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PAX Post-Mortem
ElektroDragon
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Here is what was very wrong with this year's PAX:
1) Not enough goodie bags. For the first time since I started attending yearly in '08, I was not able to get a goodie bag until I showed up CRAZY EARLY on Sunday.
2) PLEASE STOP OVERLAPPING THE MOST INTERESTING PANELS, OR PUTTING THEM BACK TO BACK!
3) Enforcers: Do NOT ban me from entering a huge theater a little late just because they are "filming". We have the decency to sit in the back and not get in front of the cameras. I'm looking at you, Pach-Attack!
4) No video panels. What happened to these? They were awesome! They greeted us and said funny things!
5) Too many companies SELLING shirts for $20 instead of giving them away. *cough* Behemoth *cough* Also, TOO HIGH boardgame prices. Card games should not cost as much as a three day admission to PAX!
6) Way too many MMOs. I think MMOs should get their own separate version of PAX on a different date, or maybe do 2 days of regular games and 2 days of MMOs back to back. Convention is getting too huge putting MMOs and non-MMOs together and the audiences don't overlap that much. OR in lieu of this radical approach, how about just splitting the expo hall in to MMO and non-MMO areas?
1) Not enough goodie bags. For the first time since I started attending yearly in '08, I was not able to get a goodie bag until I showed up CRAZY EARLY on Sunday.
2) PLEASE STOP OVERLAPPING THE MOST INTERESTING PANELS, OR PUTTING THEM BACK TO BACK!
3) Enforcers: Do NOT ban me from entering a huge theater a little late just because they are "filming". We have the decency to sit in the back and not get in front of the cameras. I'm looking at you, Pach-Attack!
4) No video panels. What happened to these? They were awesome! They greeted us and said funny things!
5) Too many companies SELLING shirts for $20 instead of giving them away. *cough* Behemoth *cough* Also, TOO HIGH boardgame prices. Card games should not cost as much as a three day admission to PAX!
6) Way too many MMOs. I think MMOs should get their own separate version of PAX on a different date, or maybe do 2 days of regular games and 2 days of MMOs back to back. Convention is getting too huge putting MMOs and non-MMOs together and the audiences don't overlap that much. OR in lieu of this radical approach, how about just splitting the expo hall in to MMO and non-MMO areas?
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This was brought up elsewhere too. Agreed.
The most interesting panels to who? I'm pretty sure what you find most interesting won't be that interesting to everyone else. I think they do a good job of splitting things up but there will always be some sort of conflict. This speaks to the overall quality of the panels at PAX.
Didn't affect me so I don't have much of an opinion on it other than, just because you can ninja in it doesn't mean everyone can.
Not sure what you mean.
While I totally agree, it's more the exhibitor's fault than anything. It's not like Robert can force them to give away more shit.
Spoke on this in the thread you started on it. Completely disagree.
Overall, I thought this was a very well run con. The only real disappointment for me on the list was the lack of swag bags.
1) That's weird. 'Cause when I lined up at the Paramount Friday morning, they had scads of them and were handing them out to everyone in line. Maybe they gave 'em all away by then?
2) Like they other guy said, that's subjective. There's also lots of factors behind how schedules are laid out--from having equipment set up for that panel, whether it's something that will be recorded or live streamed, having to work around the schedules of the guests who present the panels as well, etc.
3) ??? Didn't experience this personally. Sounds like it's your own fault for being in late. You shouldn't take it out on the Enforcers for doing as they're told. Most people line up beforehand to prevent such hassles.
4) Again, I refer to lining up at the Paramount. We had none either. But then, we were outdoors and offsite from the convention center. We had awesome, live-entertaining Enforcers that gave us pipe cleaner arts and crafts and stuff. Plus most people were fiddling with their personal handheld electronic devices. So in other words, maybe PAX felt that those video panels were no longer necessary.
5) That's a sign of the times. Companies can't afford to just give out free shirts anymore. Shirts are expensive. So's other swag, so I would say be happy there were any shirts or swag at all.
6) I would say it's all up to who paid for floor space for the show. If more companies who were pushing MMOs paid for more floor space, then you're gonna see lots of MMOs. Also, PAX already expanded the expo hall to two floors. There were other games to check out in the other expo hall on the 6th floor, and they weren't all MMOs either. Personally, it didn't feel like the expo hall was overrun by MMOs.
2) Actually, I'd like more popular panels competing so that people have to choose and I don't have to spend as much time in line.
5) You can easily come out of PAX with at least 5 shirts. I do. And I spend 70% of PAX away from the main expo hall.
6) Are you crazy? I like decoys pulling people away from the stuff I want to see.
Personally, my big thing is that I'd like to see the AAA's just throw up some posters and fill their space with demo stations so that more people can get to them instead of the crazy elaborate crap that wastes space (even though the dragon looked cool).
There are a select few I'll wear out of the house, but not to anything social... Just shopping and such. The rest are strictly housework, yardwork, gym.
To be fair- I went to that panel. By "filming," they meant they were filming an actual episode of Pach-Attack! with a microphone down the center aisle and a camera directly facing it....pointing right at the door.
I'll probably end up wearing my kirby shirt and definitely the moogle shirt- everything else is either too bright or too gigantic to do anything other than sleep in.
Swag bags were still available Saturday when I got mine, and Sunday when my b/f got his. They were out, however, Sunday afternoon.
This is subjective. Your idea of interesting will not be the same as everyone else.
Don't be late. Don't pack your schedule so much that you have to be late to a panel.
Not sure what this is.
This is something you should express directly to the company you are upset with. They have paid for a booth at PAX in order to get exposure about their game(s) and they are certainly not required to GIVE you anything.
I think there were too many FPS games. I think that FPS games should be banned because really, are those even games? /sarcasm off
In re: to vendors not giving out things though, I really think this has to do with the "vulture" nature of some of the "fans" - fans in quotes, because really I think they are just there to pilfer booty and sell online. People will grab at ANYTHING. It is a fanatical cult of screaming, hoarding, ripping things out of peoples hands...and yea, if I were a vendor, I would seriously limit how many items I gave out, and who I gave them to, simply because everyone acts so entitled to the free stuff.
This basically has nothing to do with PA. For example, 343 snagged a whole section of upper level seats for their Halofest VIPs as well as a bunch of front ground level seats for media; that's their deal, not PA's. Overall though this was maybe 100 seats out of the 2600+ that the Paramount had, so I can't honestly say they were being intrusive with this. Outside the panel organizer making special accommodations for a few select media personnel, media badge holders have to stand in line just like every other attendee.
QFT! I saw plenty of freebies being made available, so long as you were willing to do something to earn it.
This lady is dead on. The vendors seemed to require you to do stuff for your swag this year, which I approve of. If a fan wants a shirt, they're going to do the things required to earn it. If a "fan" wants a shirt, they will most likely not and just brood over the fact that it was not handed to them.
To accomplish this:
Bar codes on the badges - Every other convention I've been to has a bar code on the badge. When you pick up your swag bag, you get your badge scanned, and it marks you as getting your bag, then you can't get another one the following day. For the vendors it's helpful because they get an instant mailing/fan list. It would also help with contests - there was a line for signing up for the giveaways at the new egg booth - REALLY? How 1990's. With barcoded badges it could have been scan, done - no lines. The added win would be that after the show we could get updated on the games we really want to know about.
This would also help cut down on counterfeit badges. Even if the look and feel was right, scan the barcode. If it's flagged as bad, boot them.
Also, as a local: Move it from the convention center down to the Century Link Exhibition hall - there's more space there. Pioneer square is right there, as is the sounder train station.
But I agree about the swag bags. The distribution probably could have been better. There were a ton of bags just sitting at the Sheraton well after the other areas were out on Friday.
And what about the people who bought seperate one-day badges?
Is it just me or was Firefall a little on the annoyingly large side as far as size of their booth? Maybe it was just because I personally didn't have the desire to play the game. Either way, meh.
That's EXACTLY my point. The people who only bought one day passes would get a bag because the three day pass people would only be able to get ONE bag.
Basically you get One bag per pass - multi day or single day.
I also would disagree with The Behemoth comment. Their shirts aren't just your typical tees that most gaming booths give out. These are much better than that (design-wise) and are going to people who actually care about the designs and want to help out the company. We ended up buying 4 shirts and a bunch of other fun stuff from their booth, and I was more than happy to pay for it all.
I think people who show up JUST for the free swag are entirely missing the point of PAX. Sure, it's fun to get free stuff, but that's not what PAX is about. Making your rounds to booths to check out the games you want and getting free stuff for trying it out? That's the best way to get your swag fix. But hitting up booths for swag when you don't even care about the games and just want a free handout? Lame.
Why do they have to be scanned to go into a panel? Again, the bar codes would only be needed at certain times/places. IE: Get your goody bag (one bag per pass). IE: See a game you want to follow later: Hey vendor here's my pass - scan it so you can put me on you mailing list, register for your your beta, etc.
Scanning people for panels/Just walking around: Not necessary. Microsoft doesn't scan badges for panels at dev conferences, but they do have vendors scanning them for mailing lists on the vendor floor. And you don't scan people walking in - you just do it the way it has been done. Wearing a badge, okay your good to go.
Really it's just a way to make it so that people can't abuse the freebies every paying attendee is supposed to get. It's also a value added feature for the game makers.
And I wasn't there just for the free stuff - honestly, I was there to scope it out so I knew what to expect next year when I attended with my son, and to check out some cool games. I did manage to try out some games I had heard about (gunstringer), some I hadn't ever heard about (Joe Danger: The movie) and see alot of others - however, since I didn't want to stand in the huge lines, I have no way of following any of the games that I saw that interested me without going online and searching them out. I'm a little bit older than the average gamer at 42, but I don't have a huge amount of time to be searching for stuff when I've got other things to do.
If I could have swung by a booth and scanned my badge and had them email me stuff later, that would be cool. Especially for the indy companies that don't get much press.
Heck, even if the Pax website had a list of games being shown, and I had a profile page where I could sign up for vendors for updates about their game that would be useful.
While there is more space in the Century Link Exhibition hall, it's only by a small margin, overcome by the Sheraton's square footage and the annex.
I think the "Less free swag" thing is coming directly from companies realising that they're much better off producing a smaller number of nicer items for panel attendees/people who will put the time in to queue to watch a video/play the game, than trying to bombard the audience at large with stuff and hoping some of it makes an impact...
As for swag, meh. I spent a lot of time the first couple years swag gathering, and this year was a nice break. As long as I get a couple good tshirt and lanyards, im happy. As for the swag bags, some kind of ticket (mailed with pass) or barcode might be nice...people with multiple one day passes can just get more than one (they paid for multiple badges, after all).
And really, I don't see why people freak out about those...aside from the niconico tshirt and the comic, most of what was in there was either straight promo material or easily available elsewhere (like the Sivir skin).
While I appreciate companies that straight hand stuff out (like Bethesda last year...love my new vegas shirt) they don't owe us anything. If they want the people they're giving shirts to to also have hands on experience (because the whole point is promotion) I get that.
And companies like Behemoth? That's a merch booth too, guys. What, are you surprised when Tritton doesn't shove a free headset into your hands? That's stuff that they, like, sell all the time. Probably on their website. A booth CAN be a mix of promo and retail, damn. Pink Gorilla sells stuff. Bethesda shows games. Behemoth does both, as do many.
This too. I've got some shirts and such from previous years where I couldn't tell you a thing about the game or company. Nor do I care. Not promo budget well spent.
I would like to see more indie developers. Standing in line for 2 1/2 hours to play an MMO isn't my thing and it means you only really get to see a couple of things during the course of the day. What really disappointed me was Halofest. I'm not a fanboy but I have enjoyed the game and when I popped down to check it out all I really saw was merch, some nice life sized figures and places to play a game that I've already played before. Didn't see any panels that excited me. The space would have been better served with indie games or more local companies to connect with.
I would also love to see a "Now hiring" row of companies looking at portfolios and talking about jobs in the industry.
In all I loved the show and will definitely be back again next year. Everyone was great and the panels I made it to I thoroughly enjoyed.
I also had great experiences with all the enforcers. Don't get on them if they don't allow you into a panel. They are following directions and "Enforcing" the rules, making it an organized event. I appreciate them enough that I would love to volunteer in the next couple of years.
I have to comment on this. Board game and card game makers do not sell their games for 50-60$ to get rich. Most of these makers barely break even, IF that. They do it because they love games and want to make the ones they want to play. My friend is the publisher for Tasty Minstrel Games. He's mortgaged his house, relies on his spouse's income and other channels, and I don't know how he stays afloat. My other friend works for a larger publisher, and they just hired a university degree-required staff member for 22k. You could make more pretty much anywhere else. The truth is, they cost more per box to produce because they don't produce high volume (because they don't sell high volume).
As for lack of swag:
I got more free shirts this year. There were cooler looking free shirts, too, like the Rift shirt and Kirby mass attack shirt. I got Halo figurines, hats, etc. KOTR threw out tons of cool looking black hats that had either the Rebel Alliance logo or the Imperial logo on them to people waiting in line outside Paramount, so you didn't even have to be in the exhibit hall. I got a month free added to my existing paid account (no reason for them to do that, I'm already a paying subscriber!) They gave out 900 copies of Borderlands 2 free! Rift free (I think it's 5$ from the store now?). WBgames gave out 5 Xbox 360s. There were flashing sunglasses, scarves, stickers, posters, etc.
I'll be honest, though, my favorite things I get from PAX are the weapons to bonk each other with at work. Last year I brought back the DragonAge2 lances which were very popular and I was instructed to return this year with more of the same. This year I got lollipop chainsaws, equally awesome! Thanks so much WB!
I have to second this. The only way games make it is by volume, and that's not easy to achieve. The margins really aren't awesome.
On the other hand, if you were paying $50-60 for games, then you were either buying huge games or not looking hard enough. 6th floor had several vendors that were selling $50-60 games for significantly less. It was really only the publishers that were selling for MSRP, and in some cases they were also handing out extra benefits for buying direct from the publisher (I picked up promos for Nightfall ($40 MSRP) this way, when across the aisle Cardhaus was selling the same game for $32. I also picked up 7 Wonders ($50 MSRP) for $38 from Greenlake Games. I was impressed last year by how much vendors were discounting to attendees, and made sure to make use of that this year.
I'm not complaining I didn't get to go to both, I'd have liked to but its not a huge deal that I didn't. The problem with the scheduling is that it completely killed the entire 6th floor for a huge chunk of time. Letting out Irrational while bringing in Skyrim all the while having to turn away people from the Skyrim panel choked out a decent chunk of the 6th floor from the hallway to the escalators and a bit beyond. If big name panels like that do need to be scheduled close to each other in time it would make more sense to put them in different theaters, ideally in different locations but simply separating them would avoid the massive bottlenecking of the 6th floor.
2.) The first rule of PAX is that you will not see all of PAX. Pick and choose what's most important to you and plan accordingly.
3.) The second rule of PAX is that you showing up late is not the Enforcer's problem. Get in line early like everyone else.
4.) Wut?
5.) The couple of booths selling merch have been doing so for a while now. Not everyone is a AAA publishing company that can throw them out in mass quantities like they were handing out supplies to refugees. For the rest of that post, what everyone else said.
6.) Feel free to read what I had to say in the thread you made on this.
Now it's my turn!
1.) Firefall media bombing run. Seriously, what the hell was that all about? I'd appreciate it if the PAX gods put a limit as to just how much ad space and what-not any one company can buy up because holy crapola, the expo hall was damn near Firefall-Con 2011.
2.) Uhh..that's about it actually. The Paramount was a MUCH better venue than last year's and I hope the PAX gods stick with it. The Enforcer presence was fantastic, and I had a blast. Time to start planning for 2012 (and not in the building a bunker/buying ammo sense).
Also: As a general rule, do not show up to panels late and expect to get in. Ever.
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
Satellite Theater for life!
No, what was wrong with this year's PAX is apparently that you attended, judging by the two threads you've started here. I love and tolerate the shit out of a lot of things, but specifically dumping on PAX in two threads in one day is going to get me (and many others) rather peeved.
Seriously, if you have constructive criticism, that's one thing - it is welcomed, and there WILL be an official feedback thread later on. Keep in mind that strike from PAX is STILL GOING ON RIGHT NOW - there are Enforcers in the WSCC still taking things down, packing them up, and transporting them for storage along with the myriad of other tasks needed to wrap up PAX. The PA staff are also far too busy handling lots of issues from the expo as well, and they will take a break before looking to the community for feedback.
But you're just bitching about "PAX isn't tailor-made to MY hopes and desires, waaaahhhh!!!!" and that's not only irritating, it's insulting to the rest of us. Let's see you put in the hours of hard work that the Enforcers do. Let's see you make up the schedule of panels, keeping in mind the capacity of each theater, the capabilities of each theater, and the hours in the day. Let's see you make and sell your own board game. Let's see you handing out free swag, or making goodie bags. Heck, let's just see you post a list of 6 things that you LOVED about PAX...but somehow, I don't think you can.
PAX Prime Attendee since 2006, BYOC Attendee 2008-2012, Buttoneer 2010-2014
https://www.pinnypals.com/pals/alegria
Other than that I do wish there was more swag namely t-shirts or lanyards and not as many pieces of paper that dont even have beta codes or something cool like that.
If you want lotsa good, easy swag, just walk around the expo halls during the last hour on Sunday. You will have all of the swag. Not just some of it. All of it
Missing out on a beta code, free skin, free tshirt, or even free copy of Borderland 2? Largely irrelevant.
Missing out on a day of PAX experience, or the Triwizard Drinking Tournament? Absolute soul crushing agony.