GeekKon.  For three years it has delighted Madisonites and Midwesterners who enjoy gaming, anime, sci-fi, art and video games.  This year the event reached maturity – moving away from the Humanities building on the UW campus to the Sheraton.

While the event was growing up, those attending were getting younger.

I last attended GeekKon its first year.  Maybe it was because it was held on campus, but a large section of the crowd was at least college age.  This year the demographic skewed younger.  When I entered the hotel, most of the faces that greeted me looked barely old enough to drive a car.  Parents hung out and occasionally joined their children in costume.

I chatted with a mother whose 15-year old daughter was dressed as an anime character.  The mother held the camera, snapping pictures of other exquisite costume parading through the lobby.  I asked her what she thought of her daughter’s fascination with Japanese cartoons and video games.

“There are a lot worse things she could be into,” she responded.  “I’d rather have her spend her time and money making a costume than getting into trouble.”

It is hard to argue with logic.

Some other random thoughts from GeekKon:

• Costumes were INCREDIBLE, and there were plenty of them.  Team Fortress 2 characters were popular, as were anime and classic video game avatars. Some pictures are below, and I missed many of the better ones.

• Panels were entertaining and informative.  From practical sessions explaining how to get your work published to ‘scientific’ debate on how time travel would work if it were possible, the hosts were entertaining and informative.

• I had an opportunity to see two youngsters playing Borderlands in the video game room.  After watching roughly 30 seconds of the game, I realized it must be mine.  Anyone else with a 360 should join me.  It looks like HD version of Golden Eye with collaborative play – what’s not to love?

• To those attending next year – if you feel tired, please take your nap someplace other than in a speaker session.  On two separate occasions, the snoring of someone in the audience was enough to interrupt the speakers.  In one the panel got their revenge, snapping pictures and video of the offender.