Gaming in Ireland (by Brian Nisbet)

It can sometimes be incredibly difficult to write about a subject when you are so deep into it, sometimes difficult not to simply go on about how cool it is and how wonderful everything would be if everyone just saw your hobby the way you see it. It would be perilously easy for me to fall into that trap now, but I shall fight bravely to resist and give a fair and balanced (with maybe a little propaganda here and there) view of the gaming scene in Ireland in the early twenty-first century.

First off a few general points. It is roughly estimated that over five million people are involved in the hobby known as gaming. For the purposes of this article gaming is going to refer to non-computer, non-sport games such as roleplaying games (RPGs), both of the tabletop and live action variety, cardgames, wargames and boardgames. So yeah, five million people playing with toy soldiers, collecting pieces of card, rolling dice and playing rock/paper/scissors. I’m not going to go into a detailed description of what all these things are here, that’s a whole article in and of itself, rather I would suggest you look at the Irish Games Association (IGA)’s website at www.gaelcon.com or at any of the products for sale around the country. It’s a hobby with immense diversity and wide-open arms and the scene in Ireland is a perfect example of this.

To be very honest I couldn’t tell you when the first gaming societies started in Ireland, but I do know the oldest running convention started in Trinity College roughly twenty-five years ago. In 2004 there will be ten conventions and countless other more specialised gaming events running all across the country. There are a number of websites, seven shops, several different mailing lists, a society in nearly every college and a sourcebook in every home. No, wait, I might be getting ahead of myself there, however we have come a very long way. These days Irish conventions are known throughout the world for the quality of their games, the friendliness of the attendees, the generosity of the charity auctions and, of course, the craic. There are regular visitors from the UK, the US, Canada, all across Europe and we seem to have acquired some Israelis who just won’t go away. They come back every year because of the sheer passion invested in the hobby in this country, the talent of the gamers and the organisers and the fact that we just have a hell of a lot of fun.

Like a lot of other arenas in which the Irish get involved we’ve quickly developed a reputation for doing it right and having fun while doing it right. Like SF fans and sports fans we’ve given a different impression of the hobby to those who’ve come to visit us and met us abroad and we’re damn proud. We’re also exceptionally proud of the quality of gamer/games we have in this country. The more ‘competitive’ gamers (cards and figure games mainly) have won competitions across the world and the Irish RPG scenarios are very well regarded internationally. It seems we just really like playing games and telling stories.

So are all the gamers a disparate bunch who only meet up at conventions and events? Thankfully not a bit of it. OK, Gaelcon and Warpcon are two huge social gatherings as well as being fantastic conventions. Like any such event part of the fun is catching up on those you haven’t seen in months, but on a smaller scale people spend a lot of time together. First off there are simply social groupings. People play together, become friends and end up spending more time together. Pretty straightforward social dynamics. The college societies still form the centre point of a lot of gaming activity and non-college groups also meet around the country. On top of that there are regular meetings of more specialised groups like the Dublin Games Guild, Magic: The Gathering competitions almost every night around the country, Camarilla Live Action games, Armengar/Larp Ireland’s rubber-sword LRP games and much, much more. On top of all of this there is the virtual community visible though the many websites and mailing lists, some of which are detailed below.

It would take me several articles to detail each and every gaming activity going on in Ireland today and that’s not counting all the people who are happy to game with their own small group around their kitchen table. There have been comments about huge drops in numbers in Irish gaming but just looking around this is less true than it would appear to be. The fact is that the hobby has diversified. Where once there were only wargamers and tabletop roleplayers there are now so many different options if you want to play a game. The overall numbers have increased (and things like Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings films and His Dark Materials are to be thanked, amongst others), but the group isn’t as homogenous as it once was. While there is a certain inherent sadness there, for a number of reasons diversity definitely gives strength to the hobby, and I think the current situation lends credence to that belief.

There are negatives, sure; there are people involved after all. Tempers get frayed; words are said in anger etc. etc. In addition the diversity of the hobby sometimes leads to misunderstanding and slagging matches that can get a little bit too serious. But as hobbies go these things are relatively minor and we’d quite like to keep it that way.

So what do we have going into 2004? We have a well-populated and diverse bunch of gamers many of whom aren’t afraid to get up off their collective backsides and organise events of many different sizes. We have players with ability and writers with talent; we have conventions that are known the world over as great places to game and have a good time and what’s more it doesn’t look like things are going to die down any time soon. We have events in most of the cities around the country every night (depending on taste) and a worldwide support network for whatever game you choose to play, so what’s stopping you?

I’m not going to attempt to list every event happening in Ireland at the moment. Below you will find a list of upcoming conventions, some shops around the country and a few contact points that may come in useful. If you want any more specific info then feel free to mail me or any of the contact points on the websites below. Take a look, see what you think and maybe I might see you at a con sometime soon.

Brian Nisbet

About Brian Nisbet