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2013 Constructive Feedback
Please consolidate all constructive feedback into this thread.
Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
In addition, this will not be a smelly nerds thread.
Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
In addition, this will not be a smelly nerds thread.
Btw, extra posts are happening if you are getting stuck in the spam queue and keep trying to post it over and over and over again. Hit the post button once. If it doesn't show up immediately, it very well could be under spam review. This is extremely likely for brand new (or rarely active) accounts suddenly making long posts.
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* I made the mistake of attending the nVidia panel. They gave away a ton of great stuff but almost exclusively to people jumping and screaming and basically turned the panel into a giant room of screaming dudes. It was exhausting - but the information presented was really great - I just wish they could make it a bit less of a bro-fest.
* The large booth at the foot of one of the front escalators in the expo hall with the big screen - twitch.tv maybe - drew a huge crowd that clogged the aisles right by one of the major ways onto and off of the floor. I'm sure they pay a ton for prime real estate and the enforcers tried to keep things moving, but it still made it impossible to pass through at times.
* Bring back Sam Hart - he was super awesome and I heard a bunch of people around me commenting on how great he was.
* Paul and Storm headlining was awesome - I love Jonathan Coulton but finishing the night with Captain's Wife Lament is just perfect.
Otherwise - it was run great. I can't say enough good about the pax lines twitter account as well - following it almost completely removes the stress of figuring out when to line up for stuff. I know it would cost a bit - but if there was a way to occasionally put that twitter feed up on the screens that were running loops of game footage around the halls it would be nice. The enforcers were awesome as usual, after 4 years I've gotten over the sticker shock of the food, and the use of space just seems to keep getting better and more polished to me.
I thought the queue and queue room were well organized this year - bravo! I think having the swag bags available later really helped prevent a backup on Friday and Saturday morning.
Thank you to all of the enforcers who gave up their weekends to help organize everything for the rest of us! You guys rock!
ETA: I think the Twitch booth and Bethesda booth were poorly placed. People watching the screens caused serious traffic jams in front of the escalators. If they had been moved inside even a little bit, this would have been alleviated.
Signage was a little better, but there needs to be more guidance along the perimeter - signposts at each escalator that point folks in the direction of all the main spots would be great. I know it'd be tough, but signage in the expo floor to point to BYOC, Tabletop, theatres, etc would be useful as well.
PAX Badges need a color change or something. I saw people using last year's badge, and listened to others talking about it as well. My friend spent all of Friday with his badge inside his jacket by accident, and was never asked to take it out. Security isn't checking enough, and if word gets out about this, PAX is going to get overcrowded with people using old badges.
- Individual queue rooms kept the hallways a lot clearer on the whole, and less confusing.
- PAX_Lines on twitter did a great job with updates and percentages of line filling and room changesbe
- Lines on the whole seemed better managed, with the exception of the Blizzard panel, below
- Didn't see any giant mobs at give aways with heavy items being thrown like previous years - that was nice! Didn't get hit in the head by someone trying to get a mouse pad this year, always a plus
- Walkways in the Expo hall were much larger/wider and had better traffic flow - A++ for that layout!
- Table top *felt* larger though I'm not sure it was, general ground floor lay out was way better than last year, even though it meant more walking
- More tables and chairs scattered about the building meant more seating for food and games, if you went looking for it that is
- Didn't see any booth babes this year, after last year's hoopla, so yay
Cons:
- Sky bridge from Westin had different rules every freaking day. Friday they wouldn't let anyone in that way until 10AM, so we all had to dash outside in the cold. Saturday they let anyone cross at any time - we went in that way around 8:30AM. Sunday it was back to not letting anyone in via skybridge. Sounds like it depended entirely on the BCEC security guy at the door, and was annoying as all hell.
- The Blizzard panel line had serious confusion to start PAX with. Very bad miscounting, sounds like people "snuck" into the queue room after the line had been moved to the hallway near the panel due to the room being filled, and a large number of people who waited an hour and a half to see it got screwed - only about 30ish people at the very front got in.
That's my first impressions of PAXEast #4 anyways.
-The Magic panel was in a theater that was way too small, but it was in a bigger theater last year.
-Some of the expo booths were too close together, creating bottlenecks. For example, the Supergiant and Fangamer booths had a really narrow space between them, and both were super popular all weekend.
-Tabletop didn't have enough space devoted to it this year. I couldn't find space for any pickup games. The retailers there were also set up weird.
-Shuttles 5 and 6 were short buses this year instead of the full coaches from last year, and it made it less of a hassle to just walk from the Marriot Long Wharf than try and catch a shuttle.
Overall, still a wonderful weekend.
Otherwise, though, I really don't have many complaints this year. Any complaints I do have are centered at specific vendors/speakers.
- all the open, unused* expo hall queue space that could have tons more tables placed there (*after 10:15 AM)
- the often unused reserved tables (#boowhitetablecloths)
Magic panel - just put it in the main theater.
Panel queueing - wildly inconsistent management. Even a giant sign with the rules in each waiting area would help.
Ditto on the skybridge from the Westin not being consistent in the morning. I don't care if we can use it or not, it just would be helpful if it wasn't mixed information each day.
Also, did anyone else have trouble finding the XP QR codes? I only found half or so, and that was from walking around looking now and then for three days. Plus, on some signs I know I saw them before, they were gone mid-day Saturday.
The signage could be a bit better. Either use the "meeting room" numbers or tape the cute names to the existing signs. Or just LOTS more signs.
The "You are here" maps should be across from the elevators. I eventually learned that they were near elevators, but the "Find the Sign" minigame was almost as tedious as the "Queue Up" minigame.
The Tabletop Theater had to be WAY bigger. I ended up missing most of the panels I wanted to see because there were hundreds of people who wanted to see a panel with, like, 50 seats in the room.
Having a bar in Tabletop Freeplay would be super awesome. It was nice to be able to have a beer with dinner, but it would be awesome to have a few beers and play a few new games. Even if it was an "after hours" only event.
The food vendors probably should have stayed open longer. Due to schedule, we ended up eating around 11 on Saturday night and only one vendor was still serving.
Keeping the Expo Hall open later would be cool. I found myself busiest during the day and only freed up some time around 7 or 8.
I've been to 2 other PAX Easts, 2010 and 2011, and the lines were great this year. We saw pretty much every panel we wanted to, and only a few required lining up super far in advance.
I think the panels were a little hot and cold. The ones I enjoyed the most were people talking about a specific thing they did or were working on (Harmonix, Double Fine) and the ones I wasn't into tended to be generalized "State of the [x]" which just felt meandering (Minecraft panel).
I think there's also enough demand for a second Handheld Lounge, that area was always packed.
-Some of the booths in the expo hall were too close together, creating bottlenecks. For example, the space between the Fangamer booth and Supergiant's was really narrow, and both of those booths were super popular.
-Tabletop didn't have enough room. I could never find an available table for pickup games. The retailers were also set up in a weird way this year.
-Shuttles 5 and 6 were way too small this year. Last year they were full coaches, but the short buses this year filled up way too fast.
Still a wonderful weekend though.
- That said, while the management of making the lines is good, the wait itself, as always, was brutal. Elder Scrolls Online was the worst, with the guys at the booth saying that the wait was about 5-6 hours on Sunday, around noon. This meant the line was basically capped for the rest of the day, and if you were at the tail end, chances are you wouldn't even make it in before the hall closes. We had been in that line at 10:15am, first thing, and we didn't get to play until 1. I don't know what the solution would be for the long waits, or if there even is a solution, but chances are the Last of Us line was so long because their demo time was a full half hour. If there was a way to limit exhibitor's demo times, maybe that would help, but even then, Elder Scroll's demo was only 20 mins and their line was out of control all three days, so who knows.
- I agree with Lindsey Lohan about the twitch.tv real estate: knowing that they would be streaming/doing interviews, putting their booth near the main escalator and next to Bethesda's giant screen with their epic trailer was probably not the best choice. The traffic there got pretty bad on Saturday, with people standing around to watch both screens. Enforcers did a better job controlling that traffic flow on Sunday.
- Overall, the expo hall is always really tight, and I noticed there is always a lot of extra room on the outsides, by the walls and bathrooms. I think if possible, pushing all the booths out even a few feet would buy some more walking room, especially between the perimeter booths and the middle of the floor.
- While I paid what I expected for the food, why are the prices inconsistent throughout the convention? The food trucks on the expo hall level in the queue room charged MORE for the same food you found upstairs. A turkey leg down there was $9.00 and the same thing upstairs was $6.00. That just seems shady and unfair to people who happen to only be dining downstairs.
- I appreciated that they utilized the queue room space much more efficiently this year, converting all those empty tables from last year to tabletop, but this year there were literally no tables to eat on if you bought food down in the queue room. Perhaps leaving a few empty tables down there for dining, as we ended up walking around with our food and only found tables marked for tabletop gaming. I heard a lot of complaints about tabletop being much smaller this year though, so I understand why you wouldn't want to make it even smaller just for food tables.
- The age-old "please extend expo hall hours" suggestion! (I know there are reasons as to why that can't happen, but it's a wishlist suggestion)
- The Bioware room was nice because it was away from the expo hall floor and drove traffic upstairs a bit, where the hallways are usually pretty bare aside from theater lines. If there was any way to get more rooms like that, with a developer or other things similar to the Kickstarter arcade, I think that would be awesome: it's something to see that doesn't involve pushing your way through crowds on the expo hall, and gives you a little breathing room without having to just sit in those upper hallways and stare at the bathrooms.
- The game check-outs for freeplay are always a fantastic idea, but they fill up SUPER FAST after the expo hall closes. If there was a way to open more freeplay rooms after 6pm, that would be awesome. Also I think there was only one console freeplay room this year that wasn't for check-outs, and it was pretty mediocre. The choice of games in there was not really great, and I'd like to see more rooms just set up for freeplay, maybe even for certain consoles or just Kinect, so there is a bigger selection without people having to wait in the check-out lines.
But of course, as always, I had a fantastic time at PAX East. I know it's hard putting something like this together and to keep it running smoothly, so kudos to everyone involved. Hopefully it will just keep getting better every year!
- The floor felt alot less congested than last year to me (With a few exceptions, I'm looking at you LoL).
- Every line [run by enforcer(s)] I was in was very well managed.
- I feel like there was more stuff taped out on the expo floor to indicate lines, paths of travel, etc. It's possible I just didn't notice it last year though.
- The enforcers were great, as always (Got a big kick out of the "Do a thing, get a stuff" in the queue).
- No giant Chevy booth, cars are great, but that's not what PAX is about.
Not so good stuff:
- Every morning the line to enter bcec was a mess. Friday it was a maze and had several sub-lines merging in at random places. Saturday the bcec security guys flipped the line around a few different directions before compressing it in front of the door, Sunday, they went right for the compressing tactic. I understand they want to minimize the amount of space the line takes up, but making the line twice as wide as the doors it has to fit through just causes an unpleasant choke point, and imo the security guys weren't very nice during the whole process.
- Most of the lines for panels I attended weren't brought into the room until the time the panel was scheduled to start. Most panels end up pressed for time, especially those with QA sections, cutting 10 min off the start to get everybody in and seated doesn't help that. Maybe there were legit logistical issues that caused this, but in each case the previous panel was cleared, and the panelists had arrived well before the scheduled start time. It didn't seem like there'd be any issue to start seating people 5-10min before the start time.
I consider those two criticisms very minor, and I still had a great weekend. Big thanks to everybody involved in making PAX happen (three times a year even!)
- Hallways were nice and clear with queue rooms in action.
- Decent amount of food choices once you got over the sticker shock.
-Twitter was an awesome tool to check lines, updated information, etc.
-Enforcers were awesome and very helpful as always!
-Tabletop was very inviting this year, I really liked the layout.
Cons:
- The Twitch TV booth seriously clogged the area around it up on the expo floor, bad considering it was next to a set of escalators.
- More sumos for the handheld lounge, that place was PACKED every time I went over there.
- I wish the game show type panels had more time given to them: especially The Runaway Guys. I have never laughed so hard in a "panel".
-More panels during the concerts on Saturday night. I don't go to the concerts and left shortly after Video game roadshow since there wasn't much else going on for the rest of the night. Maybe spread those game show panels out from my previous bullet point?
-So many companies relying on twitter and/or facebook to get swag. I know it's 2013, but some people don't have a facebook, or a twitter. I saw my fair share of people walking away sans swag because they couldn't "Like" something. We all paid for passes- we should all have access to swag.
-Maybe keep a few megaphones on hand to lend to booths during a raffle? Some raffles were causing massive congestion because everyone crowded over to the booth to (Barely) hear a person screaming out numbers. Once the raffle is over the megaphone can be lent out to another booth?
All in all I had a great time. Thanks to everyone who worked hard to give us all an awesome weekend, I appreciate it!
-Some of the booths in the expo hall were too close together, creating bottlenecks. For example, the space between the Fangamer booth and Supergiant's was really narrow, and both of those booths were super popular.
-Tabletop didn't have enough room. I could never find an available table for pickup games. The retailers were also set up in a weird way this year.
-Shuttles 5 and 6 were way too small this year. Last year they were full coaches, but the short buses this year filled up way too fast.
Still a wonderful weekend though.
- Hallways were nice and clear with queue rooms in action.
- Decent amount of food choices once you got over the sticker shock.
-Twitter was an awesome tool to check lines, updated information, etc.
-Enforcers were awesome and very helpful as always!
-Tabletop was very inviting this year, I really liked the layout.
Cons:
- The Twitch TV booth seriously clogged the area around it up on the expo floor, bad considering it was next to a set of escalators.
- More sumos for the handheld lounge, that place was PACKED every time I went over there.
- I wish the game show type panels had more time given to them: especially The Runaway Guys. I have never laughed so hard in a "panel".
-More panels during the concerts on Saturday night. I don't go to the concerts and left shortly after Video game roadshow since there wasn't much else going on for the rest of the night. Maybe spread those game show panels out from my previous bullet point?
-So many companies relying on twitter and/or facebook to get swag. I know it's 2013, but some people don't have a facebook, or a twitter. I saw my fair share of people walking away sans swag because they couldn't "Like" something. We all paid for passes- we should all have access to swag.
-Maybe keep a few megaphones on hand to lend to booths during a raffle? Some raffles were causing massive congestion because everyone crowded over to the booth to (Barely) hear a person screaming out numbers. Once the raffle is over the megaphone can be lent out to another booth?
All in all I had a great time. Thanks to everyone who worked hard to give us all an awesome weekend, I appreciate it!
Positives:
1. There seemed to be more food options which is always good and it was more reasonably priced than it has been in the past. Not to say that it was cheap to eat there, but it was a vast improvement.
2. Wider aisles and a better layout made it easy to navigate and get around.
Needs Improvement:
1. The shuttle service needed some work. I was parked in the North Jetty Lot on Saturday and I tried to leave the hall at 9pm. When waiting for the proper shuttle five BCEC South shuttles came before the North Jetty Shuttle came. All five of those shuttles left with no one on the bus. Meanwhile, when the North Jetty Shuttle came, it instantly filled up and left people at the shuttle stop. I realize that the BCEC South loop is shorter so they come more frequently, but I think past a certain time some BCEC South shuttles could switch routes to provide more regular service to the satellite lots.
2. I also noticed a lot of entrances / exits closed and opened sporadically. It was especially apparent when my group took the BCEC South shuttle and it dropped us off at a closed exit and we had to walk just as far to the North Entrance. Then when we went inside we couldn't use the right stairs to the show floor because it wasn't open. I realize that this will happen from time to time but it seemed to happen more frequently this year.
3. There needed to be more tables in the show floor food court. Last year there was plenty of tables but this year there weren't any. There were at least a hundred people at any given time sitting on the floor to eat their lunch. Surely, we can get some tables to eat lunch on on the show floor food court.
4. The badge design definitely needs updating for next years show. There were several people using last year's badges which were identical to this years. Something significantly different would prevent the need to constantly check badges for authenticity.
5. Some booths this year were out of control and caused a lot of back up for a long period of time when they were presenting. Here is looking at you League of Legends. I think that if they are going to present like that, they should have done it via a panel rather than right at the booth.
Granted those were smaller items, but still food for thought. Thanks for a great show this year, it was a blast.
- Steel Battalions! Couldn't believe you had twelve of these set up for multiplayer in console freeplay. So cool! I was only able to get in for one game, but it was everything I imagined. Really hoping you'll bring this back again next year!
Cons:
- The PC Freeplay area didn't seem quite as well organized as it was in previous years. As I was standing in line, I noticed whole rows of empty, functional computers. Adding a few more "check=in" stations would have cut the wait time down a bit and used those machines more efficiently.
- cutting the time from 45 down to 30 minutes was a bummer, but it was especially frustrating when I brought my wife on Saturday to play some Portal 2 co-op. The enforcer who brought us over to the computers didn't know how to help us set it up. He mentioned that others had asked him about it as well, then essentially disappeared. I was able to figure it out, but it took almost a third of our time up just to get in the game together. Someone who wasn't versed in steam might never have got it together, and likely would have left with a very bad impression of PC gaming. We didn't see an enforcer again until our time was up. If "runners" could be a little better versed in making steam connections, and stick around to help you get set up next year, it would be really great.
I'll note that this is the only time in all four years I've been to PAX East that enforcers were anything less than super helpful. Those volunteers are awesome.
Pros:
The Bioware Base: Having a separate room was a great escape from the Expo Floor. I wish some of the other exhibitors would do this, especially some of the bigger booths like LoL and Twitch.tv which caused an insane amount of congestion on the Expo Floor
The Expo Hall Layout: Having that one huge isle down the middle was a big plus. I felt the expo hall was much easier to navigate this year.
JamSpace: I wish I had known about this sooner! Such a cool spot to sit and chill!
Dance Central/Rockband Free play: While I didn't play either of these games I had a ton of fun watching others play. What an awesome way to draw traffic away from the expo hall.
Enforcers: These guys were awesome! Thanks for working so hard!
Parties: My boyfriend and I snagged an invite to the NVidia party on Friday. Free dinner and drinks was a great way to start my first night at PAX! The Elder Scrolls Online also ran a great event. I loved that I was able to demo the game Saturday night without having to waste 5-6 hours in line at PAX. Good job Bethesda. (Also loved the coins, tshirts, and limited edition steins!) The Elder Scrolls Online also had an awesome food truck with free food on Friday. All of these events meant that 2 of my dinners, and one of my lunches was paid for- a huge savings for the weekend.
Cons:
The shuttle service was a mess. We stayed at the Revere Hotel and ended up having to walk to PAX many times simply because our shuttle would fill up before our stop. I wish there was a way to communicate the status of the buses.
LoL booth: I get that League of Legends is huge, but the space was an accident waiting to happen with the mass of people.
Significantly less swag: I know PAX isn't all about swag, but something that really blew me away last year was how much we got. The magic backpacks from last year was a nice touch. This year we had a plastic bag with some paper adverts.
Raffles/Scavenger Hunts: I know a lot of booths do raffles,and I like that they give away prizes. I wish more booths would not require you to be at the booth at the time of the raffle. This caused so much congestion and you couldn't even hear the numbers being called out.
Pros:
- Size: Ive not been to paxeast since the first one(2010?), This was way way bigger, and its a much nicer venue. I did feel like i needed a bit more homework, as im sure i missed areas of the convention. This is definitely a big improvement
- Board Game Area: I loved how the game devs were giving demos and showing people how to play their games. The hardest part of playing a new game is trying to understand the mechanics. It would be nice if this type of system was available in the free play area as well.
- Guidebook: the Guidebook app was a great feature to have. I was able to easily see what was going on.
Cons:
- Internet: The Wireless/Cell service was up and down constantly. Many vendors wanted you to like them on Facebook or install some app, and it made it very challenging to do. Over all the cell coverage seemed to work for me, but when i needed it it was always not there.
- The Shuttle Times. It seemed like when i needed a shuttle, they were not running. 8pm to 12am is an odd time to me to not be running shuttles. i also missed the first one on Friday since it stopped at 11am. (and i tried to get it at 11:15)
- Expo Hall Layout: For the most part it was pretty good, I tried to take a grid approach, going up and down each isle so i did not miss anything. a few times i found myself staring at a booth in front of me, instead of the isle i expected. this got me turned around. Some of the isles could have been larger to accommodate the flow of traffic.
-Food & Seating: The first day we ate by the board games from the carts. The meals were not the best, and did not look the most appetizing, did not surprise me that the bathroom in that area had a long stall line. There was also no where to sit there. Which forced us to sit on the concrete floors. The food upstairs in the food court was much better, but it was super crowded and what seats were there were all filled up pretty quickly. there was also no breakfast from what i could find, except some stale pastries.
-Lines: the big name game lines were way too long. I dont see how someone would want to wait 3+ hours to try a game for 20 min. It would be neat if these lines instituted some sort of "fast Pass" like system. Where people came up and got numbers and were told when to come back, so you could continue to enjoy the rest of the show, and wait on a much shorter line when it was your turn.
Suggestions:
- Fast Pass Like System For AAA Game Lines: It would be nice to go to a booth and get a ticket that says come back at 3 to play the game and wait on a much shorter line, then to wait 3-4 hrs to play the game
- Indie Showcase Check List: There were so many indie devs, Some sort of checklist for me to keep track of who i saw, and what i thought would be nice. Right now i just have a big pile of cards, to go through, while i try to remember which games i wanted to follow.
- Game Memorabilia Vendors: it seemed like the big crowds were around the vendors selling shirts/retro games, ect. It would be nice if these were places in areas with more space around for looking or passing.
Limit the time per person to 5 minutes so long winded people don't talk on and on.
Expand the console free play room. Provide more space, more consoles, more games, and more staff. This year there seemed to be a constant shortage of consoles that people actually wanted to play. The line was nearly out the door no matter what time you tried to get in there. This has been the case in that room every single year at PAX.
Change out the lineup for the concerts. VGO was great, but 60% of their show was the exact same as last year. The Final Fantasy opera act on night one was terrible. The Protomen may have started out being video game related, but have long since given up on that act. They seem out of place at PAX at this point, as they now have very little to do with nerd / gaming culture. Can we find some new artists and bands to put on stage next year?
Pros:
-For the most part, the queue lines were well managed, especially as the weekend progressed.
-Guidebook made life so much easier planning our day.
-For the most part, I didn't have much issues with the cell service.
Cons:
-The first day, I didn't realize the Expo floor closed at 6, so I missed out on some stuff. I'm sure there are reasons why, but maybe extend the hours for just Saturday?
-Friday, we were in a line for a panel, and about 20-40 people merged into our line, from the hallway. It was pretty aggravating. But it seemed to get better the next two days.
-I feel as if the queue area on the expo floor should be taken down after 10, and replaced with some tables and seats. I sat on the floor, and it didn't really bother me, but I heard a lot of people saying that.
I can't imagine the planning involved for a event of this scale. It was amazing. I can't wait to return next year.
I'm in agreement about tabletop. It needed more space. BYOC/ PC freeplay took up a nice chunk of that. I agree with most of what has been said, actually.
Speaking of BYOC, it was FREEZING in there, likely because the AC was pumping to keep the adjacent expo hall cool. Still, my friend and I had to sit there with our coats on. I'm not sure what would fix this unless they can control the temperature in certain sections.
One thing I did notice and did not like - and this is not something PA can control really - was just generally douche behavior. Bumping is one thing on the expo floor, but shoving out of sheer and obvious frustration is another. Also, after my friend and I complimented a cosplayer on her costume, someone (male friend, maybe boyfriend?) got really aggressive with us. We simply said "hey, great costume, looking good" and certainly not "ey yo, nice [boobs]" or anything of that nature. It was late on Saturday night, so grumpyness might have played a role, but I don't come to PAX to beef with anyone. Maybe we need to emphasize the don't be a dick rule more.
Massive Crystal Cavern!
1. Enforcers: Overall they are amazing and greatly appreciated. However, there was one enforcer at the bottom of the escalator to the main theater during the Rooster Teeth Panel who made me feel very criminalized and upset. I'll word this so that it isn't a personal attack but I do have his ID if requested. I cosplayed Sub-Zero and carried around a plastic LED ice sword. Prior to this event, several enforcers inspected the sword and approved it. He however demanded that I step out of line and go downstairs to have it inspected. I explained that it had been numerous times and I refused because the panel was near capacity. After some words, I got on the escalator because I was done talking to him. He followed me on and was literally on the same step invading my personal space and then ran to block me from entering the main theatre. The panel had started and another enforcer with a suit on came over so I'm assuming he was an enforcer with higher authority. Instead of stepping in to resolve the conflict, he just stood their and stared at me as if attempting to intimidate me. After a heated discussion the first enforcer finally took a bag of twist ties out of his pocket for prop approval. Yeah, he had them the whole time. So I let him put the twist tie on and then he demanded I give him my ID. That WAS NOT going to happen so after having to shake my pockets, he wrote my first name and my cosplay character on a ID sticker that he also had the whole time and put it on my badge. For the record, I'm perfectly fine with having a twist tie on my prop and the sticker on my badge but the way it was handled by the two enforcers made me very upset and I felt criminalized because the police took notice and almost had to step in.
Another enforcer, after the VGO concert was blocking people from getting past the gate at the bottom of the first down escalator. This caused a human pile-up on a constantly moving escalator with ~4,000 people. I don't think I need to explain what that could've resulted in. Everybody was yelling at him to move and he finally stopped checking badges (they were all already checked when we went up) but still stood between the gates and not to be rude, but this enforcer was very heavy set and was still blocking the flow of the crowd. If not for the police standing there, yup, I would've removed him myself.
So, to avoid future conflicts, I recommend better training to enforcers who are not familiar with their assigned positions.
2. I was discussing with my friends and we believe the convention would benefit much, much more next year if the panels and the devs on the floor switched to a book-keeping system rather than the Six Flags wait in line for hours nonsense. By book-keeping, I mean that they use the guidebook or an actual book and ticket for the lesser tech-savvy to create a system to inform those who have REGISTERED for a SPECIFIC TIME. This would result in no lines (or multiple much shorter lines dedicated for event registration in an isolated location). Also, less time waiting in line means more money spent on swag. This is very much possible as I have a programming degree and I imagine I could easily create a line of code and a system to make this work.
The food was pretty good. No complaints at all.
The BCEC staff were very helpful and polite. The first time PAX East moved to the BCEC, they were rude, but that's all gone now.
I live between driveable distance (60-90 mins), but stayed nearby. This definitely improved the experience, and I'll recommend that to everyone.
The Tabletop checkout stand could use some more staffing during peak times.
The enforcers manning the lines did a good job and I didn't encounter any snafus.
The wait times for the AAA Expo hall stuff seemed crazy. 2-3 hours out of the middle of Pax for a demo didn't make sense to me, but I didn't go in salivating for any particular title, so I probably wasn't the target audience for those.
The Indie game booths were great and I enjoyed talking to the developers.
The queue room and PC area on the floor seemed like non-optimal uses of space. It seems like other parts of the expo hall could handle those needs (morning-only use of the queue room, and very low-density of paxers in the PC area.)
The concerts were good. VGO had a weird tic about introducing each member eleventy-billion times for some reason.
If the current system is going to be used, longer demo times will actually improve traffic flow, so I see this as a positive. It just means less people will get to play.
I personally do not believe the length of a demo has any impact on the amount of dedicated fans waiting in line to see it. The issue is more about line management.
Cons: For the love of all that is holy, get the BCEC to fix their wireless. Since PAX is guaranteed there through 2022, the least they could do is provide adequate wireless. Also get cellular carriers to set up microcells outside the BCEC to improve that as well.
The trolly to nearby food locations that the convention center had set up was really neat. Didn't notice that last year (if they had it.)
Other than that, I think I spent more time in lines than doing anything else. The big DnD game Saturday night tried to get around the line shenanigans by announcing the line location only an hour early, but that caused a huge mass near the area where the line location would be announced (and crazy running to the line location). Every other convention I have been to had pre-registration for things. This may not work for PAX, but I did not see any improvement for the lines from last year.
Waiting for games took a long time. The expo hall was very crowded. I did not have access to twitter, so lining up for panels was a hassle. I even had to wait a long time for the shuttle back to the hotel- Route 3 consistently had a long line and only half of the line would fit in the bus when it showed up (while the Route 2 bus sat there, mocking me, empty). I am just glad that I was close enough to walk in on the mornings.
I suppose it means those folks who do wait will tell others the game is awesome - but wouldn't it make more sense to get as many gamers playing the game as possible rather than just the ones that are already buying it in the first place?
On concerts - VGO is great but they can get repetitive and if you're not into Square Enix stuff it can have some boring moments. I was thinking (after watching Paul and Storm be amazing) if you couldn't open up each night with a comedian of some sort or maybe a live podcast - there's enough room that people could sit and enjoy it and then stand for the music.
That cell microcell idea would be brilliant. I was depending on my cell to get in touch with the guy I was crashing with and never could tell if my texts were truly going out or not...
The demo times are all up to the exhibitor, not PAX
- As always, the BCEC location is awful for restaurants. The few that are within a 10-minute walk are slammed by 5:30pm. Possible Solution: Finally, Boston has a large food truck scene. Can PA reach out to the food trucks next year to have them line up on the street, along the bridge, to sell food? Our summer market (SoWa) has a dozen or more food trucks every week, and I know we have 50+ now, so that could help the food issue.
- Again this year, taxis were mobbed after the concerts let out. The line just got longer and longer after 1:15am. Not much we can do here, except maybe reach out to taxi companies and say there will be many, many fares after 1:00am.
- Enforcers are great. As always, they do a great job keeping lines moving and telling people when they’re full.
New things that PAX East did well this year:
• Expanding the expo floor: It looks like the expo floor was about 50% larger than last year. This was great! It really spread out the walkers and lines. Having a large amount of space between the front and middle section was awesome.
• Bring on the indies: There were something like 60 indie games being shown on the floor. This blew us away. We spent hours just going through and viewing all the indie titles. All three of us bought Organ Trail as soon as we finished playing it on the floor, and we’ll buy the new game from Kumobius once it comes out. I love seeing the innovation and interesting game ideas from the indies. Please keep on expanding this section for next year.
• More merch! I’m just selfish about this point. The Thinkgeek booth was great, as usual there were tons of tabletop and card games to buy, and I blew a lot of money at the Udon booth. That being said, I think they still need to be a small proportion – maybe limit them to 20% of show floor size? You could also create a PAX Marketplace, a specific area for vendors to sell their goods. Maybe near the bag check so we can quickly leave our purchases until we leave the show?
• More – and higher quality – cosplay. I saw more cosplay in 2013, but even more surprising, I saw much less straight-up sexy cosplay. Whether you like Riot of not, the League cosplay has been phenomenal. I am amazed and humbled by the amount of work people put into their outfits. Much respect to our cosplay friends.
• Swag bags at 11:30am. Great idea, I loved it.
Things that PAX East could improve on for next year:
• Places to sit down in the food court. This has been talked about in the earlier posts, just adding my opinion.
• Large studios with incredible line times. I had hoped we moved past this after The Old Republic, but The Last of Us had lines that were capped, with a 2.5 hour wait, on a 30-minute demo. In my opinion (and it’s only my opinion) I do not like demos of 30 minutes. 15 minutes seem to be the optimal time. What would solve this even better are more machines to demo on, but that can be tough given booth size and the cost of shipping machines, constructing more booth space, etc.
• Omegathon final round woes. Since the entire PA staff was there, I don’t need to say it, but I felt for you guys on stage. Spaceteam is a cool, interesting game, but the sheer number of people there overloaded the BCEC wifi, which is shaky already. I have a lot of respect for how you handled the situation – it was definitely the right call.
• Can we stop with the button matching crap? MSI and Nvidia did their number matching swag game – again – which just gets so annoying. Seeing people run around checking small numbers on pins frustrates me. I am not sure if you can dictate how swag games run, but I just find these incredibly intrusive.
• More variety in concerts. We’ve seen most of the acts at PAX East. Can we have some more variety in the roster? Personally, I am not a fan of Paul and Storm or Jonathan Coulton, and the Video Game Orchestra is fun but a little long. Can we get some different acts or different events on the main stage?
• Let’s move Riot and Twitch sway from the escalators. Nuff said.
Lastly, just a personal observation:
PAX East 2012 was a frantic, chaotic event. I felt exhausted every day and every night, and I felt like I had to rush to do everything. PAX East 2013 was a chiller, calmer event. I felt fine just meandering around, playing literally five hours of card games in a row, then learning Ascension, hunting marines in Natural Selection II, and hefting the massive warhammer at Geek Chic. It’s not good or bad, just different. And what I liked the most was that I had never had a calm and chill PAX – every other one had been a fever dream of parties, demos, and panels. I feel like I have seen a maturing of the venue and attendees.
Pros:
Food trolly. This was a great way to get to restaurants near the BCEC and avoid the ridiculous lines, wait times, and over priced items of the food court and hotel restaurants.
Merch booth in the main lobby. I was super happy to find a PAX merchandise booth right as I came in the main entrance. I was even more happy that they opened before the expo hall did. I was able to get all my PAX merch first thing on Friday, and not have to deal with the LOL crowd.
Strong countermeasures for fake badges. The BCEC and PAX staffs did a great job to let only legit attendees in.
Coat/Bag check. I didn't actually use it this year, but now that I know there is one I'll probably utilize it!
Wizards of the Coast. I have to give a shout out to WoTC for the huge support that they had for the show. Best swag, great demo, and over all cool vendor. I don't even play MTG but these guys showed up to support PAX in a big way. I know this isn't the place to critique vendors, but these guys really took part of PAX in a big way.
Twitter is a great tool for PAX Lines. Now if only I could get a data signal to check it.
Guidebook. Whoever put the app together did a great job. Now if only my device didn't drain stupid fast from searching for a data signal all day...
Cons:
PAX East felt like PAX Lite. This was my first PAX East, but I've been to Prime twice. Most developers/publishers had very little to show off. I don't know if this is because of the time of year, or that GDC immediately trails PAX East, or other factors. But over all it felt rather small compared to PAX Prime in the fall.
Having the queue room in the back of the convention center rather then the front. It's cold outside! It really stinks to have to park in the back of the building, walk the entire length of it outdoors, enter the building then walk the entire length of the building again indoors. Even though I'm parked only feet away from the line I had to walk a half mile to get into it.
Needed more maps posted of BCEC. There's nothing like not knowing where to go for your next panel. While the BCEC does a good job of directing based on room numbers, PAX doesn't do so well by renaming all the rooms and not posting enough directories. Granted, there were a few, but many more were needed.
Swag bags. Nothing wrong with the bags or contents, but getting one seemed kind of difficult. I missed it on the first day, then found out that they'd be giving them out again at 1130 on Saturday. So I showed up around 1100 to get in line to make sure I got one. But the enforcers told me that you couldn't form a line for them. Really? So I went back again on Sunday, but was told that only attendees with Sunday badges could get one. Seriously?
Ridiculously loud booths. The twitch booth is the biggest offender I can think of. While I was sitting down for the demo of Splinter Cell I could barely hear the developer speaking because twitch was doing an interview with somebody and blasting the audio at ungodly levels.
Could we get a cosplay photo area? A lot of folks did great jobs on creating some amazing costumes. But stopping to pose for photos in busy traffic areas is just dumb. A designated area to do cosplay photos would be great, and give me a better excuse for walking through everybody's photo (seriously, don't expect me to stop while you clog up a walkway).
Strollers and infants on the expo hall show floor. The first isn't supposed to be allowed, but I still saw some strollers in the expo hall on Friday. And on Saturday and Sunday I saw some very stupid people allowing their toddlers to run around on the show floor. This is a very good way to get your kids injured.
I don't want it to sound like I didn't have a great time, because I did. The cons are just a few of my gripes.
Good:
Kickstarter Room: Made me buy Strike Suit Zero on the spot.
Various indie game booths: forget waiting in line for half the day to play a game that we're all gonna get on launch, my favorite part of PAX East is the discovery. The dozens of smaller developer booths got me acquainted with current stuff like Snapshot, plus a variety of upcoming games.
Thanks so damn much for no booth babes. I know the debate was had and settled a couple of years ago, but still: thanks.
Bad:
Only had one frustrating experience-- I'd like some clarification on the souvenir book policy. After a hectic weekend (I was only able to spend a couple of hours at the show on Friday and Saturday thanks the commitments listed above), I finally went to the queue room to grab a program book with my nephew on Sunday morning. But we were turned away by an enforcer (some fella in a gigantic top hat), who explained that program books were for Sunday badge-holders only, and that we'd have to come back at the end of the day to see if any were left. I asked him why 3-day badgeholders weren't allowed to get programs, and he said they "might run out." We came back at the end of the day as directed and all of the program books were gone.
Are 3-day badgeholders really only allowed to have souvenir books at certain times of the day? If I want the souvenir, do I have to buy a single-day pass to get it? I checked the site and Guidebook and can't find any information about this at all. It hasn't been an issue in previous years, either. Anyone know what's up? I'm just a bit bummed out that I didn't get a program, since I got one in 2010, 2011, and 2012 with ease.
For the future:
Expo hall: The central/major aisles were nice and broad, bravo! But there were still areas that were terrible choke points, with booths much too close together. For long stretches of my time in there, I was constantly being bumped, jostled, shoved, or otherwise having my personal space unintentionally invaded. Here's what's bound to be a ferociously unpopular suggestion, but I gotta say it anyway: any chance of reducing the number of booths in the Expo hall a bit, or of requiring some of the majors to have somewhat smaller footprints? With PAX expanding to fill every inch of the venue, this might be our only relief. UNLESS:
The Westin has a ton of function space, including a 15k square foot ballroom and a 21k square foot exhibit hall. Can PAX expand to fill that space, as well, or are the various meeting rooms too tough to secure year-to-year? I feel like, if nothing else, you could make a satellite tabletop gaming/demo area in those big rooms, and put showcases in the smaller rooms, and it would ease some of the pressure on the BCEC.
Concerts: The exact same basic lineup - Coulton, VGO, Protomen, Frontalot - has been going for 4 years straight. I went to a couple the first year and it was neat, but I don't want to see the same groups over and over and over again. Any way we could get some new artists?
I would love to see this too, but I'm willing to bet that there is some city and/or permit issue that doesn't allow food trucks to be at the convention center. There are dozens and dozens of huge conventions there during the year, and with the lack of restaurants in short walking distance, food trucks would make killer money by being at the convention center. There's no way they aren't aware of it and skipping out.
I'm hoping that the BCEC is not playing its hand in this by keeping the city from making this happen, so that they make more profits in their mediocre food.