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My first PAX experience
c0d3h4x0r
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm 31 years old, and probably what most of you would call only one step above a "casual" gamer. What this means is that all the consoles I own (PS2/GameCube/DS) are before the current generation of consoles (PS3/XBOX360/Wii), the majority of my console gaming experience is from the NES/SNES/Genesis era, and I still can't figure out how to play FPSes using a joystick rather than a good old keyboard and mouse. 3D gaming is still somewhat novel to me and I fear the day when the last good 2D system -- the Nintendo DS -- finally ceases production. I've heard of "Penny Arcade" over the years, but just knew it was some sort of obscure online comic strip that I almost never understood or thought was funny.
So it was with nervous curiosity, but a genuine love for gaming's recent past and a hope to reconnect with the modern gaming scene, that I signed up to attend PAX 2008. I've lived in the Seattle area for nearly ten years, but I've never been to PAX before this year. A friend of mine has worked at PAX behind the scenes for a couple years and he assured me that despite my n00bness relative to the modern gaming culture, I would enjoy the event. When the PAX 08 schedule finally went online, I was pleased to see a variety of interesting panels, presentations, open gameplay areas, and events, and was really excited at the idea of experiencing a little of all of them. My two brothers from Texas arranged to fly out to attend PAX with me, and we pre-purchased three 3-day passes online, and we were all looking forward to the event.
I really appreciate that people put on PAX out of a genuine love for gaming. I'm sure it's a ton of planning and hard work. Heck, I know it is, because my friend who works there (in a minor capcity, relative to the size of the entire event) every year has told me some of what's involved for him. So it is in the spirit of helping folks like him out, and helping PAX be a better event in the future, that I'm going to tell you about my first PAX experience today.
Overall, there were two major problems my brothers and I had with the day: horrible overcrowding and inadequate facilities. These two problems basically ruined the entire experience for me and my brothers, and we decided not to return Saturday or Sunday despite having paid for 3-day passes. We decided we could actually have more fun (and make better use of our limited time together) at home playing all the video games I already owned, rather than standing around anymore in long lines and being unable to see or hear anything or try any games out for ourselves. The bottom line is that if you're paying good money to get into an event like PAX, you're expecting to have a good relaxing time and get to play some games, not spend 90% of your time standing in long lines, packed in like sardines, on your feet all day with noplace to sit and take a break.
Many of the so-called "theaters" where panels or presentations were supposed to take place were nothing more than makeshift projection screens and risers jammed into small corners of the lobbies on each floor, meaning there weren't enough seats and you couldn't hear or see anything given all the surrounding foot traffic and noise. The only setup that was adequate was the Main theater where we saw the Red vs. Blue guys do a Q&A panel. My advice for PAX organizers in the future is this: if you're going to have panels / presentations, put them in real theaters or lecture halls -- enclosed rooms that block out all the rest of the expo noise and that provide adequate seating and PA systems so that people interested in seeing the presentations can actually get in, get off their tired feet, and enjoy the presentation. Otherwise, there's not even a point in having the panels/presentations, because nobody can see or hear them.
Most of the "free play" areas, where you were supposed to be able to kick back and relax and get your hands on some real games, were far too small and didn't provide enough stations so that you could actually get your hands on any gameplay. For example, the console classic gaming freeplay area, had only about 20 stations available for use, whereas there were closer to 100 people waiting around to get in to play, and there were signs everywhere that said "because of long lines, please limit gameplay to 30 minutes". Ok, so I'm supposed to wait in line for 30 minutes just to get a turn at a station, just so I can play for 30 minutes and get kicked out? Why would I do that when I can play the same games on my PC emulators at home for as long as I want without having to wait in line? And why did I pay $30 for the privilege of getting into this place to stand in this line?
The best part of the day for us was the exhibition hall, where the reps at the various company booths were all friendly and helpful, taking time to teach total n00bs like me how to work the controls and play the games on display. Many of the booths actually had enough demo kiosks available that you could actually walk up and play without having to wait in a long line. The few booth babes we saw were all in good taste. Overall the exhibition hall offered a good sneak peak at not-quite-released games and a good opportunity to experience some hands-on gameplay rather than just standing around watching others.
Unfortunately the rest of the expo was not very well run or organized. For example, when we first entered the convention center and were trying to figure out where we needed to go to "sign in" and get our lanyards and what-not, we asked 3 different usher-people and got 3 different answers. We were twice told to stand in lines for things, and did, only to find out upon reaching the front of the line that it wasn't what we thought we were standing in line for. Wasted time and energy. In many areas, such as the freeplay areas, there was poorly-placed (or no) signage explaining what the process was supposed to be to get in and play. Many areas that were aparently supposed to be restricted were not walled off in any clear way, so we frequently found ourselves walking into areas only to have some "enforcer" person get in a huff at us about being where we weren't supposed to be, through no fault of our own.
Finally, this will make me sound like an old fart, but I just have to say that it's really tough to be on your feet non-stop all damn day when you're 31. I could do it when I was 18, but I'm not anymore, and I noticed plenty of older people (if you can call 30-somethings "old") around the expo who also would have probably appreciated some places to sit and rest their aching feet. I can't stress enough how important it is at a big event like PAX to provide adequate comfortable seating. The bean bags in the handheld gaming lounges were a nice try, but there simply weren't enough of them, and the lack of adequate seating in the so-called "theaters" throughout the day just compounded the problem.
So our first PAX experience was very disappointing. It really left us with the impression that it was geared primarily toward teenagers as some sort of a silly disorganized video gaming slumber party, rather than the caliber of event we had been led to believe it would be. Of the 7 hours we spent at PAX, we only got to actually play games for about 40 minutes, compared to over 3 hours spent standing in various lines. We only got to attend 1 of the 5 panels/presentations we had wanted to see.
Anyway, like I said, I do appreciate the challenges and amount of work involved in putting on an event like this, so I'm not faulting anyone. But I am saying that PAX is currently a victim of its own success, and it's in serious danger of self-destructing. It either needs to scale back its ambitions and not bill itself as the equal of E3, or scale back the number of admissions it sells, or move to much larger facilities and provide many more games to play. For example, I don't think it would have been a bad thing to limit the total attendance to a much smaller number to ensure a much more enjoyable event for the people who did make it in. And I wouldn't have minded paying $10 more per ticket if that's all it had taken to provide adequate facilities and more games, resulting in a more enjoyable day overall.
So it was with nervous curiosity, but a genuine love for gaming's recent past and a hope to reconnect with the modern gaming scene, that I signed up to attend PAX 2008. I've lived in the Seattle area for nearly ten years, but I've never been to PAX before this year. A friend of mine has worked at PAX behind the scenes for a couple years and he assured me that despite my n00bness relative to the modern gaming culture, I would enjoy the event. When the PAX 08 schedule finally went online, I was pleased to see a variety of interesting panels, presentations, open gameplay areas, and events, and was really excited at the idea of experiencing a little of all of them. My two brothers from Texas arranged to fly out to attend PAX with me, and we pre-purchased three 3-day passes online, and we were all looking forward to the event.
I really appreciate that people put on PAX out of a genuine love for gaming. I'm sure it's a ton of planning and hard work. Heck, I know it is, because my friend who works there (in a minor capcity, relative to the size of the entire event) every year has told me some of what's involved for him. So it is in the spirit of helping folks like him out, and helping PAX be a better event in the future, that I'm going to tell you about my first PAX experience today.
Overall, there were two major problems my brothers and I had with the day: horrible overcrowding and inadequate facilities. These two problems basically ruined the entire experience for me and my brothers, and we decided not to return Saturday or Sunday despite having paid for 3-day passes. We decided we could actually have more fun (and make better use of our limited time together) at home playing all the video games I already owned, rather than standing around anymore in long lines and being unable to see or hear anything or try any games out for ourselves. The bottom line is that if you're paying good money to get into an event like PAX, you're expecting to have a good relaxing time and get to play some games, not spend 90% of your time standing in long lines, packed in like sardines, on your feet all day with noplace to sit and take a break.
Many of the so-called "theaters" where panels or presentations were supposed to take place were nothing more than makeshift projection screens and risers jammed into small corners of the lobbies on each floor, meaning there weren't enough seats and you couldn't hear or see anything given all the surrounding foot traffic and noise. The only setup that was adequate was the Main theater where we saw the Red vs. Blue guys do a Q&A panel. My advice for PAX organizers in the future is this: if you're going to have panels / presentations, put them in real theaters or lecture halls -- enclosed rooms that block out all the rest of the expo noise and that provide adequate seating and PA systems so that people interested in seeing the presentations can actually get in, get off their tired feet, and enjoy the presentation. Otherwise, there's not even a point in having the panels/presentations, because nobody can see or hear them.
Most of the "free play" areas, where you were supposed to be able to kick back and relax and get your hands on some real games, were far too small and didn't provide enough stations so that you could actually get your hands on any gameplay. For example, the console classic gaming freeplay area, had only about 20 stations available for use, whereas there were closer to 100 people waiting around to get in to play, and there were signs everywhere that said "because of long lines, please limit gameplay to 30 minutes". Ok, so I'm supposed to wait in line for 30 minutes just to get a turn at a station, just so I can play for 30 minutes and get kicked out? Why would I do that when I can play the same games on my PC emulators at home for as long as I want without having to wait in line? And why did I pay $30 for the privilege of getting into this place to stand in this line?
The best part of the day for us was the exhibition hall, where the reps at the various company booths were all friendly and helpful, taking time to teach total n00bs like me how to work the controls and play the games on display. Many of the booths actually had enough demo kiosks available that you could actually walk up and play without having to wait in a long line. The few booth babes we saw were all in good taste. Overall the exhibition hall offered a good sneak peak at not-quite-released games and a good opportunity to experience some hands-on gameplay rather than just standing around watching others.
Unfortunately the rest of the expo was not very well run or organized. For example, when we first entered the convention center and were trying to figure out where we needed to go to "sign in" and get our lanyards and what-not, we asked 3 different usher-people and got 3 different answers. We were twice told to stand in lines for things, and did, only to find out upon reaching the front of the line that it wasn't what we thought we were standing in line for. Wasted time and energy. In many areas, such as the freeplay areas, there was poorly-placed (or no) signage explaining what the process was supposed to be to get in and play. Many areas that were aparently supposed to be restricted were not walled off in any clear way, so we frequently found ourselves walking into areas only to have some "enforcer" person get in a huff at us about being where we weren't supposed to be, through no fault of our own.
Finally, this will make me sound like an old fart, but I just have to say that it's really tough to be on your feet non-stop all damn day when you're 31. I could do it when I was 18, but I'm not anymore, and I noticed plenty of older people (if you can call 30-somethings "old") around the expo who also would have probably appreciated some places to sit and rest their aching feet. I can't stress enough how important it is at a big event like PAX to provide adequate comfortable seating. The bean bags in the handheld gaming lounges were a nice try, but there simply weren't enough of them, and the lack of adequate seating in the so-called "theaters" throughout the day just compounded the problem.
So our first PAX experience was very disappointing. It really left us with the impression that it was geared primarily toward teenagers as some sort of a silly disorganized video gaming slumber party, rather than the caliber of event we had been led to believe it would be. Of the 7 hours we spent at PAX, we only got to actually play games for about 40 minutes, compared to over 3 hours spent standing in various lines. We only got to attend 1 of the 5 panels/presentations we had wanted to see.
Anyway, like I said, I do appreciate the challenges and amount of work involved in putting on an event like this, so I'm not faulting anyone. But I am saying that PAX is currently a victim of its own success, and it's in serious danger of self-destructing. It either needs to scale back its ambitions and not bill itself as the equal of E3, or scale back the number of admissions it sells, or move to much larger facilities and provide many more games to play. For example, I don't think it would have been a bad thing to limit the total attendance to a much smaller number to ensure a much more enjoyable event for the people who did make it in. And I wouldn't have minded paying $10 more per ticket if that's all it had taken to provide adequate facilities and more games, resulting in a more enjoyable day overall.
c0d3h4x0r on
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While overcrowding so far this year has been extremely annoying to both myself and my veteran since 04 friend, there's no real way we could move to anywhere larger. In fact, PaX is currently in downtown Seattle after moving from Bellevue for additional space. For lounging and resting your legs perhaps you missed the multitude of beanbags sprawled EVERYWHERE on floors 3 and 2, also dubbed the "Handheld lounge." But there is quite the ample seating to be had.
As for panels. I only really had need to see one of them (video games and politics). My wife and I got to the room where it was hosted 30 minutes early and were fine. It did fill up and people were turned away but anyone who got there in reasonably prior to the start had a seat. I agree that some of the theatres could have been better managed and placed in a larger area. It would behoove PAX 09 to have some statistical information on attendance for each panel so they can better place panels based on expected attendance in the future, and perhaps they have and are.
PAX has NEVER said it is the E3 replacement. In fact, it has consistantly said it isn't the replacement for E3. However, it happened to be the rising young star when E3 burned out. Combine this with the location (so close to a number of game studios) and Penny Arcade's connections with game studios and other famous-in-gaming-culture folks and you will have a run away success. E-For-All is the self-proclaimed E3 replacement if you're looking for one.
As for the proposed solutions - you have them right. Either they can go the BlizzCon route and charge a lot per ticket and sell a small number ($100 and so few as to be sold out in a few hours) or they can find a bigger place. I'm glad they didn't limit the tickets and have them cost more because then I wouldn't be here. Sure, I could afford them (I'm coming from DC, what's another $65 on top of plane tickets), but I wasn't certain I could get away until a week or two after they went on sale. I'm sure others have the same thoughts. It would also have gone against what PA is trying to do; they are trying for a convention/expo that anyone can easily come to and find something to do. As for location, perhaps they will get an even larger choice in 2010 when they hit up the east coast. Until then, I imagine it will stay at the Seattle Convention Center because of its central location to Penny Arcade and the numerous big-name producers.
Because they don't limit the tickets, they don't know the attendance numbers to expect until very close to the event date. They did react this year by getting the Pike Street Annex for tabletop gaming, which I imagine helps quite a bit. This also has an affect on what you believe "adequate" means. There were a lot of bean bags for sitting. They were spread across three floors of the show. There was also a section on level 3 which was out of the way and had real chairs. There could have been more seating but there is only so many square feet of space to put everything and, really, with the attendance numbers being seen, no matter how much seating there was, it would have been filled.
I don't believe this event is aimed towards teenagers. The average gamer is in his or her mid-20s and this is the target demographic. I also don't believe this was specifically disorganized. There was a dirth of signs and accurate information was sometimes hard to get, but that has nothing to do with the organization of the event.
Murphy's Paradox: The more you plan, the more that can go wrong. The less you plan, the less likely your plan will succeed.
As for overcrowding, well, unfortunately PAX does grow significantly each year. This year they expanded the space - the exhibition hall, for example, was only half the size last year. But of course the population went up from 30,000 attendees to 50,000-60,000 attendees. There is still a little more room for expansion at the convention center - the 6th floor with the ballroom - but you have to sign up for your space at the convention center a couple years in advance. Now, they actually have come up with a solution to overcrowding: starting in 2010, there'll be two PAXes, one on the east coast, one on the west coast. That'll significantly free up space, as a lot of people will go to the one closest to them. But that isn't for a couple years.
But it felt very chaotic, no signage of what to do or where to go. I asked for help as well and they didn't seem to be very informed - so I just started asking regular people and they were nice enough to point me in the right direction. That's the great thing about PAX, everyone is nice and will help you out, save your space in line . . . so great!
The expo hall was way too small for the amount of people, and also thought the exhibitors didn't really have much space to work with. Forget trying to get into Gears 2, Bungie, or Left 4 Dead. You'll most likely need to camp out. Luckily the games I was really interested in aren't on the hype radar - Battlefield Heroes, Crysis, and Project Origin. Which sadly were the only games I was able to play for the entire show Friday.
One thing I loved was the ability to talk with representatives from Monolith, BioWare (sadly they would talk Mass Effect), Dice, and Sony! That part was the best! Was able to have some great discussions with them and their products.
My biggest complaint, if you are going to call a place the Walrus Theater, you should probably actually make it a theater and not just a corner of the main expo lobby area. I think they need to clear the room before allowing the next panel come up.
Go gnome or go home.
--
http://www.PlayingWithMyWeiner.com
http://www.GamesLaw.net
<Moe_Fwacky> nice girls
<Moe_Fwacky> lesbians
<Moe_Fwacky> robbed drugstores together
(other than tl:dr)
this year theres more people sure, but theres more community than ever. But its your choice if you want to participate in it. There were SO MANY pre pax and community events around pax this year, far far far more than any other year.
You make your own community, you cant expect it to just come to you :P
However, I do have to say... that if you aren't having fun at pax, and you don't feel the community of pax, then it truly is your own fault. Pax offers a really tight comunity of people who don't judge and have a common thread among them. I make a number of friends each time I come... and year after year the friends grow...
--|Sweety|
<Moe_Fwacky> nice girls
<Moe_Fwacky> lesbians
<Moe_Fwacky> robbed drugstores together
However there are some great contests going on in byoc; that are making up for the lack thereof in the expo! :P
I guess just don't participate in fandom.
First and last PAX unless they change venues or put a cap on attendance. Period.
And WTH! Where were the vendors!?! What kind of friken gaming expo is it that doesn't have some cool vendors to buy some cool stuff!!! man that was a horrible day. I planned on going 2 days but I said forget it today... shoulda just gone to work...
I think booth babes in general are in poor taste.
Good Taste is having an attractive person who is a part of the team who knows all about the game and gamer culture.
Bad Taste is having a hired model who has been recently briefed on the game and knows next to nothing about the culture.
Of course, I sometimes like things that are in poor taste (South Park and Robot Chicken both come to mind).
But the the kind of winking "no booth babes" nudge nudge seems like it's been getting more and more blatant every year, and at some point I think PA ought to drop the "no booth babes" pretense and be honest about not caring about booth babes, or enforce the rule and kick out the vendors who have a high model:developer ratio.
I don't care if there are half-naked booth babes or fully clothed booth babes or booth babes encased in weighted companion cubes or no booth babes at all, but shouldn't the pretense that there's something different here be dropped?
Where were you? There are several vendors in the expo hall. Pink Godzilla comes to mind, along with several other booths selling t-shirts and anime junk.
Especially when you complain about waiting in lines or crowded conditions or not being able to move or rude people. That's exactly what the type of swag you are apparently expecting does. People will crowd in front of a booth, or make a line 5 booths long, or in some cases be rude and push and shove, and run. That's what the old E3 was like.
Compared to last year, the swag is pretty bad. The poster above had it correct when they said they had 5 bags and two tee shirts; I personally haven't found a single tee shirt, or anything but a pin. Last year, I got 4 free shirts, along with other cool goodies.
I think all the vendors decided to bring bags, assuming the other vendors would provide swag to fill them with.
Shirt-wise the CDV booth has shirts for Sacred 2, the Pirates of the Burning Sea people have them again this year (complete with t-shirt cannon), you can pick up a Guitar Hero: World Tour one for signing up and playing against their version of Judy Nails, Turbine had/has some LotRO ones, and I'm sure there are others I've missed.
And there has been plenty of stuff that's not half bad. Granted you have to participate a lot more to get stuff this year compared to last, but I don't see there being a derth of quality of swag. You just have to be a little more adventurous and put in a little more time this year.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
This man speaks the truth. You had to interact more with the expo people to get swag and other things this year. I am stationed right in front of expo and I see walking out with bags full of stuff all the time. So yeah... they arent just feely handing it out to everyone this year... probably because there so many more people around.
lemoned for dittoness. while i do feel it's good to offer suggestions to make pax better, saying things like "it's too crowded" isn't going to help. here are the facts: they can't limit the people that come in, that would be very unfair and create a HELLUVA lot more complaining. they can't really expand the size much more, as they've already taken on the annex across the street. and the way it's arranged is highly optimal, very well thought out.
the fact is that the only control in place for crowd size is the people themselves. if people feel it's too crowded, then it's not worth it for them to be here. sure, i've missed out on a couple events i really wanted to see this year, but i'm willing to deal with that without offering solutionless complaints, because there are so many other things i would love to do here at the same time.
I got a Resistance 2 T-shirt and Hat, a 1-UP t shirt, a fallout puppet, a ping-pong ball gun, and some other random crap.
At least no one took the Nvidia route and made you "Find your match"
*Shudders*
still looking for my match! 57123 if anyone's got it!
Thats the kind of attitude I like. It may be because this is my first PAX, but Im having a blast.
You... you registered just to post that?
Wow.
Some people just love them some tl;dr. Frsrs.
[10:24] * @BigRed-Worky cums the water
[12:32] <+prox> lawl you kickbanned me so hard my client crashed
I think the convention hall had a lot of space that could have been better used but such things don't really matter a whole lot as they're rebuilding it right after PaX anyways.
I'm not a social person, and I didn't go to PAX to socialize. I went there to see and play games and see and learn some interesting things from the presentations/panels. Unfortunately the overcrowding completely ruined all of that.
Like I said before, my experience is that PAX seems geared toward teenagers who are wanting to have some sort of a big informal slumber party type of environment. If you love standing/camping/socializing in long lines all day, and doing so doesn't wear you out and hurt your feet, then PAX is for you. But if you actually want to see and play games and get some insight into the games industry then PAX is really not the place to do it.
I think you hit the crux of the matter there, and I'm sorry you had the wrong idea, but PAX has always been FOR the gamer BY the gamer, not a huge trade show for companies to show off their wares. PAX really has been way more about the community side of gaming vs the commercial side, and while the expo hall has grown quite large, it's never been the central focus.
All in all, though, PAX is still about the Gamers. For now. Let's hope it stays that way.
This was my first PAX. In actuality, this was my first con ever. I had zero expectation, but from seeing things over the years, I did have some level of expectation. After talking to a lot of people I soon discovered that this year would be the busiest PAX has been to date. People told me there would be close to, if not more than, 50,000 people. That is a metric f**-ton of people. With all that in mind, I had a glorious time. I was actually genuinely sad when it all came to a close. I knew full well at that point that it could be 2 years before I do this again. For a guy like me to be moved like that by an expo says something of the quality.
I see a lot of people complaining about swag. There was nothing wrong with the swag people. I bought 2 t-shirts while at PAX, and somehow I have 6 more than I brought. Hmmm. Math is simple people. I got lots of buttons, and pins, and stickers, and booklets, and posters, and all manner of things. All really cool stuff for free. Operative word in that last sentence was free. I paid $45 to come to PAX. After laying out what I got for $45 I was blown away. But what swag laid in front of me was not totally what I paid for. In that $45 entry fee ($50 for some) I got free stuff, I saw new games not out yet, I saw all manner of gamer and geek celebrities, I saw oodles of concerts and I played a ton of games with people like me. $45. Show me another expo or con you can go to for $45 and get what you get at PAX and then we will talk. By the way, last I checked, I paid more than $45 just to buy one game at EB. I don't get anywhere near this kind of enjoyment from one game that I got from PAX.
The attendance issue. Yes there were a lot of people. Yes the lines were long at times. Yes there was a lot of standing around for short little things. But is there not a devotion that drives us to stand in a line for over an hour to try out the latest game or meet Wil Wheaton? Personally, I walked past every game demo line because, and I will admit, they were too long. There were panels and people and games to be seen with that kind of time. So I didn't get to try Rock Band 2 or Left 4 Dead or Fallout 3. Big deal. There will be a point in time in the next year where I will own those titles and get to play them all I want. I'd rather be enjoying PAX than waiting an hour to play 15 minutes of Fallout 3.
I watched people play and got a pretty good idea of what the games were like and that satisfied me. Yes I am easier to please than most people. A lot of people will disagree with me, saying that a good hands on impression is what you need. And they will probably be right. But to spend that kind of time in line to play a demo of something you will own down the road baffles me. Check out a panel people. Hang out in the handheld lounges. Play some old NES title with your friends. Enter a tourney to try and win that coveted prize. This event breathes community and we should be embracing it.
I know I seem to be glossing over some points here, and am probably going against what a lot of people are agreeing on, but I had a fantastic time. Yeah there were a ton of people, but it was expected and accounted for. With E3 gone, this expo has almost taken its place. Think about it people, there are probably going to be even more people next year. Just accept it. That's a good thing though. More people to meet. I came solo but ended up meeting a ton of great people and it seemed that at almost any point I could talk to someone and they would be on the same page as I was; like I had known them for years. It felt great to be amongst like minded people like that. I felt welcomed and at home.
I'm going to wrap this up as most people have probably surfed over to the next best post by now. To sum up, I could not have asked for a better time. With the Pre-PAX Magical Mystery Tour I met great people and saw amazing local sights. At PAX, I met more great people, saw amazing things, got lots of FREE stuff, and bought even more awesome stuff. I met Wil Wheaton and discovered actually how cool he really is. I bought some merch at the RoosterTeeth booth and immediately got it signed by the whole crew, who by the way were totally cool as well. I saw amazing concerts (also FREE) and got to meet the bands afterwards. Again, more really cool and grounded people. I can continue going on and on about the great things at PAX, but hey, you were all there, so you know what I am talking about.
I am going to take home a treasure box of memories that I will never ever forget. I will tell the tale of the great expo known as PAX to all my friends and hopefully convince them to go in the future. I would love to see the number of attendees grow in the years to come because that will mean that there will be that many more awesome people to meet. I ask only one thing of the people who attend PAX and that is to not lose sight of why we go. We shouldn't go solely for the free swag or the early game demos. We should go because everyone else like us goes. We are gamers. We are players. We are many, but at PAX we are one.
I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did. Maybe I'll see you guys again sometime soon.
Be excellent to each other
This was my first PAX, and I had a hell of a good time. I enjoyed every minute, even though it was pretty crowded, and I felt like there was a ton more I could have done if I had more time and energy.
I do agree that you probably need to participate in the pre- and post-PAX events, though, if you want to get the most out of it, since it's gotten so big.