as many of you as is humanly possible, whether you're connected to the Internet or not! Though it's true that we are only publicizing the event online, it's merely because it is all we have the time and resources to work with for now.
Thanks for reading this far, and we hope to see you all at Electronicon!
Sincerely,
Scott Crawford
Electronicon
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