I didn't even realize that passes were popping back up on sale on the site. I haven't been paying close enough attention. :P
Me either. I am hoping to go this year but apparently decided too late and ebay pass prices are ridiculous. What are the odds of just picking up a ticket from people maybe selling spare ones at the door when the con opens? Have people done this in the past?
I didn't even realize that passes were popping back up on sale on the site. I haven't been paying close enough attention. :P
Me either. I am hoping to go this year but apparently decided too late and ebay pass prices are ridiculous. What are the odds of just picking up a ticket from people maybe selling spare ones at the door when the con opens? Have people done this in the past?
From my past experiences, there are usually scalpers at the entrances, with varying prices. However, be wary, as with all scalpers, there are potential counterfeits/scams. Just a couple of things to note:
1) Don't trust anyone's word on whether or not the badges are real. I'd suggest asking any seller/scalper to accompany you inside the BCEC with the badge to confirm if they are indeed legitimate badges (The help desk/security guards can help, they also have implemented black lights in the past to show hidden icons on the badges).
2) Never hand over any cash before doing the above.
In addition, if you're willing to check Twitter, a decent number of people end up trying to sell badges before PAX, due to unforeseen circumstances/other opportunities. PAXers will usually retweet and try to help people out if they're selling/trying to find a badge. It's worth a shot.
I didn't even realize that passes were popping back up on sale on the site. I haven't been paying close enough attention. :P
Me either. I am hoping to go this year but apparently decided too late and ebay pass prices are ridiculous. What are the odds of just picking up a ticket from people maybe selling spare ones at the door when the con opens? Have people done this in the past?
I had to scalp a Saturday badge at the door last year, a friend of a friend didn't show who the badge was for, wasted a half hour of my time... regardless I sold it for $40 (when I paid $35 for it), so I got my money back which was all I cared about.
There are legit people out there who will sell a ticket outside because of shit like this, and like Pelican just said you can bring it right inside to make sure it's legit, so you're really not in any trouble.
And there's also the chance more badges will become available, they did it for Prime and it's very possible to happen for East too.
More badges did not become available for prime out of sudden circumstance or added capacity, it was due to canceled transactions of people not following the badge limit. This far away from badge sales, I would expect that this would have happened already if it was going to happen. I could be wrong though, but I wouldn't count on it.
More badges did not become available for prime out of sudden circumstance or added capacity, it was due to canceled transactions of people not following the badge limit. This far away from badge sales, I would expect that this would have happened already if it was going to happen. I could be wrong though, but I wouldn't count on it.
If this does happen, how is it announced or are badges just suddenly available on the registration page?
I went to my first festival (MAGFest) last week, and loved it. Decided I need to go to more. Sadly I found PAX a little late. I've booked a hotel but still need 3-day passes. Hoping that I find some that aren't crazy expensive!!
San Diego Comic-Con recently announced that it's only selling single day badges this year. However, if you purchase all four days, you can opt into having your single days converted into a 4-day badge. The same idea was already suggested for PAX, so it'll be interesting to see how it works out for a much bigger convention like SDCC. If this ends up making it more fair for everyone while still allowing us enthusiasts to get our 4-day badges, I'd love to see it put into play for future PAX sales.
I think it's a moot point. If PAX ever goes to single badges only, I doubt they will bother printing any multi-day badges.
Though PAX is obviously organized by PA isn't the convention as a whole run through ReedPop which also runs ComicCon? I guess it's possible that passes are handled by PA but I would figure since they work together, if the ComicCon 4day single pass works out they may follow suit with PAX no?
Yeh, that ticket option doesn't make much sense. Anyway, now that PA won't be running PAX any more, let's hope that whoever is in charge tries to change some things next year.
Yeh, that ticket option doesn't make much sense. Anyway, now that PA won't be running PAX any more, let's hope that whoever is in charge tries to change some things next year.
Well, I think the fundamental problem is that there are more people who want to go than there are tickets. The main thing people want is the problem solved for their group, which means there are preferential groups in some way.
In the past, the preferential group has been the people who devote part of their day to monitoring the PAX twitter and making time available to jump on it.
Making passes more expensive would nudge things towards "people with more money"
Other alternatives include presales for certain groups *ahem*forummembers*ahem* that PAX deems most desirable (could include serious Cosplayers, indie dev affiliates etc. etc.)
No matter what, people are going to get left out in the cold, and with the growing popularity of "nerd culture", PAX is only going to become more sought-after. Couple that with the fact they're already in one of the largest spaces in New England and stitching spaces together in Seattle, and there's not really many good solutions out there to make everyone happy.
So really they just need to make sure I can always get tickets.
Yeh, that ticket option doesn't make much sense. Anyway, now that PA won't be running PAX any more, let's hope that whoever is in charge tries to change some things next year.
I think you might be mistaken on the info that has been presented here.
ReedPOP has been a major component of PAX for a long time now. PA hasn't had the resources to put on PAX by themselves since the first handful of PAXes. This isn't some new revelation. Reed is the infrastructure for PAX and has been for some time.
The major decision makers for PAX are still PA employees (or sort of "joint" PA/Reed people) and I don't think anything is changing in who runs the show.
Hey guys if your active duty military, reserve, or retired you can stay at the Constitution Inn for 90 bucks a night. It's right by the USS Constitution and it's less than 20 dollar can ride to the venue. Just thought I would share. I just reserved there. In stoked!!!
Well, I think the fundamental problem is that there are more people who want to go than there are tickets. The main thing people want is the problem solved for their group, which means there are preferential groups in some way...
Actually... I think the REAL fundamental problem here is that the event has become big enough to catch the attention of people and organizations who buy up tickets for the sole purpose of re-selling them. If only people going to Penny Arcade were buying tickets, I'm pretty sure 3-day passes wouldn't have sold out in 45 minutes or whatever. It probably would have taken a couple days or so. Tickets have been selling on ebay, stub hub etc for $170 - $400 since they were first released. When a profit can be made, jerks from around the world come out of the woodwork to take part.
Yes, there are tons of nerds who want to go to this event (including me), but I don't think that's why they sold out so quick. Days.. maybe. Minutes... come on.
I've had a 3-day pass to every PAX East so far... but this year I had to pay more to get Friday and Sunday passes.. and I still don't have a Saturday pass. It sucks. I guess I'll show up and see if I can get one at the door for Saturday.
Well, I think the fundamental problem is that there are more people who want to go than there are tickets. The main thing people want is the problem solved for their group, which means there are preferential groups in some way...
Actually... I think the REAL fundamental problem here is that the event has become big enough to catch the attention of people and organizations who buy up tickets for the sole purpose of re-selling them. If only people going to Penny Arcade were buying tickets, I'm pretty sure 3-day passes wouldn't have sold out in 45 minutes or whatever. It probably would have taken a couple days or so. Tickets have been selling on ebay, stub hub etc for $170 - $400 since they were first released. When a profit can be made, jerks from around the world come out of the woodwork to take part.
Yes, there are tons of nerds who want to go to this event (including me), but I don't think that's why they sold out so quick. Days.. maybe. Minutes... come on.
I've had a 3-day pass to every PAX East so far... but this year I had to pay more to get Friday and Sunday passes.. and I still don't have a Saturday pass. It sucks. I guess I'll show up and see if I can get one at the door for Saturday.
Well, considering the PAX's I've been to have been filled to the brim, there's clearly the demand, scalping or no. Also, it's been made abundantly clear that PAX is not about Penny Arcade at this point - it's a general gaming con for gamers of all stripes.
Companies are starting to use it for announcements, Riot held a pro tourney there and it gets a ton of press in gaming areas of all types. Not to mention people in the city see news around how it's the biggest event the city throws every year and people start noticing and attending.
Couple this with the desired audience being online basically 24/7 and yes, it can sell out that fast.
I remember when the Rockies played the Red Sox in baseball and tons of Colorado people thought the ticket servers got hacked because they went down and sold out so quickly. Turns out, it's because there are a ton of Red Sox fans.
Well, I think the fundamental problem is that there are more people who want to go than there are tickets. The main thing people want is the problem solved for their group, which means there are preferential groups in some way...
Actually... I think the REAL fundamental problem here is that the event has become big enough to catch the attention of people and organizations who buy up tickets for the sole purpose of re-selling them. If only people going to Penny Arcade were buying tickets, I'm pretty sure 3-day passes wouldn't have sold out in 45 minutes or whatever. It probably would have taken a couple days or so. Tickets have been selling on ebay, stub hub etc for $170 - $400 since they were first released. When a profit can be made, jerks from around the world come out of the woodwork to take part.
Yes, there are tons of nerds who want to go to this event (including me), but I don't think that's why they sold out so quick. Days.. maybe. Minutes... come on.
I've had a 3-day pass to every PAX East so far... but this year I had to pay more to get Friday and Sunday passes.. and I still don't have a Saturday pass. It sucks. I guess I'll show up and see if I can get one at the door for Saturday.
Once conventions hit a certain point in popularity/number of attendees, badges sell out almost exponentially quicker. Take a look at NYCC, SDCC, and Blizzcon. Unfortunately, they all run into the same issue: increase in number of people who want to attend + lack of additional space + number of badges allowed for sale. It's nothing new (although it still sucks and hasn't been resolved).
I am not trying to downplay the demand to see the show... I just get the feeling people noticed the demand for tickets growing so they buy more to sell for a profit. Also, as word of the event spreads to non-PA, non-gamers... em.. 'normal people', it starts to get the attention of the general public bottom feeders who have no desire to go to the event but make a living off of buying up and re-selling tickets. What I'd like to see is a graph of percentages over the years of people who bought tickets for themselves... over people who buy tickets to re-sell them. I suspect that the percentage of people buying to re-sell also raises exponentially. If an event doesn't sell out, there is no huge re-sale market. As soon as it sells out (and the earlier it sells out) the more attention it gets from the scum who just want to make a profit off of people who just want go.
I kind of wish you had to answer a Penny Arcade or general gaming trivia question to order tickets and that there was a 1 or 2 ticket max per person.
I kind of wish you had to answer a Penny Arcade or general gaming trivia question to order tickets and that there was a 1 or 2 ticket max per person.
The quation thing would be very problematic. The only kind of "general" questions you could ask would be things like "Which of these is used to play video games - a console, a pig, a cucumber or a water fountain" and scalpers can answer those too. You can't assume, say, that every PAXer knows all about shooters or board games, because different people have different gaming interests.
Limiting the tickets to 1-2 per purchase seems ok to me, but I'm not one of the many many folk who bring their small tribe of close friends (i.e 5 people sharing a room, all being friends, all going together).
If anything at all was implemented to "make sure really dedicated people got tix first" or some such, the suggestion of having something done through the forums has some merit. For instance, if a post came up 2 months before tix went officially on sale said "first 5,000 people to see this post, use this site to apply to a tix token", then whoever gets a token can go 1 week before the official sale and use it to log into the system and buy 1-2 3-day tix (or single day tix).
But people will complain about that kind of thing too, no doubt.
I kind of wish you had to answer a Penny Arcade or general gaming trivia question to order tickets and that there was a 1 or 2 ticket max per person.
The quation thing would be very problematic. The only kind of "general" questions you could ask would be things like "Which of these is used to play video games - a console, a pig, a cucumber or a water fountain" and scalpers can answer those too. You can't assume, say, that every PAXer knows all about shooters or board games, because different people have different gaming interests.
Plus, let's be honest, it's a bit elitist: e.g. "You have to be this hardcore to attend PAX" and I'm not sure that's a vibe I'd want to encourage for an event such as PAX- I'd love to see more 'casual' geeks and nerds discover this amazing world they'd never seen before, and a quiz like that would serve as a deterrent.
As for a limit, I'll be selfish and say the current limit of 5 is fine- I'm the guy who plans the events for my best friend's and I's annual 'guy's trip' to PAX (There's between 4-5 of us who go each year) and it's stressful enough as is to plan.
Remember the average ticket purchase is 2.9 tickets per transaction - that's not exactly a crushing amount of passes going to any one person without tomfoolery and shenanigans- and let's be frank, said shenanigans and tomfoolery would occur even if the limit was set to 2.
It's hard to drop the limit below 4 or 5, due to families. Two parents one kid or one parent two kids defeats a limit of 2 right away.
Bingo. It would become a singles only event. Also, it would instantly make anyone who is not an American pay significantly more for their tickets (shipping was what, $15?). Will call is a poor option. Shipping via regular mail ($1) would make more sense but that would require numbered tickets so they can be cancelled should the mail be lost.
Singles make poor use of the hotels so all of a sudden you need 4x the number of them (groups might be willing to sleep together, but many strangers aren't). Sucks all around. Also, a pro-level scalper won't care, he's already got a bunch of people on the payroll grabbing tickets for him all day long. He'd just hire twice (50 half day temps is only the eBay profit of 15 tickets, after all) as many employees and up the eBay price by $20. And then families would have to deal with scalpers so they can guarantee getting enough tickets.
And then you get to the even worse situation where groups/families buy tickets individually, but can't get get enough, and then end up selling them on eBay. That solution actually turns legitimate customers into your scalpers.
Scalping at eBay prices is only a problem because the ticket price is significantly lower than the value of the ticket. It's arbitrage at its best (worst?)
This is why for problem events (eg: Disneyland, although they go WAAAAY overboard), most places go with non-transferable tickets. Serialized and named. If you allowed refunds, this would even work out pretty nicely for those who end up having to cancel.
This is why for problem events (eg: Disneyland, although they go WAAAAY overboard), most places go with non-transferable tickets. Serialized and named. If you allowed refunds, this would even work out pretty nicely for those who end up having to cancel.
That certainly wouldn't work for me. I buy 5 tickets every year. There's 2 of us who I know are going for sure every year. The other 3, between ordering and the con, every year, go to friends who I find out missed out on tickets along the way. I never know who it's going to be.
It's hard to drop the limit below 4 or 5, due to families. Two parents one kid or one parent two kids defeats a limit of 2 right away.
Families shouldn't go to PAX. In my humble opinion there should be a minimum age of at least 12, but I would prefer it to be an 18+ event. BGG.CON has the minimum age of twelve and it is great. Especially for an event like PAX where you see a precious badge wasted on a child.
That certainly wouldn't work for me. I buy 5 tickets every year. There's 2 of us who I know are going for sure every year. The other 3, between ordering and the con, every year, go to friends who I find out missed out on tickets along the way. I never know who it's going to be.
I am in this boat as well. Schimulki, Doesn't it stink being the responsible one
It's hard to drop the limit below 4 or 5, due to families. Two parents one kid or one parent two kids defeats a limit of 2 right away.
Families shouldn't go to PAX. In my humble opinion there should be a minimum age of at least 12, but I would prefer it to be an 18+ event. BGG.CON has the minimum age of twelve and it is great. Especially for an event like PAX where you see a precious badge wasted on a child.
That certainly wouldn't work for me. I buy 5 tickets every year. There's 2 of us who I know are going for sure every year. The other 3, between ordering and the con, every year, go to friends who I find out missed out on tickets along the way. I never know who it's going to be.
I am in this boat as well. Schimulki, Doesn't stink being the responsible one
Those kids could be the next generation PAXers, they deserve to go just as much as you or I.
Those kids could be the next generation PAXers, they deserve to go just as much as you or I.
That may be so, but given that most of those parents ignore the kids and they become everyone's problem I think it is better to excise the problem. Imagine how many more people could go to PAX if you didn't have to get passes for the kids that are simply not going to get the full attention of parents who want to have a good time.
I know that my opinion seems harsh but if you have kids you have to make sacrifices. The expo halls are simply asking for a child to be trampled, It is simply not the environment for small children. Which is why I said if PAX must allow children they should be at least 12 years old, but should seriously consider making it an 18+ event.
Those kids could be the next generation PAXers, they deserve to go just as much as you or I.
That may be so, but given that most of those parents ignore the kids and they become everyone's problem I think it is better to excise the problem. Imagine how many more people could go to PAX if you didn't have to get passes for the kids that are simply not going to get the full attention of parents who want to have a good time.
I know that my opinion seems harsh but if you have kids you have to make sacrifices. The expo halls are simply asking for a child to be trampled, It is simply not the environment for small children. Which is why I said if PAX must allow children they should be at least 12 years old, but should seriously consider making it an 18+ event.
I'm not sure how many PAX East events you've attended (or conventions in general), but appealing to safety/fear in order to argue for this event to become 18+ is pretty weak.
This is an event for everyone. This isn't an industry expo just for business people and developers, and this isn't an 'adult' convention with materials unsuited for minors (this is arguable, depending on the parent). Kids fill the table top area and expo floor and are given the opportunity to experience something wholly unique. This is a community, and a culture, and I don't think creating exclusionary policies and attitudes helps anyone.
PAX Prime 2014: Pass [x] Hotel [x] Flights [x] Vacation Days [x]
The Tabletop area has lots of people of all ages at all hours, and in the demoes I've run with kids, they've sometimes been better behaved than some of the adults, and more often than not, very courteous, if somtimes a bit overly energetic.
I think Sacratoy is right, this is an event for everyone, and it shows even on the Expo Hall where kids seem to be more looked after in general than you seem to imply, Ricin. Saying that families in general should not be able to enjoy a convention together is incredibly selfish, and trying to single out the Expo Hall as the safety issue is strange since it ignores the rest of the convention, and outside of the rope drop, kids generally aren't in danger of getting trampled there. More often than not, my experience is that Paxers are usualy pretty conscious of kids nearby anyway and will look out for them anyway.
I'd rather see passes go to these kids who are our next generation of gamers/convention goers/consumers instead of scalpers or people just looking to score the exclusives to resell too. Considering that is a bigger makeup of the crowds wanting to go to San Diego and New Yokr Comic Cons (along with E3 and CES), I think it's great that PAX still has room for the younger crowds and actually building a community insteaad of making it standalone events.
It's hard to drop the limit below 4 or 5, due to families. Two parents one kid or one parent two kids defeats a limit of 2 right away.
Families shouldn't go to PAX. In my humble opinion there should be a minimum age of at least 12, but I would prefer it to be an 18+ event. BGG.CON has the minimum age of twelve and it is great. Especially for an event like PAX where you see a precious badge wasted on a child.
That certainly wouldn't work for me. I buy 5 tickets every year. There's 2 of us who I know are going for sure every year. The other 3, between ordering and the con, every year, go to friends who I find out missed out on tickets along the way. I never know who it's going to be.
I am in this boat as well. Schimulki, Doesn't stink being the responsible one
As a parent bringing a child, I must say that I really resent comments like this. My child is so excited to attend and is old enough to appreciate everything that will be going on. I think she will have a great time. This comment essentially means that only persons over a certain age are worthy of attending, that in my view is elitist. I can understand the view that for some younger children may be thought to be a "wasted" ticket however that may be I do not think it is fair to deny the parents the opportunity to attend if their child is younger. Sorry to vent but this kind of dialogue leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth.
aBByNormaL on
PAX East 2016 .... gots my Passes [x] Hotel [x] Flights [x] Packed [..] .... ok we're all good !!!!!
Figuring out who does or does not "deserve" a pax badge is the epitome for useless conversation on this forum.
Ok, Zer. I will drop it. I know I am in the minority opinion on this matter but as long as I am able to make my point in a civil manner that is all that matters.
I am in this boat as well. Schimulki, Doesn't it stink being the responsible one
I don't mind, I'm happy to be able to help friends out. I'm not putting in any more work to obsessively refresh to get 5 tickets more than it takes to get 2 anyway.
The easy answer to the "parents should just make the sacrifice because they had the kids" is: What if selfishness got the better of your parents and they chose not to procreate so they could have childfree experiences? Chances are PAX won't be the same (or even around) in 18 years, so you're effectively asking for someone to make such a choice. Or at least to have them make the choice not to include those they love dearly in their travels. Would you refuse to bring your significant other on a trip if they were desperate to be a part of it?
I think I might have seen perhaps 0.1% of the attendees the past two years being under 12. Perhaps one was rowdy. I spent my entire time in the expo hall last year where problem children would have been at their worst. Despite one rowdy child, there were at least 1000 rude and selfish adults getting in the way for raffles and other contests. I didn't care about the child because he was having fun. I didn't care about the adults because they're having fun. When people have fun, sometimes they let their manners go. Adults included. Accept it and have a good time instead!
Or, perhaps the children could be the only ones getting a sneak peek at the nintendo booth and such. Make it a child-only event! :P
Finally lucked out and I saw a room open up at the Renaissance last night, so I booked that and cancelled my Doubletree Downtown reservation. Walking distance is so much more awesome when you're a cosplayer. Still trying for the Westin, especially after getting back from Arisia this past weekend and remembering how much I love that hotel - and not just because it's attached.
If you want a room closer, keep checking once or twice a day to see if something comes up. People will cancel rooms because plans change, especially as the event grows closer. May the odds be ever in your favor
For those of you who are driving to PAX, what are you doing for parking?
My friends and I are staying at the Hyatt Regency Boston for the duration of PAX.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what we can do for parking overnight, apart from paying for hotel parking? To my knowledge, there isn't any street parking, and overnight hotel self-parking is $36, and we're trying to find something cheaper.
For those of you who are driving to PAX, what are you doing for parking?
My friends and I are staying at the Hyatt Regency Boston for the duration of PAX.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what we can do for parking overnight, apart from paying for hotel parking? To my knowledge, there isn't any street parking, and overnight hotel self-parking is $36, and we're trying to find something cheaper.
We;re basically paying for the hotel parking (Hilton downtown)- split 4 ways as part of the hotel bill it's...tolerable.
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Me either. I am hoping to go this year but apparently decided too late and ebay pass prices are ridiculous. What are the odds of just picking up a ticket from people maybe selling spare ones at the door when the con opens? Have people done this in the past?
From my past experiences, there are usually scalpers at the entrances, with varying prices. However, be wary, as with all scalpers, there are potential counterfeits/scams. Just a couple of things to note:
1) Don't trust anyone's word on whether or not the badges are real. I'd suggest asking any seller/scalper to accompany you inside the BCEC with the badge to confirm if they are indeed legitimate badges (The help desk/security guards can help, they also have implemented black lights in the past to show hidden icons on the badges).
2) Never hand over any cash before doing the above.
In addition, if you're willing to check Twitter, a decent number of people end up trying to sell badges before PAX, due to unforeseen circumstances/other opportunities. PAXers will usually retweet and try to help people out if they're selling/trying to find a badge. It's worth a shot.
I had to scalp a Saturday badge at the door last year, a friend of a friend didn't show who the badge was for, wasted a half hour of my time... regardless I sold it for $40 (when I paid $35 for it), so I got my money back which was all I cared about.
There are legit people out there who will sell a ticket outside because of shit like this, and like Pelican just said you can bring it right inside to make sure it's legit, so you're really not in any trouble.
And there's also the chance more badges will become available, they did it for Prime and it's very possible to happen for East too.
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If this does happen, how is it announced or are badges just suddenly available on the registration page?
Trade me pins, yo: https://www.pinnypals.com/pals/Lazorz
Though PAX is obviously organized by PA isn't the convention as a whole run through ReedPop which also runs ComicCon? I guess it's possible that passes are handled by PA but I would figure since they work together, if the ComicCon 4day single pass works out they may follow suit with PAX no?
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Well, I think the fundamental problem is that there are more people who want to go than there are tickets. The main thing people want is the problem solved for their group, which means there are preferential groups in some way.
In the past, the preferential group has been the people who devote part of their day to monitoring the PAX twitter and making time available to jump on it.
Making passes more expensive would nudge things towards "people with more money"
Other alternatives include presales for certain groups *ahem*forummembers*ahem* that PAX deems most desirable (could include serious Cosplayers, indie dev affiliates etc. etc.)
No matter what, people are going to get left out in the cold, and with the growing popularity of "nerd culture", PAX is only going to become more sought-after. Couple that with the fact they're already in one of the largest spaces in New England and stitching spaces together in Seattle, and there's not really many good solutions out there to make everyone happy.
So really they just need to make sure I can always get tickets.
ReedPOP has been a major component of PAX for a long time now. PA hasn't had the resources to put on PAX by themselves since the first handful of PAXes. This isn't some new revelation. Reed is the infrastructure for PAX and has been for some time.
The major decision makers for PAX are still PA employees (or sort of "joint" PA/Reed people) and I don't think anything is changing in who runs the show.
Actually... I think the REAL fundamental problem here is that the event has become big enough to catch the attention of people and organizations who buy up tickets for the sole purpose of re-selling them. If only people going to Penny Arcade were buying tickets, I'm pretty sure 3-day passes wouldn't have sold out in 45 minutes or whatever. It probably would have taken a couple days or so. Tickets have been selling on ebay, stub hub etc for $170 - $400 since they were first released. When a profit can be made, jerks from around the world come out of the woodwork to take part.
Yes, there are tons of nerds who want to go to this event (including me), but I don't think that's why they sold out so quick. Days.. maybe. Minutes... come on.
I've had a 3-day pass to every PAX East so far... but this year I had to pay more to get Friday and Sunday passes.. and I still don't have a Saturday pass. It sucks. I guess I'll show up and see if I can get one at the door for Saturday.
Well, considering the PAX's I've been to have been filled to the brim, there's clearly the demand, scalping or no. Also, it's been made abundantly clear that PAX is not about Penny Arcade at this point - it's a general gaming con for gamers of all stripes.
Companies are starting to use it for announcements, Riot held a pro tourney there and it gets a ton of press in gaming areas of all types. Not to mention people in the city see news around how it's the biggest event the city throws every year and people start noticing and attending.
Couple this with the desired audience being online basically 24/7 and yes, it can sell out that fast.
I remember when the Rockies played the Red Sox in baseball and tons of Colorado people thought the ticket servers got hacked because they went down and sold out so quickly. Turns out, it's because there are a ton of Red Sox fans.
Once conventions hit a certain point in popularity/number of attendees, badges sell out almost exponentially quicker. Take a look at NYCC, SDCC, and Blizzcon. Unfortunately, they all run into the same issue: increase in number of people who want to attend + lack of additional space + number of badges allowed for sale. It's nothing new (although it still sucks and hasn't been resolved).
If you want a more concrete look at the time it took for badges to sellout over the past years, take a look at this thread: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/175887/google-spreadsheet-showing-the-dates-pax-has-sold-out-in-the-past
Also, I'd take a look at this, it directly answers general concerns in regards to scalpers: http://east.paxsite.com/news/the-pax-east-registration-faq
I kind of wish you had to answer a Penny Arcade or general gaming trivia question to order tickets and that there was a 1 or 2 ticket max per person.
The quation thing would be very problematic. The only kind of "general" questions you could ask would be things like "Which of these is used to play video games - a console, a pig, a cucumber or a water fountain" and scalpers can answer those too. You can't assume, say, that every PAXer knows all about shooters or board games, because different people have different gaming interests.
Limiting the tickets to 1-2 per purchase seems ok to me, but I'm not one of the many many folk who bring their small tribe of close friends (i.e 5 people sharing a room, all being friends, all going together).
If anything at all was implemented to "make sure really dedicated people got tix first" or some such, the suggestion of having something done through the forums has some merit. For instance, if a post came up 2 months before tix went officially on sale said "first 5,000 people to see this post, use this site to apply to a tix token", then whoever gets a token can go 1 week before the official sale and use it to log into the system and buy 1-2 3-day tix (or single day tix).
But people will complain about that kind of thing too, no doubt.
Plus, let's be honest, it's a bit elitist: e.g. "You have to be this hardcore to attend PAX" and I'm not sure that's a vibe I'd want to encourage for an event such as PAX- I'd love to see more 'casual' geeks and nerds discover this amazing world they'd never seen before, and a quiz like that would serve as a deterrent.
As for a limit, I'll be selfish and say the current limit of 5 is fine- I'm the guy who plans the events for my best friend's and I's annual 'guy's trip' to PAX (There's between 4-5 of us who go each year) and it's stressful enough as is to plan.
Remember the average ticket purchase is 2.9 tickets per transaction - that's not exactly a crushing amount of passes going to any one person without tomfoolery and shenanigans- and let's be frank, said shenanigans and tomfoolery would occur even if the limit was set to 2.
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Bingo. It would become a singles only event. Also, it would instantly make anyone who is not an American pay significantly more for their tickets (shipping was what, $15?). Will call is a poor option. Shipping via regular mail ($1) would make more sense but that would require numbered tickets so they can be cancelled should the mail be lost.
Singles make poor use of the hotels so all of a sudden you need 4x the number of them (groups might be willing to sleep together, but many strangers aren't). Sucks all around. Also, a pro-level scalper won't care, he's already got a bunch of people on the payroll grabbing tickets for him all day long. He'd just hire twice (50 half day temps is only the eBay profit of 15 tickets, after all) as many employees and up the eBay price by $20. And then families would have to deal with scalpers so they can guarantee getting enough tickets.
And then you get to the even worse situation where groups/families buy tickets individually, but can't get get enough, and then end up selling them on eBay. That solution actually turns legitimate customers into your scalpers.
Scalping at eBay prices is only a problem because the ticket price is significantly lower than the value of the ticket. It's arbitrage at its best (worst?)
This is why for problem events (eg: Disneyland, although they go WAAAAY overboard), most places go with non-transferable tickets. Serialized and named. If you allowed refunds, this would even work out pretty nicely for those who end up having to cancel.
That certainly wouldn't work for me. I buy 5 tickets every year. There's 2 of us who I know are going for sure every year. The other 3, between ordering and the con, every year, go to friends who I find out missed out on tickets along the way. I never know who it's going to be.
Families shouldn't go to PAX. In my humble opinion there should be a minimum age of at least 12, but I would prefer it to be an 18+ event. BGG.CON has the minimum age of twelve and it is great. Especially for an event like PAX where you see a precious badge wasted on a child.
I am in this boat as well. Schimulki, Doesn't it stink being the responsible one
Those kids could be the next generation PAXers, they deserve to go just as much as you or I.
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That may be so, but given that most of those parents ignore the kids and they become everyone's problem I think it is better to excise the problem. Imagine how many more people could go to PAX if you didn't have to get passes for the kids that are simply not going to get the full attention of parents who want to have a good time.
I know that my opinion seems harsh but if you have kids you have to make sacrifices. The expo halls are simply asking for a child to be trampled, It is simply not the environment for small children. Which is why I said if PAX must allow children they should be at least 12 years old, but should seriously consider making it an 18+ event.
I'm not sure how many PAX East events you've attended (or conventions in general), but appealing to safety/fear in order to argue for this event to become 18+ is pretty weak.
This is an event for everyone. This isn't an industry expo just for business people and developers, and this isn't an 'adult' convention with materials unsuited for minors (this is arguable, depending on the parent). Kids fill the table top area and expo floor and are given the opportunity to experience something wholly unique. This is a community, and a culture, and I don't think creating exclusionary policies and attitudes helps anyone.
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I think Sacratoy is right, this is an event for everyone, and it shows even on the Expo Hall where kids seem to be more looked after in general than you seem to imply, Ricin. Saying that families in general should not be able to enjoy a convention together is incredibly selfish, and trying to single out the Expo Hall as the safety issue is strange since it ignores the rest of the convention, and outside of the rope drop, kids generally aren't in danger of getting trampled there. More often than not, my experience is that Paxers are usualy pretty conscious of kids nearby anyway and will look out for them anyway.
I'd rather see passes go to these kids who are our next generation of gamers/convention goers/consumers instead of scalpers or people just looking to score the exclusives to resell too. Considering that is a bigger makeup of the crowds wanting to go to San Diego and New Yokr Comic Cons (along with E3 and CES), I think it's great that PAX still has room for the younger crowds and actually building a community insteaad of making it standalone events.
As a parent bringing a child, I must say that I really resent comments like this. My child is so excited to attend and is old enough to appreciate everything that will be going on. I think she will have a great time. This comment essentially means that only persons over a certain age are worthy of attending, that in my view is elitist. I can understand the view that for some younger children may be thought to be a "wasted" ticket however that may be I do not think it is fair to deny the parents the opportunity to attend if their child is younger. Sorry to vent but this kind of dialogue leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth.
Ok, Zer. I will drop it. I know I am in the minority opinion on this matter but as long as I am able to make my point in a civil manner that is all that matters.
I don't mind, I'm happy to be able to help friends out.
I think I might have seen perhaps 0.1% of the attendees the past two years being under 12. Perhaps one was rowdy. I spent my entire time in the expo hall last year where problem children would have been at their worst. Despite one rowdy child, there were at least 1000 rude and selfish adults getting in the way for raffles and other contests. I didn't care about the child because he was having fun. I didn't care about the adults because they're having fun. When people have fun, sometimes they let their manners go. Adults included. Accept it and have a good time instead!
Or, perhaps the children could be the only ones getting a sneak peek at the nintendo booth and such. Make it a child-only event! :P
If you want a room closer, keep checking once or twice a day to see if something comes up. People will cancel rooms because plans change, especially as the event grows closer. May the odds be ever in your favor
For those of you who are driving to PAX, what are you doing for parking?
My friends and I are staying at the Hyatt Regency Boston for the duration of PAX.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what we can do for parking overnight, apart from paying for hotel parking? To my knowledge, there isn't any street parking, and overnight hotel self-parking is $36, and we're trying to find something cheaper.
We;re basically paying for the hotel parking (Hilton downtown)- split 4 ways as part of the hotel bill it's...tolerable.
PSN: L00nyEclip
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