What will an analog Omegathon look like? What panels can we expect? What publishers will show up? Will PAX change it's format and have a method for signing up for games in advance, or will we wait in the famous PAX lines for our turn to play RPGs and hot new tabletop games? Who be the Storytime Speaker?
Concerts? Who might rock the stage at Unplugged?
How "unplugged" will the con be with so many cell phones, tablets and 3DSs out in the wild and Nintendo going full mobile?
For those of us who don't want to wait for real news, here is a place to make prediction, speculate, and dream.
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What I'm really hoping for:
-Giant open-gaming area with a well-stocked library, a good system to check out games and a clear system (flags and whatnot) for LFG so people can match up well.
-People who can teach games.
-Companies/game designers with their own tables off to the side (read: NOT in the middle of a show floor where it's impossible to stop/sit for long periods of time) showing off new games.
-A playtesting area. I love playtesting!
-Concerts. I mean, why not? And no, I don't just want an acoustic set. Unless Paul and Storm make their way up here. Then I'm quite good with that :biggrin:
-Unplugged Omegathon. Man, that would be great. Have a card game, board game, miniatures game, and of course, 3' tall Jenga.
-Swag. I love me some free promos for games!
-Vendors.....with reasonable prices. Yes, I want to buy games. No, I don't want to pay MSRP or higher for the right to buy the game at the con and drag it around with me all day.
What I can definitely do without:
-Companies showing up with anything that makes a lot of noise, flashing lights, and/or smoke.
-If there's highly-coveted things to do/try, no good way to queue up for it other than standing in a ridiculous line. Whether it's a ticketing system, a virtual queue, prereg signups, or anything else like that, please don't make us spend half the con on actual lines.
-Buying tickets being a mess and scalpers buying up tons of tickets.
What I predict? About 2/3 of what I listed comes true.
Peronally, I would like to see panels on boardgame design and on RPG topics for both players and GMs and a big D&D event.
I wonder if True Dungeon is going to be there! They were at PAX South and I heard it did really well.
Proud Cookie Brigade Supporter
While that's absolutely true, it's not necessarily the same for stores and the like. I've found plenty of good deals (read: game for the same or lower cost than your usual online suspects) at cons before. The best example was at Gencon, Coolstuffinc's "ding and dent" section which no one could find a single ding or dent on, where everything was ridiculously cheap because of. Picked up Aquasphere for $10 with a free CSI tote
And that's the other side of it. There's been plenty of games I've purchased directly from the maker of the game for a little bit more than I would have otherwise paid because, well, I'd rather see it go to them.
What I'm hoping for:
I've only been to a single PAX and it was a great experience. I've only refrained from attending others because of the focus on Video Games. I have HUGE expectations for PAX Unplugged.
I always have a list of what games/publishers I'm hoping to see, so having a system for finding gaming partners would be great.
Having been to East a few times, I've never tried any of the tournaments, and I'd be tempted given the opportunity at Unplugged.
I sure hope it's not like GenCon. We did that once and will never make that mistake again. It was the perfect storm of:
-Terrible people who are not friendly at all
-Literally every person we spoke to was either "in the business" or was trying to break in and if they found out you weren't, they would quite obviously stop caring to talk to you.
-The "hot" things were basically impossible to get to/buy.
-The ticketing system is TERRIBLE. If you miss an event, you feel awful since you just wasted money. If something turns out bad, not only did you waste money, you just wasted time as well. We ended up with a handful of extra tickets we can't refund and will never reuse because we are never going back there. The open gaming area even took tickets from us on our way in, then proceeded to tell us they're closing in 30 mins (a good hour or 2 before the con closed) and wouldn't give the tickets back.
-The entire city was geared up in con mode, which meant jacking up prices all over the place for subpar goods/service.
We hit a point after a while where we just hung out in the BGG-run open gaming room (separate from the normal open gaming room) since it was a place off the beaten path with actually nice people from BGG running things, actually had people there running/teaching games and people who would suggest games to try. There were a couple of booths on the show floor which had a good group of people running them, which helped things, but for the most part, Gencon felt as sleazy and terrible as a con like that could get.
I know that there are limited run hot items that sell out super quick at GenCon, but last year I was able to buy 3 of the games that had the best word-of-mouth from the show and I didn't buy anything until the last day. If I'd started purchasing sooner I could have walked away with even more. There were definitely some demos I would have like to have done that always had too long of a wait for me to endure, but by and large I was happy with what I was able to experience and what I was able to buy.
I had no problems with the ticketing system, other than many events selling out pretty much instantly (and that's not a fault of the system, but a natural side effect of such large attendance combined with signups in advance as opposed to on-site). I ended up missing 2 events I'd signed up for, but that was entirely by choice to pursue unexpected opportunities instead. One was a $2 event and the other was $6, so they didn't exactly break the bank. Zero regrets about any of the other demos/tournaments/play sessions I bought tickets for - I was happy with all of them. Tournaments in particular were great because for many of them simply participating got you promo cards/pieces that you might get for finishing first or second in a PAX tabletop tournament.
GenCon felt somewhat more impersonal than a PAX, and it took me a day to really warm up to it, but I didn't encounter anything sleazy or terrible at all. I don't want PAX Unplugged to become GenCon lite - there's a different feel and character to PAX that I wouldn't want to see lost. But there is a lot that is good about GenCon, especially the overwhelming representation of board game designers/manufacturers/sellers and the sheer amount of organized game sessions that the ticketing system enables and sustains, that Unplugged could stand to emulate a bit. But that should come with an Omegathon, concerts, panels, an Acq. Inc. session and all of the other bits and pieces that make PAX PAX. There's no real shortage of board game conventions, and if I just wanted to attend another one I'd probably head to BGG.Con the same weekend instead. A PAX board game convention intrigues me though, and I'd like to see what they come up with. Being the same weekend as BGG.Con does worry me when it comes to drawing exhibitors, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.
That's a great way to put it. I went to East for many years (honestly had to stop going because the cost to get up there, stay there, attend, and get back was just too much) and especially for a con that size, it felt so warm and personal. Every enforcer was nice and friendly. If you saw someone who looked lost, you also saw an Enforcer asking if they needed help. Anytime I had to wait on line, I was making friends with the people around me and usually playing some small games while on line. One time just walking by, I ran into Jerry, said hi to him, he said hi back (I didn't want to stop him or anything, so I kept going) and both of us seemed equally excited to be there. The cookie brigade is always walking around giving out awesomeness.
At Gencon.....the staff was not friendly and usually not very helpful (I asked about where to get a program when I first got there, was pointed to a place where programs could have been, but were not, let the staff know there were none there, and was met with shrugs). I mentioned the people already, but to give another example, I saw someone standing around doing nothing who was wearing a Path of Exile t-shirt. It's a smallish indy game I REALLY like, and to get the shirt he was wearing, he would have had to donate quite a bit of money as they were given out in big supporter packs so I know he was a fan. I walked up to him and mentioned the awesome shirt and how much I loved the game....and was met with "uh huh, it's great, as you were" and he walked away.
So at least from my experiences, I'm REALLY hoping the personality of PAX shines through this con as well and doesn't act anything like Gencon.
All three of these ingredients will be present at Unplugged, so we can expect the same wonderful vibe. Sure, Unplugged will attract more people and non-paxers who might not be familiar with the culture, but there will be enough who know to keep the culture of the con intact.
I would love to see a live thornwatch game in the vein of Acq Inc and of course would love to swe acq inc because it feels like a perfect fit.
-Games from Essen brought over by Penny Arcade game mules
-Some kind of Mech vs Minions exclusive - promo or new game or swag (PA has a good reltionship with Riot Games, right?)
-Omegathon games: Captain Sonar?, Life-size Robo-Rally? Catacombs? Junk Art?
-Speakers: Felicia Day? Matt Mercer? Tom Vasel? Jamey Stegmaier? Eric Lang?
BTW, my board gaming group ended running him into a TON at this year's East and no we weren't stocking him. He really is a nice guy and graciously took pictures with us. It became a running pseudo-game withing our group to see if we could all get pictures with him. I think only 3 out of 12 of us didn't get a picture with him.
I don't know yet if this will happen, but I expect you will see quite a bit of Thornwatch at Unplugged.
This being said, just having the play area as it usually presents itself at other PAX events would be enough to have me grinning from ear to ear all weekend.
Here's the dream list:
I can's seem to get this to point at Mike Selinker correctly, but you know who I mean!
I hope it's dice! Unless you mean something to wear, in which case hats would be good for Philadelphia in November.
But will there be a Sausage Party mega tournament?
That was a good time at Gencon last year
To be less snarky, what is it you are into? I am sure there are some weird corners of the convention where people try to pitch their game ideas to you and are rude if you are not going to help them make money, but uh, I have never had a single unpleasant conversation since my first time going 20 years ago, so I really have to wonder. Also I am not kidding when I say I have never heard anyone else anywhere on the Internet say that the atmosphere at Gen-Con is anything but engaging and friendly. Its whole thing is that it is infinitely welcoming to everyone no matter what you are into.
As for "hot" things being impossible to buy, well, yeah I suppose I have to give you that one. I do hear there are always a couple of new things that sell out every year.
Also...events you missed? This is Gen-Con's fault somehow? And you cannot reuse tickets year-over-year anyway, not sure why you would think you could. Sorry the Open Gaming Area people were apparently clueless though.
Literal laugh out loud at "subpar goods/service" when Indianapolis' downtown area becomes Nerd Heaven and everyone bends over backwards to make us feel welcome, and is #1 on the intangible things about Gen-Con that makes it amazing.
You will get zero argument from me about Origins, though, to expand on Gonexall's point; I think of Origins as Gen-Con's angry little brother. I will definitely never attend it again.