Things I like/dislike better then last years PAX thread

EonBlue

Things I like thus far:

*More space
*More exhibitors
*A lot of interesting panels/speakers (and space for them, although this runs into the nasty dilema of having to choose which ones I want to see)
*Easy access to loads of fast food
*The vastly larger number of computers (Really awesome job with the PC room, I was HIGHLY impressed)
*MOVING lines (It's nice to see them move as opposed to the ones at meydenbauer that pretty much didn't, Handing the bags out in line as well as a free bawls was also a very nice touch)

Things I don't like thus far:

*NO BAWLS BOOTH (WTF??!?!!??! I don't know if I can call it PAX without BAWLS and by BAWLS I don't mean a delicious beverage that is sold in a 10oz bottle for 40 bucks each, really this is almost a dealbreaker)
*The tabletop rooms are all split up (I liked it better when tabletop had a giant room and we could mingle and what not. Spoils people with spoils people and dnd people with dnd people just feels like its subdividing something that doesnt need to be.
*No official arm of PAX doing something from 2:30 PM to 10AM. I really enjoyed staying up all night in the tabletop room at the hotel last year, infact not sleeping on saturday night of pax is a matter of personal pride.
*Not nearly as single person friendly: The other PAX's seem to have been much more social. This PAX thus far has seemed pretty get in->absorb content->get out. [Insert more lamenting about tabletop room being split into 20 rooms]
*Less free shirts (Last year I got about 7 free ones, I think I've found 3 this year!)

Things that havn't changed that I don't like:

*Lack of hygene
*Having to choose between awesome panels!
*Not enough BAWLS to last all 3 days

Possible fixes?:

*Use one of the giant halls no one used for tabletop/console gaming (the one on floor 3) There are some fairly large rooms on floor 4 too if I'm not mistaken. It would just be nice to have that all purpose/up all night/random games/random tabletop game developers pitching their games room. Wouldn't want the room to be too big through.
*It would be awesome if there were some enforcers to keep the PC room or the tabletop room going all night too. (unless its just WSCTC policy and that is just NOT an option. I gather from all the badge checkers/door guards etc that it probably isn't, as they are probably not as insane as us gamers)
*More BAWLS?

Will add/remove from all columns by sunday I'm sure!

zyphlar

this is my first year, but it seems like people are less "hey, we're all geeks here, let's do something crazy and have a good time" than i expected?

Eleri

The lack of feeling like a sardine is nice, but it also means there's less just hanging out and BSing with random people. There's no place to just flop down and chill with the rest of the masses.

Lach

The handheld areas with all the pillows are great for surfing, playing a game, talking or just relaxing. I'm not sure if they were here last year because I wasn't here.

pjarvi

Like:
-Pre-PAX dinner was wonderful. Great food, excellent service, and provided a social environment that is sadly missing from inside the expo.
-Line control - WAY better than last year. Thanks to the enforcers and organizers for putting in so much effort this year. The opening and keynote/PA panel went much smoother than last year.
-Swag bag and free bottle of Bawls handed out while waiting in line!
-Larger exhibit hall

Dislike:
-Things just seem so spread out this year. Having to go back and forth, up and down all the levels and areas is exhausting, with no place in the open to just flop down.
-The theaters seem smaller than the one's at the Meydenbaur(sp?). They're also flat rather than stadium-like seating.
-No place to sit down. There are like 2 benches on each level, and that's it?
-Bawls! I don't care who you have to bribe or blow, get the Bawls people their own booth next year!
-No clocks anywhere? I don't have a cellphone or a watch. (minor complaint, and I'll probably buy a cellphone before next year, but it kind of shocks me when there are no clocks around). I'm just a little too old-school I guess.
-The hallway between the North and South is very narrow. Is there anyway of connecting the 2 spaces via an exhibit hall? I think some people may have missed what was going on in the other side on the first day, due to not realizing there was more on the other side of that hallway. The audeience for the handheld gaming panel was shockingly small.
-Lines crossing the middle of the area outside the exhibit hall. It's rather annoying having to break through lines to get to the exhibit hall and the main theater.

I think overall the 2 things that could be done to make next year better, would be to make the experience more social (as opposed to being a cattle-drive), and get the Bawls people their own space(seriously).

Houn

I concur. This isn't really a gathering of geeks, as it is a large number of geeks in the same location. No one is really talking to anyone outside their groups.

It's High School all over again, only with more shinies.

dyaballikl

i honestly think this year kinda sucks. i don't have much time to go into detail yet, still being at pax, but some things i don't like are: the size (it's too hard to find shit, and enforcers only seem to know where the major stuff is), there are almost no tourneys i like, and there's no beat the pros. lotsa other little things, but 06 was much more enjoyable for me.

Vortex Woman

I like everything better than last year except for this: it's hard to find the rooms. It would have been much easier if the existing Trade Center numbering had been used (i.e. Meeting Hall 401) instead of a completely different numbering scheme (i.e. Theater . If nothing else, the existing (and much more visible and readable) signage would have helped instead of conflicted with the PAX signs. Even if the booklet map had the Trade Center numbering in parentheses under the PAX numbering, I would have been able to find things much more easily the first day.

ctishman

I like:
- More space
- Less crowded
- PA Panels have been uniformly great
- Wil Wheaton kicked ASS

I dislike:
- Low Bawls availability
- Impersonal*
- No Beat the Pros

* The question of how to make it personal is as much a question of community as anything else. I think that from this point onwards we're going to have a lot of 'pubbies', which is to say people who aren't on the forums, a bunch who don't even read PA, and possibly a good supply of non-gamers and walk-ins as well, and that proportion is only going to grow in relation to us in the years to come.

The trick here will not be to try and regress PAX back to its '04 level, because that is impossible; instead, it will be to build ourselves our own niches. Private parties for forumers, the supertrips, contests, etc. We already have a community here on the forums, and we should do more to let that bring us together come PAXtime.

zyphlar

ctishman wrote: »

Parties for forumers

I'm not really a forumer, but I've been reading PA since before Div... It'd just be nice to be greeted as a fellow PAXer rather than just another guy wearing a geeky shirt. Oh well.

Is there any reason why A, B, and C don't seem to be in a particular order? I think the Theater order is A, C, and B, Main. Also this is the first convention I've been to where the ticket counter isn't on the map, at the very top floor in a corner... kinda weird coming in after opening and wandering around for an hour.

Definitely coming next year though. Gabe and Tycho are sent from heaven.

Runningblind0913

While I am a first timer to this pax one of the things that is -really- bugging to me is that once the exhibitions close there isn't much to do besides freeplay pc or console. The other options are eat, find somewhere else in the area to kill time, or go to the handheld lounge and chill. And while I'm fine with the chilling there really needs to be just something more to do. The games on the freeplay are fun and well but it's mostly first-person shooters, I mean, Warhammer is a sponsor, Blizzard is a sponsor, and so are many more companys, I'm sure at least one of these would gladly let you put some of their games on the freeplay if only for advertisement. I mean, I've been debating buying Battlefield 2142 and after playing it at freeplay I'm more adamant about my choice.

So get some RTS's on the freeplay, get some things out there to do really, that's the problem. And maybe do something to encourage people to interact... I mean, I was by myself Friday and aside from guys I ran into in the opening line, and nvidia line, there really was a feeling of being alone in a zerg : \.

DJBreslin

I have to echo what ctishman said. I have been using the words intimate and impersonal to describe the change of PAX over the years. I don't want to sound like I'm being "exclusive" or something, but some of the magic of PAX is fading because I can't connect with people as well over such a large space with so many individuals. It was better when it was a smaller group of (shudder) "true" fans.

I was really bummed on Friday, but by Saturday I'd run into DocZero, ctishman and realized I was sitting next to the Omeganaut I drove up in 2004 (Tina). I also caught a glimpse of Legacy and an Enforcer that I remembered from earlier PAXes. So, it's looking up. I also really enjoyed the real-life quest for that Drake game.

Anyway, to sum up... I love having the space to move, but somehow it feels less connected.

JoahW

ctishman wrote: »

I like:
- More space
- Less crowded
- PA Panels have been uniformly great
- Wil Wheaton kicked ASS

I dislike:
- Low Bawls availability
- Impersonal*
- No Beat the Pros

* The question of how to make it personal is as much a question of community as anything else. I think that from this point onwards we're going to have a lot of 'pubbies', which is to say people who aren't on the forums, a bunch who don't even read PA, and possibly a good supply of non-gamers and walk-ins as well, and that proportion is only going to grow in relation to us in the years to come.

The trick here will not be to try and regress PAX back to its '04 level, because that is impossible; instead, it will be to build ourselves our own niches. Private parties for forumers, the supertrips, contests, etc. We already have a community here on the forums, and we should do more to let that bring us together come PAXtime.

I agree completely. You were an Omeganaut in '04, correct? I think I saw you today. I should've said hi. I played DDR with you and that other female Omeganaut when you were practicing for the DDR round in '04. :P

Xenocide Geek

the biggest thing to me is the impersonal thing

i was sitting down on the bottom level, near taco del mar.

and i realized what it felt like: it felt like i was in a mall. all the stores, the food places. i'd see people, but it wouldn't register as "hey, a fellow penny arcade fan at the convention!"

having the extra space is really great though, for a lot of reasons...

i wish it was back to being more personal and more... i dunno, more unprofessional feeling haha

Vortex Woman

Do you think that some kind of 'Socializing Lounge' would work? Like a room for people to go who specifically want to meet new people? I don't generally just start talking to strangers because, you know, maybe they want to just talk to who they're already with. But if they were in a Social Lounge, they'd be asking for it. It would be a good place for people who were alone to meet up to go to dinner, if it worked at all.

Edit to note that I actually experienced something similar to this concept on Friday night, when I (happily) got snagged in Porkfry's comet trail and ended up hanging out with the smokers, and meeting quite a few people and having a great time. Nobody really wants to be isolated, it's just not easy to mix disparate groups together without some kind of catalyst, and there's only one Porkfry and he has other stuff to do.

dyaballikl

why are all the tourney sections so separated?

Gilrad

Biggest disappointment:

No handheld-enabled wifi. I mean seriously, over 80% of the attendees had a DS or PSP. Would it kill them to make a few changes on how the wifi was setup?

dyaballikl

Gilrad wrote: »

Biggest disappointment:

No handheld-enabled wifi. I mean seriously, over 80% of the attendees had a DS or PSP. Would it kill them to make a few changes on how the wifi was setup?

deiru got his handheld to work wifi

Anexkahn

i don't understand how anyone can complain about the additional space and say things are too spread out. PAX was retardedly cramped last year and more space was definitely appreciated by all in my party. I would like to see a larger block at a SINGLE hotel though - we may have filled our block, but there was alot of extra rooms and non pax people there.... and then have some tabletop or free play area running 24 hours, in the ball rooms or a conference room or three -- like the redlion had last year. Trying to play a few rounds of munchkin or pickup settlers with random people throughout the night was always a high point of previous paxes and trying to do that in the lobby of the sheraton didn't fly well.

overall, it was a good time as usual!

KaitouAyashi

I have met a TON of cool, awesome, amazing people at PAX (Shoutouts to Zach, Eric, Monica, Brandon, and Linsey, Brant, Lisa, Jeff, and Jay at ArenaNet). This is my first year, and sure stuff is spread out and it's exhausting travelling back and forth but seriously I totally didn't have a problem meeting people at all.

I feel like people are saying that they were more comfortable talking to people when the space was smaller and everything more crowded. Which seems more conducive to the culture of hardcore players vs more casual ones. If PAX is for every gamer, then compromises must be made.

I'm happy it wasn't hot, sweaty, overcrowded, and stinky over the entire weekend every single second. I came across maybe 4 smelly PAXers total. I really like the location because it's a total hub: you can hit a lot of downtown seattle and explore the local area rather than holing up at the festival if you need a break. Plus, crazy close and welcoming hotels such as the Paramount.

Also, this is the first year to leap to a site this huge and with that comes much more coordination, unexpected changes, and stuff you have to adjust to. They'll do better next year b/c now they know what to expect, what to change, what to add, etc.

Kane

Next year, we should all be sure to wear name badges so we can hook up easier. It was just so big, their was no way to really talk to people to see who was their. Something like "PAX Forum Name: Kane" with a nice PA logo to differentiate it.

Guek

my biggest complaint is that there isn't enough time to do everything I want. I want to compete in tournaments, go to panels, tour the exhibition hall, participate in contests, comb the place for swag, meet new people, try demos, pc freeplay, console freeplay, and maybe even some table top. All those things conflict with each other, making trying to do all of them pretty much impossible, especially when it comes to tourneys vs panels. If you compete in a lot of console tourneys like I do then you can say goodbye to seeing panels and keynotes.

regarding the whole social interaction thing, i thought this year was fine. everyone was friendly and conversations were easy to start.

Misterioso

KaitouAyashi, it was great meeting you too. you were having such a good time! i thought pax this year was way better than last!

my only complaint was the lack of SWAG! where were the shirts?! I can't complain tho, i did find my nvidia match and win a mobo.

Preacher747

This was not only my first PAX but my first convention of any kind and I loved it. Gonna have to go to more in the future. Perhaps because it was my first convention I did a lot of research before hand. I poured over the schedule and realized that I wasn't going to be able to see every panel I wanted to because of conflicts, I also realized that I'd probably just want time to kick it, relax and meet people. So I hit a few panels, did some console freeplay, loaded myself down with swag and met some really cool people. I have to admit that most of the socializing I did was waiting in lines (I got to the convention center extra early Saturday morning) and sitting waiting for panels. Next year I'll definitely do all the pre-PAX stuff.

My only complaint was finding fellow PSP gamers. Even in the handheld lounge during the "PSP Games" session I only found one guy to play games with (he was a cool Enforcer sitting front of a table covered in UMDs). I think the reason was that the handheld lounge was actually 3 seperate lounges which spread our numbers thinner (as if our PSP gamer numbers weren't thin enough at PAX). Next year I think (if it's at the same place) we should take the three handheld lounges and turn one of them into a PSP exclusive lounge or at least make it a preferred spot for PSPs [commence jokes about having lots of power strips to plug into now]. I call dibs on the lowest lounge (level 2) for next year.

I definitely loved the location and even though my legs hurt a bit at the end of the day I had a great time. No clostrophobia FTW! But look at it this way, once WiiFit comes out we should all have no trouble climbing up and down all those stairs!

TheColonel

Pro's:
-Seattle is a great city and being in the heart of it was great. We came a few days early from Chicago in order to spend the day in the city.
-The massive venue was of benefit, especially compared to last year.
-Wil Wheaton

Con's
-My only real complaint is that ever present "impersonal" feel. However I feel that's an unfortunate side effect of it's success. Compared to '05 (I unfortunately missed '04) this is such a massive change. I think as this continues to grow and "be" the largest best gaming conference in the country, that feeling is only going to get worse, especially for those of us who've been here since early on.

I had a great time this year.

Sumi

Likes:

There seemed to be more female gamers here.
Pre and Post Pax events
Winning a PS3 (the contest was awesome!)
Pretty much everything was great, except..

Dislikes:
Not enough Bawls.
Booth Babes.
Chatterbox was in too small of an area.
Nothing about GTA4 in the rockstar booth.
The amount of times I got asked for money and the rude comments I got from street people.

xxhennersxx

I talked to someone from PA about the bawls situation. Apparently they wouldn't allow Bawls to be sold by the bawls company for a dollar a bottle because the convention hall was selling it for 2.50. They also made Sweet Kitty stop selling food (pocky etc). It's not PA's doing. It's the Convention Center.

Sumi

Laaammee.

This would have been a little more understandable if they had been more prepared when it goes for food. I had to wait 20 freakin minutes for a crepe. and about the same for a slice of (thin, crappy) pizza.

xxhennersxx

Sumi wrote: »

Laaammee.

This would have been a little more understandable if they had been more prepared when it goes for food. I had to wait 20 freakin minutes for a crepe. and about the same for a slice of (thin, crappy) pizza.

I was pissed because at my work we have bawls for 1.69. My underage friend who looks up to me came with me. His mom works with me and asked me if she should buy some bawls to help our group stock up for the weekend. I told her no, because Bawls was a sponsor and cherry bawls would be there. -_- we get there and we're handed a bottle of bawls during opening and our initial thought? "Kick ass! FREE BAWLS! even BETTER THAN A DOLLAR!"

then inside the con it's 2.50 a fucking bottle. I'm pretty sure this happening is why you were given a bottle when you came in.

TrainwreckX

IMO, the only critiques I have this year:

1. The schedule being out so late online (at least it seemed a lot earlier in the past).

2. Lots of tournaments that weren't on the schedule. It seemed like there were a lot less official PAX tournaments (for tickets) than there ever have been. There were also a lot more left over prizes in the prize booth.

3. The other complaint about tournaments: too many professional teams coming in and sweeping out the tournaments. It's not against any rule, I know. I just feel like it's always been cool to compete at a casual level at PAX, and still win stuff. This year I had MULTIPLE teams tell me they were going to, or have been to, CPL or some similar pro league. It's the nature of getting bigger, but that really spoiled tournaments completely for me (especially when I lose to the #1 team in the first or second round). I think putting a seeding system into place (even if it takes a little longer) might remedy this.

4. Even with new bands, the concerts seemed a little too "last year". I don't mean they were bad, they just didn't blow my mind like they always have in the past. This is the first year that I have left both concerts early. The One Ups easily stole the show IMO this year.


On the bright side

1. BEST PAX IN ALL 4 YEARS! The parties and the social stuff was actually GREAT (contrary to the OP).

2. The exhibition hall has grown to have some absolutely excellent games on display (Kane & Lynch, Halo ActionClix, Castle Crashers, Rock Band, Frontlines, Mass Effect, Fury, Stuntman, and Metroid to name just a few).

3. Great panels, as always, are even better this year with the Assasin's Creed panel (actually showing development tools was very impressive to me) and other panels with a lot of developers involved.

4. The developers were all very nice. Anyone that worked on any video game or tabletop game that I talked to was awesome! This is absolutely not the case at E3, but I really enjoyed just walking around and talking to people about their games.

5. Pre-PAX dinner rocked.

6. The location of the convention was top-notch. I wouldn't trade it for the LA Convention Center in a million years. This may be the best convention location I have ever been to (my first time at WSCTC).

7. The Penny Arcade game looked 500% cooler than I thought it would be, and it was funny as hell.


Really kick-ass show. Thank you so much to Khoo, Mike, Mike, Jerry, and the others!

sithseth

TrainwreckX wrote: »

IMO, the only critiques I have this year:
3. The other complaint about tournaments: too many professional teams coming in and sweeping out the tournaments. It's not against any rule, I know. I just feel like it's always been cool to compete at a casual level at PAX, and still win stuff. This year I had MULTIPLE teams tell me they were going to, or have been to, CPL or some similar pro league. It's the nature of getting bigger, but that really spoiled tournaments completely for me (especially when I lose to the #1 team in the first or second round). I think putting a seeding system into place (even if it takes a little longer) might remedy this.

I agree, or creating a "Money" tournament for these guys, so they can play for the reason why they practice so much.

cooljammer00

you know, I know people like the parties and stuff, but what if we're minors? we're sorta SOL.

swinggamer

I just freaking loved it...The coolest part was getting to talk to gabe and tycho for a bit. I loved PC freeplay, and I loved the panels and everything else...wish nintendo and microsoft had put more stuff out that is not out yet, galaxies? Halo 3? COD4? whatever. PAX fucking rocked

sarranade

Although it was my first year at PAX this year, I heard a lot of people talking about how much more organized it was than previous years.
I have to admit, everything I wanted to do I was able to. Time slots for panels and the like were very reasonable. :P

Too bad they kept shutting down the escalators. Not that I'm fat or anything, and can't walk up/down stairs, but at 2 in the morning, I just want to stand and glide my way down.
[not that that's PAX's fault. ]

Raptor007

I wanted to have a white t-shirt from every PAX year. This year there were no white ones and the blue sold out, so I decided to check back Sunday for more stock. Well, come Sunday there were NO PAX07 shirts left at all! Guess I won't have one for 07.

Next year, please bring back the white ones, or at least one for me (I wear small). :¬)

Houn

I'm guessing PAX was more social if you actually knew people and pre-arranged to hang with them.

If you didn't know anyone, and showed up solo, you were kinda just SOL.

romulusnr

xxhennersxx wrote: »

I talked to someone from PA about the bawls situation. Apparently they wouldn't allow Bawls to be sold by the bawls company for a dollar a bottle because the convention hall was selling it for 2.50. They also made Sweet Kitty stop selling food (pocky etc). It's not PA's doing. It's the Convention Center.

That wouldn't be so bad, really, if the Aramark choobs had been open Sunday.

Xenocide Geek

Houn wrote: »

I'm guessing PAX was more social if you actually knew people and pre-arranged to hang with them.

If you didn't know anyone, and showed up solo, you were kinda just SOL.

i went with a group of five, and it was pretty fun.

really, it's about being personable. my brother's girlfriend is really good at lumines, and took second place in last years tournie (to a cheap loss, bahh but that's another story!), so she came this year super ready to go, and just started asking anybody who had a PSP to play Lumines, and she made like 10+ friends she talked to throughout the entire convention.

assuming you have something in common with the other people (like, you know, gaming), it shouldn't be too hard to find other people to hang with. especially in the handheld areas.

Perrako

I had two major issues, and I only say these because it should be assumed that everything else was phenomenawesome.

A) The MC Frontalot & Optimus Rhyme concerts were poorly mixed (too much bass), and despite seeing all of both of them, I didn't hear a single word they were saying, from close (4 feet from stage), mid (the loose section of the throng) and far (the chairs). It could have also been due to the acoustics of the room. On the plus side, Jonathan Coulton's concert was incredible... one of the best live events I've ever seen.

Centralizing the wireless meant that even in the handheld lounges, people got dropped from games. I couldn't play a single game of MP:H and Mario Kart was iffy. Dunno how to fix that. On the plus side, those sumo bags are niiiice! And there were a ton.

polishdog90

This was my 1st year at PAX and I thought it was awesome. I thought that there was a good deal of space and didnt mind having to walk. I also thought everyone was pretty friendly and chatted with people outside of my group. Even though my team lost 1st round (barely) in RSV I thought that tournament was awesome. The console freeplay was really well done. One of the few things I didnt like was the GH2 doubles Tournament. It took forever to start, and was pretty unorganized. Being forced to play on hard was kind of lame too, because then its all about who gets 98%/99% instead of a expert song that takes more skill. I didnt even show up to the singles tournament even though I signed up for it. Also, my friends also said that this year had a lot less free stuff and were upset about the expensive balls. In the end, I thought PAX was awesome and I will be attending next year, and hopefully attending more panels.

justiciar

Disclaimer: This is my first PAX.

[The Good]
+ Wil Wheaton's keynote
+ Meeting people who share my interests
+ Enforcers
+ Utilikilts
+ GamerDad's panels
+ BYOC was fun and well-managed
+ Booth babes, especially hawt female developers (Hint: Atari booth)
+ Omegathon
+ Playing games i've never played, especially the Warhammer beta, Guitar Hero, Gears of War, etc

[The Bad]
- Going to PAX solo, not knowing anyone, paying for my own room...

[The Ugly]
~ Unwashed gamer stink

Next year, I need to get my friends to join me so we can play some tabletop Shadowrun AND meet more people, especially forumers. Wearing a funny hat like my viking helmet would probably help.