The Long PAX Post...
So pax was, for the most part an experience for me. In some ways it was very good, in some ways it was very bad. I would say this show came out on the 50/50 end for me. I went not really knowing what to expect...so some of it was an education as well about how i should approach events like this in the future as an attendee.
THE GOOD
Vibe:
The vibe at PAX is awesome. It is really friendly, and ground floor for a show of that size. People are there either because they love penny arcade or gaming or both, and gamers are nuts. Like stay up until 5am playing rock band and discussing hit points nuts. Its a good thing, and sometimes an amusing thing. This general friendly vibe really came through in the hand held lounges and the hang out areas. You could literally just plop down, talk to the two ppl beside you, get your ass kicked at tetris and just converse for a while. Also c'mon...meme city and funny t-shirts. heh.
Enforcers:
Actually knowledgeable volunteers and staff that are quick to respond to things and friendly when you have questions? SHOCKING. Apparently they start training the enforcers 6 months before the show. so they actually feel like a team, and it shows. The security is treated very well, they in part treat attendees well. Hurray! Enforcers!
Content:
The displays, retailers and panels at PAX are well very relevant. Each isle on the expo floor had some form of interesting game to try out and on top of it, PAX is very good at promoting indie game content. Even if you aren't a big gamer, but enjoy games, or are just curious about the game industry....you will find something here to entertain or hold your interest.
THE BAD:
Sheer Fucking Numbers
With 50, 000 people coming in and out of that convention center...it got a little hairy at times. Ok at MOST times. The sheer numbers made things like getting a coffee, buying a muffin or hitting a vending machine just difficult. There was ALWAYS a line. Sometimes these lines would snake...for levels...all over the place. There were lines for everything, everywhere, no matter what. It got so bad on saturday that I dubbed PAX the "queuing con" and actually became very frustrated and dissapointed, because even showing up A FULL HOUR before a panel wasn't enough to get to see it in most cases, and sorry but that's just so not cool....which leads me to the second item:
The space use could have been better:
Ok not all the space usage was bad. the expo floor, omegathon etc...cool. BUT the panel set up, not good. Rather than having a giant Line up room, why not use BOTH huge auditorium rooms for your keynote and big presentations? Or find a way to utilize empty freeplay rooms (which are empty in the morning) for morning talks, or other uses. I understand they probably didn't expect THAT many people. But I think at even half the attendance what they had wouldn't have sufficed. Especially for saturday, saturday was a madhouse. Sunday was much better / lax (i actually got into 3 panels rather than none...shocking!) but at those number lax was busy. ;) Plus i think they broke some serious fire codes...again not cool.
General Confusion
I personally found it hard to tell where I was sometimes. The convention centre while pretty, was somewhat maze like, a lot of the time I would be looking for a panel room only find i was on the wrong floor. This happened enough for me to think that they could use some better, and larger way-finding systems.
THE NON PAX RELATED
I loved wandering around seattle. The downtown is pretty, and varied and very easy to walk from china town to pike place to the center. The food was excellent, and the beer selection was wide and tasty. The weather was nice and coffee was never more than 200 feet in any direction. Seattle has a good vibe, I really liked it and was glad I got a chance to explore it for a weekend when not at the convention center. I'd like to go back and boot around for a bit at some point in the future.
FINALLY
Would I go back to PAX? No. Not unless they solve the space and panel issue, and solve it well. Panels are one of the main reasons I go to cons. I go to listen and ask questions. without that, i feel like i miss the meat of a show. And while I am not opposed to waiting for something, I'm opposed to doing it ALL THE TIME. The wait times and overcrowding wouldn't be worth buying another plane ticket. When they do decide to split the show into east / west I'll look into attending again.
THE GOOD
Vibe:
The vibe at PAX is awesome. It is really friendly, and ground floor for a show of that size. People are there either because they love penny arcade or gaming or both, and gamers are nuts. Like stay up until 5am playing rock band and discussing hit points nuts. Its a good thing, and sometimes an amusing thing. This general friendly vibe really came through in the hand held lounges and the hang out areas. You could literally just plop down, talk to the two ppl beside you, get your ass kicked at tetris and just converse for a while. Also c'mon...meme city and funny t-shirts. heh.
Enforcers:
Actually knowledgeable volunteers and staff that are quick to respond to things and friendly when you have questions? SHOCKING. Apparently they start training the enforcers 6 months before the show. so they actually feel like a team, and it shows. The security is treated very well, they in part treat attendees well. Hurray! Enforcers!
Content:
The displays, retailers and panels at PAX are well very relevant. Each isle on the expo floor had some form of interesting game to try out and on top of it, PAX is very good at promoting indie game content. Even if you aren't a big gamer, but enjoy games, or are just curious about the game industry....you will find something here to entertain or hold your interest.
THE BAD:
Sheer Fucking Numbers
With 50, 000 people coming in and out of that convention center...it got a little hairy at times. Ok at MOST times. The sheer numbers made things like getting a coffee, buying a muffin or hitting a vending machine just difficult. There was ALWAYS a line. Sometimes these lines would snake...for levels...all over the place. There were lines for everything, everywhere, no matter what. It got so bad on saturday that I dubbed PAX the "queuing con" and actually became very frustrated and dissapointed, because even showing up A FULL HOUR before a panel wasn't enough to get to see it in most cases, and sorry but that's just so not cool....which leads me to the second item:
The space use could have been better:
Ok not all the space usage was bad. the expo floor, omegathon etc...cool. BUT the panel set up, not good. Rather than having a giant Line up room, why not use BOTH huge auditorium rooms for your keynote and big presentations? Or find a way to utilize empty freeplay rooms (which are empty in the morning) for morning talks, or other uses. I understand they probably didn't expect THAT many people. But I think at even half the attendance what they had wouldn't have sufficed. Especially for saturday, saturday was a madhouse. Sunday was much better / lax (i actually got into 3 panels rather than none...shocking!) but at those number lax was busy. ;) Plus i think they broke some serious fire codes...again not cool.
General Confusion
I personally found it hard to tell where I was sometimes. The convention centre while pretty, was somewhat maze like, a lot of the time I would be looking for a panel room only find i was on the wrong floor. This happened enough for me to think that they could use some better, and larger way-finding systems.
THE NON PAX RELATED
I loved wandering around seattle. The downtown is pretty, and varied and very easy to walk from china town to pike place to the center. The food was excellent, and the beer selection was wide and tasty. The weather was nice and coffee was never more than 200 feet in any direction. Seattle has a good vibe, I really liked it and was glad I got a chance to explore it for a weekend when not at the convention center. I'd like to go back and boot around for a bit at some point in the future.
FINALLY
Would I go back to PAX? No. Not unless they solve the space and panel issue, and solve it well. Panels are one of the main reasons I go to cons. I go to listen and ask questions. without that, i feel like i miss the meat of a show. And while I am not opposed to waiting for something, I'm opposed to doing it ALL THE TIME. The wait times and overcrowding wouldn't be worth buying another plane ticket. When they do decide to split the show into east / west I'll look into attending again.