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suggestions for next year
daichiasuka
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I am right now first in line outside of the main theater since they have reached capacity for the keynote. In my current position, I have a few suggestions for next year.
For those of us that stand in line and can't get in, project the keynote in the waiting room.
Clear the room between events. I am told they are not going to do this. So, if no one leaves after the keynote, I can't see the Q&A panel either.
The obvious sugesstion is to put it in a bigger room, but I'm not sure there is one.
For those of us that stand in line and can't get in, project the keynote in the waiting room.
Clear the room between events. I am told they are not going to do this. So, if no one leaves after the keynote, I can't see the Q&A panel either.
The obvious sugesstion is to put it in a bigger room, but I'm not sure there is one.
daichiasuka on
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I totally agree with this. Especially for popular events - Keynote and Q&A back to back without clearing the room just guarantees a shit-ton of people won't be able to get in. It means you HAVE to go to the Keynote even if you just really wanted to see the Q&A. You're bullshitting around at an event taking up space you don't care about to save a place for the next one.
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I didn't see a line for the Writing for Games panel? I just walked in and sat down against the wall. I think it hovered around 95%, but never actually got full.
The Q&A panel, though...my friend waited in line for an hour, and only got to see the last 15 minutes. Lame.
Re: Clearing rooms. Other big cons Ive gone to like comic con don't do that. I think because you severely disadvantage the earlier people and have to fully restock the room which a) means people who waited a long time early on have almost no shot at getting in for the next event and b)increases the minimum time in between panels which decreases the number you can have per room per day.
All you can really do is have video monitors in the waiting room, and try and have a big enough room. At pretty much every convention someone loses out because a room can never be large enough for the demand for the biggest events.
Everyone lined up around the corner and then around the second corner, and some around a third. When the line moved, it didn't move very far, then stopped for a few minutes, and we were all told that the room was full (many people from the previous event didn't leave) and the line was now for the *following* event. So we all left, that's what happened to the line.
Strange that you were allowed to sit down against the wall, usually in those rooms the enforcers don't allow that, it's against the fire code or something.
From the get go you could tell the venue was not setup in anticipation for the sheer volume of folks who came in the door. If you showed up only an hour or so early you got screwed by being shoved into the massive "line room". This room (easily the 2nd biggest room next to the main hall) basically snaked you into one door and back out the door next to it into the same room. What you find out after the line room and being herded down that long narrow hallway is that if you showed up late (say around 2:30 to 2:45) you could b pass the line room and walk right into the exhibit hall. Even though the people cued up in the line room were still working their way through. Great way to reward those who showed up early!
The vendor showing is awesome but the hall was more packed than I have seen at any other con. You can barely get a look at a lot of the booths.
Fortunately I am here multiple days so hopefully things will quiet down later Saturday or Sunday.
Also, does everyone have to be so freaking rude? Pushing, shoving, cutting in line, hogging bean bags. I was even pushed by an enforcer twice so he could get a look at some game screen near the Fallout booth for 5 seconds. People would dominate demo games in the hall for 30 mins or more with no regard to other people waiting. Is this how your parents raised you people? Perhaps it's a side affect of the overcrowding, I know I am tempted to start pushing people around and being rude too just to see what I want but I will try to use some restraint and remain polite.
It may also be wise to have enforcers change shirts when they aren't working. It doesn't look good when things appear generally understaffed and then I turn a corner and see 7 or 8 enforcers lounging on bean bags not doing anything. I can certainly understand that they work hard and deserve their time too; however it creates a negative perception of the folks doing the job.
Overall PAX has been fun but overcrowding like this will hurt the event greatly. It may suck to do but the logistics of any convention means that you need to cap how many passes you sell and that some people may be turned away.
The vast majority of enforcers are volunteers.
This I know and understand, it however does not change the sentiment. I am sure they were on a well deserved break as the venue was insane.
The exhibition hall crowding is actually pretty good. Comic con was about 5000 times worse. You could barely move around most of the floor there. At PAX i was able to move around pretty well in the exhibit hall with crowding only really being a problem around a few key booths.
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PAX is by far the greatest convention I have ever attended. It is a convention for gamers by gamers. The enforcers as a whole go above and beyond to make PAX the best experience possible. The only thing I can fault the enforcers for this year was the Friday night concert wristband fiasco.
Maybe someone who knows a little more about it can correct me if I am wrong, but I think the convention center staff has a lot more control over the logistics this year. My only basis for comparison is last year, but the any line I waited in last year was not really for admission; it was for a better seat. As far as I know, no one got turned away from any event last year and they certainly were not taking a head count as people walked in the door. So, I think most of the crowding issues are with the convention center enforcing their policies.
In fact I need to issue a public apology to the enforcer who I yelled at this afternoon for not letting me into the Q&A panel. I realize now that his hands were tied and the guys in the suits with radios were calling all the shots. I also want to thank him for stepping up and getting 400+ of us into that Q&A panel.
But back to the topic...
I'm not sure why there was no break between the keynote, the Q&A, and the Rooster Teeth Panel. There should have been a 30 minute break (like every other panel) and the room cleared. To those who say that clearing the room is a logistical nightmare, they did it last year.
Oh and here is a little message to the Asian guy in the suit who told me that I couldn't even watch the keynote from the open wall because they needed to close it for "lighting and acoustics:"
For me, PAX this year is the year that Penny Arcade ceases to be the primary focus. There is so much to do here now- so many panels, so many interesting guests, so many awesome games to see and play... It is helping to spread out the crowds. Naturally there will still be long lines with so many people attending, but it's a big, big improvement over previous years in my opinion, and the East Coast PAX should also help thin out the crowds once it starts up.
This year is good too but I need to readjust my expectations after '07, because damn, it spoiled the hell out of me.
I imagine it was due to the room's construction, but I'm not sure. And anyway, I'm not sure how it would be possible for them to fix that for next year...but that would be my number one request.
Just FYI that entire building is going to rebuilt/remodled starting after PAX. So it will be much better in the future.
Best Case would be a second print put online for people who missed out.
Nice. Thanks for the FYI.
This is not an expo; it's an amusement park.
They also really need to stop putting the Women in Games thing on during the keynote speech. I'm an ardent feminist, and I'm really interested to see what they have there, but the Keynote et al are not to be missed.
Do I even have to mention how frustrating it is to wait in line for thirty minutes plus only to be turned away because the theater is full? They know how many seats each theater has. Count the people in line as it forms or hand out numbers, and once the line gets to the capacity of the room, send an enforcer to stand at the end and cut it off. At least that would save people from wasting their time.
PAX is the new Disneyland.
I don't begrudge people keeping spots, letting friends in etc after all it is a social event. Yet atm I would estimate that I've spent more time lining up for things than I have actually doing things, and I'm not keen to repeat it. And often once you have chosen a panel to try to get in to, it precludes you from going to another you also want to see, so it's a double whammy if you don't get in. I just want bigger rooms for the panels, or hold them in venues where people can stand up the back or something.
I have some friends back in Oz who want to come next year, I don't know if I'd recommend coming next year, maybe in 2010 when they have split the attendance with Boston.
And be positive: when PAX hands you lemons (missing awesome event you really wanted to get into), make lemonade by choosing one of like 20 other awesome things going on at the same time. =P
[15:02] Tajah: I like you BR but I'm not letting you nom my box
[15:02] BigRed-Worky: Did I mention I hate you all? cause i do
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Reed Conventions (The folks that will be helping plan PAX EC 2010) will be helping with PAX prime in 2009.
Sweet.
PAX is great and all, but man it's like Tokyo rush hour.
Signs for the people at the end of lines, saying what the heck they're in line for. Especially when there's multiple lines in one space.
I couldn't number all the lines that wound around, and it was hard to tell where they were headed, and after a while, asking "Whatcha in line for?" gets real old.
Also if companies are going to have scheduled "must be present to win" drawings, that they do those in one of the theatre areas, rather than on the expo floor. A couple of the drawings, it blocked the walkways, and you couldn't hear who was being drawn anyhow. 4-5 pm was absolutely *insane* in the expo room.
So, set aside one of the theatre areas for an hour, twice a day, and companies get a 10 minute slot to do their drawings.
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First, more benefits for those who either pre-register or buy a 3 day pass. Possibly letting you in an hour early, VIP style lines for certain panels, and special bags with more/better swag. All are pretty good options and while some people may think it's unfair, it will give you more of an incentive to pre-reg or go for all 3 days. If you want to charge more for a different pass, I would be fine with it. I see this as a better option than limiting the number of people allowed in.
Allow some time separation between the "Big" panels. The main theater is always packed and people don't want to (and shouldn't be forced to, in my opinion) leave the main theater. With the panels running nearly back to back, I think that if you gave an hour or so break between panels in the main theater, you'd allow people to not have to rush back into line or squat in the theater all day.
I know some people will want to crucify me for this, but perhaps limit the "lounging" areas some. Not totally eliminate them, but the natural ebb and flow of a crowd is that some people get tired or bored or hungry and leave, even if for a while. It's not gonna kill people that get hungry or want to do something else to hit the mean streets of Seattle and find something in the area to do. When you have a large amount of people just napping there, you lose that spot for hours, rather than what I would guess was the intended 15 or so minutes. Not the hand held freeplay areas, mind you, but more of the general spots scattered throughout with the beanbags.
Which kinda brings me into my next point, more for the developers and exhibitors... A TIME LIMIT! I know we would all like to think that this is a utopia, but some people just don't like to share, apparently. Developers and booth-minders need to enforce either a time limit or a logical, ok you've seen enough point where people can rotate in on games. Some games this fits in well with (watch the Mortal Kombat vs DC game today, 90 percent of people will play one match then leave) some games it doesn't (I'm looking at you Fallout 3). A lot of the games, like Starcraft 2, had built in timers.
Finally, I think that when certain events happen (Fallout 3 mass handout, the G4 tapings that would shut down whole aisles, contest winner announcements, etc.) the Enforcers should probably just cordon off the whole aisle to traffic flow. Let enough people in for the taping backdrop or to form a good sized line or crowd or whatever, then have the line snake in on itself but close it off to the general traffic flow. But pushing my way through a crowd isn't something I really want to have to do.
Anyway, was fun again this year, and I'll be there again today. Thanks again for the good times.
However, I realized that there are some areas that, if someone were to get hurt somehow, would quickly escalate into an OH S**T situation.
I was in the exhibition hall, and I had cut my finger- not a big deal. But No one seemed to have any idea where to get some help! I started asking the people immidiately around me- booth officials. They directed me to another station, which directed me somewhere else. There, they also had no idea and didn't have a clue why i had been sent there in the first place! A crazy wild goose chase!
After wrangling my way out I asked some enforcers, who were very helpful and told me all first aid stuff was at the other end of the building where registration had been.
All in all, I was glad it was nothing serious! What if someone had an intense allergic reaction in the exhibitors hall? what about an epileptic seizure? or an athsma attack? what if someone slipped and broke a leg? How long would it take for help to find them? for an enforcer to reach them and save the day? How long would it then take those officials to get the hurt person all the way to the other end of the building to the only first aid supplies? what if an ambulance had to be called, how long until paramedics could reach a potentially seriously injured person? probably not as big of an issue in some less crowded areas.
I just didn't see the capacity to handle a medical emergency in a crowd like that, and I hope they can fix that before something serious DOES happen.