CaperCon is here for two main reasons: To meet new people and to have new experiences. And you can help!
Many of us have been drawn in by the lure of a new game, only to discover we have no one to share that experience with. Between the pandemic, jobs, school, and a thousand other things it’s often hard to get people together to play a boardgame or an RPG or a CCG or a video game or… or… and so we’d like you to dust off that game you’ve been waiting to fall in love with and bring it to our gaming floor to demonstrate to others.
We’ll have tables set up on the con floor and give you specific times where you can set up your game and hopefully lure in some new people to try it out.
And CaperCon Gaming isn’t just limited to tabletops, either. In the past we’ve also had our local Live-Action RolePlay company, Underworld Cape Breton: Tempest Grove, give demonstrations, as well as tournaments from (Pokemon Group), displays from (Airsoft Group), arcade machines from Old School Games, gaming PCs from PVP, and AR demos from Soulvaria. We’re happy to accept all-comers so they can show off their fandoms to help grow our local nerd community.
So! What do you want to do? Do you want to demonstrate a tabletop game? Do you want a booth to promote your nerdy local gaming company? Do you want to haul in your gear and put on some kind of tournament? Bring your gaming PC in to livestream during the convention? We’re open to all sorts of ideas here. We just want to spread the love of gaming and provide a place where all our niche communities can throw open their doors to new people.
Policies:
-On the whole we follow the same general policies as CaperCon itself, to be found here: (hyperlink)
-Anyone who is setting up a booth in the gaming area for the weekend is expected to follow the same policies as our vendors.
-Anyone who is doing a game demonstration is subject to the overall CaperCon policy as stated above as well as those listed in the demonstration section below.
Behaviour:
-We are first and foremost an all-ages convention. The con floor is open to every attendee so as such we expect a family-friendly vibe to be maintained by all volunteers. Anything that is commonly perceived to be “adult” language or topics would best be avoided. If it’s the sort of thing that would get a movie a rating of PG-13 or higher then we request you leave it at home.
(-We are open to the idea of a demonstration that is 18+ but that would require a private room. Access to those is limited and priority would be given to panels first, although if you make a compelling case as to why this would be an entertaining addition to our convention then we will certainly consider it and advocate for its inclusion.)
-The above policy also covers any racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, bullying or anything else that denigrates another person’s very existence.
-This policy does not include protection for anyone expressing negative views covering the above. CaperCon reserves the right to extend this policy to cover anything we may have overlooked in this policy.
-The point of these demonstrations is to give everyone a fun environment to playtest a game they’ve never tried before, or to pick up again a game they haven’t played in a while. The focus is on entertainment value. If someone at the convention is disrupting this atmosphere with their behaviour, you have the right to ask them to stop the behaviour in question. If they refuse or persist in disruption, then you can ask them to leave. At any point you can request a regular volunteer or member of staff to do the same.
-This policy goes both ways. If we receive complaints that your behaviour at the convention is disrupting the enjoyment of others you may be asked to cease your demonstrations if you refuse to modify your behaviour.
-Any conflicting complaints will be moderated by a member of staff. Their decision is final and answerable only to CaperCon’s board of governors.
-Failure to respect these policies could result in disciplinary action up to and including ejection from the remainder of the convention, the potential for a longer ban, and/or a referral to local law enforcement depending on the severity of the transgression.
General (demonstrations):
Scheduling:
-You will be asked for a specific amount of time required for your demonstration(s). We will attempt to schedule flex time in between demonstrations but depending on the number of applications flex time may be limited. As such, everyone will be asked to finish their demonstrations no less than fifteen minutes before the next one is scheduled to give preparation time for the next demonstrator.
-You will also be asked to show up fifteen minutes before your own demonstration to also give yourself some set-up time.
-If you are late and someone else wants to put on a demonstration at that same time your slot might be given away so please do your best to arrive on time and with everything you need for your demonstration. If you are late for good reason and end up losing your listed slot we will do our best to reschedule you in another slot.
-If there is a gap in the schedule, whether due to cancellation or some other reason, and you would like to put on a demonstration at that time, we will be happy to accommodate. There should always be a gaming volunteer available to make these arrangements. If not, you can check with the main vendor table. Depending on the notice given, we might not be able to promote outside of a message over Centre 200’s PA system but we will attempt to make an in-house announcement as well as some sort of notification of change on our social media.
-Communication is important, as well, and we will attempt to have contact information available for you to get in touch with someone to let them know if there has been any delays or anything else that we should be aware of. You can also check in with a gaming volunteer to let them know you’re on-site. It is your responsibility to contact us. If you don’t arrive for your demonstration slot and we have not heard otherwise, we will assume you cancelled without telling us.
Supplies:
-For tabletop demonstrations we will be providing you with a table and chairs. We may have some limited supplies available on-site but there is no guarantee of their availability. If your demonstration requires anything other than a table and chairs it is your responsibility to provide it.
-We also have a demonstration area that is an open floor space that can be used for other sorts of demonstrations.
Many of us have been drawn in by the lure of a new game, only to discover we have no one to share that experience with. Between the pandemic, jobs, school, and a thousand other things it’s often hard to get people together to play a boardgame or an RPG or a CCG or a video game or… or… and so we’d like you to dust off that game you’ve been waiting to fall in love with and bring it to our gaming floor to demonstrate to others. 