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Constructive Feedback - Aus 2015

zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
Please post civil constructive feedback of the show here

As always, it's fine to disagree and dislike things, just don't be a dick about it.

Posts

  • PDP11PDP11 Registered User regular
    edited November 2015
    I'll kick off this years thread with a few comments.
    • For the first time the Friday morning BYOC check-in was flawless. Each year there has been an improvement and 2015 will be the benchmark for all future years.
    • Compared to previous years the BYOC Enforcers tried to run more meaningful competitions. Minor hiccups over server details can be ignored.
    • All the Enforcers did a superb job but some like Enforcer Kai on the Johann Sebastian Joust arena went way beyond amazing. Pity there is no mechanism for people to highlight or provide recognition for the truly outstanding efforts.
    • Given the level of interest it would be appropriate to run two Johann Sebastian Joust Tournaments per day and announce the timing and signup location in the PAX Aus schedule.
    • The 2013 Tabletop High Roller medals may have been too expensive to provide in subsequent years, 2014 medals were not as impressive as 2013 but the 2015 medals were too cheap to repeat.
    • For 2014 the Cards Against Humanity tournament consisted of a fixed number of hands with the highest scorer from each table advancing onto the next round to determine the best player on the night and to award prizes. This year on Friday the Enforcers did not make any effort to run a tournament to determine who was the best player. Each table was given a prize to distribute as the players saw fit and this was not necessarily awarded to the player winning the most number of rounds per table. As all the prizes were given away on the Friday night there were no prizes remaining for the Saturday night tournament. So the Enforcers did not run Saturday night as a tournament and no prizes were available to award to any player. Given that there was no winner for the night and there were too many tables to provide a Tabletop High Roller medal to each table there could not be any awards for this large event. In other words the 2015 Cards Against Humanity tournaments were a mess. If there are Cards Against Humanity tournaments in 2016 there needs to be better directions given to the Enforcers on how to run a tournament and how to award prizes.
    • Gamer communities should be advised in the FAQ that it is acceptable to donate suitable prizes for their preferred tournaments. With the addition of some player donations on Saturday night there were prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for the Robo Rally Tournament. Nobody in the larger Cards Against Humanity tournament being held at the same time received any prize. The player supplied Robo Rally prizes were only small, low value prizes like a PAX Aus Challenge Coin so the intent was not to provide a significant monetary value, just something to trigger fond memories of PAX Aus 2015. This was not the only donation of PAX Aus Challenge Coins as they were also donated for the three Johann Sebastian Joust Tournaments.
    • The Australian Board Gamers awards should be moved to early on the first day of PAX Aus and the results should be prominently displayed in the Tabletop Library area for players. It might be worthwhile to list winners and runners up in previous years if the games are in the Library.

    Edit:
    When appropriate Enforcers were allowing people to be seated before the session start times. Previously Enforcers were less flexible and/or didn't communicate as effectively with presenters so they would not admit people until the official session start times. Being more flexible this year meant less time lost at the beginning of sessions.

    Each year PAX Aus has grown larger, more complex and delivered a smoother, more efficient experience. Theatre seating limits and queues for the most popular sessions will mean there will always be some people who may be disappointed. For the sessions I attended these were not issues.

    Major problems experienced previously like the BYOC check-in bottlenecks have been addressed so the issues I've raised this time round are trivial.

    PDP11 on
  • StarliteLemmingStarliteLemming Registered User new member
    Here's a few observations I made that might help a bit next year. (Please note that not all are equally important, but all have some effect to improving the experience -- potential trolls: don't be rude by saying why something's unimportant; instead, say which are most important to you.)

    1. There's still some issues with people flow, mostly to do with forcing people to walk extra distance to get where they want. This always seems like a minor thing to organisers (to make someone double-back 50m is not a big deal, right?), but it's something that annoys people way out of proportion to the actual disruption. Some people (including many geeks) are more prone to this annoyance than others. Here's some specific issues:
    * Show-bags were only available from door 1, and required walking half-way across the floor to collect. People entering at the other end of the complex (because that's where they parked) had to walk the whole length of the complex to get a show-bag, and also to get a programme. (That said, programmes were strangely not included in the show bags!). Solutions: Set up a show-bag station at the western end of the complex as well. Remember to include programmes in the show-bags.
    * Some of the panel rooms were really far apart. This is an issue with the complex as a whole. I do wonder if some of the side-rooms might be big enough for some panels. Getting from Drop-bear to Kookaburra is a very long walk!
    * After the queue room was closed, around 5:45pm Saturday, getting to the eastern panel rooms (eg: Drop-bear) was a major pain! I walked to the eastern end of the exhibition hall and was told to go back to door 4. You really needed to open door 2 at the end of the day to avoid any doubling-back. Same is true of the other end of the hall, where people parked in the DFO carpark were not able to exit by the western-most door at the end of the day.
    * The queue room was more of an obstacle than an access point, once the initial rush was through. I strongly recommend opening up passages at the north and south ends, from the queue room into the exhibitors' hall. Clear signage would also help (eg: "Access to the Exhibitors' Hall is recommended through door 4. Do not enter the queue room except for ...").
    * Kookaburra was not properly sign-posted. Remember that some people will be trying to find a panel after it has started.
    * There was no way to know if a panel was full without walking all the way to the door. I walked a long way to get to a full "Science in Games" panel. Please consider using the conference centre's screens. You might also consider counting the number of seats in each theatre and the number of people waiting in line (for the smaller rooms).

    2. A related matter: During the hardware give-away (I forget who was doing it, but it lasted a while), the crowd completely blocked the surrounding walkways, and particularly caused trouble for some of the indie developers. Some of the indie developers right on the walkway had to completely give up on demonstrating their games during the giveaway, and I had to push through the crowd to ask some surprised devs for a demo.

    3. The programme was hard to use. I know there's a lot of events going on, and I know the Guidebooks app was quite useful for setting up a customised schedule (that feature should have been pushed much harder *before* the event), but more can be done. I also couldn't find any mention of the Omegathon in the app or where I expected it in the printed programme, which was quite disappointing! Solutions: a) Make sure all events are included in the programme, including dev events. It's not about advertising, it's about helping the attendees. b) Create a condensed version of the programme, with just one sheet per day. Supply this as a printable PDF on the website, along with a map, and include a printed version in the show-bags. This can be a quick-reference for everyone throughout the day, as well as assisting with last-minute (or advance) planning.

    4. Make it easier to find a (board) game. I don't mean in the library. I mean finding a spot in a game about to start. The green "Looking for Players" signs were great, but severely underutilised. I think a lot of people didn't even know they existed. Make it clear that they should be used by offering them to every person signing out a game. And also provide more visible instructions to individuals looking for a game to join (in particular, train your enforcers on this one).

    5. It wasn't clear how long the various food outlets would be open. I recommend adding notes to the opening hours. Something like: playing section open Saturday until 11:30pm (food and coffee available in the hall until ...).

    6. Many people I spoke to thought everything was closing at 6pm on Saturday. I know it clearly says that the programme continues until 11:30pm, but it also clearly said that the exhibition hall was closing at 6pm. For attendees, the "exhibition hall" would appear to indicate the entire main hall. Better terminology (or a clarifying note) would help here.

    7. Drinking water was completely unavailable. This is something I'd ask you to take up with the venue (since you would likely have more clout that any individual attendee). The venue seems to be intent on increasing its sales of $6 bottles of water by nullifying all other options for getting a drink. This is a big scam, and very environmentally unfriendly. The water in the toilets is all hot water (unsuitable for filling a drink bottle), and the one drinking fountain I found was inexplicably labelled, "Water not for drinking." How bizarre! Some staff thought there were drinking fountains inside the hall, but I was unable to find them. Solution: call the venue to account, and if they insist on their stupid strategy for increasing sales, please make your own arrangements for free drinking water. (It was pretty hot and humid by the end of Saturday, yet two days earlier would have been 10 degrees hotter!)

    That's all I can think of right now. I hope this is useful for next year's show.

    And because it seems I'm all criticism, here's some praise:

    I had a wonderful time, and loved seeing and trying out everything. I thought the range and topics of panels were improved over last year, and the crowds were mostly handled really well, and not a problem at all (except where noted above).

    Good luck preparing for next year!

  • fishfishmonkeyhatfishfishmonkeyhat Freelance Pin Man Newcastle, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    PDP11 wrote: »
    only small, low value prizes like a PAX Aus Challenge Coin

    ಠ_ಠ

  • NZLionNZLion Auckland, New ZealandRegistered User regular
    I completed PAX XP both last year and this year. The mini 2x2x2 rubics cube last year was a nice surprise, this year I felt like the keychain was a bit of an insult to anyone who had engaged enough with the program app - and in many cases the vendors - to actually find them all.

    Some of the QR codes were evilly hidden this year, and it really took conversations with other hunters to find them. This is a great thing! More of this! But please make the effort a bit more worth it.

  • discriderdiscrider Registered User regular
    NZLion wrote: »
    I completed PAX XP both last year and this year. The mini 2x2x2 rubics cube last year was a nice surprise, this year I felt like the keychain was a bit of an insult to anyone who had engaged enough with the program app - and in many cases the vendors - to actually find them all.

    Some of the QR codes were evilly hidden this year, and it really took conversations with other hunters to find them. This is a great thing! More of this! But please make the effort a bit more worth it.

    I completely agree with this.
    I spent a couple of hours Saturday morning trying to find all the XP, wound up staking out the info desk and then realising what I was sinking all this time into and so dumping the whole endeavour.

    Either the QR codes need to be visible and easier to collect, or the prize needs to be worth sinking the (PAX) time into.

    It was simply not worth completing this this year.

  • UseR2006UseR2006 MelbourneRegistered User regular
    edited November 2015
    NZLion wrote: »
    I completed PAX XP both last year and this year. The mini 2x2x2 rubics cube last year was a nice surprise, this year I felt like the keychain was a bit of an insult to anyone who had engaged enough with the program app - and in many cases the vendors - to actually find them all.

    Some of the QR codes were evilly hidden this year, and it really took conversations with other hunters to find them. This is a great thing! More of this! But please make the effort a bit more worth it.

    I think the worst ones to find were the ones in the Expo hall, all the others were ok but after wasting a large amount of time on the first day trying to find the expo hall ones and then to find out on the second day what the prize was i gave up then and there to go explore other parts of PAX AUS. I know i would have felt a little annoyed (mildly) had i gone to all that effort for such a small reward.

    I'm not saying the prize should be expensive or anything but i think the balance between difficulty and reward was well out this year.

    UseR2006 on
    "I know you've been online.... There are lots of people that don't have that voice, that makes them ask themselves if what they make is shit or not." [img][/img]WJnjIS1.png
    steam_sig.png


  • PDP11PDP11 Registered User regular
    PDP11 wrote: »
    only small, low value prizes like a PAX Aus Challenge Coin

    ಠ_ಠ

    Coins have a small physical size. If I had to pay say $16.00 for each coin then I would say that represents a significant value to be donating in PAX Aus tournament prizes. Giving a few PAX Aus Challenge Coins for winning performances in tournaments I pushed to make happen this year seemed appropriate in the circumstances. These are not expensive pieces of kit so they have a relatively low monetary value. The memories of PAX Aus 2015 are priceless. Sorry, I didn't mean to insult.

  • Dr DreDr Dre Registered User new member
    I've attended on Friday only for the past 3 years so my view is only for that day. Overall, I had a fun day but it did have some flaws.

    The Warren Spector Storytime was great and the Q&A was really interesting, especially with Robert giving a different perspective. Most of the other panels on the day though I found uninteresting which seemed a step down from the last two years. Special mention to the evening Penny Arcade and Friends in the Main Theatre - that was fantastic. I wished that could have gone for another hour or more!

    Previous years have had a concert on Friday night - the replacement of this with the live talk show was awful. The weak, forced humour and amateur presentation was a definitely low point for the day.

    The XP challenge was a big disappointment too. I was able to find all but two of the QR codes which I understand were in the Expo Hall. Of the three others I found there, only one was even remotely identifiable as being part of the hunt, another was crumpled on the table in the Gems of War area. There were hundreds of other QR codes for Facebook, Twitter, Steam Greenlight, Instagram and website links. Speaking with the front desk at the end of the night, they had reports that some of the codes had been tampered with and that only 12 or 16 (I forget) had completed the challenge. It was going to be fixed on Saturday which was of no help to me at all. There was no indication in the guide book that there were random codes in the Expo area and it changed the precedent from previous years from them being on the signs around the place. Very unhappy that I wasted time on this on the day.

    Generally, everything seemed smoother. The queues were easy, everyone seemed to know what they were doing. The queue room still seemed under utilised but I get that it would take a lot of effort to dismantle and set up each day. Overall, I had a good day and am looking forward to next year!

  • Dark KingDark King Registered User regular
    My thoughts:

    a.) I couldn't get the Guidebook app (either of them) to work at all. It was probably due to my phone being "old" (Samsung Galaxy SII 4G, antique by modern standards) but it made keeping track of the schedule a little tricky.

    b.) For big events where the queues are large, the Enforcers really need to start moving people into their seats well before the start time. The Let's Play with Warren Spector still had people filing in a good 5 minutes after the official start time, delaying the whole event.

    c.) Maybe some decoration up around the Freeplay area to make it seem a little less like a barn?

  • Robin SmallburrowRobin Smallburrow Mr Melbourne, AustraliaRegistered User new member
    I was told when I signed up to run my Tabletop RPG event that it was OK to bring my laptop, only to find when I get there that there are no charge points for any of the Roleplaying tables! Come on PAX, this is stone age stuff, you really need to get your act together and provide charge points in future (for at least some tables) - most GM's like myself use laptops now to run our games.....

    There also needed to be (as per earlier comments) better signage so players knew this game was here, that game was over there etc. My game was registered with PAX months ago!!

    Robin S.

  • fishfishmonkeyhatfishfishmonkeyhat Freelance Pin Man Newcastle, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited November 2015
    PDP11 wrote: »
    PDP11 wrote: »
    only small, low value prizes like a PAX Aus Challenge Coin

    ಠ_ಠ

    Coins have a small physical size. If I had to pay say $16.00 for each coin then I would say that represents a significant value to be donating in PAX Aus tournament prizes. Giving a few PAX Aus Challenge Coins for winning performances in tournaments I pushed to make happen this year seemed appropriate in the circumstances. These are not expensive pieces of kit so they have a relatively low monetary value. The memories of PAX Aus 2015 are priceless. Sorry, I didn't mean to insult.

    Haha, none taken.
    Dr Dre wrote: »
    Special mention to the evening Penny Arcade and Friends in the Main Theatre - that was fantastic. I wished that could have gone for another hour or more!

    Previous years have had a concert on Friday night - the replacement of this with the live talk show was awful. The weak, forced humour and amateur presentation was a definitely low point for the day.

    At first I thought you meant you didn't like the PA & Friends, but I guess you mean "Insert Coin & Big Head Mode present Bonus Stage"? (I didn't see any of that) Robert said at some point (either one of the Q&A's) that the concerts just aren't as popular here as they are in the states. I stuck my head in both previous years to check them out, but I can't say I really missed them this year myself.

    And I agree, I could have watched PA&F for longer. The audience participation aspect was great, and I'd love to see it next year with maybe a different game. If we can't have AI, group games like that definitely work instead.

    I might suggest having something like "Play along with us at Jackbox.tv" on the screen at all times. I came in late and once I worked out we could play along it took about 10 minutes of googling to get in the game. Searching for the games being played and "mobile" didn't yield any results, or apps. I eventually had to find an article reviewing the games to find the url I needed to load.



    A question @Robert Khoo might be able to answer: Were names/locations removed from some submitted "Khoo & A" questions, or did Jerry just not read them out sometimes? My question was read out with no attribution (it was me, btw!).

    fishfishmonkeyhat on
  • Blake TBlake T Do you have enemies then? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered User regular
    The lack of access to water was disappointing. The only water available was from the bathrooms which was hot water. Next year if there could be some large portable water coolers set up it would be appreciated.

    I also agree with the xp hunt. The amount of effort required to find all the qr codes was just not worth it. Additionally we were told by enforcers that they were all on the green banners like last year.

  • PDP11PDP11 Registered User regular
    There was no way to know if a panel was full without walking all the way to the door. I walked a long way to get to a full "Science in Games" panel. Please consider using the conference centre's screens.
    Screens were under utilized. Old messages that were cycling on screens were typically many hours out of date and not deleted once they lost their relevance.
    4. Make it easier to find a (board) game. I don't mean in the library. I mean finding a spot in a game about to start. The green "Looking for Players" signs were great, but severely underutilised. I think a lot of people didn't even know they existed. Make it clear that they should be used by offering them to every person signing out a game. And also provide more visible instructions to individuals looking for a game to join (in particular, train your enforcers on this one).
    A very good point about the 'Looking for Players' signs. I only saw one sign in the whole area tabletop area.

    As far as other peoples complaints about the lack of charging points for laptops in the Tabletop area the obvious answer is a BYOC ticket as it provides a charging point for laptops as well as excellent wired access to the intertubes.
    5. It wasn't clear how long the various food outlets would be open. I recommend adding notes to the opening hours. Something like: playing section open Saturday until 11:30pm (food and coffee available in the hall until ...).
    I was also caught out by the food/drink opening hours in the evenings.

    I realize the venue has to provide food for a wide range of tastes and requirements within a limited selection. Drinks were cool not cold. The quality of the food I sampled was equal or better than the average suburban mall's food court offerings. For example the flathead tails and chips were hot, well cooked, not greasy, not over salted and with a slice of lemon. I could go back for a second helping if I was feeling rich. Sushi rolls were vegetarian, fresh (i.e. the rice was not dried out) and enjoyable but didn't include soy sauce. There was nothing wrong with the rice paper rolls unfortunately they were too plain for my taste. Muffins were fresh, moist, better than the muffins in my local supermarket as far as flavour/ingredients but nothing extraordinary, guess a muffin is a muffin. I really liked the variety in the fruit salad pity it was so expensive for the quantity you received. And that really is my only criticism, the cost of food and drink within the venue failed the value for money test. I'm guessing venue food and drink prices are controlled by the venue and the only option next year is to walk out the door if you don't like the prices being charged.

  • SurikoSuriko AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited November 2015
    Don't really have many criticisms to make; this year felt like the culmination of the experiences PAX has had from its Melbourne Showgrounds debut, and its first outing in the Convention Centre, with the appropriate lessons learned. A couple of smaller things:

    Know that this isn't really up to PAX, but it was really disappointing to line for an hour and a half for the Bethesda Fallout 4 presentation... only to find it was a couple of E3 2015 clips. That they already had in HD on their own Youtube channel for months. Really, Beth? When the Gamescom footage was already assembled? For another that's not really up to PAX, still disappointing to see so much "dance monkey dance" from booths for prize giveaways. At times felt a bit undignified what they wanted for a dumb shirt or mousepad, but people seemed to be enjoying it, so maybe I'm just an old man yelling at clouds.

    Hate to get so specific, but the PC tournaments still feel a little hit or miss. In particular, after signing up for the Worms Revolution tournament, and eventually going in and getting set up with all the other tournament members, we were told it was going to be Worms Armageddon, and instead of being a networked game between players, it was hotseat with three worms. So most people's tournament ended up being about 5 minutes of another game. Consensus from the people standing around me seemed to be that if they'd known this was the format, they wouldn't have bothered. I think some kind of guide as to the game format for each tournament would really help, as all that's really shown is the game name (though for CS:GO they did label the game modes, which was good).

    Not sure what to make of the expo hall's composition. Good to see the indies getting solid representation, but there seemed to be a lot of retail stores over publishers and developers. The... Sisun? stall (Chinese suppliers at the side of the hall) that seemed only geared towards wholesaler supply rather than actual attendees was odd to see. A few seemed to be a bit confused as to its purpose, and trying to find those dang keyboards they make as a customer has proved hard.

    Minor, but would have been nice to have showbags ready to go from the beginning; at least on the first day, those getting into the queue line of the morning had to bring their own bags (and scout one out in the expo hall after opening if they didn't have one).

    Didn't end up going to any of the panels other than the Omeganauts finals. Seemed to be very few panels run by actual publishers, being dominated by social issues and such. Don't know if this was by choice or just publishers not wanting to show stuff through panels.

    Finally, I'm pretty sure someone could make an absolute fortune just wandering around with cheap bottled water, especially for those lined up in queues. Food was expensive (nice, though), but that's convention centres for you, I guess.

    My biggest complaint is the timing of PAX as a whole. Why can't it be put one or two weeks prior? Aside from the CBD being busy thanks to the Cup, for anyone who isn't local, hotel prices and availability are horrendous compared to any other weekend. It adds hundreds of dollars onto what's already an expensive event to attend. Is there a reason that this has to be held on Melbourne Cup weekend?

    Suriko on
  • Robin SmallburrowRobin Smallburrow Mr Melbourne, AustraliaRegistered User new member
    The BYOC ticket option was only available if you bought a ticket for all three days of PAX, not if you were only coming one day (like me). What most annoyed me was being told everything would be OK when it clearly wasn't!

    I would much rather have been warned beforehand then I didn't need to bring my useless laptop

  • McFoulMcFoul Registered User regular
    Suriko wrote: »
    My biggest complaint is the timing of PAX as a whole. Why can't it be put one or two weeks prior? Aside from the CBD being busy thanks to the Cup, for anyone who isn't local, hotel prices and availability are horrendous compared to any other weekend. It adds hundreds of dollars onto what's already an expensive event to attend. Is there a reason that this has to be held on Melbourne Cup weekend?

    Yeah the price of my hotel for sat+sun night last weekend was equivalent to an entire weeks stay the rest of year at the same place. There were paxers in the building for sure, but it was dominated by race goers in very expensive suits/outfits. On the other hand, The Halloween weekend lets cosplayers get away with figurative murder once pax is over for the night, its kind of priceless. Never had any trouble from the racing crowd either, that goes for all 3 Paxaus'. Melbournites are always super cool so no boggle there.

    I didn't do much of the expo or gaming halls this year. Played Dark Souls and it was rad, tho I got riggity rekt in 5 mins after waiting half hour to play, but I knew what I was getting into. That wargaming dude in the adjacent booth needs to give up the stone cold theme tune, every time it went off I instinctively expected to see the rattlesnake, only to be severely disappointed time and again (I wasn't the only one).

    I eyeballed the indie games, the booths there were constantly packed which is good, didn't feel like waiting to play them tho. Was good to see a bigger presence for them this year and with more swag. Not my style but I like the indie game shirts, the dev's have become like local bands selling merch for better margins than the main product. They probably did already, but I'd like to see more indie devs giving away steam codes with loot and shirt purchases, quite a few titles shown were multiplayer focused games, I'd say its a good idea to give codes freely to punters who'll then give said codes to friends who didn't attend Pax, thus increasing the important potential shirt buying market lol.

    I mainly go to panels, walking around Melbourne and Pax all day gets tiring so to be able to sit for an hour and learn something is usually always good. Spooky Wazza did a good job on the opening lecture lol, I learned a lot but was hell tired from flights so it felt a bit like attending Deus Ex church (which I do worship at, no complaints).

    All the Good Game panels were typically awesome, they should abandon the microphone queue format and just go straight for twitter/submitted questions ala Gabe/Tycho/Khoo Q&A. So many cringe questions, so little time. Dave Callan was sadly missed and we need more Bajo, there's not enough Bajo panels period. I'd like to see a Good Game SP Q&A panel early in the day for the younger audience, then later on a separate proper Good Game panel later in the day where the gang can say naughty words and real talk. Kids don't care about ABC business stuff and just want to see the Robot, everyone else doesn't want to hear about the Robot. That said, bring the Robot next time, get the Australian taxpayers to pay for a Jetstar ticket, it'd be great.

    The PA Tycho/Khoo Q&A was very awesome. We all hope Gabe gets better but this was a pleasant alternative and I definitely want to hear more Khoo talk. I'd like to see a Gabe/Khoo Q&A, even Gabe/Tycho/Khoo Q&A, very good stuff. The Quiplash/Fibbage event was a highlight of Paxaus, need more of dat.

    Music Panel with Frontalot, Axis of Awesome and Doubleclicks was great. There were paxers shouting out of turn a lot which is somewhat expected from a panel about music. Everybody is a comedian, I get it, but please, try to limit yourself to one outburst of ADD per panel and make it good, I have it and want to shout out too man but the panel isn't about me you know.

    Live Music... I read above that the Paxaus music scene isn't as successful as the other US paxes. Here's my thoughts. I really want to go to the concerts, but I have other music/chill options around that time in melbourne that serve alcohol, especially on Halloween. The choice of staying at the convention centre when there's so much going on in the nightlife of Melbourne is kind of an easy decision. Maybe its an an idea to tie the music acts to local venues people are going to anyway, cheaper entry for pax pass holders etc. In reality, most musicians are gamers and all of them are nerds, does the band really need to be gaming/nerd culture related to tie into Pax? Could there be a way to promote local shows on the back of Pax weekend and draw more people from outside Pax into our culture? If you think about it, only a percentage of a percentage of a percentage of people are going to the saturday night Pax concerts at the con centre, that's Pax pass holders who want to see a show and who don't mind not drinking on Saturday night in Melbourne, greatest city in the world. You can eliminate all those percentage factors and include everyone by just promoting frontalot at the gamer bar everyone goes to every weekend anyway. Further, you could tie other local acts into a "Paxaus Gig guide" for the weekend, helping con-goers and others who are in town find cool places to see music and meet rad ppl after Pax on fri/sat/sun night. I met a lot of people out in the city who couldn't make Pax for whatever reason but were still immersed in the culture, Melbourne is one of the last bastions for local live music in this country, it makes sense to bring those two elements together somehow. It would be upsetting to see Paxaus downplay the music element of Pax due to lack of interest, even though I take it entirely for granted while I'm there.

    This is getting overblown so I'll do my usual push for Mega 64 to attend and Paxaus will be perfection. Overall, was super happy with the weekend, every year I look forward to coming to Paxaus/Melbourne and they never disappoint. Thanks to all the staff, organisers and crew for putting on a killer show, seeya next year!

    PS: Every year I find Yug and shake his hand and thank him for the good show, he always gives me a perplexed look. I am beginning to realise that is his natural resting expression. No boggle, top bloke, good show.

  • SuperRoachSuperRoach BallaratRegistered User regular
    The timing is delicate - it can't be latter because of some developer thing, and melbourne cup. It can't be earlier because of a collision with EB Games. And if it's latter There was some other event (pax tix?) that it collides with too. If the cbd is busy for the cup, that means the pricing would still be expensive. How much was your accom? I was able to get a last minute hostel stay for $33 a night, and optionally a double room for $109 a night... that's pretty reasonable, although I understand the need for bigger rooms sometimes (families etc).

    - Media Room: Please have power boards available. Usually when we go in there, we have drained the battery of at least our phone, and camera. Helps to give them a quick charge while writing/uploading.
    - Pax Lines: I don't recall seeing posts from this twitter? maybe it was drowned out.
    - I'm too tired to think properly about it all atm.

  • fishfishmonkeyhatfishfishmonkeyhat Freelance Pin Man Newcastle, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    SuperRoach wrote: »
    The timing is delicate - it can't be latter because of some developer thing, and melbourne cup. It can't be earlier because of a collision with EB Games.

    I heard rumblings or a slight time change but I'm not at liberty to say when. We'll all find out for sure come December I guess.

  • DinnyDinny Registered User regular
    Couldn't agree more about leaving PAX at 6 instead of staying for concerts ect, Melbourne has so much to offer that sticking around is sub optimal, unless you are a super fab.

    I think with the huge amount of attendees from outside of the core PA Community, it may help to inform the public about the volunteer status of the enforcers. Perhaps the word "volunteer" somewhere on the shirt? Just that I saw (usually mothers) harassing our brave enforcers. Also it would explain away some of the Sunday enforcer crankies, pointing out that these people are volunteering their time, and they aren't nessesarally event management professionals.

    I love pax and it was the best yet.

  • VivixenneVivixenne Remember your training, and we'll get through this just fine. Registered User regular
    edited November 2015
    I'm going to second all previous points made about water. It's pretty disappointing that no free drinking water is available within the MCEC. It's environmentally irresponsible and smacks of a cash grab, particularly when it's practically a cultural norm in Australia to carry a water bottle around with you anyway.

    That's literally the only critical feedback I have of PAX Australia that is possibly within PAX's control. This was easily the best one yet and it seems a lot of teething issues from previous PAXes have been sorted. I absolutely loved the prominence that PAX Rising got - placement and traffic wise, it was awesome to see so much activity there.

    I loved that there were genderless toilets there and give a huge thumbs up to the provision of an AFK room - such a great idea! I'd also be in full support of anything that directs more traffic to the Diversity Lounge given that an AFK room now also exists; it seems that the community as a whole would only benefit from the Diversity Lounge becoming increasingly prominent. (Seriously, consider making Pinny Arcade pins that are sold exclusively at the Diversity Lounge and for the profits from that to go towards one of its contributors. Or something. Maybe. Please.)

    Vivixenne on
    XBOX: NOVADELPHINI | DISCORD: NOVADELPHINI #7387 | TWITTER
  • Uncle KakaUncle Kaka Registered User new member
    SuperRoach wrote: »
    The timing is delicate - it can't be latter because of some developer thing, and melbourne cup. It can't be earlier because of a collision with EB Games.

    I heard rumblings or a slight time change but I'm not at liberty to say when. We'll all find out for sure come December I guess.

    H'okay, timing is like my super biggest bugbear. Coming in from interstate for PAX it's one of our holidays a year to get on with this bandwagon. We want to stay close and central to the action. Heck we've even started looking at numbers and locations for 2016. Cos forward planning amirite? Point being that clashing with Melb Cup is a pain in the ass. So hopefully what FFMH has heard on "ye olde rumoure mille" is gonna pan out as an awesome time change.

    The other thing for me is the Handheld Lounge. I'm a big guy, and I know that comes with it's various stigmas, problems and drawbacks. However being a big guy isn't solely the core of my problem. I've got b%&&ered up knees (plus I'm nursing a bone-bruised shin). And this means getting up and out of those beanbags is a bloody nightmare. That and I look about as dignified as a shark on dry land. I don't want to get rid of the beanbags, people love them. I'd love to see some solid foam blocks around as alternative seating in the HHL for people who have trouble with the beanbags.

    Otherwise, if there could be a bit better signage indicating which doors lead to the Queue Room, the Exhibit Hall and the Gaming Hall that would be great. I was forever making while stab in the dark guesses about which door was which.

  • GumptiongirlGumptiongirl Registered User regular
    My only issues:
    Melbourne cup clashing and prices of the hotel rooms were quite high.
    Total accomodation price for one week, a Tuesday to Tuesday was $1,450.00 for a three person room
    (It was hilarious to see women in skimpy dresses and high heels walking out in the rain on Saturday though)

    The Exhibition centre(where the gaming stuff was) had the lack of nice cool tap water.
    I agree with the above posters and reckon this was to make the hall sell more of their bottled water. Crappy move though.
    The Convention centre (where the panels mostly were) though, the bathrooms had nice cool water, but the taps were motion sensor based.
    Now I'm not an idiot and it took me ages to fill my bottle with those things. Maybe I am just invisible, or maybe those things got influenced by the Exhibition hall memo to Give No Free Water!

    Anyway, safe to say a lot of people me included were dehydrated that weekend

  • JandaruJandaru New ZealandRegistered User regular
    I arrived at about 12 on Friday, and completely missed the queue room. I didn't know about the showbags or wristbands, I just wandered right on into the tabletop area. I didn't really get caught out without a wristband, but some sort of "enter here" sign might have been handy.

    I might suggest having something like "Play along with us at Jackbox.tv" on the screen at all times. I came in late and once I worked out we could play along it took about 10 minutes of googling to get in the game. Searching for the games being played and "mobile" didn't yield any results, or apps. I eventually had to find an article reviewing the games to find the url I needed to load.
    There was a message on the screen all through the game saying "Join the audience! (4 letter code) jackbox.tv"
    I was sitting pretty close to the front, so maybe the text was a little on the small side?

    0ijlzpptari2.png
  • fishfishmonkeyhatfishfishmonkeyhat Freelance Pin Man Newcastle, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    Yeah, after installing the game at home thanks to their free steam code it looks like it does, but from the back rows on the day all I could see was the code.

  • SocketMixSocketMix MelbourneRegistered User regular
    I'll agree with the above about water.
    But also bins for rubbish in the queue room and main floor would be good
    Waiting in the queue room for two hours and didn't know where to put the nukka drink cup and break fast as I was the first 50 in.

  • PsykarPsykar Programmer Melbourne, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    SuperRoach wrote: »
    - Pax Lines: I don't recall seeing posts from this twitter? maybe it was drowned out.
    - I'm too tired to think properly about it all atm.

    @SuperRoach - pax lines did tweet, on https://twitter.com/paxaus_lines
    I also like this list compiled by the community: https://twitter.com/paxcommunity/lists/pax-important-twitters

    But it's an unfortunate confusion, because https://twitter.com/PAX_lines is a different twitter account...

  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    Ah, I should update that

  • Dark KingDark King Registered User regular
    Regarding the date: maybe swap PAX Aus and PAX South on the calendar? Mid to late January in Australia avoids Uni/School exams, plus the only big event/holiday is Australia Day. That would avoid the Melbourne Cup rates on hotels.

    Of course that puts it square in the middle of the Australian summer, and Melbourne can bit a bit warm at times, but that's what air conditioning is for.

  • UseR2006UseR2006 MelbourneRegistered User regular
    Dark King wrote: »
    Regarding the date: maybe swap PAX Aus and PAX South on the calendar? Mid to late January in Australia avoids Uni/School exams, plus the only big event/holiday is Australia Day. That would avoid the Melbourne Cup rates on hotels.

    Of course that puts it square in the middle of the Australian summer, and Melbourne can bit a bit warm at times, but that's what air conditioning is for.

    The only downside to that is there would either be only 2-3 months tops to plan and hold another PAX AUS or we would have to wait till Jan/Feb 2017 for the next PAX AUS.

    "I know you've been online.... There are lots of people that don't have that voice, that makes them ask themselves if what they make is shit or not." [img][/img]WJnjIS1.png
    steam_sig.png


  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    I doubt there will be that big of a date shift with any of the cons at this point.

  • UseR2006UseR2006 MelbourneRegistered User regular
    zerzhul wrote: »
    I doubt there will be that big of a date shift with any of the cons at this point.

    Agreed, if they do anything it would be a minor shift to either a little earlier, or a little later, my bet would be a touch earlier for Aus to move it away from the Melb cup, but that would be it if anything i would figure.

    "I know you've been online.... There are lots of people that don't have that voice, that makes them ask themselves if what they make is shit or not." [img][/img]WJnjIS1.png
    steam_sig.png


  • GumptiongirlGumptiongirl Registered User regular
    Additional info:

    Rooster teeth is coming to Australia for their own convention type event and they've set it for the Australia Day weekend in Sydney.
    So if that becomes regular then that would clash.
    And there's lots of rooster teeth fans that go to PAX

    But since it's unlikely to have that big of a change, nevermind :)

  • chunky04chunky04 Registered User regular
    Cancon is also on the Australia Day Long Weekend, and is the biggest tabletop convention in Australia.

  • kaldekkaldek Registered User new member
    edited November 2015
    Hi folks,

    I loved PAX. The only problem I had was that it was my first time there, and with my anxiety issues the whole "getting inside" process almost made me lose my shit. I parked underground down the far end away from the main doors and when I was in the main concourse all I saw was lots of doors with people queueing (big crowds are one of my anxiety triggers) and no idea what that meant. Do I queue here, or somewhere else? No biggie right, just ASK SOMEONE FOR HELP but by this stage I'm already really confused and am having a bit of a meltdown and wasn't functioning. I kept looking for a sign hanging from the roof that just said "MAIN ENTRANCE TO PAX FLOOR THIS WAY" but there wasn't one. Literally took me 30 minutes to calm down and ask an enforcer where the main entrance was. I mean, DUH it was by the front door but try telling that to a guy who's completely flipping out.

    I guess I was just hoping for clearer entrance directions for people entering the concourse from the underground car park if they enter near door 8 or onwards.

    Anyway then Robert Khoo was the guy who took my ticket so I had a great day after that.

    kaldek on
  • solomanisolomani Sydney, AURegistered User regular
    Moving the arena towards the queue room was a stroke of genius. I would say move it entirely into the queue room next year. It significantly relieved congestion.

    I would also like to see a kid focused spawn point "panel" or something along those lines.

    One complaint about the merch. The pax 2015 logo shirts are thin and cheap looking and feeling this year as opposed to the previous years where the weave was thicker and heavier. Yet the price is the same. I don't mind paying for it as it is a souvenir in my mind. But don't want cheap stuff please. It reduces its versatility as an everyday shirt and feels cheap.

  • skipgamerskipgamer Registered User regular
    edited December 2015
    Hello, my feedback is regarding the PC freeplay. I had some time to kill and thought I'd enjoy a game of low-ping DotA (as I normally have really high ping from home.) Logged on, found a game, was playing Huskar, got to 30 minutes, enforcer walks up to me "sorry sir, your time is up", "can I jus-"(t finish my game I was going to reply) but by then he was gone. Sooo I upped and left with an abandon :(
    I think it would just be kind to allow some leniancy there, or even just change the line the enforcers are said to preface "when your game is done" if someone is obviously in the middle of a MP game that runs on average longer than 45 mins, especially with time for setting up / searching included, otherwise why have it on the PC's in the first place?
    Besides that just some positive feedback; It absolutely made my PAX experience (and year in general really) to be able to try GTFO by vr-bits on the HTC Vive at the Scorptec booth, wasn't expecting it by looking at the line-up/exhibitors at all and that had the effect of the vr-bits-guy saying it had to be the shortest line ever for a HTC Vive demo xD it was amazing!

    skipgamer on
  • whypick1whypick1 PAX [E] Info Booth Manager ~2' from an LCDRegistered User regular
    As someone who has spent a few PAXen working PC Freeplay and have been on the other side of your situation, allow me to elaborate:

    PAX, as you probably know, has lines for everything. PCFP is no exception. When I worked that department, the play time was typically 45 minutes, but ranged from 30 minutes (room is full and line is large) to "eh, whatever" (plenty of open PCs and no line). Now, we could probably do a better job communicating said time limit, but keep in mind that we're really only kicking people off if we are bringing someone else on. While MOBAs might not be the best choice to put on those PCs in this situation, they 1) are popular and 2) can be finished in the 45 minutes we typically allot people.

    We're not trying to be mean, we're just trying to make sure everyone can use as much of the resources we provide as possible.

    Is it PAX <insert nearest future PAX here> yet?
  • skipgamerskipgamer Registered User regular
    edited December 2015
    edit: nvm, would delete this post if i could find the button :(

    skipgamer on
  • JazzyJazzy Melbourne, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    I loved the board game area, the number and quality of vendors to buy board games. It was awesome.

    Loved the indy games area, was the highlight of the electronic games area.

    It would be great if there was cool stuff I could actually buy in the electronic games area but I guess that's not a focus?

    Moon Wizard.
  • PDP11PDP11 Registered User regular
    The BYOC ticket option was only available if you bought a ticket for all three days of PAX, not if you were only coming one day (like me). What most annoyed me was being told everything would be OK when it clearly wasn't!

    I would much rather have been warned beforehand then I didn't need to bring my useless laptop

    There is security on the BYOC area with the Enforcers able to barcode equipment to the PAX Ticket with the registration software. How about a table setup next to the enforcers desk with charging points?

    People could book their laptops, phones, etc., in for a fixed charging period and they can be booked out by an Enforcer at the end. Would have to be a strict "don't complain to us if it is broken" policy and a warning that any unclaimed equipment will be given to venue lost property if unclaimed after xx number of hours. If it is too popular then a queuing scheme would have to be introduced. Charging station would not be able to start until the BYOC morning rush is over. Also the BYOC people, activities, support, etc., would have priority over the charging service.

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