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Improve PAX! List your ideas here.

duderdude2duderdude2 Registered User regular
edited January 2006 in PAX Archive
PAX 2005 was overall an awesome experience. It ran far smoother and had a lot more to do than last year's. However, PAX isn't perfect and I want to hear your ideas as to how to make it better. Here's a few ideas for starters:

1) Keep panels on time, or at the least update the white board outside the theater. Sitting through an hour of the Marketing panel for the PA panel was excruciatingly boring.

2) Screen the damn questions, or impose a time limit. That one girl who introduced every Tom, Dick and Hairy brought the Red vs Blue panel to a screeching halt, then kicked it in the uprights. I mean damn, that was boring.

3) Get an actual freeplay console room, not a hall.

So how would you guys make PAX even better?

duderdude2 on
«13

Posts

  • GeeCeeGeeCee Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    JESUS CHRIST MOVE THE DDR MACHINES AWAY FROM THE BYOC ROOM

    THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP

    GeeCee on
  • AnexkahnAnexkahn Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    duderdude2 wrote:
    2) Screen the damn questions, or impost a time limit. That one girl who introduced every Tom, Dick and Hairy brought the Red vs Blue panel to a screeching halt, then kicked it in the uprights. I mean damn, that was boring.


    Agree, if not screen, at least make it a standard one question per person and maybe a followup. the i have 5034092.6 question people seemed to go on for quite some time about irrelevant stuff. Also, auditorally the panels could have used some work. the panelists were not miced effectivly and the floor mics had feedback issues because people would not get close enough to use them correctly. Station someone on the floor to assist with that and to keep questions rolling.

    Anexkahn on
  • spydeyspydey Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    Run a slide show of the comics on the screen between forums. The little movie clip was nice, but got old quick.

    spydey on
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  • XieflowXieflow Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    oh my god that marketing panel was

    SOOOOOO

    BORING

    and it went on FOREVER

    Xieflow on
  • duderdude2duderdude2 Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    spydey wrote:
    Run a slide show of the comics on the screen between forums. The little movie clip was nice, but got old quick.

    Great idea. I was trying to think of something they should do with those screens aside from being blank and showing that short CG video over and over.

    Also, they need to brighten the screens (though it might have the poor stage lighting) and make sure the camera's in focus. All the panels I saw were blurry, though again that could be the poor lighting.

    duderdude2 on
  • ctishmanctishman Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    Woot, an '05 version of PAX: The Good, The Bad, and the Making It Better.

    Agreed on moving console freeplay out of the hall. Of course, there's going to be a whole different venue next year, so that problem most likely won't exist.

    Enforcers
    Let me preface this with the fact that I'm not, nor have I ever been an enforcer.

    -Have six-hour shifts for enforcers, and hold them to it. I don't care how much they want to keep working. Get them back into civvies and out to enjoy the show after their shift. This will majorly boost professionalism.

    -Give them some extra stuff for their trouble. They're volunteering for days on end, and a shirt/kthxbye don't really compensate.

    Panels

    - One question per person, and one followup.
    - Drop the marketing panel.
    - 'Pitch Your Game Idea' needs to be done in a split-format, like many of the others. Half for ideas submitted in advance to a moderator, with any visuals/etc. they want to use, half spur-of-the-moment, like it is now.
    -Bring back the webcomics panel, and invite some luminaries in the industry. Suggestions:
    Scott Ramsoomair
    Jeph Jacques
    Scott Kurtz (OOOOooooh!)
    The MacHall guys

    Concerts
    -Is a bigger theatre possible? If so, we need one.
    -Earlier. Late is nice, but when you've been gaming all day, you can't enjoy the acts with the full fervor they deserve. Perhaps pursuing the State Fair model with acts all day would help.


    Edit: Oh yeah. I don't mention The Good because by and large, it was ALL Good.

    ctishman on
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  • DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
    edited August 2005
    duderdude2 wrote:
    spydey wrote:
    Also, they need to brighten the screens (though it might have the poor stage lighting) and make sure the camera's in focus. All the panels I saw were blurry, though again that could be the poor lighting.

    Yeah, the problem there was that we were sending an NTSC signal (which isn't exactly optimized by being projected on a 10'+ screen) and were running it through a composite video (RCA) cable so it was very soft and contrasty. The A/V guys had originally rented an HDCam to use with the projectors for the live stuff, (which would have given a better image) but since they didn't have an operator for the camera that would have resulted in it just being a wide static shot. The consensus we (the A/V presentation guys and the DVD video crew) came to was that we'd just use one of the live video cameras for the feed and that, even though it may not look as great projected, the audience would get a significantly better view. It was a trade-off, but we figured that you'd rather get a closer view of the stage (even if slightly soft and dark) than a view that you could've gotten just from standing in the back of the room and looking at the stage.

    It looked even worse with the jib-cam footage during the concerts because, adding to the previous mentioned problems, the cable length was very long and the signal degrades over length - but it looked absolutely phenomenal on the monitor and that will carry over to the dvd.

    It wasn't anyones fault, just a technical limitation that we'll be better prepared to deal with next time around.

    Unknown User on
  • LegacyLegacy Stuck Somewhere In Cyberspace The Grid(Seattle)Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited August 2005
    ctishman wrote:
    Concerts

    -Earlier. Late is nice, but when you've been gaming all day, you can't enjoy the acts with the full fervor they deserve. Perhaps pursuing the State Fair model with acts all day would help.

    That, and, it was almost basically "Concerts or parties?" this year. Well, for me at least.

    By the time the concerts were out, I was dead tired and everyone back at the Doubletree had died. There was maybe one party...

    Legacy on
    Can we get the chemicals in. 'Cause anything's better than this.
  • WeaverWeaver Who are you? What do you want?Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    Less fatties.

    Weaver on
  • DJBreslinDJBreslin Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    ctishman wrote:
    Woot, an '05 version of PAX: The Good, The Bad, and the Making It Better.

    Enforcers
    Let me preface this with the fact that I'm not, nor have I ever been an enforcer.

    -Have six-hour shifts for enforcers, and hold them to it. I don't care how much they want to keep working. Get them back into civvies and out to enjoy the show after their shift. This will majorly boost professionalism.

    -Give them some extra stuff for their trouble. They're volunteering for days on end, and a shirt/kthxbye don't really compensate.

    Regarding the Enforcers... I generally like your idea. However, I felt like the Enforcers who were cool, were cool all the way to Sunday. And those who were dicks, were dicks on day one. Being a geek myself, it's hard for me criticize other geeks, but the bottom line is that some of these guys have been shit on all their lives... and for a short while they feel very important and get a taste for power and it goes to their heads.

    So, I'd like to take a moment and thank some Enforcers who were really cool the whole time:
    1) The guy with red hair in a pony tail outside the BYOC room. He was pleasant and helpful the entire time and always listened to my questions.
    2) The girl who tried to rip my PAXsassins watch off, until she realized I wasn't her intended target. I chatted with her a couple times and she looked like she was enjoying herself a lot.
    3) The tall dude with the headphone/mic in black combat boots. We flashed our badges at the back door so we could get in without walking all the way around and all the guys were like "we can't let you in; it says not to!" and he walked up and said "guys... they're all flashing badges, just let them in!" He was a voice of sanity when others just blindly followed rules.

    It's hard to stay cool and these guys did it. Good job!

    DJBreslin on
  • tmonkeytmonkey Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    Well, I have a few suggestions with the preface that I know the layout of the WSCTC pretty well.

    1) With the way PAX operates, I'd suggest either 4A or 6ABC as the main concert/panel hall. 4B can easily work for the exhibition hall.

    2) Console freeplay should have a room at least the size of the PC Gaming rooms, if not larger. Work with some local game stores in the area to provide games, they'll usually provide what they have in stock in exchange for free advertising.

    3) Have more than 1 panel going on at a time. There are some that will draw more interest than others, but when people are attending a panel because it's the only thing going on, then that's a bad thing.

    4) If you use 4A for main events, use 6ABC for consoles, and 6D for PC gaming. There's a fairly large space in front of 6D that can be used for the BAWLS guys, or there are numerous spaces in the South Lobby of 4th floor.

    5) Better signage as to where events are, it was hard at the Medynbauer because they didn't have very accessible hallways for their rooms. A large foamcore board in the main lobby can easily solve some of that.

    6) Reminders sent out a week before PAX reminding people what tournaments they signed up for and when the times were. I know I signed up for two tournaments, but I think I slept though both of them.

    7) A place on the badges for people to put their handles would be nice, that way you can recognize someone who you only know online.

    tmonkey on
  • Gamedeals.caGamedeals.ca Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    For the most part, everything went smoothly... but if there were to be some changes, here is what I would suggest (on top of what's already been mentioned).

    1. Better information sharing for Enforcers. Some basic questions were beyond them because people just didn't pass on info (get them radios).

    2. Choose a hotel a little closer to the venue... the Doubletree was a bit of a walk if you just wanted to drop off some swag. (FYI - I stayed at the Bellevue Lodge because it was closer & cheaper... but I would have liked the nicer hotel).

    3. More events & panels. This applies to the exhibitor room as well. Nintendo really represented, but wtf was with Sony & Microsoft's pathetic showing. Next year... make it E3 for us.

    4. No offense Derek... but the camerawork was not good. Apart from the bad lighting & focus issues (which I will let you excuse as tech issues), the framing wasn't great and little things like simple panning was jittery as if the tripod was too tight. Hopefully it can be fixed in post.

    Gamedeals.ca on
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  • DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
    edited August 2005
    ya the guy doing the camera stuff for the pannels wasnt so great...

    some of the enfocers were kinda bossy, most were nice.

    Unknown User on
  • Munkus BeaverMunkus Beaver You don't have to attend every argument you are invited to. Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited August 2005
    Instead of huge payouts to the winners of each event and very large ones to those who got in 3rd, 4th, and 2nd, how about some smaller rewards to those who climb the ladder but can't compete with the world's finest?

    Munkus Beaver on
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  • cyraxwinscyraxwins Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    Weaver wrote:
    Less fatties.

    cyraxwins on
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  • AzioAzio Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    1) No clans allowed in tournaments. Either that or clans get their own tournaments. Pitting a pick-up group or a bunch of friends, however good, against a professional clan is like making little leaguers play the superbowl.

    2) I agree, a time limit on questions. I know you guys love to chat. I'm just as guilty, I dunno if you saw me at the Break Into the Industry panel with the question about whether a demo game needs to be super-advanced. But seriously, the panelists usually hang out for a while after the show to chat, and you can get their contact info and even arrange to meet up with them if you want. Unless they're Khoo, they're almost always not busy enough to not want to talk to you.

    3) Anyone who knocks Canada (*cough-jeff kalles-cough*) should be thrashed.

    4) Roaming Bawls hawkers. While having them right next to the PC room was a good choice, I still found it irritating to have to go all the way up the stairs when I was playing consoles.

    5) More free shit in the exhibition room. Seriously, I was expecting to at least get a sticker or something from Microsoft. The fridge magnet was nice, but damn.

    6) And those army guys? What suckage! I filled out their damn survey and everything and all I got was a uniform, a pair of boots, and a trip to a shitty hotel. Seriously, room service keeps yelling at me for some reason.

    7) My favourite, personalized badges: name, handle, hometown, favourite game(s), and email address. I met a few people (namely the guy from North Van who hung out with us because Sean was wearing a Canada T-shirt), forgot to get their address, and never saw them again.

    That is all.

    Azio on
  • twispbytwispby Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    Free-play on consoles was just ridiculous. Almost always (with the exception of during conerts or popular panels) there was a huge line to get controllers and a game. My friend and I waited almost and hour just to play a couple rounds of Smash Bros.

    I'd suggest setting up a station next year for the more popular games (i.e. Smash Bros.) and leave the game and contollers there. Have the bottom two guys pass the controller and if a guy wins two rounds have him pass as well. From what I saw there were always at least 3 gamecubes playing Smash so if there was an enforcer there making sure noone stole controllers I don't see why not.

    Of course if there was an actually free-play roon with enforcers and no bags allowed in it (like the console tournament room) it would solve this problem.

    Other than that I thought it couldn't have run better.

    Also, one of the enforcers told me that Gabe and Tycho were randomly giving away 5 computers or something? And that Gabe took em out to dinner...I don't think any of them felt like the got stiffed.

    twispby on
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  • StigmaticCorpseStigmaticCorpse Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    As an omeganaut, there is a couple suggestions, and I hope I don't sound ungrateful. I am satisfied with what I got out of it - permanent friends that live a couple blocks from where I am moving to in Seattle. Anyways, here goes:

    1: For the omeganauts that drop out before the final round: Give them tournament points for how far they got. I mean, yes, it feels great that I got to round four, but I have nothing but satisfaction to show for it, that and the single army of dice I got from round one's diceland. Give them an equivalent of points as if they were in a tourneyment - there are some I missed out of joining cause of omegathon anyways.

    2. The priveleges granted by the omegathon pass were great (cutting in front of event lines and entry into concert), but in the end were useless to anyone that came with a friend, family member, or significant other. The enforcers bent themselves backwards trying to accomodate us for this, and I really appreciate their efforts. Next year, you might want to give out one "omeganaut guest pass," to prevent problems in the future.

    These are the only two that I can think of at the moment - I will repost later if I come up with any more. Please, other omeganauts, if you read this, please add to it. And thank you so much for all your help, enforcers and Omegatechs, and Gabe and Tycho.

    StigmaticCorpse on
    Omeganaut 2005 - MotionSupremacist
  • DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
    edited August 2005
    How about publishing the results of the tournaments somewhere? At a minimum I'd like to see the brackets for each tournament and who won, but ideally there'd be a writeup for each tournament that included the entire bracket, summaries of the semi-finals/finals, and a detailed description of the finals. Then maybe some pics of the winners/finalists, quotes, whatever.

    Unknown User on
  • duderdude2duderdude2 Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    ^ That would be really cool, I wouldn't mind buying a DVD for some of those.

    In the meantime, I can tell you that I won second place in Mario Kart ;)

    next year it'll be first

    duderdude2 on
  • _tepid__tepid_ Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    Console Freeplay Love. Line was horrendous.

    Still, all in all, I had a good time.

    _tepid_ on
    The proposed legislation stems from an investigation into an Enumclaw, Wash., farm, where a 45-year-old man died on July 2 from internal bleeding due to a perforated colon resulting from having sex with a horse.
  • DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
    edited August 2005
    Yeah, my friend and I won the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory tournament, so my comment is really all about being self-serving. :P

    Unknown User on
  • duderdude2duderdude2 Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    PUN1SHER wrote:
    Yeah, my friend and I won the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory tournament, so my comment is really all about being self-serving. :P

    Haha yeah, go figure that the winners would be the only ones interested in reading/watching an encore performance ;)

    duderdude2 on
  • martianvikingmartianviking Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    DJBreslin wrote:
    ...So, I'd like to take a moment and thank some Enforcers who were really cool the whole time...

    3) The tall dude with the headphone/mic in black combat boots...
    Agreed. At one point, he (if we're thinking of the same guy) made what could have been a horrible situation just go away, and I seriously thank him for it. There were others too, but he was a shining example.
    Azio wrote:
    ...7) My favourite, personalized badges: name, handle, hometown, favourite game(s), and email address. I met a few people (namely the guy from North Van who hung out with us because Sean was wearing a Canada T-shirt), forgot to get their address, and never saw them again...
    Yes. At the very least, put a small square (maybe 1" x 1") area on the badge where there is no critical info so that we can put a guild/clan logo or avatar sticker (or other sort of personal info) on there. Maybe outline it with a dotted line or something.

    martianviking on
  • XieflowXieflow Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    man, with the badges, you mine as well just go ultra crazy and make them like scannable or something, and then people can buy scanner things and just scan each others badges to get that info (e-mail address, name, online handle, et cetera)

    Xieflow on
  • AndwarfAndwarf Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    Azio wrote:
    1) No clans allowed in tournaments. Either that or clans get their own tournaments. Pitting a pick-up group or a bunch of friends, however good, against a professional clan is like making little leaguers play the superbowl.

    That would be fantastic, having two pools of players. Sure, let the pros have larger tournament prizes, but it gives us little fish a chance.

    Andwarf on
    Most inanimate objects find me at least mildly agreeable!
  • LukasLukas Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    DJBreslin wrote:
    ...So, I'd like to take a moment and thank some Enforcers who were really cool the whole time...

    3) The tall dude with the headphone/mic in black combat boots...
    Agreed. At one point, he (if we're thinking of the same guy) made what could have been a horrible situation just go away, and I seriously thank him for it. There were others too, but he was a shining example.

    That was Gary, one of our two "PAX Lieutenants," meaning he had the authority to make decisions and go outside the normal parameters when he wanted to. But, yes, he's a great guy.

    Lukas on
    Not just no, but HELL no.
  • NintoNinto Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    Andwarf wrote:
    Azio wrote:
    1) No clans allowed in tournaments. Either that or clans get their own tournaments. Pitting a pick-up group or a bunch of friends, however good, against a professional clan is like making little leaguers play the superbowl.

    That would be fantastic, having two pools of players. Sure, let the pros have larger tournament prizes, but it gives us little fish a chance.

    How would you enforce this? Is there a threshold as to how good a group of friends needs to be before they're allowed into a tournament? It's a competitive tournament, fer chrissakes.

    Ninto on
  • NotASenatorNotASenator Registered User regular
    edited August 2005
    Ninto wrote:
    Andwarf wrote:
    Azio wrote:
    1) No clans allowed in tournaments. Either that or clans get their own tournaments. Pitting a pick-up group or a bunch of friends, however good, against a professional clan is like making little leaguers play the superbowl.

    That would be fantastic, having two pools of players. Sure, let the pros have larger tournament prizes, but it gives us little fish a chance.

    How would you enforce this? Is there a threshold as to how good a group of friends needs to be before they're allowed into a tournament? It's a competitive tournament, fer chrissakes.

    And no more Fragdolls stomping us in the GR2 finals.

    NotASenator on
  • duderdude2duderdude2 Registered User regular
    edited September 2005
    Ninto wrote:
    How would you enforce this? Is there a threshold as to how good a group of friends needs to be before they're allowed into a tournament? It's a competitive tournament, fer chrissakes.

    I agree. Tournament's are all the best vs the best. If you start breaking it down by groups, you've just watered down the entire point. And how would they keep the clans out of the tournys anyway?

    duderdude2 on
  • AzioAzio Registered User regular
    edited September 2005
    Ninto wrote:
    Andwarf wrote:
    Azio wrote:
    1) No clans allowed in tournaments. Either that or clans get their own tournaments. Pitting a pick-up group or a bunch of friends, however good, against a professional clan is like making little leaguers play the superbowl.

    That would be fantastic, having two pools of players. Sure, let the pros have larger tournament prizes, but it gives us little fish a chance.

    How would you enforce this?

    Honour system. Besides which, I figure most clan players would rather play other clans than a bunch of kids off the street. Makes for a more interesting game for everyone. This is supposed to be about fun, right? What fun is there in completely owning, or getting completely owned?

    Azio on
  • eelektrikeelektrik Southern CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    edited September 2005
    duderdude2 wrote:
    ^ That would be really cool, I wouldn't mind buying a DVD for some of those.

    In the meantime, I can tell you that I won second place in Mario Kart ;)

    next year it'll be first

    Heh, thats what we said last year... This year, we got knocked out in the first round.

    As suggested in another thread, I love the idea of having all the console tournament finals saved for the last day and done leading upto the Omegathon Final. A few hours of some of the best game matchs youll witness in the convention theatre.

    A Caracassonne tournament would be a kick ass addition to the table-top games tourney list.

    Rearange the concerts some more, Connie Lin just doesnt fit in with the rest of the show Saturday night, and as talented a pianist as she is I still find myself annoyed and nodding off to the music she played... Get more acts next year and group them more coherently.

    The sound quality was awful during the RvB Panel for some reason, after seeing the first episode of Season 4, I left because I couldnt understand a word any of them were saying. Didnt seem to notice that much on the other panels but the sound setup needs to be looked at so it doesnt happen again next year.

    eelektrik on
    (She/Her)
  • duderdude2duderdude2 Registered User regular
    edited September 2005
    eelektrik wrote:
    The sound quality was awful during the RvB Panel for some reason, after seeing the first episode of Season 4, I left because I couldnt understand a word any of them were saying. Didnt seem to notice that much on the other panels but the sound setup needs to be looked at so it doesnt happen again next year.

    Boy do I ever second this motion. My friend, whom had only seen a few episodes, could barely make out what was being said half the time. Hell, even I missed some of the jokes, despite having seen all the episodes.

    Granted, RvB has never had the best sound quality to begin with, but that combined with perhaps the room's poor acoustics provided for a pretty lousy showing. Regardless, I'd suggest RvB turn off the voice filters next year, and perhaps do a sound check prior to the panel.

    duderdude2 on
  • FallFall Registered User regular
    edited September 2005
    Azio wrote:
    Ninto wrote:
    Andwarf wrote:
    Azio wrote:
    1) No clans allowed in tournaments. Either that or clans get their own tournaments. Pitting a pick-up group or a bunch of friends, however good, against a professional clan is like making little leaguers play the superbowl.

    That would be fantastic, having two pools of players. Sure, let the pros have larger tournament prizes, but it gives us little fish a chance.

    How would you enforce this?

    Honour system. Besides which, I figure most clan players would rather play other clans than a bunch of kids off the street. Makes for a more interesting game for everyone. This is supposed to be about fun, right? What fun is there in completely owning, or getting completely owned?

    At least 99% of the people who go to PAX aren't competitive at the games they play. Having a seperate tournament for the good and the bad not only trivializes the tournaments, but it makes it hard if not impossible to have a "pro" tournament since there just won't be enough good teams or participants to hold one. In all of the PC tournaments there was a single team who had practiced as a team before the event, and they came in second for the BF2 tournament behind a skilled pug. The CSS tournament was dominated by a pug.

    As for console games, a much larger percentage of the players compared to PC games have limited competitive experience due to limited exposure to decent players and real tournament events. Seattle has a pretty active fighting game community, and Halo 2 has a very active online/tournament scene, but most console games aren't going to draw in any ringers. Instead of having alternate tournaments, use some of the better competitive games (sc2, tekken 5, halo 2, css, ut/q4, wc3) to have higher profile tournaments with larger prizes and more polish (the trophies were an appreciated step in this direction, and the on-stage or filmed finals would be a nice thing for next year) to attract more serious players from around the nation. Throw in a bunch of fun tournaments and contests for games that have a broad appeal but lack the gameplay or community to support a competitive tournament which gives everyone a chance at placing.

    Fall on
  • uc4lifeuc4life Registered User regular
    edited September 2005
    Fall wrote:
    Azio wrote:
    Ninto wrote:
    Andwarf wrote:
    Azio wrote:
    1) No clans allowed in tournaments. Either that or clans get their own tournaments. Pitting a pick-up group or a bunch of friends, however good, against a professional clan is like making little leaguers play the superbowl.

    That would be fantastic, having two pools of players. Sure, let the pros have larger tournament prizes, but it gives us little fish a chance.

    How would you enforce this?

    Honour system. Besides which, I figure most clan players would rather play other clans than a bunch of kids off the street. Makes for a more interesting game for everyone. This is supposed to be about fun, right? What fun is there in completely owning, or getting completely owned?

    At least 99% of the people who go to PAX aren't competitive at the games they play. Having a seperate tournament for the good and the bad not only trivializes the tournaments, but it makes it hard if not impossible to have a "pro" tournament since there just won't be enough good teams or participants to hold one. In all of the PC tournaments there was a single team who had practiced as a team before the event, and they came in second for the BF2 tournament behind a skilled pug. The CSS tournament was dominated by a pug.

    As for console games, a much larger percentage of the players compared to PC games have limited competitive experience due to limited exposure to decent players and real tournament events. Seattle has a pretty active fighting game community, and Halo 2 has a very active online/tournament scene, but most console games aren't going to draw in any ringers. Instead of having alternate tournaments, use some of the better competitive games (sc2, tekken 5, halo 2, css, ut/q4, wc3) to have higher profile tournaments with larger prizes and more polish (the trophies were an appreciated step in this direction, and the on-stage or filmed finals would be a nice thing for next year) to attract more serious players from around the nation. Throw in a bunch of fun tournaments and contests for games that have a broad appeal but lack the gameplay or community to support a competitive tournament which gives everyone a chance at placing.

    Hell yeah we kicked ass at BF2!!

    But seriously, I dont think seperate tourneys is a good idea.

    uc4life on
  • YoshuaYoshua Registered User regular
    edited September 2005
    Azio wrote:
    Ninto wrote:
    Andwarf wrote:
    Azio wrote:
    1) No clans allowed in tournaments. Either that or clans get their own tournaments. Pitting a pick-up group or a bunch of friends, however good, against a professional clan is like making little leaguers play the superbowl.

    That would be fantastic, having two pools of players. Sure, let the pros have larger tournament prizes, but it gives us little fish a chance.

    How would you enforce this?

    Honour system. Besides which, I figure most clan players would rather play other clans than a bunch of kids off the street. Makes for a more interesting game for everyone. This is supposed to be about fun, right? What fun is there in completely owning, or getting completely owned?

    If they really wanted to do something a long these lines, the easiest method would be to do the following:

    A) Folks wanting to play in the PUG tournament sign their name to a list, or sign a scrap of paper and put it in a hat.

    B) Tournament organizers draw names from the hat, or some other random method and put together the teams and assign them a name.

    C) Team names and who is in them are put up on the white board/projector 30 minutes ahead of the tournament (earlier if practical). Gives time for the teams to meet up, and go over strategies.

    Problem is, this means signups have to occur earlier. It requires more involvement from the PAX staff. The two of which would likely limit the number of tournaments unless it can be streamlined.

    I don't know this is all really neccessary, I'm just tossing out ideas.

    Yoshua on
  • Storm ShadowStorm Shadow Registered User regular
    edited September 2005
    Hell yeah, I'm all for keeping the PUG'ers out of the real tournaments, maybe set up a little 4 PC LAN out on the curb for those guys and buy some cupie dolls for prizes or something.

    Seriously, though--WTF is a *PROFESSIONAL* clan? I didn't see any at PAX outside of the Frag Dolls, and Ubisoft gave away the Grand Prize to the 2nd place (losing) team anyway. You have nothing, nothing at all, to complain about.

    The tournament that I competed in was an 8v8 tourney. If you didn't think about forming a team some time before the event and practicing a little bit and foolish enough to enter, well... it's not our fault you suck.

    Storm Shadow on
  • ViscountalphaViscountalpha The pen is mightier than the sword http://youtu.be/G_sBOsh-vyIRegistered User regular
    edited September 2005
    We do need another place for Bring your own console area. I believe thats what Classic console night was intended for. I did see a sign saying "we can't use your consoles and your games here at pax." Classic console night was a blast and myself and martianviking will have a better grasp on how it will go down next year. Im hoping for a much larger exposition space,better hotel selection and better dining selection instead of bellevue's.

    IMHO, IMHO...

    Viscountalpha on
  • uc4lifeuc4life Registered User regular
    edited September 2005
    Hell yeah, I'm all for keeping the PUG'ers out of the real tournaments, maybe set up a little 4 PC LAN out on the curb for those guys and buy some cupie dolls for prizes or something.

    Seriously, though--WTF is a *PROFESSIONAL* clan? I didn't see any at PAX outside of the Frag Dolls, and Ubisoft gave away the Grand Prize to the 2nd place (losing) team anyway. You have nothing, nothing at all, to complain about.

    The tournament that I competed in was an 8v8 tourney. If you didn't think about forming a team some time before the event and practicing a little bit and foolish enough to enter, well... it's not our fault you suck.


    Hey, legion of fire did have t-shirts! They were pretty scarry..that is until we crushed them!

    uc4life on
  • BeatByAGrrlBeatByAGrrl Registered User regular
    edited September 2005
    I totally agree Badges should have names on them at the very least, sorta like "Hello My Name Is.." stickers work. It was easy for people to recognize my name as an Omeganaut, but I didn't know anyone else. And Omeganauts should get one guest pass. (I worked around this by giving my brother my misspelled name badge after Tycho gave me a corrected one, so people thought he was an Omeganaut and let him in with me.) :wink:

    BeatByAGrrl on
    when you punish a person for dreaming his dream, don't expect him to thank or forgive you. the best ever death metal band out of denton will in time both outpace and outlive you. hail satan!
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