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Please, no more beach balls.

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Posts

  • ukiyo eukiyo e Registered User regular
    When you're in a crowd with thousands of people sometimes you have to tolerate some minor annoyances like getting hit in the head with a beachball. When given the square footage of the line room and the square footage of your head, the chances of that happening more then once are very, very slim.

    Also, spiderman.
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  • Cosmic HippoCosmic Hippo Registered User regular
    Just so you know, the power glove was sanitized Regularly!

  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    People are also forgetting that it's extremely embarassing to get whacked by something when your attention is elsewhere
    ukiyo e wrote:
    When you're in a crowd with thousands of people sometimes you have to tolerate some minor annoyances like getting hit in the head with a beachball.

    Yeah, except for the fact that people were intentionally spiking the ball into other people's heads.

  • AnnaThemaAnnaThema Registered User regular
    ukiyo e wrote:
    When you're in a crowd with thousands of people sometimes you have to tolerate some minor annoyances like getting hit in the head with a beachball. When given the square footage of the line room and the square footage of your head, the chances of that happening more then once are very, very slim.

    Yes, it is very slim, until you add in the human jackass variable. When people are spiking it directly at you because you have the audacity to not want to play, it moves from the realm of "minor annoyance" to harassment.

  • XbunnyXbunny Registered User new member
    As a girl who often wears crazy things on my head during PAX, and has occasionally been hit by both stray and directed beach balls, I find this thread sad and irritating. If I couldn't take a beach ball to the head once in a while, I'd leave the lines or make other arrangements, not call for their removal. Even being hit with them can be entertaining, it almost always generates a discussion with fellow line-waiters that I wouldn't trade away, especially not because someone feels sorry that I'm a poor girl being hit! If you want to defend someone who's being targeted, stand by them and deflect balls, calling for a ban seems silly.

    All Hail Ball!

  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2011
    A few things:

    1) Forced participation is an interesting concept, and the OP does have a point. Playing games with your friends is one thing, introducing a projectile (however soft and floaty it is) into the crowd is another. You are forcing participation, in one form or another, from a lot of people in the crowd.

    2) On the subject of the Spider-Man guy: Being highly skilled doesn't mean you get to violate the rules without asking. No one knows you're a AAA-certified-three-star climber or whatever the fuck: the people who have taken up the charge of keeping you all organized, safe, and happy (enforcers, security, whatever) see that as a horrible disaster waiting to happen, because it is. There are also a myriad of other factors to think about, like sudden crowds forming around that spectacle which then have to be managed. As Khoo hinted at: that's fucking sweet, but please don't do that.

    3) Responses akin to "harden the fuck up" are not helpful in the slightest. The OP has a valid point, in my opinion. If you want to disagree, actually disagree, maybe with an insightful comment or an interesting question. Calling someone a pussy hasn't advanced any discussion, ever, in the history of time.

    4) Likewise, the issue of touching is also valid. Wil Wheaton doesn't give people hugs because he doesn't want to get sick and nobody gives him shit for it, so don't give other people a hard time, either. If you don't want to touch other things or other people, that's your deal. Whether it will reduce your chances of getting sick is probably an issue that no one here is qualified to discuss, so let's not.

    5) Like anything that's fun but probably not the best idea in the world, beach balls will probably get ruined by silly gooses who took it too far. Just like fireworks.

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • AnnaThemaAnnaThema Registered User regular
    Xbunny wrote:
    As a girl who often wears crazy things on my head during PAX, and has occasionally been hit by both stray and directed beach balls, I find this thread sad and irritating. If I couldn't take a beach ball to the head once in a while, I'd leave the lines or make other arrangements, not call for their removal. Even being hit with them can be entertaining, it almost always generates a discussion with fellow line-waiters that I wouldn't trade away, especially not because someone feels sorry that I'm a poor girl being hit! If you want to defend someone who's being targeted, stand by them and deflect balls, calling for a ban seems silly.

    All Hail Ball!

    Yeah, great, you're hardcore. Some people, myself included, aren't. As a general rule, I really hate being hit in the face with things. As a paying customer of PAX, I shouldn't have to man up and deal with a physical discomfort caused by people whose only intention is to cause physical discomfort.

    Big floaty ball bounced around = fun.

    Small ball being kicked/spiked into my face because I'm not participating = not fun.

    I shouldn't have to change my PAX experience because some people are inconsiderate dicks.

  • kazuokazuo Registered User regular
    edited August 2011
    How about, I did read the post, smart guy.

    I see what you did there

    Anyway, in all seriousness, look. If people were deliberately smashing the ball into her skull, y'all should have asked them to stop. Failing that, involve enforcers. That is what they are there for.

    Just because a few knuckleheads are obviously being assholes doesn't mean we should ban beach balls.

    By this token, we should ban everything that mildly inconveniences even a few people, and, at that rate, we may as well just call off PAX, and, possibly, life itself.

    People should not have to change their PAX experience because some people are inconvenienced by a big floaty bouncing ball. Again, if people are intentionally attempting to cause you physical discomfort, you either need to confront them, or, if you are uncomfortable with that, you need to involve an enforcer.

    #slipperyslope

    #letsbanbaseballbatsbecausesomeonemayhaveusedabaseballbattohitsomeoneonetime
    harrysaxon wrote:
    kazuo wrote:
    hey guys lets ban fun

    How about, let's never ban beach balls. Ever.

    How about, read the post and ask the girl with tears in her eyes if she found it fun. Ever.

    kazuo on
  • AnnaThemaAnnaThema Registered User regular
    kazuo wrote:

    People should not have to change their PAX experience because some people are inconvenienced by a big floaty bouncing ball. Again, if people are intentionally attempting to cause you physical discomfort, you either need to confront them, or, if you are uncomfortable with that, you need to involve an enforcer.

    I'm not saying ban the balls. I'm saying get rid of the ones that can be hit with enough force to be seriously jarring. And it's hard to confront someone or get an enforcer when you're in a press of people, may lose your place, and can't see who's doing it to you. As previously mentioned, I was being targeted because I wasn't participating and, thus, not paying attention.

    I'm not asking anyone to change their PAX experience, just the method in which they participate. Not all balls are big, happy, floaty ones. Some are small, hard, and stingy, and I've found them to be a vehicle for malicious behavior. I don't get in line for panels to play dodgeball. I get in line for panels to see the panels. I don't think it's asking the world for there to be a size/weight restriction on the balls.

    Sigh.

  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2011
    It's disappointing to see people's unwillingness to part with something so trivial as a beach ball when it's causing someone else pain and discomfort. I take solace in the fact that most PAXers wouldn't make that decision.

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • inkedcatsinkedcats Registered User regular
    AnnaThema wrote:
    Yeah, great, you're hardcore. Some people, myself included, aren't. As a general rule, I really hate being hit in the face with things. As a paying customer of PAX, I shouldn't have to man up and deal with a physical discomfort caused by people whose only intention is to cause physical discomfort.

    Big floaty ball bounced around = fun.

    Small ball being kicked/spiked into my face because I'm not participating = not fun.

    I shouldn't have to change my PAX experience because some people are inconsiderate dicks.

    This. I also feel that the beach balls are unneeded. When I am standing in line for hours, if I didn't bring something to entertain myself, or possess the skill to strike up a conversation without being smacked with a ball first, then that is my own fault. I appreciate the swag throws, the contests on stage, etc. Having to constantly dodge a ball when I am trying to read, play a game or chat is annoying.

  • harrysaxonharrysaxon Registered User regular
    kazuo wrote:
    #letsbanbaseballbatsbecausesomeonemayhaveusedabaseballbattohitsomeoneonetime

    I assume you made this hash tag up to imply we shouldn't ban baseball bats in the real world just because some people use them as weapons. Because you do know that baseball bats are banned from PAX, right?

    I never said anything about "ban". I said, "let's voluntarily cut it out, or at least only use big soft ones if people MUST use them, so at least dicks can't spike people in the face".

    On a side note, who knew so many people had such a hard on for batting beach balls. Maybe these people should consider a volleyball retreat instead.

  • AnnaThemaAnnaThema Registered User regular
    harrysaxon wrote:

    On a side note, who knew so many people had such a hard on for batting beach balls. Maybe these people should consider a volleyball retreat instead.

    I KNOE RITE? People really didn't seem that aggressive with them last year, but I also (personally) didn't see nearly as many balls in lines and such either. I guess it's the overwhelming spirit of competitive nerdiness.

    On an extremely less mature note, are there any other blue collars out there finding it embarrassingly funny that this thread is pretty much all about people getting smacked in the face with balls? No? No one?

    ...I'll go practice my fart jokes.

  • harrysaxonharrysaxon Registered User regular
    AnnaThema wrote:
    On an extremely less mature note, are there any other blue collars out there finding it embarrassingly funny that this thread is pretty much all about people getting smacked in the face with balls? No? No one?

    The humour has not been lost on me at any rate. I did intentionally make a reference earlier to dicks smacking balls into people's faces.

  • spydeyspydey Registered User regular
    I vote to get rid of the beach balls too. I got tired of being hit with them trying to play my DS.

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