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Boring PAX East panel is boring - What panels didn't hold up?

TennbergTennberg Boston, MARegistered User regular
edited April 2010 in PAX Archive
While I only attended a few panels so far, all but one of them were good to really good to great (see: Dead Space panel). So, when my friend and I saw the panel for "MMO Behavior 101", we highlighted it and worked our schedule around it. Lining up an hour before still put us around the corner, wrapping around the staircase, down another hall. Fortunately, we were able to get in and the room was at capacity with standing room only.

And that's about as good as it got. You know your panel is bad when it starts off overfull, and you lose about 30% of your audience in the first 10 minutes. The panel was basically a circle jerk with the lead speaker promoting his book and the guy from The Syndicate talking about how awesome his 600 person guild is. The other two speakers could barely be heard even with the mic levels set to high.

I am hopeful that if a similar panel is at next year's PAX East discussing some aspect of MMOs, that they bring in people who actually work on MMOs.

Tennberg on
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Posts

  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I'm glad my wife and I missed it... we were going to go, but decided dinner and chilling in the BYOC room was better. Good call on us.

    I was a bit disappointed in Death of Print, but mostly because a couple of the panelist were too damn quiet, and we were near the front. Still, it was good. And I'm sad I never got to actually talk to Jeff Green... Would go gay for him and all that...

    He was also in the devs vs magazines panel, also excellent. Even the college humor panel was quite good.

    Shadowfire on
    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
  • PuddingSenatorPuddingSenator Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I wish Hal Halpin would stop mumbling.

    PuddingSenator on
  • radjagoradjago Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    My wife and I were disappointed with the Girls and Games panel. The Q&A didn't have that many interesting Qs to answer.

    radjago on
    PAX East Train Alliance, Metal Gear Line: 2013 || 2012 || 2010
  • lunchbox12682lunchbox12682 MinnesotaRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I went to Fail On. The guy wasn't bad, but it was all rehash of fail early to save time and money that I've heard in a number of places.
    Just not that interesting overall.
    That's too bad about the Girls and Games one, I missed it but had high hopes.

    lunchbox12682 on
  • Lindsay LohanLindsay Lohan Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I went to Get Lamp and while the documentary on the history of the text games was well done - anything about current and future "interactive fiction" was kind of obnoxious. It felt like a club I wasn't a part of. The filmaker and the guy making new fiction were both kind of douchy - the old school zork/adventure guys made it worth it.

    Lindsay Lohan on
  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    "An Awkward Hour with Harmonix" was pretty good this morning. We're going to try and get in to "Everything you Ever Wanted to Know About Game Journalism..." and the closing ceremony today, but I'm doubtful on the second one.

    Shadowfire on
    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
  • GundabadGundabad PAX East & Unplugged Tabletop Manager NJRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I went to mostly the big stuff such as the keynote, PA Q&A, Make a Strip, and most of the concerts and they were all awesome. The only time my group stepped foot in one of the smaller theaters was for Action Castle this morning after hearing about it from the GeekNights podcast, and the plug from the guy at the PA Q&A which was pretty funny. Was definitely worth it as we had some good laughs there. Spent the rest of our time freeplaying, and now waiting for the PA signing before we sadly have to head home.

    Gundabad on
  • baelionbaelion Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    went to the design an rpg and the non-computing jobs in the industry panel. both very good i thought. managed to vote up an investigative journalism rpg about dinosaurs in the first, and the industry one helped to answer a few questions, though i think i still have some.

    oh, and the chiptune thing had a presentation in front of it that was really good i thought.

    baelion on
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  • lojurivelojurive Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I went to the Bringing Up the Next Generation of Geeks Panel and practically had to BEG my way into it. But I walked away with nothing more than the "warm fuzzies" that you get from being around other like-minded people. No real advice, no real information other than "yes I am raising a geek, and this is what they geek out about". It would have been nice to have MORE panelists with OLDER geek kids instead of a panel full of parents of toddlers. I was looking for mentors in my status as a geek mom with geek kids.

    lojurive on
  • 50 More Trash50 More Trash Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Other than main panels I missed out on all panels... main theatre was big enough that for the most part strolling in 5 minutes late beat out waiting 2 hours in line for a sub panel... which is a shame because I love panels... but sort of refused to wait in line for longer than the panel itself... there was just better stuff to do than wait in line. I was bummed that I missed the journalism panel, and I also heard the Girl Gamers panel was a little fluff and that the panelists were ill equipped to answer some of the questions.

    And now I will line myself up to the firing squad:

    I (get ready) disliked the PA Panels *covers head*.

    Not because of Gabe and Tycho, they were entertaining beyond belief... I just found that a lot of the questions were basically the same question again and again... I came up with a formula that could be applied to many of the questions:

    "You guys are awesome, it's awesome that you're awesome, here's an obscure joke that my friends and I really hope you get in the form of a question."

    God bless that Gabe and Tycho could take those flat questions and make entertaining responses but seriously, we all know Gabe and Tycho are awesome, we're at their convention! You can give them a thanks, but then don't waste your question on something silly... bah... I don't really want to get into it... but those of you who felt the same way (I spoke to a few people about it around the center) know what I'm talking about.

    50 More Trash on
  • inzenityinzenity Registered User new member
    edited March 2010
    Ditto on the Hal Halpin panel... wish he didn't mumble as much. The Beyond Candyland panel was good, but I wished they didn't spend the first 40 minutes of the talk going over the different types of board games games. I was hoping to see more of what's beyond Carcassonne and Catan.

    inzenity on
  • BrownBoognishBrownBoognish Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Girls in gaming was rough, there wasn't a lot of good questions. When there was a good question like the Fem Shep v Bayonetta question, it totally got dodged. My wife and I walked out. I hope they do this type of panel again, because I'd really like some thought provoking dialogue on the issue.

    Also, ditto on the Next Generation of Geeks panel. No advice, just reflections on how geeky there kids are.

    Other than that the panels I attended were great!

    BrownBoognish on
  • IxmasatIxmasat Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I waited in line for the Sequelitis panel for a long time, only to be disappointed. Half the panel wasn't talking much. Ken Levine was trying hard to inject some humor, at least. Probably didn't help that it was mid-afternoon Sunday and I was dead tired.

    All things considered, though, I consider the fact that I was underwhelmed by only one panel out of the several I attended a pretty good track record.

    Ixmasat on
  • DruVirusDruVirus Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Wow .. I'm finding it odd how people didn't enjoy Raising the Next Generation of Geeks. Then again, I'm not a parent, lol. It was a lot of reflection I guess but .. it did make me think more about the issue of raising children in such a scenario, ie: pushing your beliefs of what's good or not on them consciously or subconsciously but .. that goes with ANY type of child raising. Maybe they wanted to stray from giving advice because people tend to get defensive if they, purposely or not, tell them how to raise their kids or anything of that sort.

    I do agree on the Girls and Gaming. It just seemed that the only thing they talked about was stereotyping girls or girls in the industry. And after the first five questions about both these things, all the questions pretty much the same, they just kept coming.

    As for MMO Behavior 101 .. I do agree they did a bit of hype on their books/movies/guilds but .. I think they were perfectly qualified for what they discussed. Sure, they weren't involved in MMO's themselves but developers aren't necessarily the best people to discuss in-game behaviors. The author studied geek culture and The Syndicate leader interacts with thousands of peoples, daily.

    DruVirus on
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  • MaiuMaiu Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I was so bummed with the collegehumor panel. My best friend was out for just Saturday, and my bf and I dragged her to see it. She left after the first video, and I fell asleep. My bf woke me up so we could leave.

    Maiu on
  • Bigtoy_JBigtoy_J Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    lojurive wrote: »
    I went to the Bringing Up the Next Generation of Geeks Panel and practically had to BEG my way into it. But I walked away with nothing more than the "warm fuzzies" that you get from being around other like-minded people. No real advice, no real information other than "yes I am raising a geek, and this is what they geek out about". It would have been nice to have MORE panelists with OLDER geek kids instead of a panel full of parents of toddlers. I was looking for mentors in my status as a geek mom with geek kids.

    I agree. I have a 3 year old that is already a geek whom I brag about all the time. I do not need a room with over 500 people in it to do said bragging.

    I was looking for much more content, specific issues that occur when raising geeks and how those issues are handled. I would have greatly appreciated information on the tough topic of how to protect my possibly geek child from the bullying that I endured as a geek child. (I have an idea, but I was surprised at the lack of content in that area.)

    That being said, I really appreciate the resources that GeekDad provides the rest of us. I just had hoped for a more structured and informative and a lot less "Let me tell you about my kids" panel.

    Bigtoy_J on
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  • pedal2000pedal2000 Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Maiu wrote: »
    I was so bummed with the collegehumor panel. My best friend was out for just Saturday, and my bf and I dragged her to see it. She left after the first video, and I fell asleep. My bf woke me up so we could leave.

    This. The College humour panel was a major disappointment.

    pedal2000 on
  • lojurivelojurive Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    You know, I didn't even think that a panel on Raising the Next Generation of Geeks might be geared towards those who AREN'T raising them YET. That puts the panel in a WHOLE new perspective. While I'm sure there were a ton of parents there, I'm also sure that I am in a minority in that I have been raising little geeks for almost a decade now. I saw mostly singles/childless couples or on Sunday, people with babies. So for those of you who attended that panel and it made you consider HOW you'd want to raise your kid, I am SUPER happy for you! :mrgreen:
    DruVirus wrote: »
    Wow .. I'm finding it odd how people didn't enjoy Raising the Next Generation of Geeks. Then again, I'm not a parent, lol. It was a lot of reflection I guess but .. it did make me think more about the issue of raising children in such a scenario, ie: pushing your beliefs of what's good or not on them consciously or subconsciously but .. that goes with ANY type of child raising. Maybe they wanted to stray from giving advice because people tend to get defensive if they, purposely or not, tell them how to raise their kids or anything of that sort.

    I do agree on the Girls and Gaming. It just seemed that the only thing they talked about was stereotyping girls or girls in the industry. And after the first five questions about both these things, all the questions pretty much the same, they just kept coming.

    As for MMO Behavior 101 .. I do agree they did a bit of hype on their books/movies/guilds but .. I think they were perfectly qualified for what they discussed. Sure, they weren't involved in MMO's themselves but developers aren't necessarily the best people to discuss in-game behaviors. The author studied geek culture and The Syndicate leader interacts with thousands of peoples, daily.

    lojurive on
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited March 2010
    The Future of PC Gaming was not set up the way I liked it. The panelists and host were great, but I expected something more than a strict Q&A.

    Sterica on
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  • YouForgotPolandYouForgotPoland Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I honestly felt for the poor MIT kid who was presenting "Memes and Microcultures". I thought that by the sound of the topic (covering everything from Japanese cultural influence to the kid coming back from the dentist) that he'd bitten off way more than he could chew, and was sadly correct. Throughout the hour, he stumbled with 'ums' and hesitations, showing us clips nobody genuinely understood - he explained them eventually, but with such a vast topic, he really couldn't get much of anything done. And certainly not in an hour. He ended with, "...well, I guess that's it, I'm done!"

    YouForgotPoland on
  • BoomShakeBoomShake The Engineer Columbia, MDRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I was a bit disappointed with the Kotaku Top 10 Games panel. I was expecting something much... deeper. Discussion of what criteria may be important, discussing the various games more thoroughly, etc. Instead, it was basically "Here's the list we gave to person #, let's milk this a little and ask over and over again what should be removed even though they always say Metal Gear Solid (game boy color), and now here's the new list". Mostly shallow.

    BoomShake on
  • SrolSrol Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I went to a lot of panels at PAX '09, and afterward decided that I could better spend my time than going to panels. At least the ones I went to seemed really inside baseball aimed at people in the industry, and I just didn't find what they had to say all that interesting. So I issued a moratorium on all panels for PAX East, and I've had no reason to regret it so far, I think I got much more bang for my buck this time.

    I of course don't include the PA Q&As in that list, as those alternate between hilarious and touching.

    Srol on
  • TrionTrion Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Well, I really enjoyed the GeekDad panel. However, I agree with BoomShake that the Kotaku Top 10 panel was pretty weak. On any given day I can probably find a dozen lists on the internet giving me the "Top 10" of anything with descriptions and explanations. With this panel I got the top 10 as decided by GameRankings (big deal) and then that list was adjusted one game at a time, sometimes with barely an explanation. And this was stretched over an hour. Feh.

    Trion on
  • BrownBoognishBrownBoognish Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I am a Geek Dad (father of four) and I'm still quite bummed about that panel.

    BrownBoognish on
  • pardimatepardimate Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I was also disappointed by the college humor panel. The tetris video was funny, but that was it for stuff I haven't seen before. More new videos, less talking. Or more engaging talking. I got the point that you have a new website after the first 5 minutes.

    pardimate on
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  • capnjackcapnjack Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    lojurive wrote: »
    I went to the Bringing Up the Next Generation of Geeks Panel and practically had to BEG my way into it. But I walked away with nothing more than the "warm fuzzies" that you get from being around other like-minded people. No real advice, no real information other than "yes I am raising a geek, and this is what they geek out about". It would have been nice to have MORE panelists with OLDER geek kids instead of a panel full of parents of toddlers. I was looking for mentors in my status as a geek mom with geek kids.

    Jeez. I was really angry that we showed up almost an hour before the panel and couldn't get in. Now I don't feel so bad.

    capnjack on
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  • AredubyaAredubya Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    The two satellite theater panels I attended were night and day. Saturday's "MMO Gamer Behavior 101" was quite bad. 3 of the panelists pretty much commented only about their media projects (book and movie), and the guy from the Syndicate didn't really provide any details about his personal experiences with guild drama. It was so content-free, I actually left to go play M:TG with some other n00bs.

    Sunday's "Future of MMOs" panel was fantastic though. The moderator went right to questions, making it so the panelists had to stick to topics, not just shill for their products (though they plugged in clever and amusing ways, with a nice mix of earnest and snark).

    Aredubya on
  • MWDarkAgeMWDarkAge Hero Paragon CityRegistered User new member
    edited March 2010
    I have one...

    How about the fact the Dungeon Master movie NEVER SHOWED. I have yet to see a reason why.

    A MAJOR saving throw was made by the staff when Gabe showed up instead and gave us his personal tips and insights on being a DM. (TY TY TY Gabe!)

    MWDarkAge on
  • LadyofRohan55LadyofRohan55 Registered User new member
    edited March 2010
    My boyfriend, friend from College and I went to the College Humor panel. We actually walked out! They were not funny and I know its their time to talk about what they've done and about themselves...but omg! It was so boring! That was, all kidding aside, the LONGEST 15 minutes of the entire weekend!!

    LadyofRohan55 on
  • YadYad Registered User new member
    edited March 2010
    Aredubya wrote: »
    The two satellite theater panels I attended were night and day. Saturday's "MMO Gamer Behavior 101" was quite bad. 3 of the panelists pretty much commented only about their media projects (book and movie), and the guy from the Syndicate didn't really provide any details about his personal experiences with guild drama. It was so content-free, I actually left to go play M:TG with some other n00bs.

    Sunday's "Future of MMOs" panel was fantastic though. The moderator went right to questions, making it so the panelists had to stick to topics, not just shill for their products (though they plugged in clever and amusing ways, with a nice mix of earnest and snark).

    Couldn't agree more. Paul was freaking hysterical! My favorite bit was when he basically said the other three panalists were full of crap in regards to maintaining game balance by not selling the ubermostpowerfulbestest item. The others did walk their comments back a bit by saying that balance is important.

    Yad on
  • mazie kabluziemazie kabluzie Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I was completely disgusted by the Girls and Gaming panel. I stood in line for an hour to attend the panel, and my line experience parralleled my experience as a female gamer. For 45 minutes I was continually harrassed by a male gamer with lines like "I like my girls flexible, and by flexible, I mean unconscious". Although your reaction might have been one of immediate disgust, please keep in mind that as a girl gamer, I can't even play Rockband online without some form of inappropriate reaction from male gamers. While I understand something unexplainable happens to males when they have to open their mouths around females, it gets taxing to have to be continually tolerant in order to be a part of something I love to do--play video games!
    You can imagine my shock when the female members of the panel spent their time avoiding questions and flat out denying the frustrating experience of female gamers. I'm sorry, but simply saying that it doesn't matter what male gamers say, because "I'm going to kick their ass anyway" doesn't address the underlying problem of juvenille behavior toward female gamers.
    This panel was timed perfectly to follow-up on the article recently put out by Game Informer discussing industry decisions toward female gamers and female characters within games, and these issues were left untouched. I was so disgusted by the panel that I walked out, frustrated that I could feel completely sold out by women who have an opportunity to be heard but instead choose to tow the industry line.
    Since they didn't have the nerve to say it, I will: Attention Male Gamers, in the words of Will Wheaton, DON'T BE A DICK. Thank you.

    mazie kabluzie on
  • capnjackcapnjack Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    For 45 minutes I was continually harrassed by a male gamer with lines like "I like my girls flexible, and by flexible, I mean unconscious".
    I am absolutely amazed that this kind of crap still happens. Especially at PAX, of all places.

    Also, why are we continuing to segregate definitions of gamers as "gamer vs. girl-gamer"? Is it really necessary at this point? Does anyone care if they are gaming with girls? Is the phrase "girl gamer" just a marketing tool for focus groups for "Barbie Horse Adventures"? I don't get it.

    capnjack on
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  • kgagnekgagne MassachusettsRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    The panel on organizing a Child's Play charity was good, but the presenter didn't bring the adapter to connect his MacBook to the projector, so we were missing all the visuals. :-(

    kgagne on
  • NamrokNamrok Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I was pretty let down by the relationships in games panel. My girlfriend wanted to see it, and we both walked out. It was very much a "Let's pat ourselves on the back and talk about how awesome all our friends are" panel. I would have liked to see internet addiction brought up. Or even a nod towards the seedier side of internet relationships which we all know about. Because frankly, NONE of us would have gone to pax if we didn't believe that internet relationships can be as real and substantial as normal ones.

    Namrok on
  • ninjownedninjowned Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    The nvidia panel (fermi launch) was a bit disappointing to me. Not much solid info and I was underwhelmed by the visuals. RAY TRACING! TESSELLATION! OVER 1 MILLION PARTICLES!

    I would have been excited to see less technical terms and more real world use of them.

    ninjowned on
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  • lojurivelojurive Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I am so sorry that you had this experience. As a Mommy Gamer (I do not consider myself to be a "Girl Gamer" since I'm OVER 30 and likely the age of some of the attendees MOTHERS) I was shown nothing but respect. I was even flirted with several times (which was a GREAT stroking of my ego!) It's unfortunate that you and I had such separate experiences.
    I have to say though, that I saw quite a few GIRL gamers who were there FOR the attention. One girl in particular seemed to be following me around the expo . . . irritating me the whole way. Her high pitched squeals and her need to HANG on every halfway attractive male in the vicinity made me grit my teeth. When she happened to be in the same panel as I was and ended up being the center of attention by the room's camera crew I was ready to throw up.
    I was completely disgusted by the Girls and Gaming panel. I stood in line for an hour to attend the panel, and my line experience parralleled my experience as a female gamer. For 45 minutes I was continually harrassed by a male gamer with lines like "I like my girls flexible, and by flexible, I mean unconscious". Although your reaction might have been one of immediate disgust, please keep in mind that as a girl gamer, I can't even play Rockband online without some form of inappropriate reaction from male gamers. While I understand something unexplainable happens to males when they have to open their mouths around females, it gets taxing to have to be continually tolerant in order to be a part of something I love to do--play video games!
    You can imagine my shock when the female members of the panel spent their time avoiding questions and flat out denying the frustrating experience of female gamers. I'm sorry, but simply saying that it doesn't matter what male gamers say, because "I'm going to kick their ass anyway" doesn't address the underlying problem of juvenille behavior toward female gamers.
    This panel was timed perfectly to follow-up on the article recently put out by Game Informer discussing industry decisions toward female gamers and female characters within games, and these issues were left untouched. I was so disgusted by the panel that I walked out, frustrated that I could feel completely sold out by women who have an opportunity to be heard but instead choose to toe the industry line.
    Since they didn't have the nerve to say it, I will: Attention Male Gamers, in the words of Will Wheaton, DON'T BE A DICK. Thank you.

    lojurive on
  • LimondLimond Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    The Nvidia launch of the GTX 485 was pretty weak. Half of the presentations were poorly focused and didn't look all that good. With the games that they showed (BFBC2, Metro 2033, WoW, that driving game.) They really only did something in the first two games. In WoW he was just flying around on a mount and looked pretty much the same. I would have liked to see some fireballs coming at me or something. And the driving game there was no movement just the interior of a car.

    The Alliance/Horde symbols in 3d was probably the best looking thing that wasn't designed by Nvidia specially for the card though.

    Metro 2033 did seem like an interesting game.

    While I had to leave half way through the xbox live enforcement panel, not that anything was wrong with it just that I was really surprised about how many kids (13 and under) were there. Half the theater was quite when he talked of the Helicopter.

    Limond on
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  • mazie kabluziemazie kabluzie Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I am also a Mommy gamer (I have 4 kids) and def prefer female gamer over girl gamer! My overall PAX experience was awesome--sitter for the kids, weekend with my gamer husband--but it struck me as completely ridiculous and worth noting that my run-in with obnoxious male gamer occurred while waiting for a panel where this behavior was denied as a problem. Certainly as females there are times where we bring this behavior upon ourselves, or even encourage our own objectification--topics that would be wonderful to discuss in a panel about girls and gaming...
    lojurive wrote: »
    I am so sorry that you had this experience. As a Mommy Gamer (I do not consider myself to be a "Girl Gamer" since I'm OVER 30 and likely the age of some of the attendees MOTHERS) I was shown nothing but respect. I was even flirted with several times (which was a GREAT stroking of my ego!) It's unfortunate that you and I had such separate experiences.
    I have to say though, that I saw quite a few GIRL gamers who were there FOR the attention. One girl in particular seemed to be following me around the expo . . . irritating me the whole way. Her high pitched squeals and her need to HANG on every halfway attractive male in the vicinity made me grit my teeth. When she happened to be in the same panel as I was and ended up being the center of attention by the room's camera crew I was ready to throw up.

    mazie kabluzie on
  • thespianthespian Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Bigtoy_J wrote: »
    lojurive wrote: »
    I went to the Bringing Up the Next Generation of Geeks Panel and practically had to BEG my way into it. But I walked away with nothing more than the "warm fuzzies" that you get from being around other like-minded people. No real advice, no real information other than "yes I am raising a geek, and this is what they geek out about". It would have been nice to have MORE panelists with OLDER geek kids instead of a panel full of parents of toddlers. I was looking for mentors in my status as a geek mom with geek kids.

    I agree. I have a 3 year old that is already a geek whom I brag about all the time. I do not need a room with over 500 people in it to do said bragging.

    I don't think, sadly, that this was really the right panel for PAX, all told.

    I will recommend that Geek Parents who are in the Northeast check out Arisia, in January (http://arisia.org), which has an entire track devoted to geekly things for kids 6 to about 12 (ranging from crafts to hands on science to learning to fence and other things that geek kids want to do), and this past year had panels on Anime/Manga for Parents, Geek Parenting, Poly Parenting, Social Media for Parents, and more of that ilk. Panels are much more moderated than I saw at PAX, and of course they're smaller (25 to 50 people, though my '40 Years of Sesame Street'. which was NOT parent-oriented, neared 70 by the end of the hour).

    I'm really hopeful that PAX next year will do something about offering more panels, so that people aren't faced 10k people (assuming lots go and do other things) trying to decide between 3 panels at any one time. So many panels got *so* unfocused because of sheer numbers.

    Thes.

    thespian on
  • pardimatepardimate Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I was completely disgusted by the Girls and Gaming panel. I stood in line for an hour to attend the panel, and my line experience parralleled my experience as a female gamer. For 45 minutes I was continually harrassed by a male gamer with lines like "I like my girls flexible, and by flexible, I mean unconscious". Although your reaction might have been one of immediate disgust, please keep in mind that as a girl gamer, I can't even play Rockband online without some form of inappropriate reaction from male gamers. While I understand something unexplainable happens to males when they have to open their mouths around females, it gets taxing to have to be continually tolerant in order to be a part of something I love to do--play video games!
    You can imagine my shock when the female members of the panel spent their time avoiding questions and flat out denying the frustrating experience of female gamers. I'm sorry, but simply saying that it doesn't matter what male gamers say, because "I'm going to kick their ass anyway" doesn't address the underlying problem of juvenille behavior toward female gamers.
    This panel was timed perfectly to follow-up on the article recently put out by Game Informer discussing industry decisions toward female gamers and female characters within games, and these issues were left untouched. I was so disgusted by the panel that I walked out, frustrated that I could feel completely sold out by women who have an opportunity to be heard but instead choose to tow the industry line.
    Since they didn't have the nerve to say it, I will: Attention Male Gamers, in the words of Will Wheaton, DON'T BE A DICK. Thank you.

    That's so strange that you experienced the douchebaggery by male gamers at PAX, because I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly and normal everyone was the whole weekend. Everyone was very respectful, no one acted like it was unusual/special/weird that I played games as a female, no one made any 'get back in the kitchen' jokes, and the guys who flirted with me were just normal about it, not immature. That's really too bad that they avoided the more difficult issues at the panel, and it's really disappointing you get that kind of treatment. I guess I've been lucky in avoiding a large majority of that, both in online gaming (save for some inevitable 13 year olds on XBox Live) and in person.

    pardimate on
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