Age limit?

[only_samurai]

Since this DefCon is being held at a Casino is there going to be an age limit....like 21 to be allowed in?

[noid]

Re: Age limit?

Studies show that people over 80 cause very few problems. We should set the age limit at that.

[Nikita]

Re: Age limit?

Since this DefCon is being held at a Casino is there going to be an age limit....like 21 to be allowed in?

No. Please check out http://www.defcon.org/html/links/dc-faq/dc-faq.html.

What is the age limit?
People have brought children to DEFCON - it is not recommended to do this unless you are going to constantly supervise them. It is generally an ‘adult’ atmosphere (language, booze, et cetera). If you've never been to DEFCON, you may want to refrain from bringing your children (unless they are demanding that you bring them). While there are no age limits, we have consistently cooperated with parents and/or private investigators who are looking for children that ‘ran away from home’ to go to DEFCON. You will have to be 18 to reserve a room.

That said I think NullTone ties with the youngest person to attend DEFCON at 13 year old. Years later he is in college and set up the DEFCON Forums. See, DEFCON won't destroy you completely.

To be Fair, You won't be able to Hang out in the Bar areas or linger on the casino floor. As best I know you won't be able to go to Skybox parties or any other places that card at the door because of open liquor and such. But there is plenty for an under 21 attendee to do, plenty of places to go, you should be fine. I am personally bringing my 18 year old brother for his first defcon this year, I have no doubts that he will have a good time despite his under 21 handicap.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Age limit?

3. Doing Things for Yourself:

... Only post your question when you have done some research. (Including examples in your post might help you.)
If we can find an answer with a search engine or The Official DefCon FAQ, we will not be pleased.

FAQ: "What is the age limit?"

* The rules were just edited to include a link to the official Defcon FAQ in the text. "The Official Defcon FAQ," as seen in this post

[PhreakerD7]

Re: Age limit?

I really hate to bring up this dead post, so I apologize, but... I still have a question.

Nikita mentioned the fact that there will be certain things underagers will not be able to. I just want to make sure... will I be able to enjoy the bulk of the con. I'm 14, and I want to know if I can still listen to all the talks, goto LPVillage, watch the contests, and really have a blast.

Thanks for your time!

P.S: Whats the deal with the Black And White Ball. Could someone maybe PM me what the deal is? Sorry. This is my first time ever thinking of going to a con like this. Thanks again.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Age limit?

I really hate to bring up this dead post, so I apologize, but... I still have a question.

Nikita mentioned the fact that there will be certain things underagers will not be able to. I just want to make sure... will I be able to enjoy the bulk of the con. I'm 14, and I want to know if I can still listen to all the talks, goto LPVillage, watch the contests, and really have a blast.

Thanks for your time!

P.S: Whats the deal with the Black And White Ball. Could someone maybe PM me what the deal is? Sorry. This is my first time ever thinking of going to a con like this. Thanks again.

Items not covered in the FAQ
(Examples)

The presentations are open to all ages. This is a large part of the con.

Observation of contests as they take place on the contest floor is open to all ages. This is a smaller part of the con.

Competition in some contests may have age restrictions due to laws.

Visiting some parties may include age restrictions due to laws, or rules imposed by the hotel, or organizers of parties that don't want risk going to jail for serving alcohol to a minor or someone under the age of 21.

Some of the contests may have age requirements for people competing
* "Brew Wars" Beer brewing contest (alcohol and legal limits with respect to possession.)
* Contests that require driving such as the Wireless contest if there is any kind of "WarDriving" component this year.
* Based on what happened last year, there may be stronger enforcement of the 21 or older in certain "private" parties with bouncers at the doors checking IDs.
* I've not heard if there will be any enforcement of an age restriction at the B&W Ball or if there will be a bar.
* Buzzword survivor (might have an 18/21 or over requirement due to the contest/money issue, but the organizer of this posted that it probably won't happen this year.)

Some contests give an advantage to being of legal age to drive with access to a vehicle:
* Scavenger Hunt contest
* Toxic BBQ (it is offsite, so you'll need transporation through carpool, public transportation or a cab.)
* SushiCon (offsite)

Contests where it shouldn't be a problem even though you might think there would or might be a problem:
* "Beverage" cooling contest : I believe that Deviant Ollam made arrangements to allow under-21 people to use non-alcoholic beer; the name of the contest isn't, "Beer cooling contest," after all.
* Hacker Jeopardy : though drinking has been central to previous contests, I think that the organizers allowed for an exception so that people under 21 could compete. (You'll have to see if this is the case this year.)
* Queercon has had alcohol, but as answered in their faq, there's no age restriction to attend.

[Voltage Spike]

Re: Age limit?

P.S: Whats the deal with the Black And White Ball. Could someone maybe PM me what the deal is?

I'm not sure why you want a PM so I'll post this public.

To sell it short, the Black and White Balls are nighttime music events where people are "required" to dress up. With respect to age, I believe they were carding everyone at the door (even before certain events that I won't recall here) because of the hotel-operated bar within. Although there is an ongoing discussion with respect to the location, I wouldn't count on being able to get into this event.

My take on underage Defcon? It is worth attending for the daytime events. You will learn a lot, probably meet some interesting people, and hopefully contribute in some way. At 14, though, expect to be shunned from almost all the nighttime events. As long as you don't take it personally, you'll do fine.

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: Age limit?

At 14, though, expect to be shunned from almost all the nighttime events. As long as you don't take it personally, you'll do fine.

my personal feelings on all this involves a desire for the public space (both the chill zone and the CTF room underneath the balconies) to have more events at night... i mean, was the defcon movie night going on last time? if so, where? that's a perfect thing for the public zone, in my opinion. perhaps on the wall of the other room we could keep the filler material playing (that was sort of the deal last time in the CTF area) which has many music videos, etc. overall, then not only will underage folk have plenty to do, the fact that they're immediately adjacent to the skybox parties will help the feeling that they're not completely detached from the evening festivities. there's also the fact that many of us up in the skyboxes enjoyed going out to the balconies to chill out. content projected on the walls would lead to more of that and thus more of a connected vibe, perhaps.

but who knows... maybe it would just lead to misery on the part of underage folks who would look up and see all the intoxication and nakedness that they can not be a part of.

[renderman]

Re: Age limit?

Aside from physical age for legal reasons, the only age limit is your maturity.

If your 12 but can be mature and responsible as a 30 something, then your welcome. If your 30 something and act like a 12 year old, then you can just go crawl into a hole in the desert.

I've met a number of underage people over the years and been really surprised at the maturity and intelligence of some. I've met some overage people who were complete jackasses that I never wanted to see ever again.

[PhreakerD7]

Re: Age limit?

I can't really speak for myself on behalf of how mature I am. I mean, you can't really believe someone when they're talking about themselves, ya know?

Are there any good things on phreaking at defcon? Thats been my area of interest lately, and I haven't seen one contest having to do with phreaking (sure, it is hard to have a contest on phreaking, but...)

Thanks again.

[hackajar]

Re: Age limit?

* Scavenger Hunt contest

It was nice having an underage kid on our team for 3 years, certin tasks and items it's best for an underage to do. They usually get off with a repremand ;)

* Hacker Jeopardy : though drinking has been central to previous contests, I think that the organizers allowed for an exception so that people under 21 could compete. (You'll have to see if this is the case this year.)

We had our ID's checked last year while compeating, don't think HJ is on slate for anyone under 21 :( sorry

[Origin]

Re: Age limit?

Completely agree with Renderman. Hell, if I had the balls, er money, to attend at 14, I would have. There's plenty of trouble, er fun, to be had in Vegas at 14.

Bring an underage friend with you. Meet some people. A lot of times people are just hanging out in someone's room. No alcohol required.

[russ]

Re: Age limit?

Does anyone here have the requisite PBX or digi-comm networking gear to run a phreaking contest? It sure would be a nice addition to the contests. Please shout out if you're interested. Email will get a quicker response.

-Russ
russ (at) defcon . org

I can't really speak for myself on behalf of how mature I am. I mean, you can't really believe someone when they're talking about themselves, ya know?

Are there any good things on phreaking at defcon? Thats been my area of interest lately, and I haven't seen one contest having to do with phreaking (sure, it is hard to have a contest on phreaking, but...)

Thanks again.

[cjunky]

Re: Age limit?

im too busy to be interested in organising stuff, but I suggest you look at Phiber Optik's project MF.

http://www.projectmf.com/

Phiber has set up a series of asterisk PBX's updated to handle MF so that you can phreak your way around the network. A node could easily be deployed at con and managed for a competition. The network itself is all up and running already.

If you want to speak to phiber about it I can relay a message that will get a swifter response than the mailbox on his page...



Cj

[converge]

Re: Age limit?

Does anyone here have the requisite PBX or digi-comm networking gear to run a phreaking contest?

Hmmm... have you hunted down Mr Strom? .. iirc he might have mentioned similar possibilities in past years..