[DarkMimi]

I know this is an older topic, but I'm curious... has anyone ever tried a "Cosplay Dating" type of panel instead of just plain speed dating? There was one at Youma and I thought of going to because it was all in fun and you got to stay in character. More of a role playing aspect added to make it less creeptastic and failure-ridden. If sparks fly from it,then kudos! If not, then oh well it was all in good fun. Everybody wins.

[Animexcel]

DarkMimi, on 07 November 2012 - 07:57 AM, said:

I know this is an older topic, but I'm curious... has anyone ever tried a "Cosplay Dating" type of panel instead of just plain speed dating? There was one at Youma and I thought of going to because it was all in fun and you got to stay in character. More of a role playing aspect added to make it less creeptastic and failure-ridden. If sparks fly from it,then kudos! If not, then oh well it was all in good fun. Everybody wins.

Me and my friends went to the cosplay speed dating thing at Youmacon. It was a let down. You had to talk to both guys and girls, it was a bit awkward, haha.

[obakasan]

DarkMimi, on 07 November 2012 - 07:57 AM, said:

I know this is an older topic, but I'm curious... has anyone ever tried a "Cosplay Dating" type of panel instead of just plain speed dating? There was one at Youma and I thought of going to because it was all in fun and you got to stay in character. More of a role playing aspect added to make it less creeptastic and failure-ridden. If sparks fly from it,then kudos! If not, then oh well it was all in good fun. Everybody wins.

I think someone talked about their experiences with one such event in a prior posting and they weren't happy with it, but mainly because those involved often stayed in character. And as we know, some characters are, well, characters... If there was such a LARP type event I don't think you could approach it as little more than a fun experiment to fantasize about how you might hit it off with some anime character, and not approach it as a serious "real" match-up event. Although, you never know... Just my thoughts.

[DarkMimi]

obakasan, on 07 November 2012 - 02:27 PM, said:

I think someone talked about their experiences with one such event in a prior posting and they weren't happy with it, but mainly because those involved often stayed in character. And as we know, some characters are, well, characters... If there was such a LARP type event I don't think you could approach it as little more than a fun experiment to fantasize about how you might hit it off with some anime character, and not approach it as a serious "real" match-up event. Although, you never know... Just my thoughts.

I know it is hard to stay in character (being Rakshata for too long makes my brain explode), but it was just an observation. My guy might not be comfortable with me actually participating because of the off-chance of hitting it off romantically. I see it as fun I suppose, a nice way to meet people? Who knows, could totally be some love floating in the air for some. Considering all the serious panels before didn't fair well, maybe a role=playing one of sorts that gets implemented correctly could possibly be a success.

[Ryu-Chan]

obakasan, on 21 September 2012 - 01:54 PM, said:

I recall one year before I got on staff I sorta "volunteered" to help out a bit at one of the SD sessions. The girl/guy ratio was way way skewed. It also needed far more time than allowed.

Personally I'm more in favor of a less-structured "mixer"/meet-and-greet type thing with little or no emphasis at all on "dating." (Puts too much pressure on things IMO.) More like social time at an anime club meeting. Initial introductions. Let the friendships and all develop at their own pace over time.

My *personal* opinions.

I would love to agree with you on this, except for one little issue of cliques. People tend to stick next to people they know. I know, not everyone, but a large portion do.

A second stick I would throw in there is the "ConHookUp" mentality, if you will pardon the expression. As long as everyone is legal and consenting, there is nothing wrong imo of a con hookup, but if that ends up being a predominant mentality in a mixer, you may have people trying to meet people, and a larger group of peoples trying to get in others pants.

Just my bit of observation in the last decade of cons. These speed dating things go much worse at gaming cons than anime Ive noticed, so at least that is in some favor, eh?

[kopf1988]

I've run speed dating at other conventions. And there's one important idea that nobody remembers - and that is that the Organizer has to do a LOT of work to make a good one. If someone is just like "OMGH I can run speed dating" it's not going to work. What you need are some computer programming skills to do this:

• Assume setup at the start of the event is going to take 15 minutes, and plan to keep people occupied at that time.
  
• Everyone gives their name, gender, and orientation at the beginning (or skip orientation and have two separate ones if there is enough interest)
  
• Put that information in the spreadsheet
  
• Create a Macro that sorts these people into 2-3 minute timeslots with assigned people to talk to. This isn't too tricky if you can program well, doing it by hand is REALLY SLOW. But then people should get a list (just tell them), like "Josh: 1) Ashley, 2) Samantha, 3) Jamie, etc"
  
• Have one person monitor time and tell people when to switch, and have a couple of people to entertain with drinks or snacks... give people something to do, and it makes conversation a little less demanding.

[Prayer Police]

Geek Love

[kopf1988]

Prayer Police, on 24 January 2013 - 11:00 AM, said:

Geek Love

I've seen this before, but I'm too afraid to watch the whole thing. It'll be either super awkward or super depressing. >_>

[The_Tracian]

Here's the Facebook page for the "Geek Love" people/organization.

https://www.facebook...peedDating/info

This post has been edited by The_Tracian: 05 February 2013 - 08:56 PM

[Fudgi P0pZ]

obakasan, on 10 October 2012 - 12:39 PM, said:

The LGBT situation is one reason I think an "open" mixer is one way to go rather than "orientation specific" groups.

And in a way, we already have something like a mixer already... it's called the lobby of the DES Convention Center where everyone gathers to get into Reg or Exhibit Space... the only thing there though is it's not just singles. />



Repeat: these are my personal opinions and in no way should be taken as an ACen staff statement. So there. />

I really like the 'open' mixer idea you guys are throwing around. I agree, putting the word 'dating' in the title does kind of... well... give that connotation that that is what the event is for (or the intended result, at least).

I would agree the Convention Center is a good place to meet people... but what about the people who are too shy to go up to others and just start talking. It's a lot harder than some may think. An event meant specifically for meeting people gives both introverts and extroverts (and any other type of -vert I may be forgetting) a place to do just that. It gives people a common topic, everyone understands the intended end result (friendship, etc.), and it gathers a bunch of like-minded individuals in one large place who actually wanna be there. I don't know about you, but have you ever walked up to a random person in the Con center and they are really not that interested in talking to you? lol I'm not bashing anyone who does this--sometimes people just don't want to talk! And if you feel like you have enough friends already (or have someplace to be), maybe you don't want to encourage conversation with a random person in the main con center. A mixer won't get rid of the people who don't want to be there (you know, tagging along with friends), but at least you'd know what to expect. That little bit of security goes a long way for introverts!

Just sayin'.

[limegummi]

I agree that a mixer/ casual atmosphere is a good idea. Talking one on one, especially for dating, is a skill similar to job interviewing (at least in my opinion). It can be very awkward and difficult for shy people or those unused to the format. In addition, I think there's also a skill to be learned for making shy people relax around you.

I like rotation in groups. My bible fellowship uses this format a lot to introduce large numbers of people. So, people are placed in groups of four or five, and these entire groups get rotated around. There will be a set list of questions or topics to ask around the table. There are certain games Japanese people play during dating mixers, so some of them may be suitable. The good thing about this is that groups of friends can stick together if they don't feel confident being alone, and you're not stuck with one person you don't like until the next rotation, and it allows the outgoing people to lead if shy people want to observe at first. And of course, it's much much easier to coordinate because you're not managing each person.

[Dark Stranger]

Prayer Police, on 24 January 2013 - 11:00 AM, said:

Geek Love

Watched first episode, noticed the ratio between men and women is drastically different from ACen's.

[AznAndy94]

I see a lot of people complaining about ratio being uneven. Just out of sheer curiosity, which way does the balance tip?

[rondo]

Males > Females, as always expected.

This post has been edited by rondo: 19 February 2013 - 03:10 PM

[Prayer Police]

The Male/Female ratio shouldn't be an issue because there should be enough women to meet the minimum/allotted number required while excess men (even excess women) would be turned away at the door, leaving numbers of both sexes even.
Not everyone can nor shall participate (Maybe try next time in a different time-slot). Ask around the con. There will be plenty of women interested in participating.
If by some slim chance, there are only, say, 9 women participating, only 9 men should be allowed to participate.

What failed in previous ACens is just lack of organization and poor time management.

This post has been edited by Prayer Police: 19 February 2013 - 04:27 PM

[STVO]

Prayer Police, on 19 February 2013 - 04:26 PM, said:

The Male/Female ratio shouldn't be an issue because there should be enough women to meet the minimum/allotted number required while excess men (even excess women) would be turned away at the door, leaving numbers of both sexes even.
Not everyone can nor shall participate (Maybe try next time in a different time-slot). Ask around the con. There will be plenty of women interested in participating.
If by some slim chance, there are only, say, 9 women participating, only 9 men should be allowed to participate.

What failed in previous ACens is just lack of organization and poor time management.

This. Really if you can get anywhere from 10-20 women to come and maybe 10-22 guys (pretty much no more than 2 or 4 guys more than women) then there's no reason it has to be considered a sausage fest. It works well at C2E2 and Wizard World, no reason that with proper organization it has to be a "complete bust." After that its all in the manner if the others appeal to you or if you appeal to them. That's something that's not guaranteed in any medium. Like I said, I dated someone for awhile from speed dating (no longer doing so, but doesn't effect my opinion of the event) and know someone engaged to someone from it, so it's really in the matter of organization AND whether they appeal to you or not and your appeal to those people or not.

I'm all for ACen trying it again but it won't be the end of the world if they don't.