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PAX Prime Suggestions Thread

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  • FizzTheCarbonatedFizzTheCarbonated Registered User regular
    Kana wrote:
    All I know is that it has half-naked women in powered armor on the escalators, and mechs designed to stop anyone from using the mirrors in the bathrooms.

    A+, would LOL again.

    Actually, I don't remember seeing any Firefall ads in any of the women's restrooms I used over the course of the weekend. Did any other women's room users notice them? Did I just manage to pee in the four un-adbombed women's rooms?

  • GeekyPrincessGeekyPrincess Registered User regular
    Kana wrote:
    All I know is that it has half-naked women in powered armor on the escalators, and mechs designed to stop anyone from using the mirrors in the bathrooms.

    A+, would LOL again.

    Actually, I don't remember seeing any Firefall ads in any of the women's restrooms I used over the course of the weekend. Did any other women's room users notice them? Did I just manage to pee in the four un-adbombed women's rooms?

    I have a picture on my phone from one of the ladies rooms with it. Nothing like washing your hands and suddenly having huge armor covered boobs!

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  • schattyschatty Registered User regular
    My only complaint is that the Omegathon final round seems to get less fun every year (not complaining about the game). I end up waiting for over an hour to see it, and it only lasted 20 minutes. I liked when you used to include a video of the other rounds, or just PAX in general. Those videos always got me more excited about the final round or just showed me something I missed that I could check out next year. The Omegathon final round used to be my favorite part, and a great way to end PAX.

  • PeralandraPeralandra Registered User new member
    I don't know if anyone has suggested this yet but for the congestion maybe give the staff at the game exhibits that same lights the enforcers were using to check for forged passes. I didn't mind showing my pass to the enforcer near the Kirby people for my shirt. If forgers wait in lines to get to play the demos and get swag and then get turned away after 2 hours that may deter them and move lines faster for people that actually paid.

  • randayranday Registered User new member
    there was some media types filming something on the walkway with glass railings near the escalators by the handheld lounge. not sure if they had badges or not, did not notice. but they chose a dumb spot to shoot, and then there was an angry fellow who had resorted to physically persuading attendees into not walking in front of the camera. i witnessed him almost violently clothesline a young man who did not notice him. he also held his arms spread out and barked for people to go around. young man was not amused.

  • AtomicGaryBuseyAtomicGaryBusey I put on my robe and wizard hat. Beautiful Lynnhood, Wash.Registered User regular
    randay wrote:
    there was some media types filming something on the walkway with glass railings near the escalators by the handheld lounge. not sure if they had badges or not, did not notice. but they chose a dumb spot to shoot, and then there was an angry fellow who had resorted to physically persuading attendees into not walking in front of the camera. i witnessed him almost violently clothesline a young man who did not notice him. he also held his arms spread out and barked for people to go around. young man was not amused.

    I noticed the aggressiveness of some of the media as well, but my solution was a bit different. I simply photobombed every single media-looking video camera setup I passed. I'd slow down to a crawl, look directly at the camera and make Calvin-and-Hobbes level crazy faces as I passed. ;)

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  • trickycooljtrickycoolj Registered User regular
    Kana wrote:
    All I know is that it has half-naked women in powered armor on the escalators, and mechs designed to stop anyone from using the mirrors in the bathrooms.

    A+, would LOL again.

    Actually, I don't remember seeing any Firefall ads in any of the women's restrooms I used over the course of the weekend. Did any other women's room users notice them? Did I just manage to pee in the four un-adbombed women's rooms?

    I have a picture on my phone from one of the ladies rooms with it. Nothing like washing your hands and suddenly having huge armor covered boobs!

    The women's room next to BYOC had them and they were way too tall for the purpose, eye-shuh and I realized we were about a foot too short for our heads to reach the top of the body cutout. It was good for the lawlz Friday morning.

  • AlatheiaAlatheia Registered User regular
    Peralandra wrote:
    I don't know if anyone has suggested this yet but for the congestion maybe give the staff at the game exhibits that same lights the enforcers were using to check for forged passes. I didn't mind showing my pass to the enforcer near the Kirby people for my shirt. If forgers wait in lines to get to play the demos and get swag and then get turned away after 2 hours that may deter them and move lines faster for people that actually paid.
    The people that had the professionally forged badges did not know that their badges were fakes. There were multiple people that cried and told sob stories at Info Booth when Jedi told them that he had to take their badge and kick them out, they all had no idea. If you didn't know what exactly to look for on the fakes or have it right next to/overlapping a real badge they were very difficult to spot. Teaching other Enforcers how to spot the fakes was not one of the highlights of my weekend.

  • SecretAgentCowSecretAgentCow Registered User regular
    edited August 2011
    I absolutely loved the enforcers this year, this was my fourth PAX and I've never been treated better by the enforcers than I was this year (I don't mean to say that they were rude before, they just seemed especially friendly) this year). The other thing that seemed like it could've been improved was communication between the enforcers regarding lines. No one really seemed to know where me and my friends should go to wait for skyrim, and we were moved several times to different lines before we got into the real one. I would think that they'd be a little more prepared for panels that are going to attract a large number of people to the line early. (Also, a shout-out to the enforcer with the awesome evil villain cape, that was my favorite enforcer uniform there)

    SecretAgentCow on
  • SecretAgentCowSecretAgentCow Registered User regular
    Oh, and another point I forgot to point out/ask about. Why did all the lines to booths seem to close so early this year? around 5 on Saturday, my friends and I were turned away from three different booth lines before we found something we could actually do. Last year it seemed like the booths didn't close until the very last moment. As for the closed off booths, I don't understand them if people are just playing, but I know that there were some that were justified in being enclosed, like the colonial marines booth. They did a live playthrough of a demo, and having it in a darkened room really added to the atmosphere, not to mention everyone who worked at that booth knew what they were talking about and actually cared about the game. I really appreciated the sincerity and overall "niceness" of everyone who worked there.

  • superpricesuperprice Registered User new member
    4th PAX now:

    Pros:
    +Paramount: Amazing place for the Main Theater and great space
    +(Dire)Wolfman as Overflow: Great idea. Not bad for opting out of Main Theater to see Omegathon
    +Enforcers: Again, super helpful and awesome like always. Never had a problem with them.
    +Nintendo on Lvl 2/3: I actually liked having Nintendo not have everything in the Expo hall, even if it did cut into the lounge area.
    +Omegathon: Still can't top the Omegaclaw, but it was awesome none the less.
    +GoG Booth Ladies: A+ for being creative, guys
    +The Resumes/Cover Letters Panel as very helpful, and the Sheraton has some great space.

    Cons:
    -Lines in Expo Hall: Force the vendors to plan for any lines they will have and try to limit their demo's to 10 minutes. While having a demo room is fine, having a 4+hr wait to get into it is a little overkill, especially in the expo hall. I would actually prefer any playable demo's not be closed off, so if we can't get into play it, we can still see it. Or at least have a place where we can see game play footage that isn't mostly hidden by the booth.
    -Floor space usage: Looking at you, Mass Effect. I was really excited to see that Bioware had so much booth space this year. Seeing that almost all of that space was used for walled off areas with no overhead videos was disappointing. The only ME3 game play I saw was at their mini stage, which wasn't much.
    -Counterfeit Badges: I would not be opposed to having them limit the sales of badges to so many per person/card. I don't think max of 5-8 badges pre person is an unreasonable number. If a company has a large group, that's fine, but if a person needs to buy 30+ badges, that seems a bit odd to me. Also, switching up the design and including a holographic sticker+raised printed design is something I wouldn't mind seeing, even if it costs just a bit more. I wouldn't mind paying 10$ more if I don't not have to worry about PAX being shut down due to breaking Fire Codes.
    -HaloFest: Not dissing Halo, but the place was a bit of a waste of space. I don't mind having an area for a company to do something like that, but some of that space could have been used for the PCFreeplay or more Panels.
    -Lounge Area: Need more of it, please. One tiny area was not enough, especially by Sunday Afternoon.
    -Omegathon: It felt really short this year. I think they were over and done with in less than 20 Minutes. Even in the panel book, they had a slot for a whole hour.

  • KanaKana Registered User regular
    Uh, Quick note: Limiting the number of badges someone buys doesn't really do anything to prevent counterfeits, since, y'know, they're counterfeit. :)

    And actually iirc the scalpers last year had to have several accomplices to manage buying all the tickets that they did, it's not like it was 1 guy who just bought them all and mailed 'em to his house.

    Oh yeah, and to anyone in authority who's reading this thread: Don't believe the companies when they say they need the booth walls to protect their IP or whatever. Mass Effect made everyone going through their line sign a statement agreeing that they wouldn't record anything inside.... And then just showed us the same demo that has already been put out by media on youtube in its entirety.

    Also in general if there was some way to limit the max volume of every booth... I understand that some booths need that volume, like dancing and music games, but it just turned into a red queen's race, where every booth is cranking up their speakers more and more to stay equally loud.

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  • 61Ranchero61Ranchero Registered User regular
    Too many previous suggestions now to avoid repeats:

    Badge counterfeiting has to be dealt with. Even if it makes things a little harder to organize, charge a bit more and do it anyway. Add a barcode, qr code, hologram, something.

    The enforcers were trying but my wife personally experience issues with this years line management in the case of the Onlive booth (kudos for giving out free consoles, guys but, damn did it cause problems). The line was cut off (ok) but, instead of a long or second line, people just crowded around the Zelda booth and surged forward as soon as the line opened up. Not a better solution. The Star Wars guys had the right idea (passes to come back at a later time) and this should be pushed as the standard in my opinion. Four hour plus waits by 11:00am are simply horrifying.

    Booth babes simply accomplished; if it's not a costume that can clearly be related to your game and you're being paid, no skimpy outfits. Just do what every business does and apply a dress code. I don't mind skimpy outfits but I dislike people presuming that sex will sell their game. And I really disliked the crowds of guys who were getting pictures with (non-game related) booth babes. Have some self respect fellas.

  • Y|yukichigaiY|yukichigai Registered User regular
    edited September 2011
    randay wrote:
    there was some media types filming something on the walkway with glass railings near the escalators by the handheld lounge. not sure if they had badges or not, did not notice. but they chose a dumb spot to shoot, and then there was an angry fellow who had resorted to physically persuading attendees into not walking in front of the camera. i witnessed him almost violently clothesline a young man who did not notice him. he also held his arms spread out and barked for people to go around. young man was not amused.

    The media was atrocious this year, inasmuch as I've ever noticed them in previous years. Worse than that, they were absolute jerks to the people with medical badges: if you don't know, people with certain medical conditions (stability issues, spine issues, lots of others) can get medical badges and get in to the Expo hall an hour early one day so they don't have to wait in lines or have their brittle disease-weakened bones crushed by hapless Expo-goers. This year that day was Friday, the first day of the Expo, and the Media was let in at the same time. I literally cannot count the number of booths my medical badge-wearing friends were locked out of because the media got there first and had 8+ demo machines tied up but empty because they didn't want us gamers "ruining the shot." A few times we arrived at a booth only to be kicked out a minute later because some media people showed up.

    EDIT: Because this was asked in PM, no it was NOT the Enforcers who kicked us out, it was either the media or the booth workers. The Enforcers were immensely helpful when it came to Medical Badge issues.

    I could go into more detail, but hml151 and I are working on a comprehensive writeup about the whole medical badge situation overall, beyond the clashes with Media, and I don't want to say too much twice. To boil this one point down, and to paraphrase from Family Guy, the Media weren't just being jerks to gamers, they were being jerks to gamers with diseases.

    Other things:

    - Good on more of the presenters for carrying swag shirts and clothing in the "above XL" range, versus last year when basically nobody did. Bad on them for not carrying nearly enough. I know its a bit cliche, but a larger percentage of gamers are overweight compared to the national average; adjust your swag stock accordingly.

    - I'd conditionally support the "one shirt/swag/etc. per badge via hole punch/scan/etc." idea if it meant that companies would be handing out swag without requiring you to wait in a 6 hour line to play their demo, something I am usually not willing to do. Yes, I do like getting multiple shirts and whatnot if they're handing them out indiscriminately, but I like the concept of being guaranteed a shirt at all even more.

    - Bring back the sumo pillow gaming floor, seriously. That place was a vital haven for having a nice, relatively quiet few minutes when the Expo just got to be too much. Not only that, I miss the dedicated WiFi networks for each handheld type; being able to play Mario Kart on my DS at any time or place at the event and being guaranteed a full roster of opponents (most of whom I'm sure were in the gaming lounge) was just magical.

    - The Firefall folks went a bit nuts with the fog machines towards the last days of the Expo. I don't know if you're aware of this, but all but the most expensive types of fog "fluids" can act as irritants, or cause allergic reactions. Beyond that the fog was spreading a surprising distance, well past the limits of the Firefall sprawl and into other booths. I doubt the other companies were amused.

    - Check and double check that the Seattle Convention Center folks have actually turned off the cell phone blockers well in advance of Friday, and that they will stay off. I know PAX has had problems with this in the past. The very back alcove in the Expo area (near Spiderman and Torchlight II) was a no-signal area, and the transition was so relatively abrupt I'm 80% sure it was a cell blocker.

    - Also on the topic of wireless communications, there either wasn't any free WiFi with internet access in the Expo area or it wasn't working. Either way that should be changed, even if we only wind up with 128kbit/s capped connections per each IP/device, because I know that plenty of people use (or tried to use) chat/IM/etc. to communicate with each other.

    - I 27th the motion that boxed-in booths suck on numerous levels and should be discouraged, if not banned. If you want to keep your demo secretive and exclusive, schedule some time over at the theater.


    That's all I have for now

    Y|yukichigai on
  • perinigriconperinigricon Registered User regular
    Overall, a great PAX this year and one of the best-run cons I've been to, even with the counterfeit issues.

    Any chance next year (when Halo Fest doesn't exist), we could use the space for tabletop freeplay? It was very hard to find groups this year as the tabletop rooms were so spread out. One large room (other than checkout, that was fine) would make it much easier.

    +1 on the line volume. There's a reason I could only stand to spend 30 minutes in the expo hall this year; I don't like having my eardrums bleed.

    Also +1 on preventing walled-off booths. That's not what PAX is about; leaks occur. If you're that paranoid about that, show it off at E3 instead for the media where you can control what is shown. Same with overzealous media; I'm fine with media badges to differentiate media from attendees, just don't give them any special rights over what we get as standard attendees.

  • altmannaltmann Registered User regular
    edited August 2011
    ditch halofest and consolidate Tabletop and miniature gaming into the annex. I was kinda pissed that it was tucked into a side hallway.

    PLEASE moderate the Q&As. PLEASE. I have been going to pax since the first one and it's almost ridiculous. Just limit them to one question OR one gift to gabe/tycho. I'd say even not allowing gifts, because I've seen them get the same chocolates/plushies/hugs year after year. I love G&T it's why I attend pax, but I don't make a 10 thousand person theater wait while I take my one on one time with them.

    Also, more booth babes.

    Yeah, I'm that fucking guy.

    altmann on
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  • trickycooljtrickycoolj Registered User regular
    - Check and double check that the Seattle Convention Center folks have actually turned off the cell phone blockers well in advance of Friday, and that they will stay off. I know PAX has had problems with this in the past. The very back alcove in the Expo area (near Spiderman and Torchlight II) was a no-signal area, and the transition was so relatively abrupt I'm 80% sure it was a cell blocker.

    AFAIK those are illegal per the Federal Communications Commission. That's really a known dead area in the convention center and above ground across the street when on the freeway. As is the annex where Halofest/WotC was. These problems occur during Emerald City Comicon as well with far less attendance. Signal just doesn't penetrate layers of concrete and steel. When I worked in an office tower downtown if you moved away from the exterior offices with windows cell signal was abysmal.

  • Y|yukichigaiY|yukichigai Registered User regular
    edited August 2011
    - Check and double check that the Seattle Convention Center folks have actually turned off the cell phone blockers well in advance of Friday, and that they will stay off. I know PAX has had problems with this in the past. The very back alcove in the Expo area (near Spiderman and Torchlight II) was a no-signal area, and the transition was so relatively abrupt I'm 80% sure it was a cell blocker.

    AFAIK those are illegal per the Federal Communications Commission. That's really a known dead area in the convention center and above ground across the street when on the freeway. As is the annex where Halofest/WotC was. These problems occur during Emerald City Comicon as well with far less attendance. Signal just doesn't penetrate layers of concrete and steel. When I worked in an office tower downtown if you moved away from the exterior offices with windows cell signal was abysmal.

    There are or at least were FCC exceptions that can allow facilities to operate them, and I distinctly remember talk of the Convention Center's dedicated cell blockers being accidentally turned on during PAX three years ago. Doesn't mean things haven't changed, nor does it mean that the issue I was having wasn't just caused by the structure like you said, but I honestly do not remember having that issue in that section of the Expo hall in years past.

    EDIT: It looks as though the "exceptions" a certain unnamed aerospace company uses to justify their use of cell blockers, which I was basing my statement off of, is actually more along the lines of "the FCC hasn't gotten around to invoking this law yet". Oh well, I still remember talk of cell blockers, though now I wonder if people knew what they were talking about.

    Y|yukichigai on
  • akjakakjak Thera Spooky GymRegistered User regular
    Correct me if I'm wrong, but there seems to be a correlation between walled booths and ridiculous lines.

    Would most of you agree that (like me) getting to WATCH someone play a game is almost as good as playing it? I know that I was often satisfied with watching and felt no need to line up...

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  • Y|yukichigaiY|yukichigai Registered User regular
    akjak wrote:
    Correct me if I'm wrong, but there seems to be a correlation between walled booths and ridiculous lines.

    Would most of you agree that (like me) getting to WATCH someone play a game is almost as good as playing it? I know that I was often satisfied with watching and felt no need to line up...

    For almost every gametype out there, yes. A few aren't quite as easy to watch, like the character setup on some MMOs, or things were I really want to feel what the controls are like (Tribes: Ascent versus Firefall), but most of the time I get a lot from just watching someone play the game.

    I can honestly say I skipped the Borderlands 2 booth specifically because their booth was walled. There was nothing out there to catch my eye and lure me into waiting in line, and this is coming from someone who loves and still plays the first game on a semi-regular basis. If someone already predisposed to liking the game can't work up the motivation to wait in line, how can they expect to attract new people so they can sell them on the game?

  • ASimPersonASimPerson Cold... and hard.Registered User regular
    My only real complaint is that I waited in line 45 minutes for the Omegathon finale which lasted less than 15 minutes. That kind of sucked. I thought the finale was a good idea, in principle, it just needed to be longer.

    Other than that, well, lines are what they are for me. Everything seems crowded compared to PAX2007.

  • hml151hml151 Registered User regular
    Yyukichigai, I love my Sherpa! Thanks for watching my back, literally. I'm really sad to see how many problems there were with media.

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  • TOGSolidTOGSolid Drunk sailor Seattle, WashingtonRegistered User regular
    edited September 2011
    No more closed booths. All they do is cause a massive line backup, annoy the attendees, and cause pointless work for the enforcers.

    Also, standing in line for one of these things only to find it's just a video at the end is a good way to cheese people off (looking at you Colonial Marines). So yea, fully closed booths that have 20-30 minute presentations/demos == get rid of em please. They're a recent thing so it's still early enough to nip this practice in the bud.

    The only exception is The Darkness 2 who had a one out/one in policy and were ID checking everyone for age because they didn't want underage players trying to get in. Massive props to them for that.

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  • BuraisuBuraisu Psychomancer Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited September 2011
    I know the perfect solution to the media problem. Let them stay for an hour after the Expo Hall closes instead of before. Then let medical badges in an hour before which solve the conflict between the two. This would enforce the idea that PAX is for gamers, not the media.

    Buraisu on
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  • SrenaebSrenaeb Registered User regular
    randay wrote:
    there was an angry fellow who had resorted to physically persuading attendees into not walking in front of the camera.
    The media was atrocious this year...they were absolute jerks to the people with medical badges
    Buraisu wrote:
    I know the perfect solution to the media problem. Let them stay for an hour after the Expo Hall closes instead of before. Then let medical badges in an hour before, then there will be no conflict. This would enforce the idea that PAX is for gamers, not the media.

    As a 5th-time Prime attendee and 1st time medical badge holder (this year only: I hope this wasn't the way holders have been treated previous years, and I sincerely hope it improves for them in all coming years), I will second this. I won't give you my sob story here, but all media and exhibitors need to understand, the way that our dearest Enforcers+everyone at PA do, that PAX priority goes 1) PAXers in need --> 2) PAXers --> 3) everyone else --> 4) media. They need to be made to understand that any behaviour that prioritizes themselves over that of gamers will result in community unhappiness/backlash. Go do your press releases somewhere else if you want nothing to do with the "unwashed masses": this convention is for the unwashed masses. We are not your canned applause sound effect.

    I'm not sure what kind of application process goes into selecting booth companies, but they need to be serious in their proposal of "how will your booth maximize happiness and minimize unhappiness for the gamers?." Part of their business plan needs to include how they plan to handle crowds, huge demands, demand on unpurchased floorspace, and demand on Enforcer staff to help them maintain happiness. I love the idea of our Enforcers holding up apx wait times and end of line signs, but we shouldn't have to provide this.

    ---

    on a completely unrelated note:
    "Skywatch" ...while it was neat...people didn't realize that there was basically nothing to the booth but having them take your blurry picture and put it on a card.
    Mayhaps you shouldn't stand in mystery lines if you are not prepared for surprises. My party of 10 absolutely LOVED skywatch's actors and the mystery surprises...not to discount your opinion, but I just felt like I should chime in, in case the guy who came up with it is reading, and cries a sad lonely tear.

  • hml151hml151 Registered User regular
    The Citizen Skywatch people were awesome. We got turned away on the Medical Pass Hour due to Media but they fit us in at the end of Saturday before the media. The actors/actress where fun and interactive. Thank you Skywatch and the media group that let us in before them.

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  • MonkeyConQuesoMonkeyConQueso No more MH Claw Happy handsRegistered User regular
    Srenaeb wrote:
    "Skywatch" ...while it was neat...people didn't realize that there was basically nothing to the booth but having them take your blurry picture and put it on a card.
    Mayhaps you shouldn't stand in mystery lines if you are not prepared for surprises. My party of 10 absolutely LOVED skywatch's actors and the mystery surprises...not to discount your opinion, but I just felt like I should chime in, in case the guy who came up with it is reading, and cries a sad lonely tear.

    LOL, if some people found the booth entertaining, then I wholeheartedly withdraw my comment ;). Different strokes/different folks and all that.

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  • nearlysobernearlysober Registered User regular
    I waited in the Skywatch booth because the line was "short", but I had no idea if I was gonna see gameplay, get to play, or get cool swag. Turns out, none of the above. I knew I was rolling the dice, but the set intrigued me and I had fun with the actors (they made me sing the National Anthem, I asked "which one?", "Ours!"). If I was really worried about what was inside, I could've waited at the exit and asked someone if it was worth the wait.

    Anyway, I'm still intrigued by the game. Overall, I'd like to see less closed off booths & giant lines in the expo hall too.

    I agree that the Final Round of Omegathon seemed too short. It was my first final round and I was hoping there'd be some sort of "closing ceremony" in addition to the actual competition itself which, while awesome, was only like 10 minutes.

  • EntriechEntriech ? ? ? ? ? Ontario, CanadaRegistered User regular
    Please see about partnering with a media distribution company and live-streaming the event. For example, look at what Blizzcon does in partnership with DirecTV. They're pulling 40$ a pop for two days of streaming. You guys have got to have 20x the content they do. Even if it was just un-moderated feeds of a couple of the panel rooms, it'd be something.

    I am 100% uninterested in dropping 60$ to stand in line for things I won't get to see. Open this jazz up for your audience.

  • havok978havok978 Baltimore, MdRegistered User regular
    randay wrote:
    there was some media types filming something on the walkway with glass railings near the escalators by the handheld lounge. not sure if they had badges or not, did not notice. but they chose a dumb spot to shoot, and then there was an angry fellow who had resorted to physically persuading attendees into not walking in front of the camera. i witnessed him almost violently clothesline a young man who did not notice him. he also held his arms spread out and barked for people to go around. young man was not amused.

    The media was atrocious this year, inasmuch as I've ever noticed them in previous years. Worse than that, they were absolute jerks to the people with medical badges: if you don't know, people with certain medical conditions (stability issues, spine issues, lots of others) can get medical badges and get in to the Expo hall an hour early one day so they don't have to wait in lines or have their brittle disease-weakened bones crushed by hapless Expo-goers. This year that day was Friday, the first day of the Expo, and the Media was let in at the same time. I literally cannot count the number of booths my medical badge-wearing friends were locked out of because the media got there first and had 8+ demo machines tied up but empty because they didn't want us gamers "ruining the shot." A few times we arrived at a booth only to be kicked out a minute later because some media people showed up.

    Yeah, it seems like some of the media folks were really blatant this year. Even as recently as PAX East 2011, I could probably count on one hand the number times I was bumped by media to play a demo. This year at Prime, I can probably count the number of times I wasn't bumped, in some cases at least twice in row, by media. I can totally believe you about machines being tied up cause a similar thing happened at the Uncharted 3 booth while I was in line when a group of about 6 or so media folks showed up. I understand PAX has become a larger show, and there's gonna be media presence, but someone needs to rein that in, because bumping medical folks to get your demo in and not "ruin the shot", especially when you already have this hour dedicated just to you, is a total violation of Wheaton's Law.

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  • ScrabbleDudeScrabbleDude Registered User regular
    edited September 2011
    Loved PAX this year, but did not spend much time on the expo hall floor.

    Some areas for improvement:

    Lines -- I disliked the fact that everyone was forced to stand in line instead of being able to relax. I was looking forward to playing Magic or something while waiting in lines, but instead had to stand shoulder-to-shoulder for quite some time.

    Omegathon - Final Round -- I used to like how it was more of a closing ceremony. That was lacking this year. I also wanted to see Mike vs. Jerry.

    Freeplay -- I mainly spent time in the Classic Console Freeplay room and was upset that even if the room was empty, and no one was waiting on a machine or a game, you still got booted after 30 minutes. When playing classic games that don't allow you to save your game or ones without password saves, this is a little ridiculous. I managed to get halfway through Castlevania III before getting kicked out despite the room being empty. And a friend and I got kicked out when playing Turtles in Time despite their being lots of SNES's and copies of the game. At the end, friend and I were playing the last boss in Bubble Bobble and got told to leave after 30 minutes. There was tons of space, so I went next door to ask if they could just renew our time, and the Enforcer there said they weren't supposed to be kicking people out if there was no demand for games or systems. This was the only sore point of my weekend, and I'd love it to be fixed in the future.

    Oh, and the PC Freeplay line was long, and seemed odd since there were a ton of machines not being used. Also, couldn't play StarCraft 2 since it required an update and wasn't able to download it.

    Lastly, PAX WiFi. Managed to get on and it was good when I did, but the WiFi network was not strong enough for an event with that many gadgets.

    ScrabbleDude on
  • whypick1whypick1 PAX [E] Info Booth Manager ~2' from an LCDRegistered User regular
    Oh, and the PC Freeplay line was long, and seemed odd since there were a ton of machines not being used. Also, couldn't play StarCraft 2 since it required an update and wasn't able to download it.

    1. Might have been clearing computers for an upcoming tournament.
    2. There was an issue with getting all of the computers imaged the same, so SC2 and LoL required re-applying patches on quite a few machines.

    Is it PAX <insert nearest future PAX here> yet?
  • dyaballikldyaballikl PAX Main Theatre House & Security Manager • PAX Community Cartographer Gold Coast QLD AustraliaRegistered User regular
    I don't want to sound defensive at all here, as that is not what this thread is about. I would, however, like to clarify the purpose of the media hour being before general doors on Friday:

    The media want to have a story written on the news to report it before you leak it via tweets. That's pretty much it. And that's about all the special privileges media passes get at PAX (besides a place to write said stories). Medical badge access during this time just seemed like a nice thing to add.

    That being said, bullying by media badges (or anyone) is unacceptable. I will pass the message along to those who ought to know. Hopefully this can be prevented next year.

    a.k.a. dya
    "Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
  • ScrabbleDudeScrabbleDude Registered User regular
    whypick1 wrote:
    1. Might have been clearing computers for an upcoming tournament.
    2. There was an issue with getting all of the computers imaged the same, so SC2 and LoL required re-applying patches on quite a few machines.
    I figured that they might have been getting things ready for an upcoming tournament. Or that a tournament had been there. There were a couple rows of PCs that were empty except for maybe 5 people. It would have been nice if there was a sign or something so the 40 people in line weren't left wondering why those PCs were left unused.

    I also liked having the digipen games on the freeplay PCs. Really enjoyed playing It Belongs in a Ruin.

  • BanthaBantha Registered User regular
    In reading all the various feedback, it's quite obvious that many people feel the same way I do about closed booths and limited access... but there's something that's occurred to me that no one seems to have brought up. The NON booth.

    I'm speaking specifically of BioShock: Infinite.

    (And if you have brought this up, I missed it and I apologize for that).

    The folks at Irration set up a fairly large booth that essentially was a t-shirt contest. Stand in line, get a poster (nice), look at some artwork, then take a quiz. Get the answers right, get a t-shirt. Get even one answer wrong, get nothing. I can totally understand the vendors that wanted people to actually DO something for swag... including answer a quiz correctly. Fair enough. But does anyone notice the key component that was missing from this whole experience?

    Where was the game? Seriously, no gameplay demo, no stations to try it, and not even a dev to talk to. It was just a giant advertisement. The same could be said of Prey2, which was even bigger and more empty.

    So if I could have just one suggestion take hold for future PAX's, it's this: All booths should actually present SOMETHING. If all you have is someone showing off the IP, then get a small booth and have a rep that can answer some questions. If you're going to take up more room than that, then there should actually be stations to demo the game. Having that size of ADVERTISMENT was far more annoying to me than what many folks have complained about FireFall doing. At least FireFall was playable, and had something more going on than just being an ad.

  • nearlysobernearlysober Registered User regular
    Every year I keep seeing cooler & cooler cosplay outfits by attendees. This year I was walking by LOL while they were doing some sort of cosplay show/contest where people got to get up on their stage.

    Maybe it's time to have a cosplay panel/show on the mainstage one of the days. Let the people who put in all that effort have their moment on stage. Plus I'd like to know what characters most these people are :)

  • tr0tskytr0tsky Registered User regular
    Maybe it's time to have a cosplay panel/show on the mainstage one of the days. Let the people who put in all that effort have their moment on stage. Plus I'd like to know what characters most these people are :)

    Crabcat Industries (Holly Conrad of Fem Shep fame, and co) did a Cosplay Non-Contest in Unicorn theatre on Friday night. There were about 50-60 people participating.

  • DaveRHDaveRH Registered User regular
    So enforcers handles are printed on their badges, I hadn't noticed...but if they are there, that's good.

    Is there an official process for complaints? My group didn't have any issues this year, which is not surprising since that large majority of the time they are fine, but I know we've had isolated incidents in the past, mostly non-serious (more of an education issue rather than a reprimand issue).

  • NefariousJoeNefariousJoe Registered User regular
    edited September 2011
    DaveRH wrote:
    So enforcers handles are printed on their badges, I hadn't noticed...but if they are there, that's good.

    Is there an official process for complaints? My group didn't have any issues this year, which is not surprising since that large majority of the time they are fine, but I know we've had isolated incidents in the past, mostly non-serious (more of an education issue rather than a reprimand issue).

    Yes, our handles are printed on the badges. In cases where there is a snafu with a badge, we get a blank one and then write our handles on them.

    And the closest thing to an official complaint process (as far as I know) is this: If you want to complain about someone specific during the show, tell the people at info desk, afterwards, pax_questions@paxsite.com. Something more general goes here.


    I help run the satellite theaters. Some feedback:
    -Lines. They aren't going anywhere. There are many people and it's the only way we have to manage you all effectively. That said, we always want to make things as easy and pleasant as possible. You will never have to wait more than 90 minutes in line for a panel (unless the panel starts late for whatever reason. G4 was streaming the Irrational panel and it started very late because their setup was...considerable.). And we always let in our lines early enough to start the panel on time (again, unless something's gone wrong and we're starting late).
    That said, I do apologize for the huge squeeze in space. We had to make do with the same number of people demanding seats in smaller rooms and we had to line them up in a much smaller area. We're working on solutions for this. Your safety, comfort and enjoyment are our top priorities.

    - As for the Saturday afternoon, 6th floor craziness, it took an unhappy confluence of events to cause and circumstances will likely never line up like that again. Don't expect such crowds, or extreme measures, like us closing off hallways to happen very often.

    -Oh, and some people had to be sent away from the Skyrim panel after having waited in line, and I'd like to apologize for that, as well. We do our best to make sure that doesn't happen, and it doesn't very often, but it feels like a massive failure every time it does. We absolutely do not want to waste your time at PAX.

    NefariousJoe on
  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    The forums seem like a poor place to house enforcer complaints. I would have hoped there would be an email of some sort that people could use for official complaints, since complaining on the forums "outs" a person to potential mob backlash if someone (or many someones) on the forums takes a strong disagreement with one's complaint.

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