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[PRIME] 2012 CONSTRUCTIVE Feedback/Suggestions Thread

1246

Posts

  • XalaraXalara Registered User regular
    edited September 2012
    The biggest issue I had this weekend was with the way the Hideo Kojima signing was handled on Saturday.

    I got there at around 12:30 (the signing started at 3), and asked a nearby enforcer if I could line up yet. He said no, and that they would begin lining up at 1pm.
    I thought this would make for a good time to go grab some food, so I did, and I came back at around ten to 1.

    I asked a nearby enforcer (a different one from the original) where to go, and he told me where the line was.
    I followed the line back, and saw ANOTHER enforcer standing near the way to get to the line. I asked if the signing was here, and he said it was, but it had been capped.

    "But, I just talked to an Enforcer like 20 minutes ago, he said they weren't even lining up until 1!" I said.
    He looked at me and said "Sorry, but the line has been filling up for hours. It was capped 20 minutes ago."

    I was so incredibly frustrated.
    This has happened to me a number of times now, and it's absolutely infuriating when I can't get in line, because either the Enforcers aren't communicating, or an Enforcer is breaking the rules (maybe without knowing), and letting people in early.

    Strict, specific times need to be set when people can line up for things, especially something like a Kojima signing. Then, those times need to be enforced and monitored, and people need to be dispersed from lingering around.
    Because if you say that the line starts at 1pm, and there are already 200+ people in line when I ask you, and I don't get in, I'm going to be pissed. It's how that works.

    I got over it, but this needs to be fixed; it's happened to me at least once a year.

    While communication could probably be improved, there is almost no way to prevent lines from forming early if a panel is popular enough, even more so if there are strict advertised "line up" times. If enough people decide to line up early there's almost no way that the Enforcers can stop it. It's unfortunate but it's the sad truth. I saw this happen at Bumbershoot on Monday for Skrillex. The line for the show started at 6 yet by 5:30 there were already thousands in line for the line. At that point it became a choice between having thousands of people milling about by the line entrance then stampeding when it opened, or just have people line up and no risk of being injured. They went for the latter.

    Xalara on
  • LexiconGrrlLexiconGrrl Registered User regular
    -- Increased tweeting from @pax_lines
    Like others have mentioned, the coverage was a little sparse. Would love to see it done a bit more like it was at East this year - 25% full, 50% full, 75% full, etc. Things like "the line is filling up but there is room" isn't very helpful. We saw that tweet for Khoo's panel, made a mad dash for the theater and got there only to discover that it was about 10%-15% full.

    We had the exact same issue at East this year - here's an idea for crowdsourced line length tweeting:

    Place standing signs or wall signs at the approximate 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% points in each line that say something like "If you're the end of the line, and you're standing here, please tweet to {twitter hash} "Line 75% Full at the Pegasus Theater for the panel you're attending." Sure there'd be some duplicate tweets, but the lines fill up fast enough that it would be brief.

    That way the enforcers could focus on enforcement and entertainment and not remembering to tweet everything all the time.

    Happily on Sabbatical. Don't bug me.
  • CybitCybit Merch Underling RedmondRegistered User regular
    On the bright side, I think we've learned not to do Kinect based activities in the Paramount? :D

    (I want Rock Band back as an Omegathon round)

  • CybitCybit Merch Underling RedmondRegistered User regular
    -- Increased tweeting from @pax_lines
    Like others have mentioned, the coverage was a little sparse. Would love to see it done a bit more like it was at East this year - 25% full, 50% full, 75% full, etc. Things like "the line is filling up but there is room" isn't very helpful. We saw that tweet for Khoo's panel, made a mad dash for the theater and got there only to discover that it was about 10%-15% full.

    We had the exact same issue at East this year - here's an idea for crowdsourced line length tweeting:

    Place standing signs or wall signs at the approximate 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% points in each line that say something like "If you're the end of the line, and you're standing here, please tweet to {twitter hash} "Line 75% Full at the Pegasus Theater for the panel you're attending." Sure there'd be some duplicate tweets, but the lines fill up fast enough that it would be brief.

    That way the enforcers could focus on enforcement and entertainment and not remembering to tweet everything all the time.

    Problem is, we try not to squish people together unless we have to; which means that the line count can change at a given position. Also, we can't keep everyone in a line all the time without gaps due to needing to leave pathways open in some areas.

    Honestly, the majority of tweeting issues are probably due to wireless / wifi / cell networks being super shady the entire convention.

  • tsrblketsrblke Registered User regular
    Cybit wrote: »
    On the bright side, I think we've learned not to do Kinect based activities in the Paramount? :D

    (I want Rock Band back as an Omegathon round)

    Strangely it worked during the NASA panel.

    In any case, I dunno about reducing various aspects of PAX to control the crowds.
    Remember for those of us not in Seattle this trips runs close to $2000-$2500 when it's all said and done (granted, I go with my wife, which increases cost.)
    So it required HaloFest (which I did find underwhelming admittedly) to get me to plunk down that level of cash to go to my first PAX. And yes, I played Table Top games.
    I don't doubt the same thing was true for at least some LoL people (who were on the fence about being that spendy before LoL was announced.)

    So do I think they need something like that at every PAX? No, does it spice things up and bring in new people every now and then? Yes. Is this good? Yes! (Is 2 in a row probably too much...maybe).

    (I'll also say part of the reason PAX next year is a no go is that my wife feels like we've tried everything at least once now, and with that level of spendage, it's time to try a new vacation.)

    Let's stop trying to place PAX attendees into boxes like "LoLer (thus unwelcome)" or "must be Indie game fanatic." It's just not that simple. (I actually bought an indie game this year from the PAX 10, I also looked around at many of the AAA titles.) Don't make me start quoting Clifford Gertz.

    I will say, line control for Demos needs to be a thing, I'm not sure how it would work, but it may mean smaller booths at the Expohall to allow for wider aisles. Also perhaps some signs telling people how long a particular demo is. I got in line for Fable: The Journey's demo, I was 2nd in the line, 10 minutes in the booth dude told us it was like a 20-25 minutes demo, meaning I had over an half and hour left to wait, I wouldn't have gotten into the line if I had known that in the first place. (I left the line right after that.)
    Also better signage telling us what will be available for what system. Several times my wife jumped in lines for demos at publishing booths and it was unclear what system the game was released on (trying new things is cool, trying things you'll never be able to buy because you don't own a PS3 and can't spare the money for one, not so cool.)

    I do agree with @TOGSolid that something seemed...different...about the Expohall this year as opposed to last year, dunno what it was, less personal, less actual stuff? But the vendors will bring what they bring I suppose. (Xbox had more random demos last year I think, this year it was mostly AAA titles.)

  • TOGSolidTOGSolid Drunk sailor Seattle, WashingtonRegistered User regular
    edited September 2012
    I HAVE SHITTY TIMING, DISREGARD THIS COMPLAINT

    TOGSolid on
    wWuzwvJ.png
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    A friend got to play XCOM for like an hour at alienware. They were doing some up and coming demos, apparently. Maybe not for their tourneys and exhibitions, but on demo units in their booth.

  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    I believe Astro tends to have featured titles on their demo units as well, though I'm not sure.

  • jhliujhliu Registered User new member
    As somebody who plays more tabletop games than videogames, I'd love to see the tabletop games be a little better organized next year. It was difficult not being able to go to one area and see all the board and card games in one area — some were on the 6th floor, some were on 4th floor, some were in the Red Lion, and a bunch were in individual rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Even on the 6th floor, they were scattered around, often next to really loud booths where you couldn't hear anything else. Even if tabletop games were all put farther away on the 6th floor or off-site, if they were all in one place I think I'd prefer it, rather than having to walk through/past a lot of other really crowded videogame booths to get to them.

    I did appreciate the really big tabletop area at the Red Lion, though — it was nice being able to actually find a table when I wanted to play a game, even if it meant going off-site.

  • TOGSolidTOGSolid Drunk sailor Seattle, WashingtonRegistered User regular
    edited September 2012
    mcdermott wrote: »
    A friend got to play XCOM for like an hour at alienware. They were doing some up and coming demos, apparently. Maybe not for their tourneys and exhibitions, but on demo units in their booth.
    The section of the Alienware booth I saw was just CS:GO stuff. Maybe I just hit it at an off time. Good on them then! Prior complaint edited out.

    TOGSolid on
    wWuzwvJ.png
  • adias.angeladias.angel Tech-Savvy Wife Kalamazoo, MIRegistered User regular
    -- Increased tweeting from @pax_lines
    Like others have mentioned, the coverage was a little sparse. Would love to see it done a bit more like it was at East this year - 25% full, 50% full, 75% full, etc. Things like "the line is filling up but there is room" isn't very helpful. We saw that tweet for Khoo's panel, made a mad dash for the theater and got there only to discover that it was about 10%-15% full.

    We had the exact same issue at East this year - here's an idea for crowdsourced line length tweeting:

    Place standing signs or wall signs at the approximate 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% points in each line that say something like "If you're the end of the line, and you're standing here, please tweet to {twitter hash} "Line 75% Full at the Pegasus Theater for the panel you're attending." Sure there'd be some duplicate tweets, but the lines fill up fast enough that it would be brief.

    That way the enforcers could focus on enforcement and entertainment and not remembering to tweet everything all the time.

    At least for the panels we went to at East, the updates were great! Yes some of it was a guess but for the most part it was pretty accurate. At Prime there nothing said or line is full. There seemed to be missing the in-between tweets. That was more what I meant before.

    Prime '12, '13, '14, '15, '19 .. East '12
  • ScunosiScunosi WashingtonRegistered User regular
    Absolutely loved my first PAX, there were so many awesome cosplayers I saw over the weekend, but so many more that I missed! I would love to see an official cosplay showcase/panel where cosplayers can meet, show off, and get tons of pictures of each other.
    Yeah I didn't see anything "official" pertaining to cosplay, though I think there was an arts and crafts panel one day. And there were a lot of really professional cosplays this year; someone staying at our hotel even had their weapons flown in a big wooden crate! That's dedication.
    I really like PAX for cosplay because it's so all-inclusive, and very little anime. Not saying anime cosplay is bad, it's just there tends to be way more of that then video game/general cosplay already, so it's nice to have a different focus (even though it's all over the place) here at PAX.

    It'd be nice if maybe there was a designated "cosplay area" or something? Like where you'd go and stand around and you'd be obviously available for pictures, instead of being randomly accosted by people for photos which was a problem for some I'm sure. Cosplay Corner would be a cute name, and it'd likely need to be inside in case of inclement weather (of course weather's been beautiful for PAX last two years) but maybe with big windows for good lighting or something. It'd be a nice thing to stick somewhere where there's a lot of floorspace but not outlets or whatever's needed for the expo booths. Basically a spot almost exactly like where most cosplayers seemed to congregate this year anyway, the windows by the PAX merch booth, but like...make it official, and then advertise it a bit.

  • SorcelatorsSorcelators BellevueRegistered User regular
    This was my first PAX, and for the most part it was really awesome. The only complaints I have are:

    The first day it was very easy to get lost, and it was hard to find stuff like the dnd area. It would be nice to have more specific signs / programs.

    Maybe it's because I'm getting old and less tolerant, but the enforcers seemed very disorganized and unprofessional.

    A lot of them didn't seem to know what was going on, or what lines were for.

    For the big panels I went to, some of them were also constantly telling us to stand up and move closer together, even when a line is like 10% full and there are three hours left until the panel starts, which was really irritating for the people trying to play cards while an enforcer wants them to collect their stuff, move six inches to one side, stand up for the ten minutes it takes everyone else to move, and then put their stuff back down...

    Someone should also make a rule not to encourage line games where people yell or shout, because it's irritating to not be able to have a conversation with the people next to me in line because other people are screaming.

    They seemed to be very poor at organizing lines in general... The lines I was in that had no enforcers around were the best ones.

    They also tried to do crowd control / direct traffic in some places, and seemed to be making it worse by forgetting to let people in some directions go or letting people pile up waiting to be let go. The enforcers really shouldn't be trying to do this in general, it's hard to direct traffic without letting things spiral out of control.

    Overall PAX was great, and the only thing that was disappointing was my interactions with the enforcers.

  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    This was my first PAX, and for the most part it was really awesome. The only complaints I have are:

    The first day it was very easy to get lost, and it was hard to find stuff like the dnd area. It would be nice to have more specific signs / programs.

    Maybe it's because I'm getting old and less tolerant, but the enforcers seemed very disorganized and unprofessional.

    A lot of them didn't seem to know what was going on, or what lines were for.

    For the big panels I went to, some of them were also constantly telling us to stand up and move closer together, even when a line is like 10% full and there are three hours left until the panel starts, which was really irritating for the people trying to play cards while an enforcer wants them to collect their stuff, move six inches to one side, stand up for the ten minutes it takes everyone else to move, and then put their stuff back down...

    Someone should also make a rule not to encourage line games where people yell or shout, because it's irritating to not be able to have a conversation with the people next to me in line because other people are screaming.

    They seemed to be very poor at organizing lines in general... The lines I was in that had no enforcers around were the best ones.

    They also tried to do crowd control / direct traffic in some places, and seemed to be making it worse by forgetting to let people in some directions go or letting people pile up waiting to be let go. The enforcers really shouldn't be trying to do this in general, it's hard to direct traffic without letting things spiral out of control.

    Overall PAX was great, and the only thing that was disappointing was my interactions with the enforcers.

    This is a great example of a post with only complaints and no suggestions. Let's stop doing that, eh?

  • ScunosiScunosi WashingtonRegistered User regular
    Oh another thing, thinking about bad Wifi/general connectivity.
    I had my Nintendo DS Lite with me the whole time in the hopes of getting some Pokemon B/W battles in, or at the very least doing Entranet stuff to level my Black City. But I couldn't ever find a local wifi hotspot that worked/was open, which I had assumed PAX would have since it's a huge gaming convention. So if they do ever put up a router or however that stuff would work, having nice big signs pretty much everywhere, but especially in the Queue room where you're going to spend a lot of time waiting, that tell people the names of available connections any any and all necessary passwords or codes would be great.

  • mikeywhipmikeywhip Registered User new member
    I thought that this years Pax Prime was good but was not as good as others and the reason for me is the lines were too long so it made it a do I really want to wait in line for 2 hours to see the last of us demo or explore the rest of Pax for that time. I think that ACIII was a fine example of it being done right. They had me wait maybe 5 to 10 minutes then watched demo for 5 minutes and then we left. The demo showed alot and was impressive, I think that other demos were run a well then we could have more time to enjoy ourselves.As far as the swag line in the Q room I thought it was fine, I just accept the fact that this line is going to long but I have something to watch with the LoL tourney and the talking to fellow gamers. I would like to see the enforcers be a little tougher on people that are walking around really slow almost at a snails pace. It kind of reminds me of when your driving and theirs and accident and everyone slows to a crawl as they pass by. Maybe a "Let's keep it moving" chant from an enforcer would help this out, I even saw someone reading right in the middle of a ton a people and not even paying attention. As to my previous point about demos being to long if a demo like the last of us was cut down in time their would be more enforcers for other tasks. With Pax going to four days I hope that bigger panels could then be put into the Paramount maybe 2 or 3 large panels a day followed by the concerts later in the evening. This would free up having to wait in some long disorganized hallway outside the Pegusus. I would like also for some of the exibeters to comunicate better when it comes to drawings, Their were two drawings at the same time on Saturday night and their was also a autograph session at that same time which made the lines around that one little area very loud and it was hard for people to enjoy other exibets. Another thing I would loke to see improve is the food in the cafeteria, I don't know if this can be done but I asked other gamers about the food and they said it was horrible but it's close when your in a hurry. Maybe someone could talk to them about $8 9oz Pizzas or the always barely cold pop that we are spending $2 on. Maybe if someone from Pax could suggest more menu items and maybe stocking the pop earlier then it might be cold by the time we get it. I also saw posts about security ladies being rude, I would suggest telling someone that is in that area were you get manuals right by the top of the excalaters then they can deal with them. If their are people that are being rude then they should be dealt with some others don't have to be treated that way. As far as swag I thought the the exibeters were pretty smart withholding a t-shirt unless you pre order but I heard people were just cancelling later so I suggest that the make someone pay the full amount before giving them the shirt. I thought that the hats given by the people from plants and zombies and the glowsticks from LoL and Capcoms mini glowsticks from Lost Planet 3 were the best. One thing I didn't understand was how did the people from the NOS energy drink get an exibet?. What do they have do do with gaming, sure the girls were nice and very pretty but I thought there wasn't suppose to be booth babes at Pax. Overall this was my worst Pax out of the three I have attended but it was still excellent and I was sad leaving but I wouldn't miss it.

  • PayneTraynePayneTrayne Canuck Registered User regular
    Did you try PAX_free_wifi? Cause it worked fan-fucking-tastically for me throughout the entire weekend.

    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 [ ]
  • LexiconGrrlLexiconGrrl Registered User regular
    mikeywhip wrote: »
    Ginormous run-on paragraph removed.

    Wha-??

    Happily on Sabbatical. Don't bug me.
  • sanovahsanovah Nerd of the West San Diego, CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    edited September 2012
    mikeywhip wrote: »
    Ginormous run-on paragraph removed.

    Wha-??

    Sometbhing about lines I think. Kinda sounded like he was semi complaining, but I only read the first 3 lines before going nope.

    At my computer now so ill at least be nice and do a quick edit it for him. DISCLAIMER: the following are not my wordsI have zero affiliation with this poster and am only seperating the points he tried to make into paragraphs and not a giant wall of text that crits every reader for 9001. I have zero idea what he's saying and neither agree or disagree on any point made. Like i said i'm just making it readable for others.
    mikeywhip wrote: »
    I thought that this years Pax Prime was good but was not as good as others and the reason for me is the lines were too long so it made it a do I really want to wait in line for 2 hours to see the last of us demo or explore the rest of Pax for that time. I think that ACIII was a fine example of it being done right. They had me wait maybe 5 to 10 minutes then watched demo for 5 minutes and then we left. The demo showed alot and was impressive, I think that other demos were run a well then we could have more time to enjoy ourselves.

    As far as the swag line in the Q room I thought it was fine, I just accept the fact that this line is going to long but I have something to watch with the LoL tourney and the talking to fellow gamers. I would like to see the enforcers be a little tougher on people that are walking around really slow almost at a snails pace. It kind of reminds me of when your driving and theirs and accident and everyone slows to a crawl as they pass by. Maybe a "Let's keep it moving" chant from an enforcer would help this out, I even saw someone reading right in the middle of a ton a people and not even paying attention. As to my previous point about demos being to long if a demo like the last of us was cut down in time their would be more enforcers for other tasks. With Pax going to four days I hope that bigger panels could then be put into the Paramount maybe 2 or 3 large panels a day followed by the concerts later in the evening. This would free up having to wait in some long disorganized hallway outside the Pegusus.

    I would like also for some of the exibeters to comunicate better when it comes to drawings, Their were two drawings at the same time on Saturday night and their was also a autograph session at that same time which made the lines around that one little area very loud and it was hard for people to enjoy other exibets.

    Another thing I would loke to see improve is the food in the cafeteria, I don't know if this can be done but I asked other gamers about the food and they said it was horrible but it's close when your in a hurry. Maybe someone could talk to them about $8 9oz Pizzas or the always barely cold pop that we are spending $2 on. Maybe if someone from Pax could suggest more menu items and maybe stocking the pop earlier then it might be cold by the time we get it.

    I also saw posts about security ladies being rude, I would suggest telling someone that is in that area were you get manuals right by the top of the excalaters then they can deal with them. If their are people that are being rude then they should be dealt with some others don't have to be treated that way

    . As far as swag I thought the the exibeters were pretty smart withholding a t-shirt unless you pre order but I heard people were just cancelling later so I suggest that the make someone pay the full amount before giving them the shirt. I thought that the hats given by the people from plants and zombies and the glowsticks from LoL and Capcoms mini glowsticks from Lost Planet 3 were the best. One thing I didn't understand was how did the people from the NOS energy drink get an exibet?. What do they have do do with gaming, sure the girls were nice and very pretty but I thought there wasn't suppose to be booth babes at Pax. Overall this was my worst Pax out of the three I have attended but it was still excellent and I was sad leaving but I wouldn't miss it.

    and semi reabale now. enjoy ;)

    sanovah on
  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    sanovah wrote: »
    mikeywhip wrote: »
    Ginormous run-on paragraph removed.

    Wha-??

    Sometbhing about lines I think. Kinda sounded like he was semi complaining, but I only read the first 3 lines before going nope

    These types of posts are also not constructive.

  • joshusjoshus Registered User new member
    edited September 2012
    I've been a fan of Penny Arcade for many years now, reading the comic proper for the longest amount of time, but also enjoying the other pieces and parts they've been adding to their portfolio (PA:TS, PA:TV, PA Report, their various comic experiments, collaborations, commissions, and side projects). I like their output because it is at once irreverent but respectful of gaming and games in a way that is unique, and darkly humorous. I've grown more enamored with their various dealings as an organization because they have essentially become luminaries in the gaming community, showing the gaming industry from their perspective, and by becoming representatives of the community they were giving it a better image than it had already given itself.

    For people that I talked to about going to PAX, I called this our "pilgrimage," the one trip I must make as part of my religion once in my lifetime. I said that more or less flippantly, but it had an accuracy to it: games are probably one of the few things that have been both ubiquitous and fairly personal throughout my entire life. If you ever want to watch me light up like a Christmas tree, ask me about Planescape: Torment. Or Grim Fandango. Or... well, name almost any game, but you see my point. PAX was a pilgrimage to bear witness to a gaming culture I've considered myself a part of for many, many years.

    Given that, PAX was what I wanted. I wanted to see a sea of people like me, slightly overweight with ill-fitting geek t-shirts and camelback backpacks stuffed to the brim with exhibit hall swag. I wanted to see the Penny Arcade staff, whose lives I'd felt I'd been a part of (if only slightly) after watching their documentaries of their working processes and personal lives in relation to Penny Arcade. I wanted to see the over-the-top video game obsession and the industry coming together behind a collective idea shared by 70,000 like-minded people.

    (taps fingers) And I saw all of that happen. And I was happy to see it. And yet, there was a weird sense of disappointment in some regards, possibly in learning from the experience, or perhaps in just seeing truths I hadn't seen before.

    I found that the unique and personal relationship I'd developed with the Penny Arcade brand while reading the comic was indeed shared with the other 70,000 attendees. Shared, and divided. And there were those there that knew the same jokes and references, and yet it meant something else entirely to them than what it did to me. During the Q&A sessions angsty teens would line up not to ask questions of their idols, but gush and outpour their emotional trials and tribulations and thank Mike and Jerry for something they'd done. I was there to see Mike and Jerry. Heartless as it sounds, I couldn't care less about some dude's girlfriend leaving him and the Penny Arcade community being there for him. I was repeatedly irritated by the fanboys and fangirls yelling "We love you!" during a brief quiet moment. I wanted to hear these people say the interesting things I'd come to expect from them. Mostly I was satisfied. But only just.

    I also learned that being part of a fandom means having to deal with other fans. Many, many other fans. The convention was a repeated exercise in speedwalking and 45 minute to 2 hour lines in hopes of seeing things that were important. And it wasn't that this was a surprise: many of the things I was interested in were the main events. But it was even in the smaller sections (the ones having to deal with game writing, storytelling, ethics and morality in games and those playing them, etc.) that there were still incredible numbers of people. And while the lines were manageable, and the Enforcers (security guards / volunteer convention workers / entertainers) were efficient and respectful, every line I stood in was time that I had to spend at the expense of something else potentially interesting. If a panel or an event was also a waste of time, I'd essentially wasted half a day for it.

    As for specific panels that fell into this category... much as I hate to say anything disparaging against Extra Credits, I liked their panel the least, and I'm afraid I have to use them as an example. Each other panel I visited had, to some extent, a quantity of prepared "content," that is to say, something that the speakers or panelists had come prepared to discuss or elucidate for those in attendance. These panels had directed interviewers or moderators for the discussion (Stephen Toulouse), as well as stories or improvised discussion (Kurtz and Straub) for a period before opening up to questions from the floor. Extra Credits, immediately upon introducing themselves and their colleagues, opened the floor for questioning, as that was their "favorite part" (to a cheer from the crowd). While indeed it's kind to open the floor to questions, it was not necessarily what I expected from the highly-intelligent, articulate, critical analysis of gaming and the gaming industry at a slightly higher pitch than normal that I'd come to expect from the Extra Credits episodes. I wanted to hear what intelligent people had to say about intelligent questions. I wanted content.

    Another missing element was the purported "community," or the community I thought I'd sensed in the descriptions surrounding PAX and Penny Arcade. Indeed: if everyone speaks the same language, and is interested in the same things, wouldn't a crowd of 2,000 people waiting in line be a large, socially active entity? Sadly, not in our experience. Many of the people we saw, while very similar, weren't particularly interested in talking. Most times I'd glance back to see a crowd of downward looking heads, busy on cell phones, Nintendo DSes, or some other wonderfully obscure handheld electronics. Groups of friends and other cliques managed to talk to each other, certainly, but more often than not excluded the ones around them. It may be that this makes sense for a crowd of people who are overwhelmingly introverted, but it's my opinion that conversation is two parts conversational topics, one part conversational skill. At the very least, it would have been an easy conversation. If I had to guess, it was more the case of the villain in the movie "The Incredibles," when he said "When everyone's super, no one will be." Being and weird and different my whole life, it was strange to have that which I held so close to my identity become so incredibly indistinct. I was guilty of playing with my phone as well.

    There is also that, while very subtle, I became aware of the business portion of the Penny Arcade brand. While not overt, it was apparent that much of the convention was geared towards the aggressive marketing of the exhibiting vendors (and even Penny Arcade themselves). The expo hall was designed to trap people in vendor areas, vendor booths, keep them in line for as long as possible, and keep people from attending other booths. It was the loud, obnoxious part of gaming that I hate to be a party to, but there were again so many people that I didn't even feel like I could reasonably visit the indie game developers. I didn't have the time or patience to see or play the games I wanted. I'm a programmer, but not a game developer, so PAX Dev was not an option for attending. I managed to catch the main developer of Zeboyd Games, the developer of the third Penny Arcade game, and ask him some technical questions about C# optimization. The man looked so, so tired, but he answered my question with an understated pragmatism I didn't appreciate until later.

    (scratches head) My gaming habits have changed drastically in the last year, even the last few months. I've only briefly played a number of short, almost casual games this summer (given my exercise, working, and generally busy schedule of summer activities), but even before that I hadn't turned on my game consoles for months at a time. I'm having to focus on other portions of my life, and at the same time recognize that some of my past habits, even past identities, are at cross purposes with my future plans. I am no longer anywhere near the lower end of the age spectrum of what is considered the gaming community. Wikipedia claims 37 years old to be the average age of gamers, which while it assures me I still have plenty of years before I'm considered "average," judging by the attendees of PAX I felt like an old man. All of the references to previous PAXes gave me pangs of regret for having not gone earlier. But maybe this was the right time: when I'm now old enough to treat the passion objectively, and not compulsively.

    Overall, I had a good time. The scope and spectacle of the event made the trip worthwhile. I do now have a powerful need to write and create. And also, to play Dungeons and Dragons (the Acquisitions Inc. show being the highlight of the weekend).

    I've said my say, but I don't like asserting problems without potential solutions (that would be classified as "bitching"). Were it economically feasible, I would find a way to democratize the entities on the floor of the expo hall, or do away with it altogether. Or better yet: just have Mike and Jerry find cool shit to put on the floor, that being their tacit statement of "what you should pay attention in the industry" for that given PAX. That level of trust in advertising we gave up with the Kickstarter campaign: we should bring it back where we need it most. The concept of the expo, as it is, is outmoded, and seems to serve only to pay the bills. The huge amounts of space dedicated to loud marketing could find loftier uses, intended to enrich the community instead of blasting Youtube trailers we'd see in a week or so anyway.

    Thanks for reading.

    TL;DR; Not-that-old-of-a-guy visits PAX for the first time, feels old and unremarkable in a sea of vigor and creativity, doesn't like loud flashing lights or the mewling of babes who dare question his most esteemed idols.

    joshus on
  • KillsaurusBloodKillsaurusBlood Editor-in-Chief MinnesotaRegistered User new member
    PAX was too crowded this year. It was hard to walk around the expo hall on Saturday, and you couldn't move near the LoL tournament. A couple suggestions (I've been going to PAX since 2010):

    1. Limit Media Passes!! I am a member of the media. We have a Youtube channel of over 300,000 subscribers, but I talked to numerous others who aren't even active. The fact is there is no review of quality on the media. If you have a business license, card, and website, you get a free pass to PAX. I cannot stress this enough. People are cutting in lines, and they won't even publish anything on the game. The system is incredibly easy to take advantage of and needs to be changed. It makes active media look bad, and it hurts the people that PAX is actually for. We need more stringent requirements on media.

    2. Having the LoL tournament was awesome. I enjoyed watching it, and it was a great addition; however, there just wasn't enough room on the 6th floor to house everyone. Overcrowding was the worst here. Perhaps housing a tournament offsite would fix this.

    3. Stop putting huge panels (like Gearbox) in anything but the main theater. There isn't enough room in the Sheraton.

    4. I think if we can't find a way to prevent tickets from selling out in a matter of hours, the price may need to be raised. I realize this isn't popular, but basic supply-and-demand.

    5. For every rude enforcer there are easily 5 awesome ones, but that doesn't mean that it's acceptable for enforcers to be barking orders at people who just don't want to be herded like cattle. Everyone should be following the spirit of PAX and that includes the enforcers.

    6. Please, please have the third night be open until 2 AM next year. That would be really awesome.

    Side note: does anyone else feel like swag is becoming rarer and rarer. Ubisoft requires preorders for all of their shirts. It just kind of sucks.

  • SwordMageSwordMage Registered User regular
    I really didn't have much of a problem with the crowds - I certainly didn't feel as cramped as I was last year. I'd assume this was due to spreading things out a little more as well as a lessening of fake badges, but I'd bet more on the former than the latter.

    The Sheraton, yes, it was a pain but we were stuck on the third floor due to an existing convention on the second. (Note, I didn't go to any panels in the Sheraton last year, so I'm not sure how it compared.)

    The free for all on swag bags I really liked. Not everything in there I wanted, and I felt like the ability to get only what I wanted was nice.

    If anything, I'd like to perhaps see more space for some of the indies. Yes, I get that the big titles pay the bills, but it's the little ones I love seeing at PAX. Even just a foot or two more on each side would, I think, help greatly with things.

    Also, board games. As others have said, I'd like to see them in one area. Where Mayfair was in the skybridge was *awesome* - lots of light, large space, easy to see everything. If this isn't possible (and I totally understand), perhaps trying to at least consolidate them a bit better? The sixth floor, where GW/FW was also a good spot.

    All these things said, I think that, perhaps, without the LoL, we'll see some of these issues resolved.

    SwordMage, aka Willa
    ---
    twitter: SwordMage86
    XBL: SwordMagelet
  • matguymatguy Registered User regular
    ... 6. Please, please have the third night be open until 2 AM next year. That would be really awesome...

    Ask and ye shall receive...

    Ok, I'm cheating. PAX will be 4 days next year, so day 3 should be open till 2am, just like day 1 and 2. I suspect that day 4 will still be an early close. A lot of Vendors/Exhibitors/etc. need to get going that night, especially next year since there's not a holiday the day after and lots of people need to work the next day.

    I can understand the desire to have each "ticket" day be a full day, but it's just really hard to do. There's lots of groups that organize their own after-parties on Sunday night, some of them can help extend your PAX experience.

  • kemikalkemikal Registered User regular
    joshus wrote: »
    Another missing element was the purported "community," or the community I thought I'd sensed in the descriptions surrounding PAX and Penny Arcade. Indeed: if everyone speaks the same language, and is interested in the same things, wouldn't a crowd of 2,000 people waiting in line be a large, socially active entity? Sadly, not in our experience. Many of the people we saw, while very similar, weren't particularly interested in talking. Most times I'd glance back to see a crowd of downward looking heads, busy on cell phones, Nintendo DSes, or some other wonderfully obscure handheld electronics. Groups of friends and other cliques managed to talk to each other, certainly, but more often than not excluded the ones around them. It may be that this makes sense for a crowd of people who are overwhelmingly introverted, but it's my opinion that conversation is two parts conversational topics, one part conversational skill. At the very least, it would have been an easy conversation. If I had to guess, it was more the case of the villain in the movie "The Incredibles," when he said "When everyone's super, no one will be." Being and weird and different my whole life, it was strange to have that which I held so close to my identity become so incredibly indistinct. I was guilty of playing with my phone as well.

    This just about sums up what surprised me the most during my first experience at PAX, but I was a bit hesitant to post about it. I heard all these stories beforehand about people making lots of long-lasting friends, being helpful, and just overall being welcoming of all kinds of other gamers. Most of the people I met however barely exchanged a couple words or even responded. I'm not really familiar with the well-known forumers who have attended PAX for several years now either, again since this was my first PAX, but whenever I did find them, they promptly answered my question with what seemed to be as little dialogue exchange as possible, then turned back to their friends. I don't know if everyone was just exhausted the entire weekend, but it made me really feel unwelcome and excluded.

    Assassin's Ball, Prime '13: @CowboyVerse
    TWDT '13: Hufflepuff OotP
  • phoophoo Registered User regular
    I stuck more strictly to suggestions in my first post, but I thought it might be helpful if I touched on things I thought were good, rather than just what I thought needed to be changed (mostly more signs, especially regarding the annex).

    The classic arcade area was. super. awesome. Not only that, but if I stood behind someone they were careful to check behind them before hitting play again and let me in right away. Totally polite and the way things should work. Many kudos. Please continue to have this if you can!

    I had a medical badge at this pax and I kept it turned around so it was generally not visible. Once when I was sitting in line it accidentally got flipped around and I had an enforcer come up to me and offer for me to sit on a bench and get seated in the talk first. I told her I was fine and I'd ask if I needed something, but it was sweet of her to make sure I knew. I don't know if all disabled people would react this way. Usually the rule is don't offer help unless you are asked and I did feel weird getting special attention. However, she was not overbearing or insistent - I got the impression she was just making sure I knew my options. I suppose if I kept my badge flipped around and this happened every time I encountered an enforcer, this would be a negative, but she really was trying to be good-hearted. I don't want to take advantage of a service unless I need it.

    On that note, I know the handheld lounge is largely for... well, handhelds, but it is a huge part of what allows me to attend pax. A 20-30 mins of sacking out on a beanbag goes far in allowing me to continue to enjoy pax instead of going home after just an hour or two. Thank you for not disallowing people to sack out for a little bit.

    Also, please don't shrink the lounge. I understand space is at a premium so it makes sense it has a shrunk a bit (I last attended in 2009), but if it were to get smaller it would start defeating the purpose of being there. This year although it was crowded, I could usually get a spot in one of the two lounges, even it was just from someone leaving. It was pretty difficult to step through to the back if you had short legs (or mobility issues), but only more space is the solution to this and I understand that is not an option here. I did notice that by Sunday the back beanbags had shoved up against the wall to the point that they weren't usable. Aside from the solution of slightly more space, perhaps if the beanbags were drug out each morning to the front containing line it would help? I would say that given space constraints, number of bags were "just right," since the area was not usually monopolized but there was usually only 1-2 spaces free or you had to grab one from someone just leaving.

  • phoophoo Registered User regular
    edited September 2012
    Many of the people we saw, while very similar, weren't particularly interested in talking. Most times I'd glance back to see a crowd of downward looking heads, busy on cell phones, Nintendo DSes, or some other wonderfully obscure handheld electronics.

    I was surprised by this as well. It's not how I remembered things from 2009, though the groups of friends didn't necessarily interact with others, there were far more card games. This year, even groups of friends were not interacting much amongst each other, instead opting for their phones. I remedied this by saying "Hey, anyone want to play Fluxx??" What also surprised me was how many people had never heard of it. Once invited, folks did decide to learn. My guess is there was a higher percentage of computer-only gamers this year? I guess they didn't know what to do with themselves and their fellow humans when offline. :) I'm socially awkward as well, so I understand. But if I can't ask folks for a game of Fluxx on the line ride at PAX, then when can I ask someone to play Fluxx with me? (Perhaps after horrible run on sentences and inappropriate parenthetical comments?)

    phoo on
  • LexiconGrrlLexiconGrrl Registered User regular
    edited September 2012
    kemikal wrote: »
    Most of the people I met however barely exchanged a couple words or even responded. I'm not really familiar with the well-known forumers who have attended PAX for several years now either, again since this was my first PAX, but whenever I did find them, they promptly answered my question with what seemed to be as little dialogue exchange as possible, then turned back to their friends. I don't know if everyone was just exhausted the entire weekend, but it made me really feel unwelcome and excluded.

    I've noticed it too, and have discussed it with some of the old-timey forumers to see if there's a recognition that it's there. Folks have been genuinely surprised when I've commented that the community at times seems clique-ish and exclusive, so it's certainly not intentional. I think the best analogy is that when you've got upper classmen who've been in school together for 4 years, they're polite to the freshmen but really have their own relationships built already.

    My suggestion is for the newer community members to reach out and make friends. Host a forumer events, or volunteer to help out with one. In lines, bring your own games and draw people into conversation yourself. There's certainly a perceived expectation that's been built by the attendees that everyone here will welcome you with open arms but if they don't, make your own besties, because for every person who won't talk to you, there are 100 who want to but don't know how.

    LexiconGrrl on
    Happily on Sabbatical. Don't bug me.
  • CodextehFishCodextehFish Vancouver, CanadaRegistered User regular
    There are a few things that I feel need to be addressed at next year's PAX Prime:

    1) Swag bag line. The idea of changing it from a "everyone gets one bag filled with stuff" to a "everyone gets what they want" deal is great in theory - it could help to cut down on garbage etc. However, the lines were not monitored or policed very well at all. I went pretty early on day 2 to grab some stuff, and things like the LoL sona's and Magic Cards were gone/almost gone. Half the fun of those swag bags was maybe having something that someone else wanted that you didn't want and then trading them off. The fact that I missed out on the LoL things doesn't bother me, but it did bother a friend of mine who wanted one and I wasn't able to grab it because I didn't have 3+ hours to spend in line on the Friday, not with the panels I wanted to see and the exorbitantly long lines at the Borderlands 2 booth.

    2) Scalpers. Now, really, nothing can be done about the scalpers, but what about setting up an area for ticket trades or for "face value" sales that don't leave people in the lurch for a ticket? I had to sell a friends 3 Day pass as well as a Sunday pass that someone used to buy another 3 Day pass that yet another of my friend group backed out on - I managed to sell them for face value, but not after spending quite some time vetting people to make sure that they were actually going to PAX. If there were some way to safely do a "face value" transaction, maybe in the lower entrance hall where no scalpers are allowed to go, we'd have less people walking around outside with stacks of passes 10-20 deep each year.

    3) I firmly agree that there needs to be larger theaters for larger presentations. The line up for Gearbox was insane and, frankly, could have been dangerous. With everyone huddling out on the street next to the Sheraton there was also a potential danger to block traffic. Ubisoft was in the Main Theater, Gearbox should have been too.

    4) Bring back the line entertainment. My first PAX was in 2010 and the queue hall was amazing that year. I really miss having the jokes and giggles going around the hall. LoL is great, and beach balls are perfect when slapped hard int to the back of your head (at 6'3" this happened more than I would care to admit this year...), but really having something more interactive would help people to feel more comfortable and maybe even to chat more.

    5) Ticket sales. Between the fiasco of the initial sales issue and the rumor going around that PAX was almost sold out before the system crashed, there was a huge rush to buy tickets. We all know that those of us who attended were super lucky... However, I have an idea on how sales can be changed to make it all a bit easier on people. Instead of releasing all the tickets on sale at a time, maybe release a select number a week and have a visible count down of how many more tickets are available in both the weekly limit as well as the overall total number of each kind of ticket. That way people may be less likely to panic buy tickets.

    Attendee:
    Prime: '10, '11, '12, '13, '14, '15
    West: '16, '17
    East: '14, '15, '16, '17
    South: '15, '16, '17, '18
  • HelljinHelljin Lake Forest ParkRegistered User regular
    This was my 3rd and best PAX experience.

    Swag Bags
    The swag bags seem to be a returning headache in one manner or another. Is there a way to issue a swag bag redemption ticket with the pass purchases? Or maybe hole punch a corner of a pass when you get a swag bag to reduce the people getting multiple bags?

    If you can go with a ticket redemption method it takes the pressure off having to get one before they are gone, maybe put them in a single satellite venue to pick up.

    Crowds
    This year was much better in my experience than last year. The only crowd problem was when everyone was trying to leave the 6th floor at the same time. I don't know if it was multiple events wrapping up at the same time or just the LoL crowd. If it was multiple events, I would probably try to stagger the ending times so there isn't a rush for the escalators.

    Tabletop
    Tabletop seems too spread out, I wanted to make it to the Red Lion but never made it. I did visit the tabletop on the Skybridge and WoTC in the annex. Any chance of combining all of tabletop and related vendors into the annex?

    Queue Room
    Please bring back the Queue Room entertainment. Also the Queue Room seems like quite a bit of wasted space. After the expo hall opens a couple of things happen there during the day but I would think it could be put a better use.

    Enforcers
    95% of the Enforcers are great, the other 5% not so much. I get the feeling that some of them are overwhelmed by the amount of people and demands then they stress out. I have no idea how these people are trained for PAX but some of them either need to be partenered up with more experience Enforcers or be able to get some help if they can't handle the crowds. It is one thing to think you can be an Enforcer and another thing to experience it.

    I realize PAX is always an ongoing challenge to improve, in my 3 years of attending it's been getting better every year.

    PAX 2010 1-Day
    PAX 2011 3-Day
    PAX 2012 3-Day
    PAX 2013 4-Day
    PAX 2014 4-Day
    PAX South 2015 3-Day
    PAX Prime 2015 Monday
    PAX West 2016 Friday/Saturday/Sunday
    PAX West 2017 Friday/Saturday/Sunday
  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    kemikal wrote: »
    joshus wrote: »
    Another missing element was the purported "community," or the community I thought I'd sensed in the descriptions surrounding PAX and Penny Arcade. Indeed: if everyone speaks the same language, and is interested in the same things, wouldn't a crowd of 2,000 people waiting in line be a large, socially active entity? Sadly, not in our experience. Many of the people we saw, while very similar, weren't particularly interested in talking. Most times I'd glance back to see a crowd of downward looking heads, busy on cell phones, Nintendo DSes, or some other wonderfully obscure handheld electronics. Groups of friends and other cliques managed to talk to each other, certainly, but more often than not excluded the ones around them. It may be that this makes sense for a crowd of people who are overwhelmingly introverted, but it's my opinion that conversation is two parts conversational topics, one part conversational skill. At the very least, it would have been an easy conversation. If I had to guess, it was more the case of the villain in the movie "The Incredibles," when he said "When everyone's super, no one will be." Being and weird and different my whole life, it was strange to have that which I held so close to my identity become so incredibly indistinct. I was guilty of playing with my phone as well.

    This just about sums up what surprised me the most during my first experience at PAX, but I was a bit hesitant to post about it. I heard all these stories beforehand about people making lots of long-lasting friends, being helpful, and just overall being welcoming of all kinds of other gamers. Most of the people I met however barely exchanged a couple words or even responded. I'm not really familiar with the well-known forumers who have attended PAX for several years now either, again since this was my first PAX, but whenever I did find them, they promptly answered my question with what seemed to be as little dialogue exchange as possible, then turned back to their friends. I don't know if everyone was just exhausted the entire weekend, but it made me really feel unwelcome and excluded.

    There are still a lot of people that come to the show that don't care about the community aspect. I've found most of my experiences that you're talking about have come during East's giant tabletop area, or in the handheld lounge... places where people just "hang out". It's much less of a thing in busy lines or the expo hall.

  • AlphonsisAlphonsis Registered User regular
    zerzhul wrote: »
    There are still a lot of people that come to the show that don't care about the community aspect. I've found most of my experiences that you're talking about have come during East's giant tabletop area, or in the handheld lounge... places where people just "hang out". It's much less of a thing in busy lines or the expo hall.

    Maybe I'm just lucky but I managed to meet cool people at every line I was in this weekend save for the DnD live line. I blame that on the fact I was super late and we were in the "omg I might not make it in" part of the line. I do agree that the lines in the expo hall are much less likely to allow you engage in interesting conversation.

    vhkbviT.png
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    I found it to be hit or miss talking to strangers in lines. But maybe a quarter of the time it actually did work. Just gotta read people...but yeah, a lot of poeple just aren't looking to chat. Especially if they're with somebody else. But find lone strangers without handhelds, and good conversation can still be had.

    It's funny too, because every year there's a suggestion to use the queue room for something that since it is a huge wasted area most of the time...but I can never figure out what it would actually be good for. That wouldn't require a ton of setup and teardown daily.

  • ChopsChops Enforcer, line entertainer Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    There are a few things that I feel need to be addressed at next year's PAX Prime:

    4) Bring back the line entertainment. My first PAX was in 2010 and the queue hall was amazing that year. I really miss having the jokes and giggles going around the hall. LoL is great, and beach balls are perfect when slapped hard int to the back of your head (at 6'3" this happened more than I would care to admit this year...), but really having something more interactive would help people to feel more comfortable and maybe even to chat more.

    As someone in Line Entertainment I can say that yes! We were there and we were so sorry we couldnt make it to every line! I had a blast playing games and making friends at the lines I was able to be at, but often we had to sacrifice a smaller line to make it to a crazy big line. (I.e. gearbox line, main theater lines, etc.) This was my first PAX and my first time enforcing, so I am by no means an authority on the subject, but this seems to be something we are always working to improve. Thank you for your feedback, I know I will take that into consideration for next year!

  • TOGSolidTOGSolid Drunk sailor Seattle, WashingtonRegistered User regular
    mcdermott wrote: »
    I found it to be hit or miss talking to strangers in lines. But maybe a quarter of the time it actually did work. Just gotta read people...but yeah, a lot of poeple just aren't looking to chat. Especially if they're with somebody else. But find lone strangers without handhelds, and good conversation can still be had.

    It's funny too, because every year there's a suggestion to use the queue room for something that since it is a huge wasted area most of the time...but I can never figure out what it would actually be good for. That wouldn't require a ton of setup and teardown daily.

    Laser Tag

    wWuzwvJ.png
  • thebigearsthebigears SeattleRegistered User new member
    Been going to Pax on and off since the very first one back in the day, and it really keeps getting better and better. Enough word has gotten out about it that one of my linkshell (guild) mates made the trip down for the Yukon for it, and thus I was able to meet more of my members! :D

    Anyways, I really only have one suggestion, which has already been mentioned a few times. So I'm in support of moving any huge tournaments to their own building. That alone should help with the noise and crowding. Take it a step further and let them get special badges just for the tournament. If some of them would like to get into Pax too, they could buy one also. Just might free up some general Pax slots.

  • jaberwockynmtjaberwockynmt PAX Info Booth Manager Renton, WARegistered User regular
    edited September 2012
    My only true suggestion is to remind the Enforcers to be mindful of what they are saying around the attendees. To me, whether on or off the "clock", their Blue shirt means they are still Enforcers.
    We try to communicate this clearly to new and veteran Enforcers, but sometimes we don't get through to everyone well. I'll do what I can to be better at this.
    SmashX5000 wrote: »
    My only suggestion is that maybe next year there should be a bit more direction to where the swag bags and queue room were for newbies. I didn't find that room til the third day, because I always got into the convention center after 10. I mean, I suppose with one of those directory books I should've been able to find it fine, but I could never find those either.
    Program books were available at every Satellite Theater, Main Theater, the Queue Room, and Info Booth. Where else should we have them (not being snarky, I'm actually asking for suggestions of locations)? We want everyone to be able to get them easily.
    Quintious wrote: »
    ...
    6) The lines. Getting in line at 10:30 am and being told that you'll get to the front of the line at around 5:30 that evening is not how it should roll.
    ...
    8) Win/Lose/Banana. 'Nuff said.
    ...
    6) This pretty much can't be made better than it is. If an Exhibitor wants people to be able to play their long demo in a closed room, they will do that. If a game is much more popular than they expect, the line will simply be huge and slow. When you have issues with specific exhibitors, the best way to get them to change their behavior is to complain to them directly since PA can't do much more to change their booth content.
    8) What? It's a game that's been around for over 2 years (I played it at PAX Prime 2010). Some people think it's fun and some people think it's lame. This is like any other game.
    One small change that I haven't seen suggested is to raise the price of a three-day pass to at least be more than two single-day passes. I get that it's supposed to be a sort of "bundle" deal so it can still be less than three single-day passes but this way you don't get people who only plan on going on Saturday and Sunday buying the three day pass because it's cheaper and taking up a slot for someone who would like to attend Friday.

    Of course it isn't quite the same what with PAX being 4 days now but the same idea still applies.
    At Info Booth during PAX Prime 2012, I was instructed by PA employees to tell people that for PAX Prime 2013 there will only be single day badges. A person that wants to attend all 4 days of Prime 2013 will need to buy separate Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday badges.

    One thing this will help greatly is the lost badge issue I deal with constantly. Due to fire code and related policy, Info Booth and Registration cannot just replace your badge if you lost it. Now, people who lost their badge on Friday/early-in-the-show will still be sad/distraught/etc., but they will still have their other badges for the other days and won't be out the whole thing (assuming they store the later day badges in a safer place than on their lanyard).

    I do not know if there will or will not be multi-day badges for East 2013 or Australia 2013.

    jaberwockynmt on
    --Jarrod "Jaberwocky" Lombardo, PAX Enforcer: Info Booth Manager.
    "We know that the moment we slip, it will be taken away... and so it is of the utmost importance to be worthy of it constantly."
    PAX will always be held on the best weekend for PAX. Sometimes that will be a bad weekend for you; I'm sorry.
  • TOGSolidTOGSolid Drunk sailor Seattle, WashingtonRegistered User regular
    Program books were available at every Satellite Theater, Main Theater, the Queue Room, and Info Booth. Where else should we have them (not being snarky, I'm actually asking for suggestions of locations)? We want everyone to be able to get them easily.
    I think this soley might be a communication error. I knew exactly where to go to get one due to prior experience but a new person might not be aware of their usual locations. Maybe some signage near the doors with a quick FAQ for the new guys will help remedy that.

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  • AiouaAioua Ora Occidens Ora OptimaRegistered User regular
    TOGSolid wrote: »
    Program books were available at every Satellite Theater, Main Theater, the Queue Room, and Info Booth. Where else should we have them (not being snarky, I'm actually asking for suggestions of locations)? We want everyone to be able to get them easily.
    I think this soley might be a communication error. I knew exactly where to go to get one due to prior experience but a new person might not be aware of their usual locations. Maybe some signage near the doors with a quick FAQ for the new guys will help remedy that.

    Or ask your friendly neighborhood Enforcer. Our main job is really to be walking signposts.

    life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
    fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
    that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
    bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
  • Goblin ScrewdriverGoblin Screwdriver Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited September 2012
    One small change that I haven't seen suggested is to raise the price of a three-day pass to at least be more than two single-day passes. I get that it's supposed to be a sort of "bundle" deal so it can still be less than three single-day passes but this way you don't get people who only plan on going on Saturday and Sunday buying the three day pass because it's cheaper and taking up a slot for someone who would like to attend Friday.

    Of course it isn't quite the same what with PAX being 4 days now but the same idea still applies.
    I was told by PA employees that for PAX Prime 2013 there will only be single day badges. A person that wants to attend all 4 days of Prime 2013 will need to buy separate Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday badges.

    One thing this will help greatly is the lost badge issue I deal with constantly. Due to fire code and related policy, Info Booth and Registration cannot just replace your badge if you lost it. Now, people who lost their badge on Friday/early-in-the-show will still be sad/distraught/etc., but they will still have their other badges for the other days and won't be out the whole thing (assuming they store the later day badges in a safer place than on their lanyard).

    I do not know if there will or will not be multi-day badges for East 2013 or Australia 2013.
    Interesting. I like the added insurance against badge loss but i'm also sad to see the extended pass go. If not because it makes it more expensive to attend 3 4 days than the fact that I'd have to put and end to my collection of extended passes.

    That said it's an interesting solution and I'd like to see an official announcement.

    zerzhul on
    PAX Prime attendee since 2006

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