Very much so. I've been to 5 Dreamcatcher events and 3 similar independent events, and there is zero competition. Sure there are always a few guys who will shred their ass off at any available opportunity in a 'hey look at me!' attempt, but no one cares, and those people largely get ignored.
The master classes are largely more general / philosophical in approach, rather than just technique and theory. The breakout sessions are the ones that can get into nitty details, but at the same time there are always breakouts (and jam rooms) structured for people who barely know the intrument.
You'd be surprised, that probably describes at least about a third of the people at any given one of these things. I've met plenty of people who didn't even bring a guitar. One guy at the Paul Gilbert camp this past summer had been to two previous camps and finally decided to join the main pub jam for the first time, and had a blast. The stereotype of the 'blues lawyer' is also real; guys in retirement who maybe loved Steve Vai their whole life but never had a chance to learn guitar, and finally have the time (and means) to dive into it with an experience like this.
At the jams I find myself on bass, keys, or drums more often than guitar, because I play out at least 1-2 nights per week around here and it's way more fun for me to help support a guy who's never played outside his bedroom before get up there and bust out a 12-bar jam or an AC/DC track with a full band.
Then you always have the 13-year-old kid who makes us 20+ year veterans look like chumps
all walks of life at these things for sure.
The only people I've ever seen walk away with a negative impression from one of these are those with unrealistic expectations. No you're not going to have 1-on-1 lesson time with every single instructor. No you're not going to spend 4 days and leave with the ability of Vai. It doesn't matter that you shredded your ass off at the jam, Vai already has a second guitarist and doesn't need you on his next tour.
You'll likely walk away with some cool things to integrate into your practicing and playing, some new approaches to the instrument/songwriting/lead crafting, maybe some new tone ideas, a shitload of great memories and experiences, and as I'm sure
@unix-guy will agree, lots of great friendships. Truthfully the artists, workshops, and concerts are only a part of why I keep going back to these things. Being immersed in this kind of environment for 4 days, with likeminded people, and especially fellow alumni that keep coming back as well, is really what it's about.
(at a John Petrucci camp a few years ago, I also walked away with some tips for setting up my AX8 thanks to
@Admin M@ , and they actually distributed Petrucci's delay block to everyone after talking about how he sets up his stereo delay timing etc. I still use that in my live rig. Sucks that FAS won't have a presence there, that was always very helpful)
Happy to talk more about how these things go if anyone has questions.