Visual proof that gamer girls can clean up alright
Here's me on Saturday evening before heading out to an I Heart Durban party at The Origin nightclub. It was my first time out clubbing in 18 months actually, and my first time at Origin. I suppose my expectations were influenced by my experiences at other "trendy" Durban nightclubs but Origin wasn't what I thought it would be. With the obvious absence of the goths and emos (no doubt all across town at Burn), the club played host to every other conceivable social cliche in Durban - from the mulleted rednecks to the Big Bang Theory rejects, from the 80s glam escorts to the distinctly unglam middle-aged lesbians.
Whether Origin is always like this, or just when an I Heart Durban party is on, I don't know. What I do know is that I had a great time with a bunch of programmer friends and acquaintances.
Now, in a semi-related vein, I'm plotting that next time there is one of those local blog- and/or Twittersphere competitions (AKA thinly veiled popularity contests) running, I am so going to glam up and see if I can use physicality to wrestle some votes away from the usual winners.
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Tabletop gaming - I also lament the lack of local cons, but am happy to report that there are a LOT more table top gamers out there in Durban than most expect. They are finally starting to come out of the woodwork. The wargaming club has gained quite a few more regulars in the recent weeks and a number of new systems are seeing the light in Durban. The issue with a CON in Durban, is that there are no local stores supporting the scene. Joburg and Cape Town have specialist stores that support local clubs and have space for gaming and are prepared to run CONS as they get some value from them in terms of revenue. I know the counter to that is that Durbanites had a store(s) but were too lazy to get there and spend their cash. In a sense, true, but upon speaking to the local gaming members, the reason for that was because the stores ripped the arse end out of it in terms of prices. They could buy the same items cheaper from Joburg, including postage and now even cheaper than Joburg from overseas and pay R0 in postage (if you spend over 10 pounds).
The solution to this would be to have a store that has competitive prices (they would need to have distributor rights from the game publishers in order to buy stock cheaply), enough space to have regular games for any of the formats and provide support to local gaming clubs. Sounds easy, but of course it would be a risky venture.
Sorry for the long post, it is something I've been thinking about the past few weeks.
You should come up to Gauteng sometime, would love to meet you.
;-)
I don't really know what the clubs are like in Durbs, but a friend of mine from Durbs recently came up to Gauteng, and he said he's quite surprised by how much better the clubbing scene is up here.
Like I said, I don't really know, so I'm not judging... I just love a good party! :)
Yes, but we have the ocean :P
Anyway, it's interesting to see all the debate about the Durban vs. JHB club scene. I'm willing to bet that Jozi has much better choice but I wouldn't knock Durban. This said, I always find it's very much a case of the crowd you go with and the music that really shapes a great clubbing experience regardless of where you are.
Mark, I would love to organise some kind of open gaming weekend but as you said, the lack of local distributors really hamstrings things. Still though, if they can open big model shops in Durban, I don't see why a dedicated gaming and comic store - with a nice hefty online ordering capabilities - wouldn't also do alright, if it was strategically placed.