EVERYONE had an EQUAL CHANCE to purchase tickets. Yes, the population of tickets was and will always be limited, but NOTHING kept you from being able to purchase tickets. Now, you may have had things going on in your life that caused you to miss the availability window, but that is not the fault of the process. That is the feault of you/your priorities getting in the way of your wants/desires.
You could always hope that one of your friends bought an extra ticket. HMMMM.
And can somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the actual capacity 70K divided by 3? Because 70K is "convention-goer-days?" So any given day actually only has like 25K people or less present? EDIT: Meaning that given multiple-day-holders it's WAY less than 70K people that get to go.
And 43K twitter followers? Even assuming half or more are from East, it is what it is.
About the only registration shenanigans I support would be giving Enforcers first crack at badges. Because seriously, those guys do a lot of the heavy lifting to make the shit happen. I'd gladly be an Enforcer at one every year, at my own expense, to guarantee an Attendee badge at the other.
As long as people are willing to pay $200+ for a 3 day pass (and even some 1 day passes) there will always be scalpers. The only way to stop them is to stop paying them such big profits. Unfortunately, I know it's easier said than done when ppl have been waiting months in anticipation for the chance.
Prime is a lot about networking and seeing panels for me. I Brigade sort of recreationally there. And yeah, I joke about being replaceable, but I do try really hard and spend a lot of my time doing it. Prime is also where they do my all-time-favorite event that is done nowhere else: Acquisitions Inc. Wil Wheaton also often can't go to East, so if someone wants to meet him, Prime is their only shot.
Because East is slightly lower-key, I really buckle down on cookie brigading there. It is now an event that is almost entirely focused on a few moments with friends, a game or two in the hotel pre-and-post con, and then rampant cookie-ing.
And the cookie brigade isn't just something you could do on the street outside the con. A lot of the point is bringing happiness and joy to people who are stuck in a line, or who are in the middle of their epic dungeon crawl, or who just happen to look lonely.
If I were to cut a con, it would probably be East, which wouldn't help with the "cons selling out in a minute" problem, and would mainly prevent me from doing charity work I super enjoy.
Cultural Geek Girl on
Buttoneer, Brigadeer, and Keeper of the Book of Wil Wheaton.
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Nerd blog at culturalgeekgirl.com
EVERYONE had an EQUAL CHANCE to purchase tickets. Yes, the population of tickets was and will always be limited, but NOTHING kept you from being able to purchase tickets. Now, you may have had things going on in your life that caused you to miss the availability window, but that is not the fault of the process. That is the feault of you/your priorities getting in the way of your wants/desires.
You could always hope that one of your friends bought an extra ticket. HMMMM.
BUT THOSE FRIENDS ARE SCALPERS IF THEY DO THAT!!!!
About the only registration shenanigans I support would be giving Enforcers first crack at badges. Because seriously, those guys do a lot of the heavy lifting to make the shit happen. I'd gladly be an Enforcer at one every year, at my own expense, to guarantee an Attendee badge at the other.
We already get entry to the show, we dont need attendee badges.
People not only attending both PAXs but buying up tickets for their friends who haven't even confirmed that they want to go should also feel the wraith of Wheaton's law. Some people may feel like they have done nothing wrong nor should they but basic logic says otherwise; for every extra spot taken, someone else loses. No one should feel ashamed for attending PAX itself, the shame comes from the unnecessary hogging of tickets for self interests.
Right, because buying passes for your friends is in total violation of Wheaton's Law. I'd be flattered if a friend bought me a pass. There's nothing silly about being selfless.
There are limits, and they've already been reached. Everyone had an equally fair chance to get their ticket. Yes, it sucks max occupancy numbers exist. It's a difficult situation. But banning honest attendees is not the answer. I certainly hope that if a third PAX ever happens, I'll be able to go to all 3 in one year. Why? Because it's fun, and because I have friends in all three regions. Why should I miss out on seeing my Boston friends just because I already go to PAX Prime? That seems awfully selfish of you to keep me from seeing my friends just so someone else can go.
It's also pretty selfish of you to keep me from buying PAX passes as birthday gifts for my friends. And extremely selfish to prevent me from buying a pass for my own husband. Or kids. Or cousins. Or friends in different time zones who sleep when registration opens. Why should they miss out? Why should THEY lose? Why can't I be a caring, selfless person and HELP the people I love?
To you, it is selfless to buy a ticket for someone else; to the vast majority it is selfish to have a spot taken away without confirmation of its use. To me, he has nothing to do with money but taking spots from others that were waiting for registration to open.
There should be more limits, they should limit purchases to people who attend to use the tickets. Only people with no pressing matters and free time had a chance to get their tickets. Yes, I do agree it sucks that there is a max occupancy. No one said anything about banning, I stated limit.. the people get to pick one or the other. They are not banned from anything. Banning would mean that they were already there and were removed. Limitation means they can to choose. You can see your Boston friends outside of PAX, what is stopping you? I am just stating that you should only be able to enter a single PAX building a year so everyone else can have a fair chance at experiencing PAX. It also seems awfully selfish of you to keep me from seeing my friends by buying more then a single ticket.
It's also pretty selfish to keep other people from buying passes that also sleep in different time zones, who have jobs, and can't access the site 24/7. Personally, not only was I in class when the tickets went live, I had to drive 80 miles to gain access to a computer if I even knew that the tickets were live which I didn't because I was in class and don't have 24/7 internet access. Why should others miss out that were about to register? Why should THEY lose? Why can't you make them buy their own tickets fairly? If they really wanted to go, they should do it themselves because I am aware of a lot of people who missed out and were waiting for the registration link to become active.
About the only registration shenanigans I support would be giving Enforcers first crack at badges. Because seriously, those guys do a lot of the heavy lifting to make the shit happen. I'd gladly be an Enforcer at one every year, at my own expense, to guarantee an Attendee badge at the other.
We already get entry to the show, we dont need attendee badges.
I know. I mean at the next show. Basically as a perk to Enforcer duty, I'd grant first-shot at badges at a future PAX, say within the next two. So Enforcing at Prime 2012 gets you early registration to either East 2013 or Prime 2013.
Granted, I know a lot of the Enforcers would choose to just keep on Enforcing, because they're that awesome (and it's got its own community). But I think giving them the option as a thank-you would be cool.
And really I just feel bad, and want some of you guys to take a break and enjoy the show with the rest of us.
To you, it is selfless to buy a ticket for someone else; to the vast majority it is selfish to have a spot taken away without confirmation of its use. To me, he has nothing to do with money but taking spots from others that were waiting for registration to open.
One man's selflessness (especially towards friends) is often another's selfishness (to a stranger). Especially since this is a zero-sum game...every badge I buy, including my own, is one somebody else doesn't get to.
And trust me, every badge bought in that way will get used...no confirmation needed. I doubt many badges at all go unused. It's not like I'm going to buy an extra badge next year just to send you a YouTube video of me running it through our power shredder. Probably not, at least.
It's also pretty selfish to keep other people from buying passes that also sleep in different time zones, who have jobs, and can't access the site 24/7. Personally, not only was I in class when the tickets went live, I had to drive 80 miles to gain access to a computer if I even knew that the tickets were live which I didn't because I was in class and don't have 24/7 internet access. Why should others miss out that were about to register? Why should THEY lose? Why can't you make them buy their own tickets fairly? If they really wanted to go, they should do it themselves because I am aware of a lot of people who missed out and were waiting for the registration link to become active.
This is a good circumstance in which it's helpful to have a friend near internet access who can buy a pass for you. I'm glad we agree on this point, because I have a lot of friends in Australia or other sleepy timezones who would miss out had someone else not bought passes.
Also, you can be banned from an event without ever having attended. case in point: Fatal1ty.
Prime and East are two different events. You cannot ban attendees of one from going to the other. That's just NOT FAIR.
Also I'm definitely liking that whole non-transferable badge idea. It'll pretty much annihilate the scalper market. When someone shows up at pax for their day, their ID gets could get checked and a sticker put on their badge showing that they got checked. That way they can go about their business without being checked constantly and it'll keep things running smooth. There would be a different sticker for Fri/Sat/Sun to prevent stupid scalper shit.
What's to stop people from selling stickered single day passes?
Nothing, but people selling used badges to the street hustlers aren't much of a problem afaik. No system will ever be perfect but this one would solve a huge majority of problems.
There should be more limits, they should limit purchases to people who attend to use the tickets. Only people with no pressing matters and free time had a chance to get their tickets. Yes, I do agree it sucks that there is a max occupancy. No one said anything about banning, I stated limit.. the people get to pick one or the other. They are not banned from anything. Banning would mean that they were already there and were removed. Limitation means they can to choose. You can see your Boston friends outside of PAX, what is stopping you? I am just stating that you should only be able to enter a single PAX building a year so everyone else can have a fair chance at experiencing PAX. It also seems awfully selfish of you to keep me from seeing my friends by buying more then a since ticket.
You still haven't answered my question: did you try and fail to go to PAX East this year?
It is not hard to go to PAX East. If you truly think both PAXes are equal, you should try for East next winter. I put off my East-purchasing until reg had been open for weeks. If you really wanted to go to a PAX, any PAX, all PAXes being the same in your eyes, East is the easy choice.
Cultural Geek Girl on
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It's also pretty selfish to keep other people from buying passes that also sleep in different time zones, who have jobs, and can't access the site 24/7.
So buying tickets for friends who "sleep in different time zones, who have jobs, and can't access the site 24/7" is somehow different...?
I don't think one can call it selfish for helping a friend out. A friend who is just as excited to go to the event as any other person in the community. It's not like there is an online queue line, and one person must finish their order before the next one can start. It's simply a fact that those who were able to bought tickets.
EVERYONE had an EQUAL CHANCE to purchase tickets. Yes, the population of tickets was and will always be limited, but NOTHING kept you from being able to purchase tickets. Now, you may have had things going on in your life that caused you to miss the availability window, but that is not the fault of the process. That is the feault of you/your priorities getting in the way of your wants/desires.
You could always hope that one of your friends bought an extra ticket. HMMMM.
BUT THOSE FRIENDS ARE SCALPERS IF THEY DO THAT!!!!
.
No, a scalper is someone who buys a ticket and tries to turn a profit and sells the ticket for more than face value. If I were to sell my ticket at face value, then I would not be called a scalper. Scalping is illegal, I believe, so it would not make sense to call reselling tickets at face value illegal.
Yada yada yada.... that is not scalping, scalping is selling a ticket higher than its face value.
EVERYONE had an EQUAL CHANCE to purchase tickets. Yes, the population of tickets was and will always be limited, but NOTHING kept you from being able to purchase tickets. Now, you may have had things going on in your life that caused you to miss the availability window, but that is not the fault of the process. That is the feault of you/your priorities getting in the way of your wants/desires.
You could always hope that one of your friends bought an extra ticket. HMMMM.
BUT THOSE FRIENDS ARE SCALPERS IF THEY DO THAT!!!!
.
No, a scalper is someone who buys a ticket and tries to turn a profit and sells the ticket for more than face value. If I were to sell my ticket at face value, then I would not be called a scalper. Scalping is illegal, I believe, so it would not make sense to call reselling tickets at face value illegal.
Yada yada yada.... that is not scalping, scalping is selling a ticket higher than its face value.
I believe BigRed was using sarcasm..
PAX East 2015:Get on Pokecrawl Team Yellow Silver [ ] Pass [X] Vacation Time [X] Hotel [X] Flights [ ] PAX East 2015 Complete [ X ] Sell Extra Set of Badges because Friend Bailed [ ]
EVERYONE had an EQUAL CHANCE to purchase tickets. Yes, the population of tickets was and will always be limited, but NOTHING kept you from being able to purchase tickets. Now, you may have had things going on in your life that caused you to miss the availability window, but that is not the fault of the process. That is the feault of you/your priorities getting in the way of your wants/desires.
You could always hope that one of your friends bought an extra ticket. HMMMM.
BUT THOSE FRIENDS ARE SCALPERS IF THEY DO THAT!!!!
.
No, a scalper is someone who buys a ticket and tries to turn a profit and sells the ticket for more than face value. If I were to sell my ticket at face value, then I would not be called a scalper. Scalping is illegal, I believe, so it would not make sense to call reselling tickets at face value illegal.
Yada yada yada.... that is not scalping, scalping is selling a ticket higher than its face value.
This is Big Red. He has a sense of humor. He was joking the jokes.
Buttoneer, Brigadeer, and Keeper of the Book of Wil Wheaton.
Triwizard Drinking Tournament - '09 !Hufflepuff unofficial conscript, '10 !Gryffindor
Nerd blog at culturalgeekgirl.com
I've been checking the registration site on a regular basis for months, just to find out that it's completely sold out this year
I'm really frustrated. I understand that spots are limited and it's inevitable that some people will be disappointed, but it's feels very unfair to miss out simply because I didn't happen to check the site within the few hours that they were available. There should be an established time that registration opens. I realize they will sell out faster, but at least then everyone has a fair chance to plan and go for it.
Even worse, I feel like I can't even try and find a set second-hand because Penny Arcade won't provide a way to ensure the validation of the tickets.
I didn't realize until now that Twitter is now THE way to find out about tickets (in past years I've found out from the Tycho and Gabe posts). I don't use Twitter, and even if I set it up to receive notifications for that one account, it looks like I would be getting dozens of notifications a day from all the correspondence with people. This just isn't a good system.
Now I feel like what's the point of trying? I'm really discouraged. I can accept not getting to go, but the feeling of literally following this for months in excitement only to find out I completely missed it is a terrible feeling. Maybe I don't belong since I don't have the luxury of being tuned into the internet every second of every day.
So, in an effort to be constructive despite feeling depressed, here are my suggestions:
- Often when demand vastly outweighs capacity for an event, they use a lottery system. Open registration for a couple of weeks for 3-day passes, then randomly choose who gets them. Everybody gets an equal chance, and you don't lose out because of your job schedule, crappy internet connection, or the decision to not use a completely unrelated social networking service.
- Provide a way for people to buy legitimate passes second-hand, or at least have a way that they can check to see that the passes in their possession are legitimate.
- Alternatively, don't allow the transfer of tickets whatsoever, have people enter the names of all attendees, and require photo ID - just like plane tickets. That way, people can't buy a bunch of tickets with the intention of making a profit. Instead, allow people to cancel for a full or 90% refund. Cancelled tickets can either go to people on a waiting list, be auctioned off for child's play, be sold in a last-minute sale, or distributed in some other clever way to fans who miss out on the initial sales.
- Allow people to sign up for email notifications.
- At the very least, tell people when they are going on sale ahead of time. It would be frenzied, but it would be fair.
EVERYONE had an EQUAL CHANCE to purchase tickets. Yes, the population of tickets was and will always be limited, but NOTHING kept you from being able to purchase tickets. Now, you may have had things going on in your life that caused you to miss the availability window, but that is not the fault of the process. That is the feault of you/your priorities getting in the way of your wants/desires.
You could always hope that one of your friends bought an extra ticket. HMMMM.
BUT THOSE FRIENDS ARE SCALPERS IF THEY DO THAT!!!!
.
No, a scalper is someone who buys a ticket and tries to turn a profit and sells the ticket for more than face value. If I were to sell my ticket at face value, then I would not be called a scalper. Scalping is illegal, I believe, so it would not make sense to call reselling tickets at face value illegal.
Yada yada yada.... that is not scalping, scalping is selling a ticket higher than its face value.
This is Big Red. He has a sense of humor. He was joking the jokes.
EVERYONE had an EQUAL CHANCE to purchase tickets. Yes, the population of tickets was and will always be limited, but NOTHING kept you from being able to purchase tickets. Now, you may have had things going on in your life that caused you to miss the availability window, but that is not the fault of the process. That is the feault of you/your priorities getting in the way of your wants/desires.
You could always hope that one of your friends bought an extra ticket. HMMMM.
BUT THOSE FRIENDS ARE SCALPERS IF THEY DO THAT!!!!
.
No, a scalper is someone who buys a ticket and tries to turn a profit and sells the ticket for more than face value. If I were to sell my ticket at face value, then I would not be called a scalper. Scalping is illegal, I believe, so it would not make sense to call reselling tickets at face value illegal.
Yada yada yada.... that is not scalping, scalping is selling a ticket higher than its face value.
I believe BigRed was using sarcasm..
This is why I hate sarcasm on the internet. You cannot tell if they are sarcastic unless you've read other posts they made. At least others know now I guess
Some is just royally butthurt they did not get tickets and will not let it go.
EVERYONE had an EQUAL CHANCE to purchase tickets. Yes, the population of tickets was and will always be limited, but NOTHING kept you from being able to purchase tickets. Now, you may have had things going on in your life that caused you to miss the availability window, but that is not the fault of the process. That is the feault of you/your priorities getting in the way of your wants/desires.
Everyone having a equal chance and nothing keeping them from being able to purchase tickets then going on to state that everyone doesn't have a equal chance and there are things keeping people from purchasing tickets.
Got it.
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SkeleVaderYour Friendly Dark Lord of DestructionRegistered Userregular
It's also pretty selfish to keep other people from buying passes that also sleep in different time zones, who have jobs, and can't access the site 24/7. Personally, not only was I in class when the tickets went live, I had to drive 80 miles to gain access to a computer if I even knew that the tickets were live which I didn't because I was in class and don't have 24/7 internet access. Why should others miss out that were about to register? Why should THEY lose? Why can't you make them buy their own tickets fairly? If they really wanted to go, they should do it themselves because I am aware of a lot of people who missed out and were waiting for the registration link to become active.
I disagree with everything you have said.
There is no system that will be fair for everyone, just because you feel its not tweaked for you and people in your similar situation doesn't means the system needs changed.
I didn't realize until now that Twitter is now THE way to find out about tickets (in past years I've found out from the Tycho and Gabe posts). I don't use Twitter, and even if I set it up to receive notifications for that one account, it looks like I would be getting dozens of notifications a day from all the correspondence with people. This just isn't a good system.
As a heads-up, as long as you wait until after the previous PAX, you won't get that many texts from the official twitter notifications. All the "replies" don't actually initiate a text, only the "main" broadcast tweets.
I like Buraisu's idea, but I think he doesn't think big enough. I propose we limit people to one PAX in their life. You get to go to one PAX ever, then that's it. Everyone should have a chance to go someday or other!
I don't want to get involved in the scalper, buying passes for friends and all of that. I know that a lot of people unfortunately missed out and that is a shame. I also know East and Prime are not the same and would like to go to Prime at some point. I will however mention that East is bigger in terms of space and attendees so for those of you who can't make it to prime for lack of getting a badge or something else East is still a PAX and while it is selling out faster is not at the rate of Prime.
I do understand the idea of confirming the name with the badge purchase, but my only concern is how much that slows things down and cuts into the time people have to do other things especially those with single day passes.
I think we just have to live with the fact that scalping is inevitable, PAX is popular, follow the twitter and hope for the best. If you did not make it this year, there is always East and there is always next year.
(Sorry is this has been said)
Based on the rate that passes sold this year I am sure that everyone involved will take a look at what is happening and see if there are any improvements, or changes that can be made to improve either the scalper issue or the speed of the sell out.
I personally think the idea of selling in batches is intriguing, have to think about it some more before I say whether I support it or not, but it raises an interesting point, although I don't know that it would solve any problems. I see the passes in each batch selling very quickly and people who miss out on each batch being disappointing.
Oh one last thing:
I do not want to speak for all enforcers but will just speak for myself. I am fully against the idea of Enforcers getting first crack at badges for the next event as a perk. I want to stress that I am not talking about anyone on this forum or saying that this is an undeniable fact but. You start adding things like that and you get the possibility of people who just Enforce for a perk and not Enforce because they want to improve everyone's experience who is attending PAX. Enforcing works at PAX and works as well as it does because we do it for the love of the show and to make every attendees experience as good and enjoyable as possible!
I didn't realize until now that Twitter is now THE way to find out about tickets (in past years I've found out from the Tycho and Gabe posts). I don't use Twitter, and even if I set it up to receive notifications for that one account, it looks like I would be getting dozens of notifications a day from all the correspondence with people. This just isn't a good system.
Thats not how twitter works.
You wont see replies to people unless you are following both accounts.
If you *just* follow @Official_PAX then you will only see what they post, not replies to other people.
<MoeFwacky> besides, BigRed-Worky is right
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thejaxxExpo Zone LeaderTukwila, WaRegistered Userregular
I like Buraisu's idea, but I think he doesn't think big enough. I propose we limit people to one PAX in their life. You get to go to one PAX ever, then that's it. Everyone should have a chance to go someday or other!
Some is just royally butthurt they did not get tickets and will not let it go.
EVERYONE had an EQUAL CHANCE to purchase tickets. Yes, the population of tickets was and will always be limited, but NOTHING kept you from being able to purchase tickets. Now, you may have had things going on in your life that caused you to miss the availability window, but that is not the fault of the process. That is the feault of you/your priorities getting in the way of your wants/desires.
Everyone having a equal chance and nothing keeping them from being able to purchase tickets then going on to state that everyone doesn't have a equal chance and there are things keeping people from purchasing tickets.
Got it.
Everyone had an equal chance.
You may have unequal obstacles to overcome to capitalize on that chance, but it was on you to put a plan in place to overcome them. Like I said, I had a friend phone me from work with all his details so I could buy his badge for him. I knew people who left money with family members to get badges for them, because they work in places where they can't have phones or access the site. Most guys I know who attend have precisely one twitter account set to send SMS messages to their phone. Some people have to put in more effort than others to make it happen, but that's just the fact that life ain't fair. Trying to hard to make it so is a fool's errand.
Some suggestions are good. An officially sanctioned way to securely transfer badges would be a great idea, for instance. Most of the rest? Whack-a-mole.
I like Buraisu's idea, but I think he doesn't think big enough. I propose we limit people to one PAX in their life. You get to go to one PAX ever, then that's it. Everyone should have a chance to go someday or other!
It's also pretty selfish to keep other people from buying passes that also sleep in different time zones, who have jobs, and can't access the site 24/7.
So buying tickets for friends who "sleep in different time zones, who have jobs, and can't access the site 24/7" is somehow different...?
I don't think one can call it selfish for helping a friend out. A friend who is just as excited to go to the event as any other person in the community. It's not like there is an online queue line, and one person must finish their order before the next one can start. It's simply a fact that those who were able to bought tickets.
Depends on if you think allowing your friends to cut in line is ethical or not. I believe people should get their own tickets and wait in line at the time they show up not when their first friend shows up.
Oh one last thing:
I do not want to speak for all enforcers but will just speak for myself. I am fully against the idea of Enforcers getting first crack at badges for the next event as a perk. I want to stress that I am not talking about anyone on this forum or saying that this is an undeniable fact but. You start adding things like that and you get the possibility of people who just Enforce for a perk and not Enforce because they want to improve everyone's experience who is attending PAX. Enforcing works at PAX and works as well as it does because we do it for the love of the show and to make every attendees experience as good and enjoyable as possible!
Just reinforcing the awesomeness. And I don't find this reaction surprising at all.
There should be an established time that registration opens. I realize they will sell out faster, but at least then everyone has a fair chance to plan and go for it.
And effectively, that's exactly what did happen this year. Because of the registration snafu last week, due to a new ticket vendor that was an epic fail and PA having to go back to the previous vendor, everyone knew that passes would be back on sale this week so they were planning and watching like hawks. It was a giant feeding frenzy because everyone had the same thought; 'must get passes before everyone else because everyone knows they'll be on sale!' So, you can see exactly what happens with a known registration time, we get a 4.5 hour sell out of 3-day passes and ~24 hrs for the rest.
There should be an established time that registration opens. I realize they will sell out faster, but at least then everyone has a fair chance to plan and go for it.
And effectively, that's exactly what did happen this year. Because of the registration snafu last week, due to a new ticket vendor that was an epic fail and PA having to go back to the previous vendor, everyone knew that passes would be back on sale this week so they were planning and watching like hawks. It was a giant feeding frenzy because everyone had the same thought; 'must get passes before everyone else because everyone knows they'll be on sale!' So, you can see exactly what happens with a known registration time, we get a 4.5 hour sell out of 3-day passes and ~24 hrs for the rest.
And due to the feedback loop, so you can bet your sweet ass that window only grows more slim next year.
It's also pretty selfish to keep other people from buying passes that also sleep in different time zones, who have jobs, and can't access the site 24/7.
So buying tickets for friends who "sleep in different time zones, who have jobs, and can't access the site 24/7" is somehow different...?
I don't think one can call it selfish for helping a friend out. A friend who is just as excited to go to the event as any other person in the community. It's not like there is an online queue line, and one person must finish their order before the next one can start. It's simply a fact that those who were able to bought tickets.
Depends on if you think allowing your friends to cut in line is ethical or not. I believe people should get their own tickets and wait in line at the time they show up not when their first friend shows up.
Buying a ticket for your friend is nothing like cutting in line. Do you also complain when people buy more than one ticket at the movies on premiere night?
And due to the feedback loop, so you can bet your sweet ass that window only grows more slim next year.
Unfortunately, that's too true. Although, we may get lucky and go slightly longer if the exact date and time are unknown until go-live like normal. We can hope...
Buraisu, have you ever bought tickets to a concert? Or tickets to a movie? This is the exact same thing. People buy multiples so they can go with their friends. It's not cutting in line, it's good planning.
I like Buraisu's idea, but I think he doesn't think big enough. I propose we limit people to one PAX in their life. You get to go to one PAX ever, then that's it. Everyone should have a chance to go someday or other!
And only a single 1-day pass.
Pray you don't get Sunday in the lottery.
Sunday you get all the free loot. Couldn't beat the NfS time trail? Don't worry just come back to the NfS station 5 minutes before closing and you get all the extra crap we don't feel like hauling.
Some is just royally butthurt they did not get tickets and will not let it go.
EVERYONE had an EQUAL CHANCE to purchase tickets. Yes, the population of tickets was and will always be limited, but NOTHING kept you from being able to purchase tickets. Now, you may have had things going on in your life that caused you to miss the availability window, but that is not the fault of the process. That is the feault of you/your priorities getting in the way of your wants/desires.
Everyone having a equal chance and nothing keeping them from being able to purchase tickets then going on to state that everyone doesn't have a equal chance and there are things keeping people from purchasing tickets.
Got it.
You're being incredibly literal.
What Ryamkajr clearly meant was that you (or whoever, really) having something else to do at the exact time that tickets happen to go on sale is not PAX's fault. It is yours, whether you feel that way or not. Everyone had an equal chance to purchase tickets because PAX was not filtering attendees, as you seem to wish them to do.
Buying a ticket for your friend is nothing like cutting in line. Do you also complain when people buy more than one ticket at the movies on premiere night?
Buraisu, have you ever bought tickets to a concert? Or tickets to a movie? This is the exact same thing. People buy multiples so they can go with their friends. It's not cutting in line, it's good planning.
Selfish planning to benefit a small group over the majority.
Buying a ticket for your friend is nothing like cutting in line. Do you also complain when people buy more than one ticket at the movies on premiere night?
Yes.
Then the problem is you, not the rest of the world.
EDIT: It's not benefiting a small group over the majority unless you're implying that by buying multiple passes, the total number of existing passes shrink.
Buying a ticket for your friend is nothing like cutting in line. Do you also complain when people buy more than one ticket at the movies on premiere night?
Buraisu, have you ever bought tickets to a concert? Or tickets to a movie? This is the exact same thing. People buy multiples so they can go with their friends. It's not cutting in line, it's good planning.
Selfish planning to benefit a small group over the majority.
You buying a ticket for yourself is SELFISH. When you buy a ticket for ANY REASON AT ALL, someone else loses out.
Posts
You could always hope that one of your friends bought an extra ticket. HMMMM.
And 43K twitter followers? Even assuming half or more are from East, it is what it is.
About the only registration shenanigans I support would be giving Enforcers first crack at badges. Because seriously, those guys do a lot of the heavy lifting to make the shit happen. I'd gladly be an Enforcer at one every year, at my own expense, to guarantee an Attendee badge at the other.
Because East is slightly lower-key, I really buckle down on cookie brigading there. It is now an event that is almost entirely focused on a few moments with friends, a game or two in the hotel pre-and-post con, and then rampant cookie-ing.
And the cookie brigade isn't just something you could do on the street outside the con. A lot of the point is bringing happiness and joy to people who are stuck in a line, or who are in the middle of their epic dungeon crawl, or who just happen to look lonely.
If I were to cut a con, it would probably be East, which wouldn't help with the "cons selling out in a minute" problem, and would mainly prevent me from doing charity work I super enjoy.
Triwizard Drinking Tournament - '09 !Hufflepuff unofficial conscript, '10 !Gryffindor
Nerd blog at culturalgeekgirl.com
BUT THOSE FRIENDS ARE SCALPERS IF THEY DO THAT!!!!
We already get entry to the show, we dont need attendee badges.
There should be more limits, they should limit purchases to people who attend to use the tickets. Only people with no pressing matters and free time had a chance to get their tickets. Yes, I do agree it sucks that there is a max occupancy. No one said anything about banning, I stated limit.. the people get to pick one or the other. They are not banned from anything. Banning would mean that they were already there and were removed. Limitation means they can to choose. You can see your Boston friends outside of PAX, what is stopping you? I am just stating that you should only be able to enter a single PAX building a year so everyone else can have a fair chance at experiencing PAX. It also seems awfully selfish of you to keep me from seeing my friends by buying more then a single ticket.
It's also pretty selfish to keep other people from buying passes that also sleep in different time zones, who have jobs, and can't access the site 24/7. Personally, not only was I in class when the tickets went live, I had to drive 80 miles to gain access to a computer if I even knew that the tickets were live which I didn't because I was in class and don't have 24/7 internet access. Why should others miss out that were about to register? Why should THEY lose? Why can't you make them buy their own tickets fairly? If they really wanted to go, they should do it themselves because I am aware of a lot of people who missed out and were waiting for the registration link to become active.
I know. I mean at the next show. Basically as a perk to Enforcer duty, I'd grant first-shot at badges at a future PAX, say within the next two. So Enforcing at Prime 2012 gets you early registration to either East 2013 or Prime 2013.
Granted, I know a lot of the Enforcers would choose to just keep on Enforcing, because they're that awesome (and it's got its own community). But I think giving them the option as a thank-you would be cool.
And really I just feel bad, and want some of you guys to take a break and enjoy the show with the rest of us.
One man's selflessness (especially towards friends) is often another's selfishness (to a stranger). Especially since this is a zero-sum game...every badge I buy, including my own, is one somebody else doesn't get to.
And trust me, every badge bought in that way will get used...no confirmation needed. I doubt many badges at all go unused. It's not like I'm going to buy an extra badge next year just to send you a YouTube video of me running it through our power shredder. Probably not, at least.
This is a good circumstance in which it's helpful to have a friend near internet access who can buy a pass for you. I'm glad we agree on this point, because I have a lot of friends in Australia or other sleepy timezones who would miss out had someone else not bought passes.
Also, you can be banned from an event without ever having attended. case in point: Fatal1ty.
Prime and East are two different events. You cannot ban attendees of one from going to the other. That's just NOT FAIR.
You still haven't answered my question: did you try and fail to go to PAX East this year?
It is not hard to go to PAX East. If you truly think both PAXes are equal, you should try for East next winter. I put off my East-purchasing until reg had been open for weeks. If you really wanted to go to a PAX, any PAX, all PAXes being the same in your eyes, East is the easy choice.
Triwizard Drinking Tournament - '09 !Hufflepuff unofficial conscript, '10 !Gryffindor
Nerd blog at culturalgeekgirl.com
So buying tickets for friends who "sleep in different time zones, who have jobs, and can't access the site 24/7" is somehow different...?
I don't think one can call it selfish for helping a friend out. A friend who is just as excited to go to the event as any other person in the community. It's not like there is an online queue line, and one person must finish their order before the next one can start. It's simply a fact that those who were able to bought tickets.
No, a scalper is someone who buys a ticket and tries to turn a profit and sells the ticket for more than face value. If I were to sell my ticket at face value, then I would not be called a scalper. Scalping is illegal, I believe, so it would not make sense to call reselling tickets at face value illegal.
Yada yada yada.... that is not scalping, scalping is selling a ticket higher than its face value.
This is Big Red. He has a sense of humor. He was joking the jokes.
Triwizard Drinking Tournament - '09 !Hufflepuff unofficial conscript, '10 !Gryffindor
Nerd blog at culturalgeekgirl.com
I'm really frustrated. I understand that spots are limited and it's inevitable that some people will be disappointed, but it's feels very unfair to miss out simply because I didn't happen to check the site within the few hours that they were available. There should be an established time that registration opens. I realize they will sell out faster, but at least then everyone has a fair chance to plan and go for it.
Even worse, I feel like I can't even try and find a set second-hand because Penny Arcade won't provide a way to ensure the validation of the tickets.
I didn't realize until now that Twitter is now THE way to find out about tickets (in past years I've found out from the Tycho and Gabe posts). I don't use Twitter, and even if I set it up to receive notifications for that one account, it looks like I would be getting dozens of notifications a day from all the correspondence with people. This just isn't a good system.
Now I feel like what's the point of trying? I'm really discouraged. I can accept not getting to go, but the feeling of literally following this for months in excitement only to find out I completely missed it is a terrible feeling. Maybe I don't belong since I don't have the luxury of being tuned into the internet every second of every day.
So, in an effort to be constructive despite feeling depressed, here are my suggestions:
- Often when demand vastly outweighs capacity for an event, they use a lottery system. Open registration for a couple of weeks for 3-day passes, then randomly choose who gets them. Everybody gets an equal chance, and you don't lose out because of your job schedule, crappy internet connection, or the decision to not use a completely unrelated social networking service.
- Provide a way for people to buy legitimate passes second-hand, or at least have a way that they can check to see that the passes in their possession are legitimate.
- Alternatively, don't allow the transfer of tickets whatsoever, have people enter the names of all attendees, and require photo ID - just like plane tickets. That way, people can't buy a bunch of tickets with the intention of making a profit. Instead, allow people to cancel for a full or 90% refund. Cancelled tickets can either go to people on a waiting list, be auctioned off for child's play, be sold in a last-minute sale, or distributed in some other clever way to fans who miss out on the initial sales.
- Allow people to sign up for email notifications.
- At the very least, tell people when they are going on sale ahead of time. It would be frenzied, but it would be fair.
This is why I hate sarcasm on the internet. You cannot tell if they are sarcastic unless you've read other posts they made. At least others know now I guess
Got it.
I disagree with everything you have said.
There is no system that will be fair for everyone, just because you feel its not tweaked for you and people in your similar situation doesn't means the system needs changed.
As a heads-up, as long as you wait until after the previous PAX, you won't get that many texts from the official twitter notifications. All the "replies" don't actually initiate a text, only the "main" broadcast tweets.
I do understand the idea of confirming the name with the badge purchase, but my only concern is how much that slows things down and cuts into the time people have to do other things especially those with single day passes.
I think we just have to live with the fact that scalping is inevitable, PAX is popular, follow the twitter and hope for the best. If you did not make it this year, there is always East and there is always next year.
(Sorry is this has been said)
Based on the rate that passes sold this year I am sure that everyone involved will take a look at what is happening and see if there are any improvements, or changes that can be made to improve either the scalper issue or the speed of the sell out.
I personally think the idea of selling in batches is intriguing, have to think about it some more before I say whether I support it or not, but it raises an interesting point, although I don't know that it would solve any problems. I see the passes in each batch selling very quickly and people who miss out on each batch being disappointing.
Oh one last thing:
I do not want to speak for all enforcers but will just speak for myself. I am fully against the idea of Enforcers getting first crack at badges for the next event as a perk. I want to stress that I am not talking about anyone on this forum or saying that this is an undeniable fact but. You start adding things like that and you get the possibility of people who just Enforce for a perk and not Enforce because they want to improve everyone's experience who is attending PAX. Enforcing works at PAX and works as well as it does because we do it for the love of the show and to make every attendees experience as good and enjoyable as possible!
Thats not how twitter works.
You wont see replies to people unless you are following both accounts.
If you *just* follow @Official_PAX then you will only see what they post, not replies to other people.
hahahaha! This is great!
Everyone had an equal chance.
You may have unequal obstacles to overcome to capitalize on that chance, but it was on you to put a plan in place to overcome them. Like I said, I had a friend phone me from work with all his details so I could buy his badge for him. I knew people who left money with family members to get badges for them, because they work in places where they can't have phones or access the site. Most guys I know who attend have precisely one twitter account set to send SMS messages to their phone. Some people have to put in more effort than others to make it happen, but that's just the fact that life ain't fair. Trying to hard to make it so is a fool's errand.
Some suggestions are good. An officially sanctioned way to securely transfer badges would be a great idea, for instance. Most of the rest? Whack-a-mole.
And only a single 1-day pass.
Pray you don't get Sunday in the lottery.
Just reinforcing the awesomeness. And I don't find this reaction surprising at all.
And effectively, that's exactly what did happen this year. Because of the registration snafu last week, due to a new ticket vendor that was an epic fail and PA having to go back to the previous vendor, everyone knew that passes would be back on sale this week so they were planning and watching like hawks. It was a giant feeding frenzy because everyone had the same thought; 'must get passes before everyone else because everyone knows they'll be on sale!' So, you can see exactly what happens with a known registration time, we get a 4.5 hour sell out of 3-day passes and ~24 hrs for the rest.
And due to the feedback loop, so you can bet your sweet ass that window only grows more slim next year.
Buying a ticket for your friend is nothing like cutting in line. Do you also complain when people buy more than one ticket at the movies on premiere night?
Unfortunately, that's too true. Although, we may get lucky and go slightly longer if the exact date and time are unknown until go-live like normal. We can hope...
Sunday you get all the free loot. Couldn't beat the NfS time trail? Don't worry just come back to the NfS station 5 minutes before closing and you get all the extra crap we don't feel like hauling.
You're being incredibly literal.
What Ryamkajr clearly meant was that you (or whoever, really) having something else to do at the exact time that tickets happen to go on sale is not PAX's fault. It is yours, whether you feel that way or not. Everyone had an equal chance to purchase tickets because PAX was not filtering attendees, as you seem to wish them to do.
Selfish planning to benefit a small group over the majority.
Then the problem is you, not the rest of the world.
EDIT: It's not benefiting a small group over the majority unless you're implying that by buying multiple passes, the total number of existing passes shrink.
You buying a ticket for yourself is SELFISH. When you buy a ticket for ANY REASON AT ALL, someone else loses out.
<+Ravenger> you are talking to me
<@heels> oh god, what am i doing