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I really want to enjoy PAX, but I don't know...
zingledot
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I went to PAX Prime 2012, and with registration time coming up again here shortly I'm wondering if it's really something I want to do again, and I wonder if other people feel the same way.
I've been reading PA since year one, and most of my time I spend gaming and the idea of PAX attracts me like a moth to flame. But the reality of it is the disconnect. Why am I making this trip?
First, I feel a bit old at 30. A lot of the fun people seem to describe is in the youthful exuberance of it all. I was once a blindly enthusiastic and resilient young man; oh how times change...
Second, I like all forms of gaming, but I don't feel 'connected' to any particular group because I'm not enough of a geek on any particular type.
Third, I don't really care about waiting an hour+ to play an unreleased game for 10 minutes at a time.
Overall, I walked around for 3 days not quite feeling like I'm the target audience for anything going on there. I had a good time, and a lot of things were really cool/impressive, but no experience really hit me more than skin deep.
Maybe I should have taken some X ;P
I've been reading PA since year one, and most of my time I spend gaming and the idea of PAX attracts me like a moth to flame. But the reality of it is the disconnect. Why am I making this trip?
First, I feel a bit old at 30. A lot of the fun people seem to describe is in the youthful exuberance of it all. I was once a blindly enthusiastic and resilient young man; oh how times change...
Second, I like all forms of gaming, but I don't feel 'connected' to any particular group because I'm not enough of a geek on any particular type.
Third, I don't really care about waiting an hour+ to play an unreleased game for 10 minutes at a time.
Overall, I walked around for 3 days not quite feeling like I'm the target audience for anything going on there. I had a good time, and a lot of things were really cool/impressive, but no experience really hit me more than skin deep.
Maybe I should have taken some X ;P
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Yes, we are decently above the average age of the 'typical' PAX attendee, but 'focusing' on that isn't all that great of an idea. If PAX isn't something that calls out to you, then it doesn't call out to you. I've got a few friends who have gone once and it wasn't their thing.
Then again if you're not having fun, there's no reason any individual person needs to go.
If you are a fan of all types of gaming, I don't see that as a problem. Find something that looks interesting and try it out? There is the handheld lounge, classic console room, an actual arcade, tabletop... If you are in the mood for something, then just do it?
I am with you on your third point, which is why I don't do it (although I almost did for Evolve but didn't find the time). That isn't something that should stop you from going to PAX. Just don't do it.
Like zerzhul said, it sounds like the expo hall isn't for you. Chat up some of the threads around here. Make some forum friends. Play some tabletop with them! I've gone to a few PAXs alone and have always had a blast. I will be attending PAXs until forever.
edit: What do I do at PAX?
Well, this year I did a lot of pin hunting/buying/etc. I went to the classic arcade to play the Fix-It Felix, Jr machine (in which I had the 2nd high score come Saturday at some point). Chilled in the handheld lounge for a bit. Did the Project Spark demo and Magic 2015 demo (both for pins, but still played the demos of course). Checked out the Indie Mega Booth because indie games are the shit. Played a little tabletop (less than I would have liked). Went out to dinner with people I've connected with via older PAXs/forums. Pokecrawl on Thursday night. Panel-wise I went to the Make a Strip, Friday night concerts, and the Omegathon Final. Also checked out the Kickstarter room.
I'm sure there is some other stuff here or there that I am forgetting. I signed up for the Mario Kart 3ds tourney and got so busy I couldn't attend. There is just ALWAYS something to do.
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The social part of pax was actually one of the biggest let-downs. Met some cool people in line, but then it was 6pm and we just walked around the city doing nothing until it was dark trying to find anyone with a PAX badge, and then went back to the hotel. Day 3 played some board games in the lobby - that was the extent of the after-gaming we could find.
It really comes down to what you're after. I know I go to cons mostly for the tabletop gaming experience, so I make sure to line up several of those. You totally don't need to be an experienced grognard to enjoy most of those, since most of them are going to be open to new players. A few might not be, so that's not a universal rule, but the vast majority of gamers are happy to teach someone new.
But I can understand the age difference issue, though I find it's a lot less of a big deal than it might seem at first. These cons are all about shared interests, after all, so it's important to connect on those grounds. But that's easier said than done, right? It's why I made sure to plan ahead for whatever gaming locales and after parties I could find ahead of time. I did the Trion (great food, booze and swag), CCP (nice crowd and location, food wasn't the greatest) and WB (at GameWorks, food and beer pretty marginal, but free t-shirts and great raffles - won a LotRO lifetime account!) parties, then found some places where people were gaming and sat in on some of those.
The cons that I've gone to where I didn't spend time scheduling and planning were the ones that I didn't enjoy as much, since I'd show up and feel overwhelmed and just sort of wander around, with events all filled up or I'd only find out about them after they were over.
I do, however, immensely enjoy the people watching, the tabletop gaming, playing the video games that don't require me to stand in line for hours (East this year was great because age and wisdom helped me figure out a way to get on the exp floor an hour before everyone else every day w/out a media badge, so got to play lots), and a hundred other things about the con. When I was younger, it was all about the video games. I think as the years have progressed, I've learned to 'work smarter, not harder'. The source of my enjoyment @ PAX has evolved, and would imagine that holds true for many. It's not all just about the rat race.
Also, I totally avoid lines, it helps a lot
Sounds to me like a non-ideal PAX experience. I'd give it another try at some point
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That being said, I think PAX is much much better when done in a group, vs. by yourself.
Really sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your first PAX. Not sure if you were there for one day or the whole weekend, but it's very easy to get lost in the bustle of the expo floor during your first PAX. This is just a suggestion based on my own personal experiences, so feel free to disregard, but I just want to see people come back to PAX and enjoy it as much as I do, which is why I'm replying. I find I have more fun the more I avoid the show floor. All the crazy booths and flashy setups are awesome, but honestly it's not what PAX is about in my opinion. For me, PAX is about the community. You can see that from this forum alone. People are super passionate about PAX and this culture we're all a part of. You're absolutely right, it's totally possible to spend your entire weekend in lines. Two years ago a friend and I waited an hour and a half to play Borderlands 2 months before its release. That was really cool and all, but probably not worth it. If you're really into the AAA stuff, I recommend picking maybe one of them that you can't miss, because you're going to wait a couple of hours for a short demo or a small bag of giveaways. In that same amount of time, you can walk through the entire indie megabooth, play some crazy cool games that people haven't heard of yet (everyone likes to be a hipster sometimes), and even have personal conversations with the developers of the games. I understand indie games aren't for everyone, but you just won't find that kind of connection in the AAA section.
Back to the community: another of my favorite things about PAX is tabletop. Picking up a game you've never played before, and playing with friends or people you've just met is a ton of fun. And then there are other sub-communities, like Pinny Arcade. There are events outside of the convention itself, like the Pokecrawl and the afterparties throughout the weekend. There are a multitude of amazing panels for basically every gaming-related interest you may have. Anyway, I apologize if this comes off as a lecture for how to do PAX right, because that's not my intention. Just want to stress that there's so much more to PAX than the show floor, even outside of the convention itself. But again, if all you're interested in are the AAA booths, that's 100% valid, just want to see people enjoy PAX as much as I (and many others) do!
tl;dr - there is so much more to PAX than the expo floor, and you're absolutely not too old for PAX.
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As an example, not this past year, but the year before, I went to a pax girls brunch without knowing anyone before hand and left the brunch with a bunch of twitter/steam handles to keep in touch with people. I've also had luck just being friendly and striking up conversations in lines with people, and then making sure to get their twitter right there on the spot to stay in touch. I'm pretty introverted so it can be very hard, but it's SO worth it to make that first step because I guarantee there are people around you wishing someone would say hi first.
And even if/when I've encountered people who just don't want to socialize... that's their problem and I move on to someone nicer.
As for other stuff, I approach each PAX differently depending on what's going on that year. My first PAX was all about panels. Then one year my big thing was Portal 2. Another year PC free play. This year the indie mega booth. So far I've never been disappointed because I know I will never be able to perfectly recreate the same PAX for myself so I just don't even try.
I also second what someone else said about going with friends/family. I'm married but me and my husband always go with a group. Makes everything wicked fun because even though we all tend to do our own thing during the day, at night we always know we can get together and go out for dinner/drinks.
The expo hall is also the part of PAX that I think can be optimized the most, in terms of knowing how to approach each game to minimize wait times and crowds. For me, I try to hit the games I really want to see early on Friday morning and the games I'm curious but not fanatically excited about on Sunday afternoon (ideally, with enough time remaining to see the Omegathon finale).
It makes a HUGE difference: I managed to try out Titanfall with only a 1 hour wait time in line at Prime 2013, and I know some folks waited 2-3 hours at varying points to play the game.
The expo hall was the draw for our first two Pax...but this past year I wised up...joined the forums and found much, much, much more to do besides wait in line. I didn't wait in line at all this year for any of the games. Don't get me wrong a lot of them looked good, but I wasn't wasting time in line because there were other more interesting things to do and check out.
I find that you really have to plan/optimize carefully if you're into collectibles: I tried every morning from Sat-Mon to try and get some Cards Against Humanity stuff, and they were always sold out before noon (there were some early panels each day I couldn't pass on).
Another 40+ checking in here. I think you can split PAX in to a number of different categories, and the experience changes drastically depending on what you're focused on. There's the Expo hall, for line waiters and video games, panels and tourneys for observers, tabletop for hands-on, and a whole slew of forum-related events before, during and after PAX.
Get clear on what interests you, and focus on that. And stalk the forums, you'll hear about everything there.
Megabooth and the outer perimeter of the Expo hall. That as served me well for 4 years now. Also the stuff in other rooms. Like the PAX 10, since that is usually not in the Expo main hall anymore. Athough the Megabooth is beyond crowded these days. It's still worth it if you can handle the extreme press of bodies.
AMEN. Going to PAX and not checking out the Indies is like going to the Caribbean and avoiding the beach. Yeah its crowded, but that's because they are so awesome. New announcements like Wildstar, ESO, Neverwinter, SW:TOR are great displays, but lets be honest, most of us saw more about those and even demoed them before going to PAX to see them. PAX's heart and soul are the indies.
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Alright, I'm convinced: a little less panels, a little more indies for me next month.
I give almost a day's worth of time to checking out Indie's. Going around and playing games/talking with Indie developers has created some of the most fulfilling experiences I've had at PAX events.
PAX Prime 2014 Preparations Complete
1. Stay near the event. I was crashing at a friends north of town, and while the drive at night wasn't too bad, getting in that morning was horrendous traffic. Took me near 2 hours to get in, and I was so exhausted after three days of this that I didn't even attend the 4th day.
2. Avoid the expo hall. This is a personal thing for me but it was just too much. People crammed everywhere, lots of things flashing for your attention, my introverted self just wanted to crawl in a corner and hide.
Three experiences really stood out for me. One was getting to compete in the omegathon, but you really can't hedge your bets on that. Second was the concerts. I specifically went to see Protomen and it was the best concert I have ever attended. Third was pretty simple, but it was the D&D play room. It was nice and air conditioned, not a crazy horde of people, and very chill. Playing an event there was a drastic change from the madness of the main expo hall.
I would like to go again sometime, but I will try to plan it with some fellow nerd friends and being solo was tough at times.