Loved the event as ever, and the fantastic convention centre could easily make this one of the best paxes. Good venue, easy to get around, and the locality of great eateries was appreciated (if not quite prepared to handle the quantity of people!)
Enforcers were great and helpful, no bad experiences there.
Indie booth was one of my favourite areas again, glad to see plenty of space given to them!
For criticisms, the BYOC line felt like it took a while on Friday morning, but I suppose that is unavoidable.
Collection on BYOC passes (for us international folk amongst others) seemed problematic. There were initially no BYOC passes at will call and no-one (at the booth) was certain what the rules were around them, but credit to them, they got in touch with the right people quickly and got it sorted.
Definitely felt Tabletop could benefit from more space. Desperately wanted to join in to some games, but found it far too busy.
Magic booth could have benefited from a little more space as they had some cool new things to demo, but that's pretty minor.
Agree with the LoL/World of Tanks displays being too loud, but I'm pretty sensitive to noise at most levels so thought that was a personal thing.
I understand that it's legislation but the implementation is poor. I doubt the Vic government is going to call into question someone who looks 40 and doesn't have a band. Same when I buy alcohol and go to a pub the common sense part of the law doesn't require the barkeep to card me when it's obvious I am over 18.
Make it a voluntary thing for anyone over 18. If they get asked for ID and can't show any they don't get into the restricted booths.
I think the timing of the event is a little awkward. I flew down from Brisbane where I'm studying at Uni but I was only able to do so because I had no exams. PAX was on the first 3 days of exam block. The children of the host I am staying at are still in school and school is still in session.
The end of October is not quite late enough. Nobody is on holidays yet. Postponing it a week or two could result in more people able to come and less hassle for everyone studying.
I understand that it's legislation but the implementation is poor. I doubt the Vic government is going to call into question someone who looks 40 and doesn't have a band. Same when I buy alcohol and go to a pub the common sense part of the law doesn't require the barkeep to card me when it's obvious I am over 18.
Make it a voluntary thing for anyone over 18. If they get asked for ID and can't show any they don't get into the restricted booths.
By Sunday the wristbands seemed to become totally optional if you looked old enough e.g. I wasn't required to have a wristband to enter the Main Hall on Sunday and just got waved through. Of course I had a three day pass and they were getting to know me by sight, The fact I'm over 60 years old means I never got queried in any area on any day.
Only issue so far has been enforcers delaying loading people in to panel venues even though the rooms had been cleared easily 10-15 mins earlier. Quite a few panels I attended today ran out of time as they missed their start time due to crowds only being able to enter sometimes right on the scheduled panel start time.
Only issue so far has been enforcers delaying loading people in to panel venues even though the rooms had been cleared easily 10-15 mins earlier. Quite a few panels I attended today ran out of time as they missed their start time due to crowds only being able to enter sometimes right on the scheduled panel start time.
I would agree with this comment as there seemed to be little communication between the Enforcers forming up the queues and the presenters.
I was admitted early to one session as I had made an equipment contribution/donation towards the session so this is just a sample of one. The presenters were basically on hold twiddling their thumbs and joking around while they waited for the people to be allowed to enter the room and be seated. It would have been a significant improvement to have the people seated by the start time and not holding them in a queue to be admitted at the start time.
None of the panels I attended appeared to run out of content and all could have been extended if time permitted. It appeared to be normal Enforcer behaviour to only admit people at the designated start time. I cannot know for most of the panels I attended if this behaviour to admit people at or just after the advertised start time was driven by the session presenters. Or the Enforcers were just following their instructions from PAX Aus Organisers and everybody assumed (Enforcers and Presenters) that the doors would be closed until an advertised session Start time.
As Khoo stated above, generally it's due to the speakers wanting more time to prepare. They like to have all their AV set up and ready before anyone enters the theatre.
I must admit the session I attended did not use any AV setup so everything was on hold waiting for an audience to be allowed in by the Enforcers.
I didn't find the Scorptech promoters overtly sexual, honestly didn't notice the Razer staff.
Over the three days wandering PAX Aus I didn't see anything that I would would have considered an offensive booth babe using the Senheiser headphone booth babes on Friday 2013 as the bench mark. But then again I'm a male that doesn't get carded into the site for wrist bands. Within PAX Aus I only saw one female Cos Player late on Sunday that I thought broke the boundary for overtly sexual costume but she was in the main hall so the Enforcers hadn't taken issue with the costume.
It's worth noting that the if a cosplayer isn't a booth babe, the above policies don't actually apply.
Sure, there are other policies, but they differ for attendees.
I should have split that paragraph to separate the overtly sexual Cos Player comments from the Booth babe issue as I'm aware different standards apply. I'd still stand by my comment as a mere male that the costume was overtly sexual and pushing the limits. I don't have any photos so can't prove a thing.
I have to agree with the comments about the Queue Room being a waste of space for the majority of the time in 2014. In 2013 the Queue Room was used for forming up queues for large sessions e.g. it accommodated the 2 hour Good Game queue. Therefore in 2013 it was not wasted space. In 2014 space in the Queue Room could have been used for Johaan Sebastian Joust which would have left more space in the Freeplay Games area for tabletop or other uses. Maybe tournaments could be run in this space, special food area, stage space, laser tag space, etc.
(re wristbands)
I think it is just to get it done up front so that the booths are a smooth experience, regardless of how you look. I did not notice them becoming 'optional' on Sunday however..
I have to agree with the comments about the Queue Room being a waste of space for the majority of the time in 2014. In 2013 the Queue Room was used for forming up queues for large sessions e.g. it accommodated the 2 hour Good Game queue. Therefore in 2013 it was not wasted space. In 2014 space in the Queue Room could have been used for Johaan Sebastian Joust which would have left more space in the Freeplay Games area for tabletop or other uses. Maybe tournaments could be run in this space, special food area, stage space, laser tag space, etc.
Pretty sensible, though perhaps staff/enforcers become too busy to rearrange the room after it vacates? Do not know, but damn fine suggestion.
I have to agree with the comments about the Queue Room being a waste of space for the majority of the time in 2014. In 2013 the Queue Room was used for forming up queues for large sessions e.g. it accommodated the 2 hour Good Game queue. Therefore in 2013 it was not wasted space. In 2014 space in the Queue Room could have been used for Johaan Sebastian Joust which would have left more space in the Freeplay Games area for tabletop or other uses. Maybe tournaments could be run in this space, special food area, stage space, laser tag space, etc.
Only issue so far has been enforcers delaying loading people in to panel venues even though the rooms had been cleared easily 10-15 mins earlier. Quite a few panels I attended today ran out of time as they missed their start time due to crowds only being able to enter sometimes right on the scheduled panel start time.
Only issue so far has been enforcers delaying loading people in to panel venues even though the rooms had been cleared easily 10-15 mins earlier. Quite a few panels I attended today ran out of time as they missed their start time due to crowds only being able to enter sometimes right on the scheduled panel start time.
I would agree with this comment as there seemed to be little communication between the Enforcers forming up the queues and the presenters.
I was admitted early to one session as I had made an equipment contribution/donation towards the session so this is just a sample of one. The presenters were basically on hold twiddling their thumbs and joking around while they waited for the people to be allowed to enter the room and be seated. It would have been a significant improvement to have the people seated by the start time and not holding them in a queue to be admitted at the start time.
None of the panels I attended appeared to run out of content and all could have been extended if time permitted. It appeared to be normal Enforcer behaviour to only admit people at the designated start time. I cannot know for most of the panels I attended if this behaviour to admit people at or just after the advertised start time was driven by the session presenters. Or the Enforcers were just following their instructions from PAX Aus Organisers and everybody assumed (Enforcers and Presenters) that the doors would be closed until an advertised session Start time.
As Khoo stated above, generally it's due to the speakers wanting more time to prepare. They like to have all their AV set up and ready before anyone enters the theatre.
I must admit the session I attended did not use any AV setup so everything was on hold waiting for an audience to be allowed in by the Enforcers.
And occasionally the speakers were just running late. Go figure! Unfortunately it's not something we can easily communicate to entire lines. We generally had one enforcer inside the theatre, who would come out and give a thumbs up when the speakers were ready - so we didn't always know why things were being delayed. Can look at improving that though I guess
(re wristbands)
I think it is just to get it done up front so that the booths are a smooth experience, regardless of how you look. I did not notice them becoming 'optional' on Sunday however..
I was using Roller Door 7 with a BYOC ticket on Friday thus avoided the Queue Room. On Saturday I was directed to the Queue Room to get a wrist strap while on Sunday it was direct entry via Door 7 without a wrist strap. I'm a decrepit looking over 60s male so I never get checked for age, just waved straight through. Enforcers/Security/Exhibitors have a tough enough job regulating access without wasting time age checking Senior card holders. Of course if you did relax the wristband regime for older people then it would start a competition to be the youngest person to slip into the venue using make up and daggy clothes.
I'm not suggesting there be any relaxation of the current rules.
PDP11 on
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RandomDannyWestern AustraliaRegistered Usernew member
My first PAX and loved it.
From my own perspective, a few things could have been improved, but hey. Go with the flow.
Can't really say I had too many issues. Although seeing a few of the 'complaints' here and wondering what is wrong?
My only real gripe was sitting down for a bit of a rest and hearing an Enforcer or two say a few questionable things. Racist type tones. The wrong person to hear it and it'd be a much bigger issue.
Other smaller gripes...
A couple more sales points at the Merch Stand. That was where I had my biggest wait in line of around 40 minutes. But this was 30 minutes into Day One.
The LOL setup. Just seemed in the way with the crowd watching. Maybe give it a theatre to itself? Or at least not in the middle of somewhere.
XP Hunt. Great fun, and yeah... the prize when I got it on Day Two wasn't all that tops. But if I got among the first lot to find it maybe? A pin would be a cool prize.
Panel lengths? Wouldn't mind seeing a few extended. Didn't seem like they clashed too hard with anything else. By the time you get into it, it was over.
Apart from that. The entire experience was great. Thoroughly enjoyed my time at the event and am desperately looking forward to next year.
Great show. Loved meeting the staff and playing some Thornwatch with friends. I think most of the earlier suggestions/constructive criticisms cover most of what I would say -
Table numbering and more space for the Tabletop area.
Greater diversity in food options.
Better placement or restrictions for the noise/congestion of larger booths such as Razer, Tanks, LoL (I did not want to spend time around these due to the noise and crowds).
Notification about lines to clearly state that the theaters line up separate to expo hall. Enforcers seemed unclear about this on Friday.
Pinny Arcade partners marked more obviously. Tin Man had the logo but no mention in the guidebook.
There wasn't any notification that the limited edition pin was only available at Merch lite. That should probably have been shown in the signage.
Utilizing the queue room for more events after the morning would be a great idea also.
All of the above are simply minor things. Great show and solid venue. I had a great time and look forward to next year. Thank you
I've finally emerged from the other end of my exam period, so have the time to write a full comment!
I had such a great time at PAX this year, and am in full agreement with others that it improved upon (an already good) 2013 immeasurably. Feeling the PAX withdrawal keenly, self medicating by slowly working through the PATV DVD I bought. Here's my STOP/START/KEEP for PAX AUS '15
STOP
Holding PAX during University exam periods! As I noted above, I missed most of Saturday due to exams. A couple of weeks later in mid-November would be perfect. That would also make sure PAX is not clashing with the Spring Racing Carnival, which I'm sure wouldn't have helped hotel prices/availability for International/out of state visitors.
START
Numbering tables in the Tabletop area. This has been well covered above! ;-)
Utilising the Queue room for other activities during the day. Obviously setup and pack down for whatever fits in the space couldn't be too elaborate, but I'm sure something would fit there. Some suggestions off the top of my head would be Ping-Pong tables (sure Khoo would be on board with this), RC Car racetrack, Nerf rifle range, Big Screen showing Nerd movies/TV Shows/Anime/Twitch Streams/Live feed from the Main Theatre/Anything! I wouldn't think any of those suggestions should take too long to set up after the queue had dispersed
Publish specific details of tournament rules etc. prior to the event. When the schedule was released it was cool to be able to see what tournaments were out there, but it would've been good to know the formats and rules in advance. For example, I took part in the Ticket to Ride Tournament in Tabletop, it would've been nice to know before the event which map was going to be used beforehand in order to freshen up on the rules before attendance etc.
Not really one for PAX themselves, but I hope more AUS exhibitors get on board with Pinny Arcade and arrange their own pins for next year. Good to see Tin Man Games getting on board this year, shows you don't have to be a huge studio to take part.
Create some Cosplay photography zones. Another potential use for the queue room here. There was so many cool costumes around with people who had obviously put a lot of time and skill into their outfit. Would be great for them to have a place to congregate and for the rest of us to grab photographs. Perhaps there could be published times for a 'cosplay muster' so everyone knows the best time to get some snaps. Related to this, perhaps they could have some 'photography free zones' particularly around doorways and bottlenecks in certain areas of the concourse. It wasn't a huge problem, but occasionally groups of cosplayers getting photos taken could cause blockages to the flow of foot traffic in areas of high density
KEEP
MCEC! An improvement in every way over the Showgrounds.
The General time of year was much better this year, PAX during pleasant Spring weather was much nicer than PAX in the winter gloom.
Tablecloths for every table in the Tabletop area. A small detail, but one that is hugely helpful for ease of play with board and card games.
A much improved vendor presence from board game publishers and retailers, great to be able to have a browse after playing a game, and compare prices between various stores.
That's probably enough to be going on with for now. I should note, if none of the above was implemented, and PAX AUS '15 was the same as this year, I'd still have the time of my life and be hugely happy. They've got it right, no major changes need to be made, just fine tuning. See you at PAX next year!
The only criticism I can think of was for the concert on Friday night. It was plain embarrassing to be sitting in the seats and see so much open space in front of the stage. I felt really bad for Tripod and Paul & Storm!
The space was so large that it could nearly have fit the entire days attendees in it. After a long day of standing and walking around, the last thing I wanted to do was stand around for another few hours or sit on a concrete floor.
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PedroAsaniBrotherhood of the Squirrel[Prime]Registered Userregular
Queue Room Wasted Space: already mentioned, and hopefully will see better use next year.
Pins: yes, get a few more companies on board (I did my best to get the word out. Try 5 Lives Studios) but not too many. 20 is a good number, 30 is a bit hectic.
Panels: Acq Inc needs to go to Aus. In general, theaters need better signage all the way from Expo Hall, not just outside the door. I know there is a guidebook with a map, but a few banners hung from the ceiling saying "Dropbear Theater This Way" would be a good addition.
Queuing: Enforcers seemed a bit...eager to consolidate the queues. Yes I know that the queue space is limited (see my PAX Prime feedback) but you don't need to make everyone get friendly when the queue is a quarter full. Let them sit down, space out and relax for a while. Once it starts getting full, then you start moving them together.
Hotels: Melbourne Hilton can suck all the body parts in the world. They screwed up the payment so badly that I am still dealing with it now. And $150 for wifi? Greedy little geese.
I liked the Hilton, but I did book the room online using one card, and when we put my brothers card down on check-in for "sundries" we noticed they put the full room deduction down on it. Luckily I had the first card on me to fix that on check-out.
I like pins as much as the next man, but I also liked them not being the focus of my time there. Although I wouldn't mind if most were like Tin Man games and just "buy ours for money, we need your money" and not play our game "Line Standing IRL".
Panels: Acq Inc needs to go to Aus. In general, theaters need better signage all the way from Expo Hall, not just outside the door. I know there is a guidebook with a map, but a few banners hung from the ceiling saying "Dropbear Theater This Way" would be a good addition.
Those 30% off Energizer batteries at Dick Smith flyers they were handing out to the front of the queue at 10 am on Saturday?
Took one back to my home state, and the special wasn't recognised by the computer system in store at all.
Wound up getting 60% off my 3 packs of batteries instead though, so I guess yay for me?
Not sure if PAX can really dictate to the stall owners to get that stuff nailed down before they start handing specials out to the crowd, but it would be nice I guess.
I had an awesome time at PAX this year, leagues ahead of 2013.
Now, some of the niggly stuff I noticed.
First day arriving, I was in line for about 10 minutes before an Enforcer came around to tell people that this queue was for the expo hall and the opening address would be at the other side of the building. Makes sense but there were a lot of people jumping out of the line there. Would be good to know beforehand.
While lining up in there on Saturday, some of the lines broke their tape and ran past the single Enforcer as soon as it was declared open, other lines had to wait patiently as they streamed past.
Concerts! A little sad to see the turnout for concerts, no point lining up when you could wander in whenever. This was only highlighted by the removal of all the chairs on the lower level.
Could we get a central location of cookie brigade rather than relying on luck to find them throughout the show? I think I only saw them twice all PAX.
The PAX XP scavenger hunt was ok, frustrating to have duplicate QR codes. We ended up finding all but the last 1 when leaving on Friday, which ended up being by the dropbear theatre. The weird thing was that while waiting to play DA2 on Saturday afternoon, there was a steady stream of people trying to find QR codes, rumoured to be up there but apparently had been moved? It was hard enough getting the picture finished without having to deal with the pieces being moved. I know last year the first few people to complete it got medals, don't know about this time around. The xp cube was pretty crappy though, for the effort put in.
More 3rd party pins would be great but that's not really up to the organisers, rather the vendors themselves. It was a bit of a hunt to find the Tinman games booth, other than the fact it was 'somewhere' in the sprawling indy section.
Last gripe, not sure if this is even possible to fix. The charging stations in the handheld lounge were a great idea, unfortunately, the gameboy charger's shape makes it take up both spots.
I really did have a great time, despite all these small issues. I even spent the entirety of Sunday in the expo hall without running out of things to do. I even got to try out an Oculus Rift, by accident. Went looking for some headphones at the vendor next to the LOL stadium and found myself in a line of 1 other person to test them out.
The queue room is useless after everyone is let in and is a huge space as well, so it should be utilised somehow next year. Also the foyer area could be better used as well.
Been to both Paxaus events and 2014 was seriously awesome, far exceeded my expectations. Growing up as a dumb gamer kid I used to lament not getting to goto E3 (when yanno, that was a thing). Paxaus is kind of like the promised lands but better, at least to me. It will take serious khoopower to top it come october 2015.
The only way it could be better is if somehow Mega64 could get cajoled into Paxaus15 (perhaps Razer could sponsor them). While I'm wishfully thinking, Best friend Zaibatsu would be killer to see in Aus, Acq Inc of course and SCOTT M.F.ING KURTZ, even via skype or something. Either way, fully keen for the next 5 years of paxaus!
- The MCEC is a massive improvement for venue choice. My accomodation was walking distance away, and there are a number of tram stops nearby, plus plenty of parking. And of course, all being under the one roof just made things easy. The toilets were cleaner and there were more of them!
- The merch booth was easy to find and they had enough merch. Last year I missed out on some things.
- There was more space.
- The panels were far better for seating.
- The Expo Hall was better
- The tabletop area was fantastic
The bad:
- The Expo Hall was still choked often, making getting from Point A to Point B a hazard. Thankfully there is the concourse so you can skip it, but if going from one area to the next, can be annoying. Suggest making the space wider.
- Saw some queue-jumping. I'd suggest using roped areas for the queues, especially for the more packed panels, like the Blizzard one.
- The sound wasn't great at the MC Frontalot panel.
- Your XP app broke on me, I was unable to get the loot, and I had gotten all 20 of the codes.
- The twitter wasn't as active as it could and should have been. There was very little alerts for the queue lines, or where to meet for pin trading.
- The console freeplay area could be bigger
- The retro game area could be bigger
- There was no way to state where you were in the tabletop area - it was vast. It could have used a table number system.
- The Indie area was way too small, and way too crowded. While it was nice to see a good number of different games, there weren't enough machines to play, usually only 1 or 2. They could have had 5 each and it probably wouldn't be enough.
- The Microsoft booth wasn't sign-posted well. And people were queue-jumping there to get onto the game so they could get the pin, as they were easily able to wander through.
- In addition to that, the reward for winning a round of Sunset Boulevard was excellent, but took way too long to receive.
- The EA Community Lounge was tucked to far away, had very long wait times, and mostly clueless staff. Some nice swag though.
- There wasn't enough vendors. Last year I remember a number of cool vendors, and bought the wife some nice swag. This year I only remember a couple of vendors, such as Madman and Kings Comics (I think). Could use more vendors, and especially show specials.
- There wasn't a designated photo space or a cosplay parade area. The Queue Room could have easily provided that space, once the show was open, and I think that would be best. Just hang a one colour sheet up against a wall or something.
- The 3Day pass should be on both sides, it kept flipping and I was asked a few times for it to be changed.
- The Cookie Brigade was barely noticeable. I only saw them once on Sunday morning.
- The food choices were reasonable, but over-priced.
I think that's all. Overall, I think the main thing is just providing more space, better queue management, and better signage for some of the booths and numbering the tabletop area. And all that is very easy to fix.
Hey everyone, thanks for the comments on the Cookie Brigade at PAX AUS.
Could we get a central location of cookie brigade rather than relying on luck to find them throughout the show? I think I only saw them twice all PAX.
The Cookie Brigade was barely noticeable. I only saw them once on Sunday morning.
Tweet us at @cookie_brigade - we will endeavor to send someone towards the area you are in.
It came down to numbers, we had about 10 distributors overall for the entire event, which in the midst of ~30,000 people, means we are easily missed.
We always need more people willing to distribute, its not a full time gig so you can easily spend a heap of time looking at things, and it is an awesome way to meet new people and experience the event, while helping a great cause like Child's Play. If you are interested head to http://www.cookiebrigade.org to sign up!
I will also be looking at how we identify ourselves this year so we stand out a bit more
As someone who spent 3-4 hours every day distributing cookies, it could only come down to the sheer size of the event and the so few of us....I hit up handheld lounge a lot, roamed the expo hall, hit just about every queue. And yes we did special delivery based on tweets.
I highly recommend getting involved, you get to see the show in a different light and really meet a lot of AMAZINGLY generous people.
WallStarThe one... the only... the slightly overrated...CannonvaleRegistered Userregular
I had the time of my life here. My only ONLY feedback for improvement was the food. The food choices in the halls were limited, cold and usually by the time we got to them (out of panels etc) there was nothing really left. Our only alternative was spending way too much money on the food on the esplanade. There are some awesome festivals around Aus that have GREAT food stands - Maybe try to expand the options a bit where possible??
Yea auspax was great but the lines were too big i know that there is nothing that you can do to fix this but the lines (esspecially the oculus rift line which looked like an a half an hour wait anyway. But overall pax was great, more pax please!!!
The food was really bad. Bad chips and burgers. I think a mars bar was $5 or more, the guy actually laughed in agreement when I questioned the price. Very dismal.
The actual event was incredible, though the queues could get crazy, but that's fair enough.
I really enjoyed a lot of the panel discussions at Pax. It would have been great if some of the sessions would have involved presentations rather than simply panel discussions though. Having someone talk about an issue for 10 minutes (possibly with powerpoint) or even having three speakers talk talk for half a session allows for greater depth of discussion then having some superficial questions from a moderator thrown at the panel and then random questions from the audience... without some sort of set up/intro.
I am not saying Pax should junk all panel discussions in favor of presentations but it would be great if they could have mix it up a bit.
Hey everyone, thanks for the comments on the Cookie Brigade at PAX AUS.
Could we get a central location of cookie brigade rather than relying on luck to find them throughout the show? I think I only saw them twice all PAX.
The Cookie Brigade was barely noticeable. I only saw them once on Sunday morning.
Tweet us at @cookie_brigade - we will endeavor to send someone towards the area you are in.
It came down to numbers, we had about 10 distributors overall for the entire event, which in the midst of ~30,000 people, means we are easily missed.
Three days at PAX 2014 and I didn't get a cookie.... Bwah
Twitter is not the answer; like a lot of people I don't use Twitter.
Please setup a small, one person booth in the Queue Room. The Queue Room was underutilized in 2014. A booth would allow people to pickup cookies on the way into PAX. While a queue for cookies would not be an issue in that space.
I will also be looking at how we identify ourselves this year so we stand out a bit more
The food was really bad. Bad chips and burgers. I think a mars bar was $5 or more, the guy actually laughed in agreement when I questioned the price. Very dismal.
The food truck setup at PAX 2013 was better than most of the venue food at PAX 2014. Given the shape of the venue a loading dock area could be closed off (like the BYOC queue was handled in the loading dock). The area could then be used for food trucks.
Production timing is likely to be a problem but still worth asking. Talk to the production company called Shine Australa and see if you can get a Masterchef competition run in the Queue Room.
Hey everyone, thanks for the comments on the Cookie Brigade at PAX AUS.
Could we get a central location of cookie brigade rather than relying on luck to find them throughout the show? I think I only saw them twice all PAX.
The Cookie Brigade was barely noticeable. I only saw them once on Sunday morning.
Tweet us at @cookie_brigade - we will endeavor to send someone towards the area you are in.
It came down to numbers, we had about 10 distributors overall for the entire event, which in the midst of ~30,000 people, means we are easily missed.
Three days at PAX 2014 and I didn't get a cookie.... Bwah
Twitter is not the answer; like a lot of people I don't use Twitter.
Please setup a small, one person booth in the Queue Room. The Queue Room was underutilized in 2014. A booth would allow people to pickup cookies on the way into PAX. While a queue for cookies would not be an issue in that space.
I will also be looking at how we identify ourselves this year so we stand out a bit more
Having a booth literally puts you on the map.
Having a booth costs quite a bit of money, and then they would have to register as a food vendor most likely. Probably way out of budget for a grass roots charity fundraising campaign.
Posts
Enforcers were great and helpful, no bad experiences there.
Indie booth was one of my favourite areas again, glad to see plenty of space given to them!
For criticisms, the BYOC line felt like it took a while on Friday morning, but I suppose that is unavoidable.
Collection on BYOC passes (for us international folk amongst others) seemed problematic. There were initially no BYOC passes at will call and no-one (at the booth) was certain what the rules were around them, but credit to them, they got in touch with the right people quickly and got it sorted.
Definitely felt Tabletop could benefit from more space. Desperately wanted to join in to some games, but found it far too busy.
Magic booth could have benefited from a little more space as they had some cool new things to demo, but that's pretty minor.
Agree with the LoL/World of Tanks displays being too loud, but I'm pretty sensitive to noise at most levels so thought that was a personal thing.
I understand that it's legislation but the implementation is poor. I doubt the Vic government is going to call into question someone who looks 40 and doesn't have a band. Same when I buy alcohol and go to a pub the common sense part of the law doesn't require the barkeep to card me when it's obvious I am over 18.
Make it a voluntary thing for anyone over 18. If they get asked for ID and can't show any they don't get into the restricted booths.
The end of October is not quite late enough. Nobody is on holidays yet. Postponing it a week or two could result in more people able to come and less hassle for everyone studying.
I think it is just to get it done up front so that the booths are a smooth experience, regardless of how you look. I did not notice them becoming 'optional' on Sunday however..
Pretty sensible, though perhaps staff/enforcers become too busy to rearrange the room after it vacates? Do not know, but damn fine suggestion.
And occasionally the speakers were just running late. Go figure! Unfortunately it's not something we can easily communicate to entire lines. We generally had one enforcer inside the theatre, who would come out and give a thumbs up when the speakers were ready - so we didn't always know why things were being delayed. Can look at improving that though I guess
I'm not suggesting there be any relaxation of the current rules.
From my own perspective, a few things could have been improved, but hey. Go with the flow.
Can't really say I had too many issues. Although seeing a few of the 'complaints' here and wondering what is wrong?
My only real gripe was sitting down for a bit of a rest and hearing an Enforcer or two say a few questionable things. Racist type tones. The wrong person to hear it and it'd be a much bigger issue.
Other smaller gripes...
A couple more sales points at the Merch Stand. That was where I had my biggest wait in line of around 40 minutes. But this was 30 minutes into Day One.
The LOL setup. Just seemed in the way with the crowd watching. Maybe give it a theatre to itself? Or at least not in the middle of somewhere.
XP Hunt. Great fun, and yeah... the prize when I got it on Day Two wasn't all that tops. But if I got among the first lot to find it maybe? A pin would be a cool prize.
Panel lengths? Wouldn't mind seeing a few extended. Didn't seem like they clashed too hard with anything else. By the time you get into it, it was over.
Apart from that. The entire experience was great. Thoroughly enjoyed my time at the event and am desperately looking forward to next year.
Table numbering and more space for the Tabletop area.
Greater diversity in food options.
Better placement or restrictions for the noise/congestion of larger booths such as Razer, Tanks, LoL (I did not want to spend time around these due to the noise and crowds).
Notification about lines to clearly state that the theaters line up separate to expo hall. Enforcers seemed unclear about this on Friday.
Pinny Arcade partners marked more obviously. Tin Man had the logo but no mention in the guidebook.
There wasn't any notification that the limited edition pin was only available at Merch lite. That should probably have been shown in the signage.
Utilizing the queue room for more events after the morning would be a great idea also.
All of the above are simply minor things. Great show and solid venue. I had a great time and look forward to next year. Thank you
“I let out a battle cry. Sure, a lot of people might have mistaken it for a sudden yelp of unmanly fear, but trust me. It was a battle cry.”
I had such a great time at PAX this year, and am in full agreement with others that it improved upon (an already good) 2013 immeasurably. Feeling the PAX withdrawal keenly, self medicating by slowly working through the PATV DVD I bought. Here's my STOP/START/KEEP for PAX AUS '15
STOP
Holding PAX during University exam periods! As I noted above, I missed most of Saturday due to exams. A couple of weeks later in mid-November would be perfect. That would also make sure PAX is not clashing with the Spring Racing Carnival, which I'm sure wouldn't have helped hotel prices/availability for International/out of state visitors.
START
Numbering tables in the Tabletop area. This has been well covered above! ;-)
Utilising the Queue room for other activities during the day. Obviously setup and pack down for whatever fits in the space couldn't be too elaborate, but I'm sure something would fit there. Some suggestions off the top of my head would be Ping-Pong tables (sure Khoo would be on board with this), RC Car racetrack, Nerf rifle range, Big Screen showing Nerd movies/TV Shows/Anime/Twitch Streams/Live feed from the Main Theatre/Anything! I wouldn't think any of those suggestions should take too long to set up after the queue had dispersed
Publish specific details of tournament rules etc. prior to the event. When the schedule was released it was cool to be able to see what tournaments were out there, but it would've been good to know the formats and rules in advance. For example, I took part in the Ticket to Ride Tournament in Tabletop, it would've been nice to know before the event which map was going to be used beforehand in order to freshen up on the rules before attendance etc.
Not really one for PAX themselves, but I hope more AUS exhibitors get on board with Pinny Arcade and arrange their own pins for next year. Good to see Tin Man Games getting on board this year, shows you don't have to be a huge studio to take part.
Create some Cosplay photography zones. Another potential use for the queue room here. There was so many cool costumes around with people who had obviously put a lot of time and skill into their outfit. Would be great for them to have a place to congregate and for the rest of us to grab photographs. Perhaps there could be published times for a 'cosplay muster' so everyone knows the best time to get some snaps. Related to this, perhaps they could have some 'photography free zones' particularly around doorways and bottlenecks in certain areas of the concourse. It wasn't a huge problem, but occasionally groups of cosplayers getting photos taken could cause blockages to the flow of foot traffic in areas of high density
KEEP
MCEC! An improvement in every way over the Showgrounds.
The General time of year was much better this year, PAX during pleasant Spring weather was much nicer than PAX in the winter gloom.
Tablecloths for every table in the Tabletop area. A small detail, but one that is hugely helpful for ease of play with board and card games.
A much improved vendor presence from board game publishers and retailers, great to be able to have a browse after playing a game, and compare prices between various stores.
That's probably enough to be going on with for now. I should note, if none of the above was implemented, and PAX AUS '15 was the same as this year, I'd still have the time of my life and be hugely happy. They've got it right, no major changes need to be made, just fine tuning. See you at PAX next year!
Only a mere 136 pins to go!
The only criticism I can think of was for the concert on Friday night. It was plain embarrassing to be sitting in the seats and see so much open space in front of the stage. I felt really bad for Tripod and Paul & Storm!
The space was so large that it could nearly have fit the entire days attendees in it. After a long day of standing and walking around, the last thing I wanted to do was stand around for another few hours or sit on a concrete floor.
Pins: yes, get a few more companies on board (I did my best to get the word out. Try 5 Lives Studios) but not too many. 20 is a good number, 30 is a bit hectic.
Panels: Acq Inc needs to go to Aus. In general, theaters need better signage all the way from Expo Hall, not just outside the door. I know there is a guidebook with a map, but a few banners hung from the ceiling saying "Dropbear Theater This Way" would be a good addition.
Queuing: Enforcers seemed a bit...eager to consolidate the queues. Yes I know that the queue space is limited (see my PAX Prime feedback) but you don't need to make everyone get friendly when the queue is a quarter full. Let them sit down, space out and relax for a while. Once it starts getting full, then you start moving them together.
Hotels: Melbourne Hilton can suck all the body parts in the world. They screwed up the payment so badly that I am still dealing with it now. And $150 for wifi? Greedy little geese.
Nusquam Findi Factionis
My Digital Pin Lanyard
I like pins as much as the next man, but I also liked them not being the focus of my time there. Although I wouldn't mind if most were like Tin Man games and just "buy ours for money, we need your money" and not play our game "Line Standing IRL".
Agreed x2
Pinny Pals Lanyard
Those 30% off Energizer batteries at Dick Smith flyers they were handing out to the front of the queue at 10 am on Saturday?
Took one back to my home state, and the special wasn't recognised by the computer system in store at all.
Wound up getting 60% off my 3 packs of batteries instead though, so I guess yay for me?
Not sure if PAX can really dictate to the stall owners to get that stuff nailed down before they start handing specials out to the crowd, but it would be nice I guess.
Now, some of the niggly stuff I noticed.
First day arriving, I was in line for about 10 minutes before an Enforcer came around to tell people that this queue was for the expo hall and the opening address would be at the other side of the building. Makes sense but there were a lot of people jumping out of the line there. Would be good to know beforehand.
While lining up in there on Saturday, some of the lines broke their tape and ran past the single Enforcer as soon as it was declared open, other lines had to wait patiently as they streamed past.
Concerts! A little sad to see the turnout for concerts, no point lining up when you could wander in whenever. This was only highlighted by the removal of all the chairs on the lower level.
Could we get a central location of cookie brigade rather than relying on luck to find them throughout the show? I think I only saw them twice all PAX.
The PAX XP scavenger hunt was ok, frustrating to have duplicate QR codes. We ended up finding all but the last 1 when leaving on Friday, which ended up being by the dropbear theatre. The weird thing was that while waiting to play DA2 on Saturday afternoon, there was a steady stream of people trying to find QR codes, rumoured to be up there but apparently had been moved? It was hard enough getting the picture finished without having to deal with the pieces being moved. I know last year the first few people to complete it got medals, don't know about this time around. The xp cube was pretty crappy though, for the effort put in.
More 3rd party pins would be great but that's not really up to the organisers, rather the vendors themselves. It was a bit of a hunt to find the Tinman games booth, other than the fact it was 'somewhere' in the sprawling indy section.
Last gripe, not sure if this is even possible to fix. The charging stations in the handheld lounge were a great idea, unfortunately, the gameboy charger's shape makes it take up both spots.
I really did have a great time, despite all these small issues. I even spent the entirety of Sunday in the expo hall without running out of things to do. I even got to try out an Oculus Rift, by accident. Went looking for some headphones at the vendor next to the LOL stadium and found myself in a line of 1 other person to test them out.
The only way it could be better is if somehow Mega64 could get cajoled into Paxaus15 (perhaps Razer could sponsor them). While I'm wishfully thinking, Best friend Zaibatsu would be killer to see in Aus, Acq Inc of course and SCOTT M.F.ING KURTZ, even via skype or something. Either way, fully keen for the next 5 years of paxaus!
- The MCEC is a massive improvement for venue choice. My accomodation was walking distance away, and there are a number of tram stops nearby, plus plenty of parking. And of course, all being under the one roof just made things easy. The toilets were cleaner and there were more of them!
- The merch booth was easy to find and they had enough merch. Last year I missed out on some things.
- There was more space.
- The panels were far better for seating.
- The Expo Hall was better
- The tabletop area was fantastic
The bad:
- The Expo Hall was still choked often, making getting from Point A to Point B a hazard. Thankfully there is the concourse so you can skip it, but if going from one area to the next, can be annoying. Suggest making the space wider.
- Saw some queue-jumping. I'd suggest using roped areas for the queues, especially for the more packed panels, like the Blizzard one.
- The sound wasn't great at the MC Frontalot panel.
- Your XP app broke on me, I was unable to get the loot, and I had gotten all 20 of the codes.
- The twitter wasn't as active as it could and should have been. There was very little alerts for the queue lines, or where to meet for pin trading.
- The console freeplay area could be bigger
- The retro game area could be bigger
- There was no way to state where you were in the tabletop area - it was vast. It could have used a table number system.
- The Indie area was way too small, and way too crowded. While it was nice to see a good number of different games, there weren't enough machines to play, usually only 1 or 2. They could have had 5 each and it probably wouldn't be enough.
- The Microsoft booth wasn't sign-posted well. And people were queue-jumping there to get onto the game so they could get the pin, as they were easily able to wander through.
- In addition to that, the reward for winning a round of Sunset Boulevard was excellent, but took way too long to receive.
- The EA Community Lounge was tucked to far away, had very long wait times, and mostly clueless staff. Some nice swag though.
- There wasn't enough vendors. Last year I remember a number of cool vendors, and bought the wife some nice swag. This year I only remember a couple of vendors, such as Madman and Kings Comics (I think). Could use more vendors, and especially show specials.
- There wasn't a designated photo space or a cosplay parade area. The Queue Room could have easily provided that space, once the show was open, and I think that would be best. Just hang a one colour sheet up against a wall or something.
- The 3Day pass should be on both sides, it kept flipping and I was asked a few times for it to be changed.
- The Cookie Brigade was barely noticeable. I only saw them once on Sunday morning.
- The food choices were reasonable, but over-priced.
I think that's all. Overall, I think the main thing is just providing more space, better queue management, and better signage for some of the booths and numbering the tabletop area. And all that is very easy to fix.
Could we get a central location of cookie brigade rather than relying on luck to find them throughout the show? I think I only saw them twice all PAX.
The Cookie Brigade was barely noticeable. I only saw them once on Sunday morning.
Tweet us at @cookie_brigade - we will endeavor to send someone towards the area you are in.
It came down to numbers, we had about 10 distributors overall for the entire event, which in the midst of ~30,000 people, means we are easily missed.
We always need more people willing to distribute, its not a full time gig so you can easily spend a heap of time looking at things, and it is an awesome way to meet new people and experience the event, while helping a great cause like Child's Play. If you are interested head to http://www.cookiebrigade.org to sign up!
I will also be looking at how we identify ourselves this year so we stand out a bit more
I highly recommend getting involved, you get to see the show in a different light and really meet a lot of AMAZINGLY generous people.
-Squire
The actual event was incredible, though the queues could get crazy, but that's fair enough.
I am not saying Pax should junk all panel discussions in favor of presentations but it would be great if they could have mix it up a bit.
Twitter is not the answer; like a lot of people I don't use Twitter.
Please setup a small, one person booth in the Queue Room. The Queue Room was underutilized in 2014. A booth would allow people to pickup cookies on the way into PAX. While a queue for cookies would not be an issue in that space.
Having a booth literally puts you on the map.
Production timing is likely to be a problem but still worth asking. Talk to the production company called Shine Australa and see if you can get a Masterchef competition run in the Queue Room.