I think they should release badges in waves at random times. I also predict once people don't buy badges at ludicrous prices they will eventually go down. You'll probably pay a bit more but I don't think it will be much more over the retail price.
They should do a PAX at the Anaheim convention center. Google is telling me that PAX Prime had 70,000 in attendance last year, and I know ACC can do at least 95,000, since that's how many went to NAMM this year. Also, Disneyland is right next door
Well dang.. just bought a Friday and Sunday badge. Booked the hotel too. I suppose I'm lucky the Friday badge's availability has lasted this long?
My first time going to the west coast, so maybe I'll just take Saturday away from the con and rent a car to tour around. Still, I'm betting that a Saturday badge will pop up for me at some point between now and then, and if so I'll absolutely abandon the touring idea.
Not to revisit the issue, but man was I so late to pull the trigger on that 3-day. I wonder what percentage of that was scalpers.
Since you don't listen to GeekNights (I wouldn't expect you to ;^) ), I'll reiterate here what I've been saying for a few years.
PAX East has a much wider base of local and short-range attendees (people who can attend without a lot of planning, are within driving/cheap transportation range, etc...) than PAX Prime. Were there no limits on venues or convention resources (like Enforcers or content), a 50,000 badge PAX East would easily sell out.
Prime has a much smaller local base, but also a smaller venue. The demographic, however, is somewhat different as well. It's mostly drawn from two sources:
A. Locals to the greater Seattle area. B. Wealthier gamers who are willing to fly or otherwise travel fairly far
Now, East sells out due to the sheer number of people who can afford the relatively local travel. Prime sells out due to the smaller venue and the fact that a large number of gamers are well-to-do, able to travel, and care deeply about it. Regardless, both will easily completely sell out every year due to space and logistical limitations.
This brings us to the idea of a third PAX. Say it were in Chicago (for purposes of discussion: I have NO secret knowledge, and personally would guess at a different city were a third PAX to arise). Chicago has a new, large, untapped pool of gamers who are within short travel distance. If US demographic information is any guidance, the majority of these people are not willing or able to travel to either Seattle (PAX Prime) or Boston (PAX East). The ones who are already attend one or both at additional expense.
So, this new PAX is set in the Stephens Center there. It has a capacity of around 18,000 (smaller than the BCEC, MUCH smaller than the BCC where Otakon is held). Let's also ignore the issue of logistics and Enforcers.
It would easily sell out in its first year simply from the pool of locals who can't attend the other two PAXes, for exactly the same reasons PAX East sells out. It opens up a new region of people to a PAX, but is under the capacity to handle the demand from this new region which was previously nonexistent. This is BEFORE we consider people like us who will now attend this third PAX every year in addition to the other two.
More PAXes could not be spawned fast enough to stabilize the demand. They will in fact only increase said demand.
I do have real numbers for venues and such on both sides currently, upon which I base my assertions. While I would rather not share them (as they're not all public knowledge), I note this only because I do actually have a real basis for my projections that isn't just my own arse. We're talking a 70/30 real-data/arse-formed-data ratio!
There's an upper limit somewhere. A PAX in every single convention center in the country with a minimum capacity of 15,000 - I bet something wouldn't sell out.
Of course, it makes no sense to create more convention than there is demand for convention, so really, there will never be "enough" PAXes.
Man well that sucks dick. Whats it like to enforce?
It's fun, it's just whether it's more fun then hanging with your friends all weekend which is what makes it a bit tougher a decision for some.
When can I sign up? I'd managed to wrangle time and cash to be able to go only to be thwarted at the last hurdle. Everyone seems to have a great time Enforcing so I thought I'd give it ago.
There's an upper limit somewhere. A PAX in every single convention center in the country with a minimum capacity of 15,000 - I bet something wouldn't sell out.
Of course, it makes no sense to create more convention than there is demand for convention, so really, there will never be "enough" PAXes.
Yeah. But even if they tried, there are other resource constraints that would prevent it. The practical number of PAXes is far below the threshold of reducing the demand for any particular PAX.
You could submit a panel/lecture/workshop. Or Enforce. Or become famous enough to be a guest. Or buy an Expo Hall table (they come with badges).
I concur with cheese, Austin would make sense. I'm tempted to suggest a PAX Australia, it's a practically untapped market, we really only have one big convention - though it does go by each city - and PAX has enough of a name to break into the market in a big way. I mean, Supernova's best last year was 23 thousand uniques - relatively tiny, apparently - and PAX already has equal brand recognition here, without even running a local con. It's not like we don't have the venues for it, either, the convention center in Brisbane is large enough, as are the ones in sydney and melbourne, and that's if you didn't take the smarter route, and use the RNA showgrounds, Royal Melbourne, or Sydney olympic park.
The downside is that logistics and sourcing guests would be an expensive nightmare, and inevitably it would be in Sydney, which would be a pain in the arse for all involved. So it will happen...oh, not any time in the forseeable future.
This is probably going to be a good way to generate more Enforcers, actually.
But if they are just enforcing to get a badge, they might be shitty enforcers, like the crappy volunteers at anime conventions. If an Enforcer doesn't want to actually enforce, they're unlikely to do a good job.
You know how you solve the problem of not constant access to the internet, ask your friend who does and is also going to PAX to buy you a ticket when they get their's.
I think the only practical way to reduce the demand for more PAXes is to increase the constant low-level geekery going on at all times. For a shocking number of people, PAX is the only time they can reliably get a group together to play something.
While Seattle doesn't have a larger convention center from what I recall, it would really suck if Prime was no longer in Seattle. Especially so, since many of the Enforcers are from Washington, as well as department heads.
I worry about Penny Arcade overextending itself. I know they've outsourced a lot of PAX work to Reed and it's made the convention a better experience, but a big part of PAX for me is the PA touch. I don't know if they can have more PAXes in a year without the experience feeling at least a bit diluted.
Of course, if they just want to hire me to help with PAX 3 instead, I'd be a supporter of the idea. They have my number.
This is probably going to be a good way to generate more Enforcers, actually.
But if they are just enforcing to get a badge, they might be shitty enforcers, like the crappy volunteers at anime conventions. If an Enforcer doesn't want to actually enforce, they're unlikely to do a good job.
Sure, but that's a risk you take anyhow. Wheat and chaff.
Well there is a change in what Enforcers get other than free admission. I'm not sure if I'm at liberty to say, but I would say as much as if you are Enforcing that you'd better do your job. Also I think there may be an actual limit to how many they are accepting.
Edit: Also listening to your Lupin episode. Your predictions were way off. =P
I know there isn't much that PA can do to make it more fair for people to get passes, as the demand has reached that point where they will likely continue to sell out in a day, but one thing I would like to see is a little more transparency into how many of each kind are actually left. If I had known the speed at which the passes were going, I wouldn't have waited until I knew for sure how many passes I would need to get, cause by then they were out. This is something that a lot of concert venues do already, and I think it would help people who want to go make a more informed choice. They certainly don't have to do it, but I think a lot of people would appreciate it. It would also give more visibility into how many passes they actually sell.
Comments
I would do PAX:Toronto, as long as it is not in the dead of winter.
My first time going to the west coast, so maybe I'll just take Saturday away from the con and rent a car to tour around. Still, I'm betting that a Saturday badge will pop up for me at some point between now and then, and if so I'll absolutely abandon the touring idea.
Not to revisit the issue, but man was I so late to pull the trigger on that 3-day. I wonder what percentage of that was scalpers.
Since you don't listen to GeekNights (I wouldn't expect you to ;^) ), I'll reiterate here what I've been saying for a few years.
PAX East has a much wider base of local and short-range attendees (people who can attend without a lot of planning, are within driving/cheap transportation range, etc...) than PAX Prime. Were there no limits on venues or convention resources (like Enforcers or content), a 50,000 badge PAX East would easily sell out.
Prime has a much smaller local base, but also a smaller venue. The demographic, however, is somewhat different as well. It's mostly drawn from two sources:
A. Locals to the greater Seattle area.
B. Wealthier gamers who are willing to fly or otherwise travel fairly far
Now, East sells out due to the sheer number of people who can afford the relatively local travel. Prime sells out due to the smaller venue and the fact that a large number of gamers are well-to-do, able to travel, and care deeply about it. Regardless, both will easily completely sell out every year due to space and logistical limitations.
This brings us to the idea of a third PAX. Say it were in Chicago (for purposes of discussion: I have NO secret knowledge, and personally would guess at a different city were a third PAX to arise). Chicago has a new, large, untapped pool of gamers who are within short travel distance. If US demographic information is any guidance, the majority of these people are not willing or able to travel to either Seattle (PAX Prime) or Boston (PAX East). The ones who are already attend one or both at additional expense.
So, this new PAX is set in the Stephens Center there. It has a capacity of around 18,000 (smaller than the BCEC, MUCH smaller than the BCC where Otakon is held). Let's also ignore the issue of logistics and Enforcers.
It would easily sell out in its first year simply from the pool of locals who can't attend the other two PAXes, for exactly the same reasons PAX East sells out. It opens up a new region of people to a PAX, but is under the capacity to handle the demand from this new region which was previously nonexistent. This is BEFORE we consider people like us who will now attend this third PAX every year in addition to the other two.
More PAXes could not be spawned fast enough to stabilize the demand. They will in fact only increase said demand.
I do have real numbers for venues and such on both sides currently, upon which I base my assertions. While I would rather not share them (as they're not all public knowledge), I note this only because I do actually have a real basis for my projections that isn't just my own arse. We're talking a 70/30 real-data/arse-formed-data ratio!
Of course, it makes no sense to create more convention than there is demand for convention, so really, there will never be "enough" PAXes.
You could submit a panel/lecture/workshop. Or Enforce. Or become famous enough to be a guest. Or buy an Expo Hall table (they come with badges).
The downside is that logistics and sourcing guests would be an expensive nightmare, and inevitably it would be in Sydney, which would be a pain in the arse for all involved. So it will happen...oh, not any time in the forseeable future.
I have no doubt that a third PAX in a populated location would sell out quickly.
I suspect the main limiting resource right now is manpower. Mike & Jerry & Khoo have to be at each PAX, and there's a lot of work for each one.
But that's outside of PAX's domain.
While Seattle doesn't have a larger convention center from what I recall, it would really suck if Prime was no longer in Seattle. Especially so, since many of the Enforcers are from Washington, as well as department heads.
Of course, if they just want to hire me to help with PAX 3 instead, I'd be a supporter of the idea. They have my number.
Edit: Also listening to your Lupin episode. Your predictions were way off. =P