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How do you do PAX?
I have been attending PAX East with a bunch of friends since 2011. Two years ago a couple friends outside our normal PAX group wanted to see what it is all about. They go to many conventions a year but it was their first time at PAX. I think they were overwhelmed by how packed our PAX schedule tends to be. The normal PAX group I attend with drives up on Thursday and stays through Sunday. We go to the convention center before PAX officially opens for the day and we usually dont leave the BCEC until closing. Occasionally we have gone to the restaurant next door for dinner. We mostly spend our PAX time with priority going to panels. If there isnt a panel we feel like going to we play board games, check out what is happening on the show floor, and wonder around to see what fun stuff is hiding in all the side rooms. When PAX is over for the night we head back to the hotel or somewhere for some food, a drink, maybe a little board game and some unwinding before crashing hard to repeat again the next day. My husband and I also usually cosplay at least one of the PAX days.
From what I gather from my friends who attend other cons they tend to enter a bit later and leave throughout the day for downtime. They also would leave cons early to hit a party or if their is a dance they do that then party. They are also very into Cosplay sometimes switching cosplays in the middle of the day.
Two very different approaches to attending conventions. This leads to my question....I am curious; how you do PAX?
Please note I am NOT judging how other people do PAX. One of the great things about cons is there is no RIGHT way to do it!
From what I gather from my friends who attend other cons they tend to enter a bit later and leave throughout the day for downtime. They also would leave cons early to hit a party or if their is a dance they do that then party. They are also very into Cosplay sometimes switching cosplays in the middle of the day.
Two very different approaches to attending conventions. This leads to my question....I am curious; how you do PAX?
Please note I am NOT judging how other people do PAX. One of the great things about cons is there is no RIGHT way to do it!
"You want to kill me? You couldn't even kill my boredom" - Roronoa Zoro (One Piece).
Attending PAX East since 2011.
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I personally spend all my time in the convention. I cant fathom going out and doing stuff I could do any other day while my nerd-cation is here.
How do I PAX? Relaxed!
Sleep in and arrive around 11:30 each day.
Don't wait in lines over 30 minutes.
Focus on the indie game section of the expo hall.
See new board game demos.
Play games I don't have in tabletop freeplay.
Eat out at Boston places for dinner.
See the concerts.
Well the parties and bars with nerds as well lol with so many people in town we take over pretty much
A major change I will be making in my PAX plan this year: I am not eating ANYTHING from the convention center food court. Learned my lesson last time!
I can't agree with this simply because I did attend a few after parties. Every single one of them felt nothing like PAX. They all felt like random people chilling in a bar scene or a club scene. But this was my personal experience, maybe other's had different.
My wife also like pin trading.
last year was a lil dif with the party i went to cause they had only rented out one section of the club. the year before that though the whole club was rented out for the asus party
Now, as press, my focus is slightly shifted to scheduled interviews, then booths (selected by genre) and finally any panels I can squeeze in last. It's a different experience but its own kind of fun!
Editor in Chief @ www.mmo-central.com
This is exactly how I feel also living in NYC, though I do enjoy drinking but at divier spots with great selection and price vs just to drink. The bar I live over has $4 craft beers that are pretty good at no tax and it's like a rendition of a beaten down caribou lounge with arcade machines in the back. I'm on so many 'nerd' lists that I could in theory do one or more nerdy things a week that span from raves that go til morning to simple MtG meets at a place 2 blocks from my apartment. One of the great ones is Super Smashed Bros or that one rave during Comic Con where the DJ is an actor from Game of Thrones. Also prefer raves as people go for the music, clubs just... suck to me. Bars tend to have better atmospheres to meet and talk to people. I particularly need to go to the Lovecraft bar more, Cthulu and tentacles lining the walls in an intimate and nerdy sci-fi atmosphere is great. The bartenders are also so down to earth it's not even funny.
I find Boston's scene for partying abysmal with bars last call often 12-1a and raves that are... funny at best shutting down early too. It's not a prime motivation of Boston for me. The Red Sox have also ruined it for me, I hate sports towns having grown up in Chicago. I also go to conventions all over the world ranging from Tokyo to Paris. My philosophy is if you're paying so much to be at a convention, go to the convention and do convention things!! Haha.
But to answer the OP, Pax East for me is the indie market for video games and the board/tabletop games. I also peruse the Exhibit Hall for goodies, but lets just say the last video game I bought was back in 2007. I don't even own anything that can play video games past the PS2 era! I do play 3 games of DnD a week here in Manhattan though.
Look at my avatar. He's Henry Rollins. He's a bit intense.
That's how I end up doing PAX, as much as I try to take it easier. Always on the move, always there early, don't really leave it much (Much to my chagrin). Well, East anyways. This year I promise myself to be different, to stop and smell the roses. Somehow, I doubt that'll happen.
My Prime exerpience, being 4 days...is a bit more laid-back, mainly due to that extra day. It leaves more of a safety net. I feel less rushed to see the EVERYTHING and can take my time.
PSN: L00nyEclip
Steam: Loony Eclipse
Twitter: @Loonyeclipse
I also used to go with friends, and this was fine. But a point is reached where it's hard to agree on something, and I've found it easier to go solo and just do my thing. Waiting in line for a panel feels like less of a burden if it's just me watching a movie on my tablet or playing 3DS.
As for the show itself, my rule of thumb is to get any demos out of the way immediately. Ones I know I'll want to visit, I'll hit up first while the majority of the crowd is still in that foggy haze of "OMG! PAX IS HERE!! WHAT DO I DO FIRST??". Last year, this mindset helped me secure a PSVR demo with much ease, and I hope to use this year to demo some Switch titles not named Zelda so I can build my library accordingly.
I'm all about pre-planning. Download the guide, set notifications, set up my schedule, and plan ahead. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it works for me. Two must-dos, though. I have to spend some time in the Handheld Lounge, and I have to spend a good chunk of time in the Smash Freeplay room. They've become tradition for me.
Not big on merch, because that's just more for me to carry. But I'm not above hitting up Capcom or Bethesda for some shipping cost free goods.
Panels I'll get in line 40 minutes early and chill. Ones focused on a singular game are awesome because you know everyone shares a common interest, so it's an automatic icebreaker for the less socially outgoing of us. Plus, I can't help but smile every time I overhear "Hey there. I'm ____. Nice to meet you. I just picked up this new card game. Wanna try it out with me?". I mean that's what it's all about, right?
That's about it. Pretty straightforward, and yet each year seems to get better than the last for me.
I have a huge weakness for buying board/card games at PAX. I'm going to have to limit that this year because I'm slightly balling on a budget and I don't want to overspend. This year I'm hoping to hit a few more panels than previous years, I think I miss out on too much just wandering about.
I'm completely lousy at getting free stuff though - probably because I don't wait for those long ass demo lines. Anybody who comes home with piles of shirts/swag have tips on that front?
For anyone new to PAX reading this I agree with some of the posts above. Moving in a large group through PAX can be difficult. Dont bother even trying on the Show floor! Just split into groups of 2 or by yourself and meet up later! You will not be able to look at everything you want to and it is hard to keep track of where people are and tell them you want to stop if you are in a big group. Trust me...I am the "Mom" of the group meaning my natural reaction is to do the head pivot and make sure people know where everyone is. It is practically impossible on the floor!!
"You want to kill me? You couldn't even kill my boredom" - Roronoa Zoro (One Piece).
Attending PAX East since 2011.
Folks, if mom is telling you not to do something, you best not do it. Because she's 100% right, as all moms usually are.
I've rarely done the 2hr AAA demo wait. The big ones I can already forsee coming out of the gate are Zelda and Prey, even though Zelda will have already been in the wild (no pun intended) for a week. For many, it's their first opportunity. That said, I don't hold it against people who choose to spend time waiting to try a brief demo. The caveat, as mentioned, is if you don't like it. But, the counter to that would be what's worse: wasting two hours to find out you won't enjoy a game or wasting 60 bucks to find out you don't enjoy a game.
I tend to stick to "open demos", ie. ones you just walk up to and play. Last year, Nintendo had a massive line for Star Fox Zero. In that amount of time it would take to wait and play, I played Kirby, Metroid, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Is that a better experience? No, because that's subjective. But was I satisfied? Yuuup!
Like people said, the name of the game is having fun. Find a style that suits you and go with it. :biggrin:
I'm not clear what you're saying with this. Are you saying that, based on your experience living among enthusiastic sports fans in Chicago, you now hate towns with a big sports fanbase and rabid sports fans? That would include Chicago (obviously) and Boston, but also NYC. Or are you saying you don't like the Red Sox because you ARE a sports fan, and many sports fans don't like Red Sox because they're, you know, so successful (although, ahem, not as much, recently).
If you simply don't like sports, keep in mind Boston is probably as diverse as NYC in terms of "things other than sports" in the city. It doesn't have the sheer quantity of NYC, but there's _plenty_ for the non-sports fan here.
...also, I'd urge you to, someday, try to appreciate the whole phenomenon of sports in general. It's a huge facet of culture that is as old as history itself. I used to be apathetic to sports, especially baseball (the "mostly standing around" sport) until the 2004 world series opened my eyes. There's some true amazingness in sports that is hard to describe without writing a big essay. Alternatively, if you just don't like the Red Sox because they're the Red Sox and Boston is obnoxious for winning a lot and having annoying fans, then good for you! That's local pride!
My first PAXes I spent chasing down panels. However, I realized that most (...but not all) of them are not particularly informative to me. It takes a solid 2 hours to attend a popular panel (since you must queue an hour early), and your odds of being able to ask a question and get it properly answered are slim. Unpopular panels are _usually_ poorly attended for a reason. I felt like the effort to return ratio was very poor overall, so in later years I cut panels entirely out. I think they're still a good way to simply "see" someone you want to see. I was happy to see Ken Levine speak. But even in that panel, I heard nothing mindblowing. The best panel I attended was one where they talked about the game design concept of "dying" and how it's generally horribly neglected and uninteresting--and something you can't recover from, and as a result, many players hover over the quicksave/quickload keys and will reload a game if they even take one step down a "bad" path..
Today I try to focus on:
- expo floor; talking to devs at booths
- finding JS Joust popups
- tabletop
- tourneys (tabletop or console)
- STEEL BATTALION (duh; gotta play that)
...also, I usually sign up for BYOC, so I also try to work in some "decompress time" at my desk playing something
I have solo'ed and tried to stay together with friends. I find solo'ing is a lot easier for exploring what I want to explore. I've also found that staying with friends is probably better than splitting up with friends, with the intent of meeting later. There's almost no uncrowded meeting spot, and people always get sidetracked. Trying to rendezvous with all but the most disciplined friends typically results in wasted time. Also, we're usually meeting up for a meal, and wait times at restaurants are already lengthy, so meeting up with folks for meals can easily turn into a 3 hour meal expedition.
Despite having worked out a fairly limited agenda, I always feel like I am unable to make optimal use of my time, so it's interesting to read others' comments in this thread.
I finally found one last year trying to figure out what all the hoopla was
And damn is this just a TON of fun with a crowd of people!
I couldn't agree more. One year I was trying to meet up with about 12 different people on the Saturday of PAX, and looking back on it I felt like I literally spent the entire day trying to find someone or heading towards a certain booth because someone was in that area. In the end it felt like I wasted the whole day.
The way I PAX does not involve any schedules or panels. 90% of the time is spent on the show floor in cosplay, collecting SWAG, hunting for the best after parties, shopping, and playing demos, though I don't wait in any lines for more than 30 minutes. If I get tired I play a board game, Rock Band, Jackbox, etc. I also always do a sweep of the rooms on the upper floor, usually just once or twice to check out what's going on up there. As soon as the show floor closes I go get dinner start drinking, then head to the after parties.
well im gonna get ready for the day with a shower and other hygenic needs, walk to my train station and take the commuter rail into Boston, call in a Lyft to get to the BCEC starting the day with the orientation panel (or Nintendo Booth if I am early/lucky), then I will head up to the Console Freeplay Dedicated (aka Smash Bros Room) to meet up with people and play smash with them, then im gonna try to get in on the IGN Panel idk what to do for the next 2 hours maybe a smaller booth or a tabletop game, food is important too, then go to the Getting into the Game Industry Panel (Excited for this one as im a college student), then for the rest of the time talk to peers or Console Freeplay Dedicated again (dont want to spend too much time on this as I have a bad habit of it plus I want to get the most out of PAX since im going all 3 days this year)
Saturday:
Also taking the Commuter Rail/Lyft Combo, gonna start the day off with Classic Console or find a group to play with in console freeplay or otherwise, then go into the Competitive Gaming Panel,then PAXMANIA (im a wrestling fan myself) then chill back and wait for the Smash 64 tournament to start
Sunday:
This will be my tabletop day for future PAXen
I go with my bf, and we don't rush around. Wake up a normal time, eat breakfast at the local cafe and take the shuttle in. Sometimes I may be there in time to wait in the queue line, other days I may sit on the sky bridge and watch the expo hall flood in, then I go in myself with no waiting. In my opinion, if you are not the first 1000 people in line, you aren't that much ahead of other people. Id never be there at 8am to stand in the queue line for 2 hours, but thats just me. Id rather have a relaxing morning to start the day.
We usually choose one big thing to wait in line for each day. Maybe its a new game to demo, or some giveaway that you need to wait for. If a line is 20-30 minutes that is fine, but the 2-3 hour lines you just have to pick and choose whats worth it. We also usually choose 1 panel a day to attend. Most of the expo hours we are in there. The indy section is pretty cool to check out as well.
Lunchtime is the food trucks. I refuse to buy that overpriced garbage food they sell inside. The food truck lines may look long, but it only takes 15-20 minutes usually and the food is excellent. Grilled cheese truck, I
Raffles. I know a lot of people hate these, but we LOVE them. We always hit up the raffle exhibitors each day to get new tickets, and keep track of what raffle is at what time. Sometimes we have to split up to cover 2 at once lol. Its crazy because so many people and hard to hear, but winning is amazing. Every year one of us wins something, or multiple things. I won a SSD one year from Samsung.
Saturday night concert has always been something we do each year as well. Though this year I'm probably going to be skipping. Not too excited about the lineup.
We've never really done the after party type things, though I think it would be fun.
I will see you at the paxmania I have wanted to go to this the past 3 years and never have made it but this time its in a time slot I can for sure do. Big wrestling fan as well actually going to my 3rd stright wrestlemania this year as well
If something larger has a reasonable line and I'm interested like psvr at harmonix last year I'll wait up to an hour or so. Also, I make sure not to miss Acq Inc a highlight of my Pax, and check out bandland.
If i have a chance I go to the concerts but I haven't recently.
Paxamania is a beautiful trainwreck of a panel. It is so much fun.
That said, I'll elaborate on things a bit from earlier post:
I don't wait in line for AAA games, like...almot ever. The last I did so was for Max Payne 3 in...2011, I believe.
There's a few panels I make an effort to always catch: Paxamania, the Giant Bomb panel, Acq. Inc,, the final round of the Omegathon (Last year broke my streak of never missing it) and if it is present, Late Night Dub Fight. I try to hit certain panels that interest me that change from year to year- this year it'll be Mass Effect for sure, f'rex.
I think the last time I had lunch at the con centre was ...3 or 4 years ago. We typically eat elsewhere, sometimes Boloco, sometimes a late lunch/early dinner at Legal Seafood or the like. We try to have one nice, pleasant quiet evening at a sit-down restaurant each year.
I also usually make an effort to try something new every PAX: It led to my circle getting into tabletop gaming, we discovered Late Night Dub fight the last time that I was at prime, I tried a tourney, hell, I even cosplayed once (As, you guessed it :Max Payne...there's a limit of what a bald white dude who does't wear contacts and is nigh-blind without glasses can cosplay as, sadly).
But the prime concern for me for the entire weekend is to enjoy the glorious bubble that is PAX for the duration, and wring every drop of enjoyment out of it I can.
And remember, folks going to Paxamania: Push Dr. Tracksuit, if Ryckert wins we riot. and above all...
TURN ON THE FOG MACHINE!
PSN: L00nyEclip
Steam: Loony Eclipse
Twitter: @Loonyeclipse