Q: Is GDC 2015 worth attending as a fan of games ?

I wouldn't consider myself a writer or a professional game developer but I'm going to be in SF during the GDC Expo (March 4-6).

Is this worth attending mainly to see new games ?

Could I attend the GDC Expo and walk around playing all the games and not feel like I was bothering others because I wasn't there for a professional venture (necessarily) and have a good time?

No?

As far as I know, GDC is mainly a place for "programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers and others involved in the development of interactive games gather to exchange ideas and shape the future of the industry". Unless you like to attend panels in which developers talk about general developer stuff, there's probably not a lot for a layman to get from GDC.

On the other hand, you might score an autograph from a developer if you hang around outside.

Almost all the games at GDC are shown behind closed doors.

It's mainly just a place for developers to do business.

The Expo floor doesn't really have many games to play, not like PAX or E3. Only big gaming area is the IGF booth and typically at least half of the IGF nominations are already released games anyway. There's usually a lot of great parties and events going on in SF around GDC that week though. Game art exhibitions, chiptune gigs, gaming club nights (Wild Rumpus) so a lot of that stuff would probably be more worth your time. Basically since all the devs are in the same place a ton of unofficial events have sprung up all happening at the same time and the bonus is you don't need a hugely expensive GDC ticket to do them.

I've never been to PAX or E3 or anything so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I had fun the year I went to GDC. I thought the panels were really interesting, but if you just want to play some unreleased games it's probably not the best place for that. There were definitely some there, but it's not the focus of the event. The real problem is that the badges are very expensive. There's a cheap student pass that you can use to get in on Friday. Though officially that doesn't give you access to the panels but the year I went they never checked.

It depends if you are a fan of playing games or a fan of the craft that goes into making games. If you don't have any interest in how the sausage is made then there is nothing there for you. Otherwise, there are panels that you could attend, such as this Sweary 65 panel, Game Design in the Coffee. Also, it's my understanding that since GDC is a conference for professionals, you're paying prices that are high like they are a business expense, and not prices that are trying to attract the general public.

I'm pretty sure it's meant for developers and I remember it being crazy expensive to attend. It's not usually a place to show new games like E3, instead a lot of them feature post-mortem on old, classic games or what things developers have learned/what can help the industry. They have panels that are streamed online if I remember correctly but I'm not sure how much it costs to watch them.

Definitely sounds like PAX is more my speed, I had the realization that I could go and knew just the people to ask :) . Thank you each for the great responses! This is my first "actual" post on the forums :3, thanks for being so friendly everybody.