Hey all, this was my second PAX East, and I thought I'd jump in with a few observations. Mostly from other cons I go to that have some decent ideas PAX should totally steal.
- Have the main theater be one of the sections of the big expo floor. Blizzcon does this, and it ensures that all the major events EVERYONE can get into with no lines, no fuss, and you can wander in and out as you like. If there's no seats, there's standing room in the back. Rows of projected screens means everyone can see what's going on. That back section that had the tables and the carnival food could have easily been used for this.
- More art! Otakon devotes an entire room as an artist alley, where artists can set up booths and sell prints. I know there's a ton of super talented game artists out there! I love wandering the aisles, looking at everyone's hand made creations. More vendors is great too, maybe move them out of the expo area so there's more room to shop.
- Do a ticketing system for major release panels. People go to a booth, get a ticket that guarantees them a spot in a panel, and everyone who doesn't have a tickets waits outside and has a first come, first serve chance at seats not taken by a certain time. The tickets are free, but they're basically a guarantee that you can show up and get in, without having to sit on a hard floor for an hour and a half. That way, instead of having massive lines in the aisles, you have massive lines in the queue room. Don't go crazy like Gen Con and ticket EVERYTHING, though, it got kind of old.
Anyways, just a few thoughts. I liked the new venue (even though I think it's the most walking I've done at a con EVER, holy god) and was super impressed with how much work you guys put into the shuttle system. I think the most walking I did outside of the building was after the con was over!
lol. Now you know how we feel at everything else. Anytime I went to the restrooms, all I could think was, "Gosh, it's nice to finally be somewhere that doesn't have a line for the women's restroom.
While I do agree that it would balance better if one or two would be converted, keep in mind how frustrating it would be to need to use the lou and find one, only to realize that both doors say the opposite sex.
I would think it better if some areas where assigned as 'UNI-SEX' restrooms, and marked them as such on the map for those who felt uncomfortable with the idea rather than converting to one sex or the other...
lol. Now you know how we feel at everything else. Anytime I went to the restrooms, all I could think was, "Gosh, it's nice to finally be somewhere that doesn't have a line for the women's restroom.
While I do agree that it would balance better if one or two would be converted, keep in mind how frustrating it would be to need to use the lou and find one, only to realize that both doors say the opposite sex.
I would think it better if some areas where assigned as 'UNI-SEX' restrooms, and marked them as such on the map for those who felt uncomfortable with the idea rather than converting to one sex or the other...
I could think of nothing less comfortable than a unisex bathroom. For me that would be no different than turning the female restroom into a male one.
First of all just wanted to say PAX East 2011 was really awesome. Definitely an improvement over last year. I admit the BCEC is a better venue convention wise, even if the Hynes is better location wise. Probably best to keep it at the BCEC.
Just a few minor things
Signage: Overall it was pretty good. However my friend was very frustrated on the first day. He parked at the convention center, and the shuttle bus (why this is necessary still eludes me... the place isn't THAT big) drops you off at the queue line on Level 0. When you get there the signage is very unclear where to go especially if you've never been there before and have no idea where the main entrance is. He got lost and was pretty pissed off once he found us. Some more signage for this where the shuttle buses drop off people would be helpful.
Queue Area at Level 0: I'm not even sure this is necessary? Most people seemed to be lining up for the main theater, and the queue line for that was on Level 3/2. My friend above said the queue line on Level 0 was pretty empty. Seems like wasted space, that could be used to make say the Expo area 2x bigger! Or maybe more tabletop? Maybe just something to think about. I realize because of the way the partitions work you can't really break up those areas. Maybe we didn't see something but the queue area on Level 0 seemed like wasted space. Maybe move the queue line to how the main theatre line was, but have it on the opposite side?
Admittedly though, I really miss the whole atmosphere of waiting in a big area with everyone. That was really fun last year, and looks as much fun at PAX Prime. But perhaps there are better ways to use the space? Dunno I wonder what people think.
Main Theater: I'm not 100% sure if this place is bigger or if the Hynes is bigger? The Hynes has a 2nd level so maybe it fits more people? I'd be curious what the Enforcers were counting. The 'official' capacity is like 4000 according to the wall plate in the theater. I don't recall what the Hynes was. Maybe moving the main theater to the lower level would be cool? Though the acoustics there would be really really shitty.
BO:Though we all are following Wil's advice of not being a dick, I think some of us could really follow the second rule of taking a shower! Some lines were a bit 'ripe' at times. I think the advance HVAC system at the BCEC made it such that it wasn't nearly as bad as some parts of the Hynes ended up by Sunday. Please for the love of god take a shower. Or next year someone needs to hand out 'eau of Nerd' to people for free.
Overall though this year's PAX was a great improvement over last year. The new venue addresses a lot of the issues from last year. Great job to the PA crew, and all the Enforcers.
Let's ensure that PAX East is the REAL PAX for years to come
On a totally side note. I wonder what that 8-figure cost of PAX East is!?!?!? Doing some back of the napkin calculations it seems like even if it's on the low end of that 12-15 million, it seems like admission fees hardly even cover 1/2 of the cost. I guess the expo and dealers must be covering a lot? Still I'm not sure how they cover all those costs with just sponsors and such. I know other cons can charge 1/2 million for a big booth, but these cons also charge you $1000-$5000 to attend. Just a cost curiosity that I wonder if anyone else can chime in about.
As far as orientation, why don't you just name one side of the hall "Red Base" and the other side "Blue Base" and put big flags up on each side?
This is the best idea ever. Bonus points if enforcers have "red" and "blue" shirts in their specific bases. I spent a lot of time walking back and forth between the east and west sides of the expo hall because I kept habitually going to the wrong one.
Also, having signs or coordinates to help find other people in the MASSIVE tabletop freeplay area would have been nice.
Also, hate to be echoing this for the billionth time, but the food court and the queue line took up too much space. Adding space to the expo floor and increasing the open-space to booth-space ratio would have been really helped it feel less cramped. It'd also have been nice to avoid the intermingling of shops that were selling things and the expo floor proper. Maybe having a separate vendor area divided off from the expo floor (perhaps in the area of the queueing room and/or all the unused food court space?)
As far as media and media badges, I didn't get cut off by anyone with a media badge at any of the booths I was checking out. In fact, in a random discussion I had with a gentleman with a media badge, he said that Bioware actually told him to wait in line like everyone else, because 'PAX is for gamers, so you can wait like everyone else'. Just a cool little anecdote.
Food prices were ridiculously out of hand, and the quality was not there. We left and took the T somewhere else (we're local, so we know Boston quite well). Perhaps including an MBTA map and/or some basic directions could really help out with that...
However, giving a map and T-access to non-locals could backfire. Boston is a twisted labyrinth of a city, and we could lose few attendees to the Minotaur...
I'm not sure why people think that they're the first to think of handing out deodorant at PAX. What could possibly make anyone think that giving people free deodorant would suddenly make them start using it if they already didn't? That's like thinking giving a vegetarian a cheeseburger would suddenly make them eat meat.... or thinking that telling a smoker that smoking is unhealthy will make them stop right there on the spot.
zerzhul on
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ProprietyPAX Pokemon League Leader!Registered Userregular
edited March 2011
I hope this is the right place to put this.
First, PAX East 2011 was, without a doubt, the best three days of my life. I am reeling; I cannot conceive of feeling better than I felt through those three days, or experiencing that joy again. I wish I could properly express my thanks to everyone who deserves it, but it feels to me that they number as the stars, and this fleshy husk contains insufficient praise, especially for the Enforcers who were wonderful and sweet as always in putting up with my stupid questions and pleas for help.
My one, and only complaint, is this:
I think some kind of dialogue needs to be opened up between our wonderful PAX organizers, and the convention center staff. Repeatedly throughout the weekend, I heard PAX attendees hashly accosted and verbally scorned for not moving fast enough, or for standing in the wrong place, or for gathering in too big a group, by the security staff of the convention center. Over and over, I saw the security guards treating us not as people, but as cattle.
The enforcers were always great. They told us to bunch up, or move the line, and they were nice and kind and fun even when they were tired and overworked. But they convention center staff? Grumpy, irritable, unapproachable, and impolite.
In line for the female characters in gaming panel, as the line grew, it grew past a service elevator that was sunk into the wall. Those unfortunate souls who were in that part of the line were yelled at for their transgression. How were they supposed to know? They were following instructions. An enforcer came by and explained what was wrong, and we all backed up most willingly.
A group of us had gathered for a fan meetup in one corner of one of the common areas, near the Dance Central area. We were out of the way, being sure not to block any of the areas used for foot traffic, but one of the security guards came by and told us we couldn't gather here, with no reason given. She told us we had to move to the Level 0 food court. We all agreed that that was fine, and began gathering our things to move, but apparently we weren't moving fast enough because that security guard began shouting that we needed to "move it. NOW."
In the expo hall, a line had formed for the 3DS booth in the narrow area between the booths and the wall of Level 0. Because of the location, there were people trying to pass on both sides of the line; people coming from the side of the expo hall wanted to move past on the left of the line, and people coming down the escalators from Level 1 wanted to move past on the right. Naturally, this resulted in the line being forced toward the middle. Everything was working fine; as people moved past, we all moved to accommodate, said "Excuse me," etc. Then a security guard walked past, and told us to "Move toward the wall, move, move", regardless of the fact that there were people trying to get past on that side. It was phrased as a chastisement for a crime we didn't commit (we were keeping the line organized of our own accord), and his tone was both blunt and unkind.
My suggestion is, I guess, that the convention center security staff be told to take a page from the Enforcers, frankly, volunteers who the security staff's job far better than they themselves do.
Or you could just inform them of Wheaton's law. That would work too.
Propriety on
That guy with the ridiculously long scarf at PAX. Say Hi!
Love Pokemon? Going to PAX Prime/East/Aus/South? Challenge the PAX Pokemon League!!!
++You've heard of Minnesota Nice? I've decided that awesome outpouring of niceness and non-dickatude at PAX should be called PAX Nice. I ran into so many awesome gamers this weekend and had lots of great conversations, which is saying something for someone with crippling shyness. Con-goers, Enforcers, Exhibitors (I must've talked the ear off the dude in the Gamebook Adventures booth for 15 minutes), and even BCEC Staff: all super nice.
++The new venue was huge. I actually missed the intimacy of the Hynes, but the BCEC is the only place that can contain PAX and alleviated the worst of the crowding.
++TONS of table top space! After last year and almost never being able to find an open space for table gaming, I never had trouble finding space.
++In general it seemed like the PAX Organizers absolutely listened to the great suggestions everyone had last year and addressed all of the biggest complaints.
++Much better, and much more swag this year.
--A lot of panels and events didn't start on time and made it hard to get to other panels, tournaments, and whatnot.
--Food prices. Yes, I expected them to be high, but $3 for a soda? I'm not sure what can be done, but if they could come down a little...I spent $60+ just on food, and that was after I brought my own snacks and water.
--Bean bags were contained the Handheld Area. Was this a fire code issue? But I'd like to see more bags spread out over the con.
--The map wasn't great, as others said. +1 to the suggestion to adding the BCEC's own room numbers on the map (i.e. Wyvern (#113 or whatever)).
--Booth babes. I didn't mind attractive women demoing games (Kinect, Nexon), but some definitely went over that subtle line. I don't go to PAX to ogle women, I go for the games. I'd really like to see that aspect toned down or gone completely next year.
Things I'd Like to See:
~~More variety in the console and tabletop freeplay sections. This is not to say that there wasn't already great variety, but I'd love to see more. MORE! (Is it possible for one to lend games to the library? I'd love to contribute.)
~~More tournaments, particularly for retro games.
All in all it was yet another excellent show. Kudos to all involved.
Just as an FYI, as far as I know, all those games are donated to be used by Enforcers and others. So yes, it may be a pain to wait for a popular game, but I'm not sure it's feasible for them to have their own private library of games to haul back and forth between the cons.
One idea that might work though ...
After trying To Court the King from the library, we dashed off to a nearby vendor to see if they had a copy -- no dice. My friend spoke some with the person manning the booth. Evidently the lending library drove up business in board games. Plenty of people came to buy games after trying them. They sold out of games they didn't think they'd sell much of. The guy said, perhaps joking, perhaps not, that he might make enough money off selling extra games to make it worth donating a few copies to the library.
It might be worth pitching this idea to the folks who set up shop right next door to the library^W "try before you buy" selection.
I would like to ask for more Star Craft II content, or a more prominent place for it. I think that this would be a nice draw for the PAX East as the east coast doesn't get the blizzard content saturation that the west coast does. Heck, we don't even have the convention density (as far as I know).
In addition, VGO is *wildly* different from JoCo/Paul & Storm. I don't think they were an appropriate addition to the concert. They're totally appropriate for PAX, and should have their own show as they did last year.
Last year's PAX East Saturday concert was the same thing: VGO, Paul & Storm, Coulton. I don't think they threw the Omegathon in last year, though. There was still a long wait after VGO but last year it felt like P&S and Coulton had a lot more time.
Which was all gone by mid afternoon Saturday, which says to me that people were grabbing more than one bag because it was good. I didn't get one as a result, and was saddened by that.
I think, though time consuming, there needs to be a check on that; one of the dealers who was giving away Magic cards was doing a hole punch thing on the tag so you couldn't go by two or three times when the staff changed.
I think PAX might need to consider something like that.
--Booth babes. I didn't mind attractive women demoing games (Kinect, Nexon), but some definitely went over that subtle line. I don't go to PAX to ogle women, I go for the games. I'd really like to see that aspect toned down or gone completely next year.
And what about the cosplayers who dressed similarly you want to get rid of them too or tell them what to wear.
--Booth babes. I didn't mind attractive women demoing games (Kinect, Nexon), but some definitely went over that subtle line. I don't go to PAX to ogle women, I go for the games. I'd really like to see that aspect toned down or gone completely next year.
And what about the cosplayers who dressed similarly you want to get rid of them too or tell them what to wear.
Cosplayers are different. They're not selling anything, they're not employed by anybody, it's all out of love. But if you need an attractive woman in skimpy clothes (and I'm not saying that even a majority of the women in booths were, but a handful definitely were) to get me to notice your product...maybe you need to work on your product, and maybe PAX isn't for you.
- More Enforcers! They're great, and they sometimes get overwhelmed when swarms of people descend at once for help...
- Way more maps! I'd recommend just blanketing the entire convention centre with them; the maps at major points and the guide in the swag bag are great, but you can never have enough help.
- Shift more of the popular events into bigger rooms, to hopefully eliminate the 3+ hour lines for some events like the Giant Bombcast Live.
Does anyone really think the DNF girls were more disruptive than the "Crowd around my booth and be loud" raffles? No way. I spent time learning the WoW TCG with one of the DNF girls, and talked videogames with another while I was waiting for my friends in line. They were knowledgeable and fine, and obviously fit the theme of the game. Anyone complaining about Bioshock is just dumb and I truly believe just trying to instigate issues, because that station was PERFECT and awesome.
I keep hearing about the Sprint girls... somehow I missed them? But yeah, you can look pretty without looking like a whore. If the latter was conveyed, then I can understand the issue. I think if Sprint had paid them to dress up like Dead or Alive characters (potentially even MORE revealing) that would have caused less issue, because it would have at least had relevance to the industry.
Realistically I'm glad PAX brought in Cosplay booth babes. There are always going to be people walking around the convention floor with less clothes than stereotypical "booth babes," so putting a cute girl in a fun (but not revealing) costume really helps drum up some interest (i.e. Dragon's Nest girls).
Also spectacular job with the WoW TCG loot chest... but give some indication that your card may be REALLY valuable. My girlfriend got "scammed" (her fault, but I'll still make the claim) by someone who offered her $15 for her El Pollo Grande (worth $300 on Ebay) that she took because she was really excited to give the money to Child's Play and didn't know its worth (she still gave her $15 to the charity). It's a great booth, but it needed to be called out a little more as well. Many people I went with didn't even know its existence.
I'm not sure why people think that they're the first to think of handing out deodorant at PAX. What could possibly make anyone think that giving people free deodorant would suddenly make them start using it if they already didn't? That's like thinking giving a vegetarian a cheeseburger would suddenly make them eat meat.... or thinking that telling a smoker that smoking is unhealthy will make them stop right there on the spot.
Smoking is unhealthy???!!?? I'm quitting today! Thank you Zerzhul! You've saved my life!
On Maps: I personally didn't have a problem with the maps, but I have a map brain. The Red Base/Blue Base is a cool idea but would require a bit of extra signage - not a problem but I think some people would probably STILL get confused. The one thing that bothered me about the map was the fact that the one in the book and on Conventionist didn't show the full floor and which wrapped around and which didn't.
I'm not sure why people think that they're the first to think of handing out deodorant at PAX. What could possibly make anyone think that giving people free deodorant would suddenly make them start using it if they already didn't? That's like thinking giving a vegetarian a cheeseburger would suddenly make them eat meat.... or thinking that telling a smoker that smoking is unhealthy will make them stop right there on the spot.
Smoking is unhealthy???!!?? I'm quitting today! Thank you Zerzhul! You've saved my life!
On Maps: I personally didn't have a problem with the maps, but I have a map brain. The Red Base/Blue Base is a cool idea but would require a bit of extra signage - not a problem but I think some people would probably STILL get confused. The one thing that bothered me about the map was the fact that the one in the book and on Conventionist didn't show the full floor and which wrapped around and which didn't.
The only map confusion I had, as also a map guy, was when looking for the Main Theater (i.e. 3rd floor), with none of the maps indicating that you had to go through the main lobby.
f0cus on
XBox - Angry Cremepuff PSN - AngryCremepuff
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ProprietyPAX Pokemon League Leader!Registered Userregular
I'm not sure why people think that they're the first to think of handing out deodorant at PAX. What could possibly make anyone think that giving people free deodorant would suddenly make them start using it if they already didn't? That's like thinking giving a vegetarian a cheeseburger would suddenly make them eat meat.... or thinking that telling a smoker that smoking is unhealthy will make them stop right there on the spot.
Smoking is unhealthy???!!?? I'm quitting today! Thank you Zerzhul! You've saved my life!
On Maps: I personally didn't have a problem with the maps, but I have a map brain. The Red Base/Blue Base is a cool idea but would require a bit of extra signage - not a problem but I think some people would probably STILL get confused. The one thing that bothered me about the map was the fact that the one in the book and on Conventionist didn't show the full floor and which wrapped around and which didn't.
The only map confusion I had, as also a map guy, was when looking for the Main Theater (i.e. 3rd floor), with none of the maps indicating that you had to go through the main lobby.
I'll second this. The connection to the third floor was indicated on some of the maps with dotted lines, but on others the third floor was just... floating off to the right, with no connections.
I'd love more stand-up World Maps. I'd rather be able to run to a World Map nearby than try to dig through my bag for my program or pull up Conventionist.
I also agree, the two halves of the convention center should be distinguished. When you're in the middle of the Level 0 floor and you're trying to tell which side is which, it's really easy to get them confused, and that's an extremely costly mistake, since making the cross from one side to the other takes a long, long time. (I found myself wondering why the convention center didn't include moving platforms on the Level 1 sky-bridge connections. Seems like an obvious choice to me.)
Propriety on
That guy with the ridiculously long scarf at PAX. Say Hi!
Love Pokemon? Going to PAX Prime/East/Aus/South? Challenge the PAX Pokemon League!!!
When are we gunna get booth guys? I was seriously ticked off when we didn't have a Duke Nukem in his booth!!! Why can't we get some eye-candy for the geek girls? I know that 75% con-goers were guys, but c'mon, I was sad that I couldn't get my pic taken with Duke Nukem.
Am I right ladies?
I was wondering the same thing. Although, the booth babes were fine with me. I had no issues with them. They were mostly interested in my baby (we actually had to stop and let them observe him, because I like making people squee from his cuteness), and none were rude, although, I did have to stay away from the "yellow dress" girls, as it made the baby want Mom Noms... From them. Which I'm sure they didn't have.
The suggestion I have is to create a "Parent's Lounge", where people with smaller (0-12 maybe 13 years?) children could go to give the little 'uns some down time, let them rest, get their dipes changed, etc... There were no changing areas in the bathrooms- we checked them all to no avail, and ended up changing the little 'un on a bench upstairs.
We had to leave way too many times to give our 9 month old some rest. We could have spent much more time in the convention center if we'd had a quiet place to go with the fussy, overstimulated baby. The beanbag "lounges" were too central, and too crowded for for this purpose. I was able to give him a short nap in one of the chairs upstairs, but with people walking by constantly, it didn't do much good. I met other parents of small ones who wanted the same thing, or wished that they had been able to bring their children, instead of pawning them off on relatives or babysitters.
It would be a nice addition to have some child/infant sizes in with the shirts. When I got the shirt I wanted, the lady cashing out mentioned that quite a few other people had been asking for merch for the small ones.
We realize that PAX is geared towards mature gamers, but *gasp!* gamers DO spawn, and there should be some consideration for them. I think if there were a Parent's Lounge, it would be much more convenient for us to bring our children, and share our love of games. Our 11 year old enjoyed it quite a lot (he won a Spirit Hood, and was very excited about it), and we do plan to attend as a family next year as well.
Also, the food prices were... meh for meh quality food, and they were not prepared for the lunch time rush.
The 3 day parking pass at BCEC was a joke, on us. We bought one, and then on the second day, were unable to park. So we wasted money on something we couldn't use, because they wouldn't accept our pass, and charged us again at the marine lot. They should consider having reserved places for people who purchased the pass, so that doesn't happen.
Stinky/dirty people will not be helped by deodorant/sanitizer samples. This would only drive up the cost of passes. Wash your hands, if you're really freaked out by germs, or bring your own sanitizer, as we did.
Someone mentioned Kilt Enforcer negatively, but, I disagree... He was exceptionally nice to me, even when I spilled half my Mt. Dew on the floor, and had nothing to clean it up with. He even thanked me for telling him about it, 3 or 4X after at random meetings. The enforcers, overall, were great.
I thought the con ran much more smoothly than I expected it to. Kudos to the organizers on that.
A couple of things:
Earlier talks between event organizers and companies. I had to choose between getting a guaranteed badge or hoping against hope that the company I demo for received enough badges to cover everyone. In the end they did receive enough, but that email didn't go out until three weeks before the convention, and it really stinks being stuck in the entrance line in the morning when I should be getting set up and ready to go.
Definitely didn't feel as intimate as last year, especially if you spent a lot of time in tabletop gaming. Having said that, though, I still had no trouble walking around the floor looking for people reading the rule books to games I demo and helping them out.
A little more open space in the exhibit hall would have been nice. There was space for the lines, and I do have to say the con did a good job in keeping the lines in mind when planing the space, but it did get crowded in some areas, making it impossible to move through them.
The ability for someone who demos a game to schedule it. I demo Munchkin, and I had more than enough people ask me to run a game where I mix all the decks (using every card ever made for the game), but it takes at least 4 hours to run with 6 people playing and really needs a schedule and sign-up sheets (not to mention two tables; one for the cards and one for the players). Can this happen for 2012?
Other than this, like I said, the con ran much more smoothly than I thought it would and that is a wonderful thing on its own. Looking forward to 2012.
A lot of this was likely listed, sorry haven't had time to go through the whole thread yet. Went to East last year as well and I think it was run better this year.
PROS:
- Bigger theaters compared to Hynes
- The wonderful enforcers as always
- The bigger tabletop area
- The way lines were handled (while it wasn't perfect was better than last year at Hynes)
- Shuttle service to and from hotels
- Smaller games getting at least some attention and being able to show off their stuff as well
- Certain booths who made sure to keep their lines moving
- The signings being easy to get to, I couldn't find them last year but maybe that was just me.
- The Omegathon final! Ikaruga was great
CONS
- As everyone is saying the food quality, prices were high yes but if the quality was decent I would not have minded
- The main PA store being on the Expo Hall floor, It was nice to have a large store where you could walk around and look at all the merch, but the location seemed wrong with plenty of open space.
- I also agree the people getting in line just to get the badge or whatever they had signed has gotten out of hand especially with a signing being right after the second Q&A
- Not clearing the theatres on Sunday until after the Q&A, while it ended up working out well Bill Amend was great and the X-Play taping was fine, but I would have liked to be able to check other things out and know I would be able to get into the PA Q&A
- Demo times for certain games (I didn't wait in the line for Old Republic because I heard stories of 3 hour or more waits) LA Noire line seemed really long as well and now I hear it was a 30 minute demo
- Not posting the wait times or knowing the wait times for games at the expo hall. Some people had an idea but a sign or being able to ask someone would have helped for games like LA Noire, where I just saw the line and assumed a long wait again that could just be me.
Overall another great PAX and PAX East 2012 cannot come soon enough!
Last year's PAX East Saturday concert was the same thing: VGO, Paul & Storm, Coulton. I don't think they threw the Omegathon in last year, though. There was still a long wait after VGO but last year it felt like P&S and Coulton had a lot more time.
They did; Rock Band was (I think) between sets. Jenga got a little insane. We were all moving pretty deliberately before that 10-second rule was implemented.
Themiscyra on
PAX EAST 2011 Omegathon Finalist - PAX East 2012 Omeganaut After time adrift among open stars
Among tides of light and to shoals of dust
I will return to where I began
I think some kind of dialogue needs to be opened up between our wonderful PAX organizers, and the convention center staff. Repeatedly throughout the weekend, I heard PAX attendees hashly accosted and verbally scorned for not moving fast enough, or for standing in the wrong place, or for gathering in too big a group, by the security staff of the convention center. Over and over, I saw the security guards treating us not as people, but as cattle.
Yeah, I'd had a bit of trouble with this last year at Hynes, but the BCEC staff seemed much worse. There was a lot of barking orders and interrupting people and general surly rudeness. There were also times when they contradicted the Enforcers, or contradicted each other, which just made things confusing. They seemed to bring in more staff on Saturday, perhaps in response to feeling overwhelmed on Friday, and that didn't help anything.
I know that they have to look out for fire code and other safety issues, but there's a nice way and a rude way to do that. I think an event like PAX is probably unusual and somewhat intimidating for the BCEC staff - I regularly attend professional conferences around the country, including a few at the BCEC from time to time, and most events don't have the crowds and lines that PAX brings. I assume the "weird" factor of some of it doesn't help, either.
I was especially annoyed by the security guards who patrolled the line for Saturday's make-a-strip. I got there nearly 2 hours early, and about an hour out, one of them came by and said, "The line's about to move, you've got to get up and get ready. Stand up and fill empty space, be ready to go." I was skeptical of this, but everyone got up and did as they were told. The excitement of moving also had people pushing ahead a little, so we ended up in a really cramped line that made it hard for me to even keep my weight properly balanced on my feet - someone was pushing me from every direction. Well, guess what? We didn't move for nearly another hour. And that guard came back by at least twice and said, "You're all standing and ready to go, right?" What a dirty liar - just a trick to get us all standing and squished. I already disliked the level of squishedness we were asked to assume in any line... but at least the Enforcers asked nicely and didn't use any tricks. It made the line 1000x more painful for me, and that was the last line I waited in at PAX. I skipped some things I wanted to see, but my joints were screaming and I'm still popping extra painkillers in recovery from the lines.
I love the idea of a parent's room. The Geekdad panel brought a fair amount of parents/kids in and I noticed Sunday was popular for having kids in tow as well. If I go Sunday next year (Easter) there's a good chance it will be with my wife and son and that would be a great thing.
Parent's room with decent chairs, Sumos and maybe a mini DS game lending library with only kid games could be included. I would even wager that some companies, Nintendo, THQ and a few others would donate games to a lending library that they know would be for that purpose - "Parent's room at PAX sponsored by Nintendo" would be awesome.
I already left some comments and thoughts, but forgot (read: blocked out memory of) some of the non-Police, uniformed security at the BCEC.
I'm sure they felt understaffed and overwhelmed, but I'm not sure that justifies the rude and bullish behavior I witnessed and was on the receiving end of a couple times.
When they were involved in line-management, they barked orders when people didn't move fast enough or snapped at people who, while trying to compress the line as ordered, then inadvertently blocked a vending machine or an unmarked service door or a fire door. This often occurred right next to Enforcers who were politely getting people to move.
I know there is fire code and public safety to watch for, but i never saw anyone being difficult or non-compliant.
Another incident I was on the receiving end of was following the Music Panel, while putting my camera away into my backpack but still seated in the back while the room was clearing (still a large crowd at the door on the way out), a security guard came over and said "Get up. You have to get out. You have to clear the room." pretty brusquely. I was elbow deep in my bag at the time.
Neither of those events were terrible or unforgivable, but there were usually a couple like that a day (usually up on the 3rd floor).
The food service staff was great (although the food down in the large seating area wasn't that great).
The janitorial staff looked a little shell shocked.
But the security staff were a bit power-trippy and rude.
The actual Police looked a bit bemused and entertained by the whole thing.
Wondering if anyone else thought it was more difficult to get around the expo floor this year than it was last year. I remember being able to get through the aisles at all times on saturday last year but I had to take some pretty long detours this year to get around the crowds that decided to stop moving.
I Couldn't believe the bully like attitude the BCEC guards had every time I was on line. We saw a group of people in front of us have two friends join them in line. This happens often and normally no one cares, we are all friends at pax and we all want to be with our friends. We understand that there is alot to see at PAX and if something over laps it's hard to get back with your friends on time. But when they had the two friends join them late in the line, a female security guard flipped out and yelled at them to not cut in line. She was about to pull on one of their arms when me and my friends spoke up and said "He is with them, he just came back" (we lied). When she walked off they thanked us. No one was complaining about a few friends reuniting on line, so there was no reason for the guard to flip.
Another instance is when we were moving in line with everyone up to the main theater. the line stopped, as it did often when the enforcers would stop groups from going up the escalator (to keep track of how many people were in the theater) when one guard kept yelling at everyone to keep moving. We can't... he can see that the whole line has stopped and there is no where to go. We can only go as fast as the person in front of us and he just kept telling us to keep moving.
I think the only major negative feeling I got at PAX was from the BCEC guards and their general attitude to everyone attending PAX. I really hope the staff at PA communicate to them about the situations they made.
I'm seeing that next year's PAX is scheduled on top of Easter? That's going to make it nearly impossible to go for those of us who spend Easter with family. I get its easy for people to get Good Friday off, but that might put a damper on a lot of people.
Not only is it on Easter but it's running directly against another con running in the Hynes that weekend.
Although I can understand the financial appeal to run it on Easter weekend (it's a lot cheaper for the convention), it's simply not cool to have to choose between the two.
We noticed the same behavior from the BCEC guards too. Unfortunately it seemed every time I was rushed or treated rudely by one of them it was one of the female guards. I hate to put it that way, but it was my experience. A lot of their guards were very nice and personable and were talking to people as they walked the lines (I remember the queue to the Omegathon having a particularly talkative guard) but of course the few bads ones always stand out.
I think next year, I'll just be a little more liberal with the quip, "I like your police officer costume."
They're dressed up like officers, but they have no real legal power, as they're just employees of the con center. I'm not going to listen to a janitor who's being a power-tripping jerk, and I'm not going to listen to a security guard who's being a jerk.
My thoughts on the great Babegate 2011 controversy and I obviously don't pretend to speak for any other female.
I find it pretty rough sometimes to be female and into gaming. Probably a "well, duh" moment, but stay with me. Not always, but consistently, I find two types of reactions from guys...
The first type is the one judging you as a sex object. Wanting to know if you are "hot" so they can hit on you and if you are "not hot" so they can disregard you. I'm still not entirely sure which is preferable. I just want to play a game, dammit. I'm not looking for a date or to be judged in that manner, positively or negatively.
The second type is the ones that think you are immediately an inferior opponent. They don't want to play you because it'd be so easy its like cheating. Or if they do play you and you (gasp!) actually win, there's disbelief and a million excuses about the sun being in their eyes or whatever.
My first PAX was PAX East 2010. My male friend ditched me at the last minute and I was petrified to go alone. Its a true testament to just how badly I wanted to go that I forced myself to go at all. My fears were almost immediately alleviated. Everyone there was really nice and I never once felt judged. I had an easy time finding people to play with. I felt like a gamer, not a female gamer. Whether I won or lost, I never once heard "you play well for a girl." And the icing... I walk into the expo hall and what's this?? No booth babes??? "Wow! This place really is trying to treat me with respect and as an equal. I LOVE IT HERE."
I actually didn't know about the no booth babe policy until reading this thread, so when I walked into the expo hall this year and saw the school girls and a couple of those other pieces of eye candy, I wasn't all that surprised. I didn't like it. I was disappointed because it wasn't there last year. But I wasn't surprised. Was it a huge deal to me? No. Did it ruin my whole time? No. But what did surprise and please me greatly was reading the tweets about how PAX was actually concerned over the issue and asked them to cover up a bit. I was relieved and actually felt proud to be at a place with that attitude. "I can't believe they asked them to cover up! That is so awesome! I was right about this place going out of their way to make me feel an equal."
In short (too late), its not the amount of skin revealed. Its the attitude and message behind it. There's a big difference between a fan... someone who is or could be a PAX attendee... dressing in revealing cosplay and a booth babe whose sole purpose is to giggle, look hot, and flirt with boys until they buy their product. The former makes me say "wow, cool costume" or perhaps even "holy crap, you go girl, wish I had the courage to dress like that!" ... The later makes me feel like a second class citizen for being there, since I'm actually there to play and it brings me back to the mentality of feeling judged as a sex object.
*shrug* Maybe this isn't worth anything, but this issue has been swirling around in my head for a couple days and I felt like I needed to get it all out.
Much of this has been mentioned, but I figure I'll throw in my $.02 for the heck of it (inflation be damned!):
YAY! Items - Space and lines: Space allocation was infinitely better than last year -- I could actually find places to move around and whatnot. Line management was, as a rule, way better as well. I really appreciated having less queue line for the keynote (2 hours instead of lat year's 4ish), and it was much, much more organized -- I didn't feel like I was being shoved around, and there seemed to me to be more orderly progression.
- Communication: using Twitter for @Official_Pax and @Pax_lines was brilliant. If anything, I'd like to see those channels used even MORE through the conference, as that was where I turned when I had questions or wanted updates. And the person/people behind the accounts did a great job. Cheers, dude!
- Tabletop: Table top gaming space was awesome. Seriously. Can't say enough. I'd love to see even more tabletop companies represented in this space, too ... more of a tabletop expo hall as well as a gaming space. SO nice.
SAD PANDA Stuff -Expo hall space & lines: The Expo Hall obviously needed more space ... it was packed to the point of immovability. With the long, long lines to play demos AND the folks who wanted to just stop outside the lines and watch the demos being played, it got impossible to go through the hall many times. As well, if we're going to have just shy of 70K gamers hitting the con, demos need to be (A) shorter and (B) more available -- aka, have companies bring MORE stations and setups so lines move faster and accommodate more players.
- Maps: BCEC is a huge and awesome place. The maps were very, very confusing, not to scale, and didn't match the BCEC wall/ceiling signs. I didn't really know where the heck I was going until the beginning of day three which wasn't all that helpful. Something to work on.
- Booth babes: It's been said, and much more eloquently that I can do. Basically, if you want to be an inclusive con, you need to understand that booth babes -- particularly, in my opinion, DNF, Turtle Beach, and Sprint -- really just sends the message that female females are sex objects (not gamers on equal par), and I don't get the feeling that's what this con is all about. And if you have a policy that no booth babes are allowed, be ready to clearly define "booth babe" (which may need some work in this case) and then stick to it.
A (sad) note on 2012 scheduling: I have to say that I'm really sad to see that next year's PAX East has been scheduled over Easter weekend ... We're not horribly observant but it's a big family holiday and getting away to Boston for 4 days most likely isn't going to be able to happen. I know there are many factors involved with scheduling and that we're of many different faiths and cultures, but avoiding scheduling on a major, major high holy day of say, the "Big 5" world religions might be a good plan for future.
Overall it was a great time but it gets better every year ... looking forward to seeing what's next when I return in 2013!
My main gripe/suggestion is there needs to be an imposed limit on demo time. The Star Wars Old Republic situation was completely unreasonable.
My small gripe was there was less Sumo sack space than last year. I loved last year how the Sumo sacks lined two of the halls, this year it was just confined to one corner of the building as the handheld lounge. I would love to see them spread out more like in 2010.
And a suggestion regarding the Video Game Antiques Roadshow panel: Bring it back and make it longer! Seriously it was probably the best panel I went to all weekend, and there was so much more stuff they could have gone through but ran out of time
- More art! Otakon devotes an entire room as an artist alley, where artists can set up booths and sell prints. I know there's a ton of super talented game artists out there! I love wandering the aisles, looking at everyone's hand made creations. More vendors is great too, maybe move them out of the expo area so there's more room to shop.
Things I'd Like to See:
~~More variety in the console and tabletop freeplay sections. This is not to say that there wasn't already great variety, but I'd love to see more. MORE! (Is it possible for one to lend games to the library? I'd love to contribute.)
All in all it was yet another excellent show. Kudos to all involved.
I agree, I would gladly lend out my library! I loved the free play, but def could have used more!!!
I thought PAX was an anti booth babes sanctuary. I was super put off by the call girl looking chicks in T-shirt "dresses" I tried not to judge by appearance and ask a few questions about the demos, none of them knew ANYTHING about the games-products, .they were billboards with boobs
Awesome new venue though, it was nice to have people actually check for badges, we were not flooded with mall shoppers.
also disappointed by the shorter blandly grey scarves. I feel pretty ripped off. please bring back the old ones.
Valantine on
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code.
The Sprint girls were distracting, and I understand the DNF issue as well. IF it was just a matter of "Oh well they are part of the company and coming to the con to promote the product in the space the company paid for" then there should be no problem with them doing it in t-shirts and jeans. It was beyond obvious what was going on there, and to say otherwise you are just fooling yourself.
And to the person that was called gay for not wanting to take a picture with a booth babe, that is completely 100% unacceptable. You should have reported that to the higher ups, someone like that should not be allowed to be on the PAX floor saying crap like that to attendees. I wish I knew what booth that was.
I have to agree with the consensus as well: get rid of the Media badges. It's getting ridiculous now.
Posts
- Have the main theater be one of the sections of the big expo floor. Blizzcon does this, and it ensures that all the major events EVERYONE can get into with no lines, no fuss, and you can wander in and out as you like. If there's no seats, there's standing room in the back. Rows of projected screens means everyone can see what's going on. That back section that had the tables and the carnival food could have easily been used for this.
- More art! Otakon devotes an entire room as an artist alley, where artists can set up booths and sell prints. I know there's a ton of super talented game artists out there! I love wandering the aisles, looking at everyone's hand made creations. More vendors is great too, maybe move them out of the expo area so there's more room to shop.
- Do a ticketing system for major release panels. People go to a booth, get a ticket that guarantees them a spot in a panel, and everyone who doesn't have a tickets waits outside and has a first come, first serve chance at seats not taken by a certain time. The tickets are free, but they're basically a guarantee that you can show up and get in, without having to sit on a hard floor for an hour and a half. That way, instead of having massive lines in the aisles, you have massive lines in the queue room. Don't go crazy like Gen Con and ticket EVERYTHING, though, it got kind of old.
Anyways, just a few thoughts. I liked the new venue (even though I think it's the most walking I've done at a con EVER, holy god) and was super impressed with how much work you guys put into the shuttle system. I think the most walking I did outside of the building was after the con was over!
I could think of nothing less comfortable than a unisex bathroom. For me that would be no different than turning the female restroom into a male one.
Just a few minor things
Signage: Overall it was pretty good. However my friend was very frustrated on the first day. He parked at the convention center, and the shuttle bus (why this is necessary still eludes me... the place isn't THAT big) drops you off at the queue line on Level 0. When you get there the signage is very unclear where to go especially if you've never been there before and have no idea where the main entrance is. He got lost and was pretty pissed off once he found us. Some more signage for this where the shuttle buses drop off people would be helpful.
Queue Area at Level 0: I'm not even sure this is necessary? Most people seemed to be lining up for the main theater, and the queue line for that was on Level 3/2. My friend above said the queue line on Level 0 was pretty empty. Seems like wasted space, that could be used to make say the Expo area 2x bigger! Or maybe more tabletop? Maybe just something to think about. I realize because of the way the partitions work you can't really break up those areas. Maybe we didn't see something but the queue area on Level 0 seemed like wasted space. Maybe move the queue line to how the main theatre line was, but have it on the opposite side?
Admittedly though, I really miss the whole atmosphere of waiting in a big area with everyone. That was really fun last year, and looks as much fun at PAX Prime. But perhaps there are better ways to use the space? Dunno I wonder what people think.
Main Theater: I'm not 100% sure if this place is bigger or if the Hynes is bigger? The Hynes has a 2nd level so maybe it fits more people? I'd be curious what the Enforcers were counting. The 'official' capacity is like 4000 according to the wall plate in the theater. I don't recall what the Hynes was. Maybe moving the main theater to the lower level would be cool? Though the acoustics there would be really really shitty.
BO:Though we all are following Wil's advice of not being a dick, I think some of us could really follow the second rule of taking a shower! Some lines were a bit 'ripe' at times. I think the advance HVAC system at the BCEC made it such that it wasn't nearly as bad as some parts of the Hynes ended up by Sunday. Please for the love of god take a shower. Or next year someone needs to hand out 'eau of Nerd' to people for free.
Overall though this year's PAX was a great improvement over last year. The new venue addresses a lot of the issues from last year. Great job to the PA crew, and all the Enforcers.
Let's ensure that PAX East is the REAL PAX for years to come
On a totally side note. I wonder what that 8-figure cost of PAX East is!?!?!? Doing some back of the napkin calculations it seems like even if it's on the low end of that 12-15 million, it seems like admission fees hardly even cover 1/2 of the cost. I guess the expo and dealers must be covering a lot? Still I'm not sure how they cover all those costs with just sponsors and such. I know other cons can charge 1/2 million for a big booth, but these cons also charge you $1000-$5000 to attend. Just a cost curiosity that I wonder if anyone else can chime in about.
This is the best idea ever. Bonus points if enforcers have "red" and "blue" shirts in their specific bases. I spent a lot of time walking back and forth between the east and west sides of the expo hall because I kept habitually going to the wrong one.
Also, having signs or coordinates to help find other people in the MASSIVE tabletop freeplay area would have been nice.
Also, hate to be echoing this for the billionth time, but the food court and the queue line took up too much space. Adding space to the expo floor and increasing the open-space to booth-space ratio would have been really helped it feel less cramped. It'd also have been nice to avoid the intermingling of shops that were selling things and the expo floor proper. Maybe having a separate vendor area divided off from the expo floor (perhaps in the area of the queueing room and/or all the unused food court space?)
As far as media and media badges, I didn't get cut off by anyone with a media badge at any of the booths I was checking out. In fact, in a random discussion I had with a gentleman with a media badge, he said that Bioware actually told him to wait in line like everyone else, because 'PAX is for gamers, so you can wait like everyone else'. Just a cool little anecdote.
Food prices were ridiculously out of hand, and the quality was not there. We left and took the T somewhere else (we're local, so we know Boston quite well). Perhaps including an MBTA map and/or some basic directions could really help out with that...
However, giving a map and T-access to non-locals could backfire. Boston is a twisted labyrinth of a city, and we could lose few attendees to the Minotaur...
First, PAX East 2011 was, without a doubt, the best three days of my life. I am reeling; I cannot conceive of feeling better than I felt through those three days, or experiencing that joy again. I wish I could properly express my thanks to everyone who deserves it, but it feels to me that they number as the stars, and this fleshy husk contains insufficient praise, especially for the Enforcers who were wonderful and sweet as always in putting up with my stupid questions and pleas for help.
My one, and only complaint, is this:
I think some kind of dialogue needs to be opened up between our wonderful PAX organizers, and the convention center staff. Repeatedly throughout the weekend, I heard PAX attendees hashly accosted and verbally scorned for not moving fast enough, or for standing in the wrong place, or for gathering in too big a group, by the security staff of the convention center. Over and over, I saw the security guards treating us not as people, but as cattle.
The enforcers were always great. They told us to bunch up, or move the line, and they were nice and kind and fun even when they were tired and overworked. But they convention center staff? Grumpy, irritable, unapproachable, and impolite.
In line for the female characters in gaming panel, as the line grew, it grew past a service elevator that was sunk into the wall. Those unfortunate souls who were in that part of the line were yelled at for their transgression. How were they supposed to know? They were following instructions. An enforcer came by and explained what was wrong, and we all backed up most willingly.
A group of us had gathered for a fan meetup in one corner of one of the common areas, near the Dance Central area. We were out of the way, being sure not to block any of the areas used for foot traffic, but one of the security guards came by and told us we couldn't gather here, with no reason given. She told us we had to move to the Level 0 food court. We all agreed that that was fine, and began gathering our things to move, but apparently we weren't moving fast enough because that security guard began shouting that we needed to "move it. NOW."
In the expo hall, a line had formed for the 3DS booth in the narrow area between the booths and the wall of Level 0. Because of the location, there were people trying to pass on both sides of the line; people coming from the side of the expo hall wanted to move past on the left of the line, and people coming down the escalators from Level 1 wanted to move past on the right. Naturally, this resulted in the line being forced toward the middle. Everything was working fine; as people moved past, we all moved to accommodate, said "Excuse me," etc. Then a security guard walked past, and told us to "Move toward the wall, move, move", regardless of the fact that there were people trying to get past on that side. It was phrased as a chastisement for a crime we didn't commit (we were keeping the line organized of our own accord), and his tone was both blunt and unkind.
My suggestion is, I guess, that the convention center security staff be told to take a page from the Enforcers, frankly, volunteers who the security staff's job far better than they themselves do.
Or you could just inform them of Wheaton's law. That would work too.
Love Pokemon? Going to PAX Prime/East/Aus/South? Challenge the PAX Pokemon League!!!
++The new venue was huge. I actually missed the intimacy of the Hynes, but the BCEC is the only place that can contain PAX and alleviated the worst of the crowding.
++TONS of table top space! After last year and almost never being able to find an open space for table gaming, I never had trouble finding space.
++In general it seemed like the PAX Organizers absolutely listened to the great suggestions everyone had last year and addressed all of the biggest complaints.
++Much better, and much more swag this year.
--A lot of panels and events didn't start on time and made it hard to get to other panels, tournaments, and whatnot.
--Food prices. Yes, I expected them to be high, but $3 for a soda? I'm not sure what can be done, but if they could come down a little...I spent $60+ just on food, and that was after I brought my own snacks and water.
--Bean bags were contained the Handheld Area. Was this a fire code issue? But I'd like to see more bags spread out over the con.
--The map wasn't great, as others said. +1 to the suggestion to adding the BCEC's own room numbers on the map (i.e. Wyvern (#113 or whatever)).
--Booth babes. I didn't mind attractive women demoing games (Kinect, Nexon), but some definitely went over that subtle line. I don't go to PAX to ogle women, I go for the games. I'd really like to see that aspect toned down or gone completely next year.
Things I'd Like to See:
~~More variety in the console and tabletop freeplay sections. This is not to say that there wasn't already great variety, but I'd love to see more. MORE! (Is it possible for one to lend games to the library? I'd love to contribute.)
~~More tournaments, particularly for retro games.
All in all it was yet another excellent show. Kudos to all involved.
My NES blog and my Pokemon Snap tumblr.
After trying To Court the King from the library, we dashed off to a nearby vendor to see if they had a copy -- no dice. My friend spoke some with the person manning the booth. Evidently the lending library drove up business in board games. Plenty of people came to buy games after trying them. They sold out of games they didn't think they'd sell much of. The guy said, perhaps joking, perhaps not, that he might make enough money off selling extra games to make it worth donating a few copies to the library.
It might be worth pitching this idea to the folks who set up shop right next door to the library^W "try before you buy" selection.
I would surely appreciate it.
Thanks!
(Day[9] made me do it!)
Last year's PAX East Saturday concert was the same thing: VGO, Paul & Storm, Coulton. I don't think they threw the Omegathon in last year, though. There was still a long wait after VGO but last year it felt like P&S and Coulton had a lot more time.
Which was all gone by mid afternoon Saturday, which says to me that people were grabbing more than one bag because it was good. I didn't get one as a result, and was saddened by that.
I think, though time consuming, there needs to be a check on that; one of the dealers who was giving away Magic cards was doing a hole punch thing on the tag so you couldn't go by two or three times when the staff changed.
I think PAX might need to consider something like that.
Thes.
And what about the cosplayers who dressed similarly you want to get rid of them too or tell them what to wear.
Cosplayers are different. They're not selling anything, they're not employed by anybody, it's all out of love. But if you need an attractive woman in skimpy clothes (and I'm not saying that even a majority of the women in booths were, but a handful definitely were) to get me to notice your product...maybe you need to work on your product, and maybe PAX isn't for you.
My NES blog and my Pokemon Snap tumblr.
- More Enforcers! They're great, and they sometimes get overwhelmed when swarms of people descend at once for help...
- Way more maps! I'd recommend just blanketing the entire convention centre with them; the maps at major points and the guide in the swag bag are great, but you can never have enough help.
- Shift more of the popular events into bigger rooms, to hopefully eliminate the 3+ hour lines for some events like the Giant Bombcast Live.
Hope these help!
I keep hearing about the Sprint girls... somehow I missed them? But yeah, you can look pretty without looking like a whore. If the latter was conveyed, then I can understand the issue. I think if Sprint had paid them to dress up like Dead or Alive characters (potentially even MORE revealing) that would have caused less issue, because it would have at least had relevance to the industry.
Realistically I'm glad PAX brought in Cosplay booth babes. There are always going to be people walking around the convention floor with less clothes than stereotypical "booth babes," so putting a cute girl in a fun (but not revealing) costume really helps drum up some interest (i.e. Dragon's Nest girls).
Also spectacular job with the WoW TCG loot chest... but give some indication that your card may be REALLY valuable. My girlfriend got "scammed" (her fault, but I'll still make the claim) by someone who offered her $15 for her El Pollo Grande (worth $300 on Ebay) that she took because she was really excited to give the money to Child's Play and didn't know its worth (she still gave her $15 to the charity). It's a great booth, but it needed to be called out a little more as well. Many people I went with didn't even know its existence.
PSN - AngryCremepuff
On Maps: I personally didn't have a problem with the maps, but I have a map brain. The Red Base/Blue Base is a cool idea but would require a bit of extra signage - not a problem but I think some people would probably STILL get confused. The one thing that bothered me about the map was the fact that the one in the book and on Conventionist didn't show the full floor and which wrapped around and which didn't.
The only map confusion I had, as also a map guy, was when looking for the Main Theater (i.e. 3rd floor), with none of the maps indicating that you had to go through the main lobby.
PSN - AngryCremepuff
I'll second this. The connection to the third floor was indicated on some of the maps with dotted lines, but on others the third floor was just... floating off to the right, with no connections.
I'd love more stand-up World Maps. I'd rather be able to run to a World Map nearby than try to dig through my bag for my program or pull up Conventionist.
I also agree, the two halves of the convention center should be distinguished. When you're in the middle of the Level 0 floor and you're trying to tell which side is which, it's really easy to get them confused, and that's an extremely costly mistake, since making the cross from one side to the other takes a long, long time. (I found myself wondering why the convention center didn't include moving platforms on the Level 1 sky-bridge connections. Seems like an obvious choice to me.)
Love Pokemon? Going to PAX Prime/East/Aus/South? Challenge the PAX Pokemon League!!!
I was wondering the same thing. Although, the booth babes were fine with me. I had no issues with them. They were mostly interested in my baby (we actually had to stop and let them observe him, because I like making people squee from his cuteness), and none were rude, although, I did have to stay away from the "yellow dress" girls, as it made the baby want Mom Noms... From them. Which I'm sure they didn't have.
The suggestion I have is to create a "Parent's Lounge", where people with smaller (0-12 maybe 13 years?) children could go to give the little 'uns some down time, let them rest, get their dipes changed, etc... There were no changing areas in the bathrooms- we checked them all to no avail, and ended up changing the little 'un on a bench upstairs.
We had to leave way too many times to give our 9 month old some rest. We could have spent much more time in the convention center if we'd had a quiet place to go with the fussy, overstimulated baby. The beanbag "lounges" were too central, and too crowded for for this purpose. I was able to give him a short nap in one of the chairs upstairs, but with people walking by constantly, it didn't do much good. I met other parents of small ones who wanted the same thing, or wished that they had been able to bring their children, instead of pawning them off on relatives or babysitters.
It would be a nice addition to have some child/infant sizes in with the shirts. When I got the shirt I wanted, the lady cashing out mentioned that quite a few other people had been asking for merch for the small ones.
We realize that PAX is geared towards mature gamers, but *gasp!* gamers DO spawn, and there should be some consideration for them. I think if there were a Parent's Lounge, it would be much more convenient for us to bring our children, and share our love of games. Our 11 year old enjoyed it quite a lot (he won a Spirit Hood, and was very excited about it), and we do plan to attend as a family next year as well.
Also, the food prices were... meh for meh quality food, and they were not prepared for the lunch time rush.
The 3 day parking pass at BCEC was a joke, on us. We bought one, and then on the second day, were unable to park. So we wasted money on something we couldn't use, because they wouldn't accept our pass, and charged us again at the marine lot. They should consider having reserved places for people who purchased the pass, so that doesn't happen.
Stinky/dirty people will not be helped by deodorant/sanitizer samples. This would only drive up the cost of passes. Wash your hands, if you're really freaked out by germs, or bring your own sanitizer, as we did.
Someone mentioned Kilt Enforcer negatively, but, I disagree... He was exceptionally nice to me, even when I spilled half my Mt. Dew on the floor, and had nothing to clean it up with. He even thanked me for telling him about it, 3 or 4X after at random meetings. The enforcers, overall, were great.
A couple of things:
Earlier talks between event organizers and companies. I had to choose between getting a guaranteed badge or hoping against hope that the company I demo for received enough badges to cover everyone. In the end they did receive enough, but that email didn't go out until three weeks before the convention, and it really stinks being stuck in the entrance line in the morning when I should be getting set up and ready to go.
Definitely didn't feel as intimate as last year, especially if you spent a lot of time in tabletop gaming. Having said that, though, I still had no trouble walking around the floor looking for people reading the rule books to games I demo and helping them out.
A little more open space in the exhibit hall would have been nice. There was space for the lines, and I do have to say the con did a good job in keeping the lines in mind when planing the space, but it did get crowded in some areas, making it impossible to move through them.
The ability for someone who demos a game to schedule it. I demo Munchkin, and I had more than enough people ask me to run a game where I mix all the decks (using every card ever made for the game), but it takes at least 4 hours to run with 6 people playing and really needs a schedule and sign-up sheets (not to mention two tables; one for the cards and one for the players). Can this happen for 2012?
Other than this, like I said, the con ran much more smoothly than I thought it would and that is a wonderful thing on its own. Looking forward to 2012.
Yahoo group GCIACST
PROS:
- Bigger theaters compared to Hynes
- The wonderful enforcers as always
- The bigger tabletop area
- The way lines were handled (while it wasn't perfect was better than last year at Hynes)
- Shuttle service to and from hotels
- Smaller games getting at least some attention and being able to show off their stuff as well
- Certain booths who made sure to keep their lines moving
- The signings being easy to get to, I couldn't find them last year but maybe that was just me.
- The Omegathon final! Ikaruga was great
CONS
- As everyone is saying the food quality, prices were high yes but if the quality was decent I would not have minded
- The main PA store being on the Expo Hall floor, It was nice to have a large store where you could walk around and look at all the merch, but the location seemed wrong with plenty of open space.
- I also agree the people getting in line just to get the badge or whatever they had signed has gotten out of hand especially with a signing being right after the second Q&A
- Not clearing the theatres on Sunday until after the Q&A, while it ended up working out well Bill Amend was great and the X-Play taping was fine, but I would have liked to be able to check other things out and know I would be able to get into the PA Q&A
- Demo times for certain games (I didn't wait in the line for Old Republic because I heard stories of 3 hour or more waits) LA Noire line seemed really long as well and now I hear it was a 30 minute demo
- Not posting the wait times or knowing the wait times for games at the expo hall. Some people had an idea but a sign or being able to ask someone would have helped for games like LA Noire, where I just saw the line and assumed a long wait again that could just be me.
Overall another great PAX and PAX East 2012 cannot come soon enough!
After time adrift among open stars
Among tides of light and to shoals of dust
I will return to where I began
Yeah, I'd had a bit of trouble with this last year at Hynes, but the BCEC staff seemed much worse. There was a lot of barking orders and interrupting people and general surly rudeness. There were also times when they contradicted the Enforcers, or contradicted each other, which just made things confusing. They seemed to bring in more staff on Saturday, perhaps in response to feeling overwhelmed on Friday, and that didn't help anything.
I know that they have to look out for fire code and other safety issues, but there's a nice way and a rude way to do that. I think an event like PAX is probably unusual and somewhat intimidating for the BCEC staff - I regularly attend professional conferences around the country, including a few at the BCEC from time to time, and most events don't have the crowds and lines that PAX brings. I assume the "weird" factor of some of it doesn't help, either.
I was especially annoyed by the security guards who patrolled the line for Saturday's make-a-strip. I got there nearly 2 hours early, and about an hour out, one of them came by and said, "The line's about to move, you've got to get up and get ready. Stand up and fill empty space, be ready to go." I was skeptical of this, but everyone got up and did as they were told. The excitement of moving also had people pushing ahead a little, so we ended up in a really cramped line that made it hard for me to even keep my weight properly balanced on my feet - someone was pushing me from every direction. Well, guess what? We didn't move for nearly another hour. And that guard came back by at least twice and said, "You're all standing and ready to go, right?" What a dirty liar - just a trick to get us all standing and squished. I already disliked the level of squishedness we were asked to assume in any line... but at least the Enforcers asked nicely and didn't use any tricks. It made the line 1000x more painful for me, and that was the last line I waited in at PAX. I skipped some things I wanted to see, but my joints were screaming and I'm still popping extra painkillers in recovery from the lines.
Parent's room with decent chairs, Sumos and maybe a mini DS game lending library with only kid games could be included. I would even wager that some companies, Nintendo, THQ and a few others would donate games to a lending library that they know would be for that purpose - "Parent's room at PAX sponsored by Nintendo" would be awesome.
I'm sure they felt understaffed and overwhelmed, but I'm not sure that justifies the rude and bullish behavior I witnessed and was on the receiving end of a couple times.
When they were involved in line-management, they barked orders when people didn't move fast enough or snapped at people who, while trying to compress the line as ordered, then inadvertently blocked a vending machine or an unmarked service door or a fire door. This often occurred right next to Enforcers who were politely getting people to move.
I know there is fire code and public safety to watch for, but i never saw anyone being difficult or non-compliant.
Another incident I was on the receiving end of was following the Music Panel, while putting my camera away into my backpack but still seated in the back while the room was clearing (still a large crowd at the door on the way out), a security guard came over and said "Get up. You have to get out. You have to clear the room." pretty brusquely. I was elbow deep in my bag at the time.
Neither of those events were terrible or unforgivable, but there were usually a couple like that a day (usually up on the 3rd floor).
The food service staff was great (although the food down in the large seating area wasn't that great).
The janitorial staff looked a little shell shocked.
But the security staff were a bit power-trippy and rude.
The actual Police looked a bit bemused and entertained by the whole thing.
Another instance is when we were moving in line with everyone up to the main theater. the line stopped, as it did often when the enforcers would stop groups from going up the escalator (to keep track of how many people were in the theater) when one guard kept yelling at everyone to keep moving. We can't... he can see that the whole line has stopped and there is no where to go. We can only go as fast as the person in front of us and he just kept telling us to keep moving.
I think the only major negative feeling I got at PAX was from the BCEC guards and their general attitude to everyone attending PAX. I really hope the staff at PA communicate to them about the situations they made.
Although I can understand the financial appeal to run it on Easter weekend (it's a lot cheaper for the convention), it's simply not cool to have to choose between the two.
Yahoo group GCIACST
They're dressed up like officers, but they have no real legal power, as they're just employees of the con center. I'm not going to listen to a janitor who's being a power-tripping jerk, and I'm not going to listen to a security guard who's being a jerk.
http://www.examiner.com/video-game-culture-in-new-york/talking-classics-panel-ended-early-at-pax-east-2011
I find it pretty rough sometimes to be female and into gaming. Probably a "well, duh" moment, but stay with me. Not always, but consistently, I find two types of reactions from guys...
The first type is the one judging you as a sex object. Wanting to know if you are "hot" so they can hit on you and if you are "not hot" so they can disregard you. I'm still not entirely sure which is preferable. I just want to play a game, dammit. I'm not looking for a date or to be judged in that manner, positively or negatively.
The second type is the ones that think you are immediately an inferior opponent. They don't want to play you because it'd be so easy its like cheating. Or if they do play you and you (gasp!) actually win, there's disbelief and a million excuses about the sun being in their eyes or whatever.
My first PAX was PAX East 2010. My male friend ditched me at the last minute and I was petrified to go alone. Its a true testament to just how badly I wanted to go that I forced myself to go at all. My fears were almost immediately alleviated. Everyone there was really nice and I never once felt judged. I had an easy time finding people to play with. I felt like a gamer, not a female gamer. Whether I won or lost, I never once heard "you play well for a girl." And the icing... I walk into the expo hall and what's this?? No booth babes??? "Wow! This place really is trying to treat me with respect and as an equal. I LOVE IT HERE."
I actually didn't know about the no booth babe policy until reading this thread, so when I walked into the expo hall this year and saw the school girls and a couple of those other pieces of eye candy, I wasn't all that surprised. I didn't like it. I was disappointed because it wasn't there last year. But I wasn't surprised. Was it a huge deal to me? No. Did it ruin my whole time? No. But what did surprise and please me greatly was reading the tweets about how PAX was actually concerned over the issue and asked them to cover up a bit. I was relieved and actually felt proud to be at a place with that attitude. "I can't believe they asked them to cover up! That is so awesome! I was right about this place going out of their way to make me feel an equal."
In short (too late), its not the amount of skin revealed. Its the attitude and message behind it. There's a big difference between a fan... someone who is or could be a PAX attendee... dressing in revealing cosplay and a booth babe whose sole purpose is to giggle, look hot, and flirt with boys until they buy their product. The former makes me say "wow, cool costume" or perhaps even "holy crap, you go girl, wish I had the courage to dress like that!" ... The later makes me feel like a second class citizen for being there, since I'm actually there to play and it brings me back to the mentality of feeling judged as a sex object.
*shrug* Maybe this isn't worth anything, but this issue has been swirling around in my head for a couple days and I felt like I needed to get it all out.
YAY! Items
- Space and lines: Space allocation was infinitely better than last year -- I could actually find places to move around and whatnot. Line management was, as a rule, way better as well. I really appreciated having less queue line for the keynote (2 hours instead of lat year's 4ish), and it was much, much more organized -- I didn't feel like I was being shoved around, and there seemed to me to be more orderly progression.
- Communication: using Twitter for @Official_Pax and @Pax_lines was brilliant. If anything, I'd like to see those channels used even MORE through the conference, as that was where I turned when I had questions or wanted updates. And the person/people behind the accounts did a great job. Cheers, dude!
- Tabletop: Table top gaming space was awesome. Seriously. Can't say enough. I'd love to see even more tabletop companies represented in this space, too ... more of a tabletop expo hall as well as a gaming space. SO nice.
SAD PANDA Stuff
-Expo hall space & lines: The Expo Hall obviously needed more space ... it was packed to the point of immovability. With the long, long lines to play demos AND the folks who wanted to just stop outside the lines and watch the demos being played, it got impossible to go through the hall many times. As well, if we're going to have just shy of 70K gamers hitting the con, demos need to be (A) shorter and (B) more available -- aka, have companies bring MORE stations and setups so lines move faster and accommodate more players.
- Maps: BCEC is a huge and awesome place. The maps were very, very confusing, not to scale, and didn't match the BCEC wall/ceiling signs. I didn't really know where the heck I was going until the beginning of day three which wasn't all that helpful. Something to work on.
- Booth babes: It's been said, and much more eloquently that I can do. Basically, if you want to be an inclusive con, you need to understand that booth babes -- particularly, in my opinion, DNF, Turtle Beach, and Sprint -- really just sends the message that female females are sex objects (not gamers on equal par), and I don't get the feeling that's what this con is all about. And if you have a policy that no booth babes are allowed, be ready to clearly define "booth babe" (which may need some work in this case) and then stick to it.
A (sad) note on 2012 scheduling: I have to say that I'm really sad to see that next year's PAX East has been scheduled over Easter weekend ... We're not horribly observant but it's a big family holiday and getting away to Boston for 4 days most likely isn't going to be able to happen. I know there are many factors involved with scheduling and that we're of many different faiths and cultures, but avoiding scheduling on a major, major high holy day of say, the "Big 5" world religions might be a good plan for future.
Overall it was a great time but it gets better every year ... looking forward to seeing what's next when I return in 2013!
My small gripe was there was less Sumo sack space than last year. I loved last year how the Sumo sacks lined two of the halls, this year it was just confined to one corner of the building as the handheld lounge. I would love to see them spread out more like in 2010.
And a suggestion regarding the Video Game Antiques Roadshow panel: Bring it back and make it longer! Seriously it was probably the best panel I went to all weekend, and there was so much more stuff they could have gone through but ran out of time
And I love this idea:
[ XBL: NemesisFuzz | PSN: Deefuzz ]
I agree, I would gladly lend out my library! I loved the free play, but def could have used more!!!
Awesome new venue though, it was nice to have people actually check for badges, we were not flooded with mall shoppers.
also disappointed by the shorter blandly grey scarves. I feel pretty ripped off. please bring back the old ones.
And to the person that was called gay for not wanting to take a picture with a booth babe, that is completely 100% unacceptable. You should have reported that to the higher ups, someone like that should not be allowed to be on the PAX floor saying crap like that to attendees. I wish I knew what booth that was.
I have to agree with the consensus as well: get rid of the Media badges. It's getting ridiculous now.
[ XBL: NemesisFuzz | PSN: Deefuzz ]