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to congregate for free. In addition to gaming, GenCon has vendors who sell gaming products, an art show, a writers’ symposium, and other special events. Players do have the chance to play games and to purchase products; however, they also have opportunities that are not as readily available in consumer culture, such as interacting with authors and game designers. For example, game designer Monte Cook held a session at GenCon 2009 titled “Designing Dungeons with Monte Cook.” In addition, gamers and game designers can interact in numerous online forums. GenCon has its own message boards, as does Wizards of the Coast. These boards also often post updates from conventions for those players that cannot attend in person. Although fans go to these locations to spend money on gaming, they also go to game, to meet game designers, and to connect with others. GenCon is focused exclusively on gaming, but other conventions include gamers along side other fannish activities.

How Fans Interact with Texts

Although post-modernism has lead to a flattening of binary oppositions, I would still argue that some of the original claims about subcultures and fandom apply to the culture surrounding the TRPG. As I have explained, I do not believe that all D&D players are socially marginalized or that they play D&D in order to rebel directly against cultural norms. However, the text created during a TRPG session is still far less consumable than a text created by most videogames. There is a difference between games that can be continued, such as TRPGs, MMORPGs, or even simulation games such as The Sims and computer games that reach the point where all quests have been completed, the entire map has been explored, and the player can go no further. The later products have been consumed, whereas the former can never be.

In addition, the way the audience interacts with any given text is variable. As third wave fandom studies have acknowledged, there are different types of fans. In fact, there is a good chance that everyone is a fan of something at some point in their lives. However, I would argue that all fans are not a part of the subculture of fandom. There still exists a subset of fans who respond to texts in certain ways. This distinction may be more problematic in our current cultural milieu, but we can’t deny that however artificially constructed it is—there is a difference between sports fans with season tickets and TV fans who dress up as their favorite characters at a convention.3 Socially, these groups are not equal, nor is their involvement with the object of their fandom the same. A sports fan who simply attends games may be no different than a TV fan who tunes in weekly to watch the series. Each may hold a certain level of participation, but as that participation becomes more and more involved, fans move more and more toward the fringes of mainstream culture. What we might be able to argue is that a sports fan who engages actively in a fantasy football league might be similar to a Star Trek fan who plays the Star Trek role-playing game. Both of these fans go beyond the act of participating by tuning in. What I am arguing for, then, is a definition of fandom that is based not on interests but on the way that audiences engage with texts. Fandom, in the sense I mean it here, consists of those fans who Dovey and Kennedy (2006) call “prosumers,” those who are “the consumer as producer” (p. 15). They do not watch a show, read a book, or play a game and simply move on to the next episode or the next show. Instead, they take what they have consumed and expand on it through writing, creative game play, art, or interaction with others. Thus, fans may be involved to a lesser or greater degree in this subculture of fandom.

This difference can be seen in gaming as well. There are gamers who quickly run through a game to pass the time and there are those that actively engage in the worlds, characters, and stories created by games. New games such as World ofWarcraft have certainly allowed players more of an opportunity to engage actively and creatively