While Otakon has its problems, it sounds like you really just didn't even try. I mean, you didn't say whether or not you went to the Yoshida Brothers concert. I assume you didn't. Doesn't sound like you went to any of the panels with actual Japanese guests or anything.
Quoted for truth. Did you try the rave? How was the AA? Any screenings? Late-night violent movies? Room parties? Making out? What did you expect to happen at Otakon? Was there really nothing worth doing, or did you not seek it out?
Well, not everyone has a flat performance fee that they advertise. I mean, I'm sure if I threw a million bucks at Metallica, they'd come play for my birthday, but that's not quite the same thing.
Otakon was pretty fun this year, but I really didn't do much of the con sanctioned entertainment. Part of my problem was that last year, I was jumping from panel room to panel room all weekend long with the problem being that practically all of the panels were either GeekNights or Anime World Order related. This year I went to 4 panels, yes, only 4 panels. I wanted to go to around 3 more, but some scheduling/room being full to the brim problems occurred and I couldn't attend. That being said, I did have a lot of fun just hanging out with my roommates, browsing the Dealers Room is Artist Alley, and walking through the halls telling people that they're awesome. These girls won the convention. Awesome King Hippo and Ninja Bunny photobomb. Two of my roommates (I was totally behind the super cool, 80's action movie poster pose). Too cool for words. This is the reason the Death Star blew up.
You call that a late panel fail? I missed my first panel because it took me 3 hours to get from the west most point of the DC Beltway to Balitmore. Note that this is normally a 1 hour journey that I had alloted 2 hours for.
Yeah, but my fail wasn't traffic-related, it was lack-of-proper-communication-with-staff-related.
It sounds like you guys had to deal with inconvenience with of irritable staff, but part of it is your own fault for not waking up early enough, eating, and getting ready for the day. Granted, I'm not sure how far you guys were away from the convention on foot, but arriving on Thursday you should of had everything prepped and ready to go for tomorrow.
Um. We did. We were there five minutes after we were told we could get in to get our badges. Did you not read? This was entirely not us. This was staff not knowing what to do. We followed instructions presented to us to get to our panel on time, and were not able to. We were in Baltimore Thursday well before noon. We got our badges pretty much the second we could. We attempted to get our panelist ribbons right after that. Failing that, we tried to get our panelist ribbons the second we were told we could by Aaron Clark. At no point were we more than five minutes off of being there the second we could do something. We were stimied entirely by lack of communication and knowledge amongst staff.
Posted By: AprecheWhile Otakon has its problems, it sounds like you really just didn't even try.I actually went to the convention unlike some people. ~_^
How was the AA?
It was great, and I took a guy's card because he drew some bomb ass shit.
Any screenings?
20th Century Boys live action was ruined by Vic Mignogna's concert thing that was next door. The dumb ass heckling panel did the same thing to Ichi.
Late-night violent movies?
Mutant Girl Squad was great.
Room parties?
I need to sleep.
Making out?
Not with those underage fatties.
What did you expect to happen at Otakon? Was there really nothing worth doing, or did you not seek it out?
I fantasized that Otakon would be like the 09 Pokemon VGC with more cartoons. Otakon turned out to be real life 4chan. I did make my own fun, but I really did not want to pay 200+ dollars to go to a building full of nerds where I have to entertain myself. ~_^
You call that a late panel fail? I missed my first panel because it took me 3 hours to get from the west most point of the DC Beltway to Balitmore. Note that this is normally a 1 hour journey that I had alloted 2 hours for.
Yeah, but my fail wasn't traffic-related, it was lack-of-proper-communication-with-staff-related.
It sounds like you guys had to deal with inconvenience with of irritable staff, but part of it is your own fault for not waking up early enough, eating, and getting ready for the day. Granted, I'm not sure how far you guys were away from the convention on foot, but arriving on Thursday you should of had everything prepped and ready to go for tomorrow.
Um. We did. We were there five minutes after we were told we could get in to get our badges. Did you not read? This was entirely not us. This was staff not knowing what to do. We followed instructions presented to us to get to our panel on time, and were not able to. We were in Baltimore Thursday well before noon. We got our badges pretty much the second we could. We attempted to get our panelist ribbons right after that. Failing that, we tried to get our panelist ribbons the second we were told we could by Aaron Clark. At no point were we more than five minutes off of being there the second we could do something. We were stimied entirely by lack of communication and knowledge amongst staff.
Okay, I didn't understand that you could only get your panelist ribbons at that very moment around when the con actually got started. Something just pokes at me with that story where you got at the con officially at 8:40, instead of having to come way earlier to get to your panels and having things to set up.
@Railith: You should go to Connecticon. It's a better con experience overall. Also, many of the Crew do panels there. The panels are very good. There is also metal. And fewer underage fatties.
I would only go back to Otakon if they bring back JAM Project for a concert live (this time with their whole band and not just background music). I vote for this song:
RE: specifically, "To put it nicely, Otakon was one of the most unprofessional, disorganized cons I have ever gone too."
Your complaints are pretty weak, especially given the fact that Otakon is such an enormous convention with a huge rate of churn amongst its staff members and volunteers. In fact, you're pretty damn lucky to get a panelist ribbon at all, unlike actual "unprofessional, disorganized cons" where you'd be lucky to get one at all. Yeah, it sucks when you run into problems, but you gotta deal with the blows as they come. Did you even bother to tell your A/V person that there was a problem in the first place?
Otakon was pretty good this year; in fact, I'd rate it as better than last (though 2008 was probably better overall).
And just as a comment, if people keep comparing Otakon to PAX, they're just going to be disappointed with every anime con.
And just as a comment, if people keep comparing Otakon to PAX, they're just going to be disappointed witheveryanime con.
I don't see why we can't compare the two. Yes Otakon is fan run, while PAX is professionally run, but Otakon has been going on for 16 years. It's the biggest anime con on the east coast, and we should expect them to do things not just well but great. Being "fan run" shouldn't be an excuse.
In fact, you're pretty damn lucky to get a panelist ribbon at all, unlike actual "unprofessional, disorganized cons" where you'd be lucky to get one at all
I wanted to say "Oh snap" but I'm not sure if you wrote that sentence correct...
And just as a comment, if people keep comparing Otakon to PAX, they're just going to be disappointed witheveryanime con.
But isn't that the whole point to compare? People are discussing it because they want anime cons to take PAX as an example of how to better run a con so they can do the same.
From what I recall, only a small number of the people running PAX are paid like Robert Khoo, Mike Fehlauher, and PRD (Head of Enforcers/Child's Play) are the ones who get paid and possibly a small handful after that. The rest are volunteers/Enforcers. Scrym has said this several times, it's the Enforcers who make the con awesome and make it happen. Anime convention staffers need to adopt the same mentality of Enforcers. Most of the debate on this thread was whether or not anime staffers can/are able to do this.
Otakon is such an enormous convention with a huge rate of churn amongst its staff members and volunteers
My only guess here is because people realize how crappy being a staffer/gopher is and they don't want to do it again. PAX doesn't have nearly as much overturn of Enforcers and has had people who have been Enforcers since the beginning still doing it. They even give Enforcers service pins for their years of doing this.
What does Otakon give? I really wouldn't know, but the fact they scoffed at Rym's suggestion of changing the volunteers names from no longer being called "gopher" doesn't speak well for Otakon.
I would only go to Otakon if Yoko Kanno was there and I missed out on that a few years ago. Other than that, I really don't see the point of anime conventions if they continue to be ran like that. I am still thinking about being a staffer again for Sakura Con, but I really don't think I have the time/budget for it.
RE: specifically, "To put it nicely, Otakon was one of the most unprofessional, disorganized cons I have ever gone too."
It was. There's no bullshit there at all. While I have not been to a large cross-section of anime conventions, I have been going since 2006. I have sampled big cons, such as Otakon and Anime Boston, and small cons, such as Another Anime Convention. Only at Otakon has "I don't know" EVER been a final answer at an information booth. Only at Otakon have I seen staffers literally break down from stress. Only at Otakon have I ever been late for a panel. Only at Otakon have I ever felt the need to complain about anything that was an actual, systematic failure of information.
Your complaints are pretty weak, especially given the fact that Otakon is such an enormous convention with a huge rate of churn amongst its staff members and volunteers.
If people are churning through a failing business, do you cut the unknowledgeable staff a break? If an enormous business does not provide a customer service person with a way to answer your question easily, or at least point you in the direction of an answer, do you call complaints against them weak? Otakon should train it's staff, all staff, to answer simple questions. They should be able to easily get the answers to questions they don't know. This will mean more work, no doubt about it. However, the fact that I walked away from the info booth without even a hint of an answer is unacceptable. Perhaps that is simply my standards being too high. If so, then I'm willing to accept that.
In fact, you're pretty damn lucky to get a panelist ribbon at all, unlike actual "unprofessional, disorganized cons" where you'd be lucky to get one at all.
I'll be honest, I can't figure out what you're trying to call me out for here.
Yeah, it sucks when you run into problems, but you gotta deal with the blows as they come. Did you even bother to tell your A/V person that there was a problem in the first place?
If we had an AV person, then they were very well hidden; after our panel started, there was nobody manning the board. I attempted for about five or ten minutes to get the eye of the staffer standing against the wall, staring at the crowd. By the time I gave up, any fix could not have saved the panel. However, seeing as how the AV guy was no longer even in the room, and given my experience the previous day and that morning, not even an hour before, could you really blame me for giving up?
And it was not that no attempt was made to fix the problems. No attempt was even made to even acknowledge the problem from the staffer, even after we pointed it out and apologized for it. However, if blame lays at our feet for anything in that latter, it is that one item, and I apologize for it.
Otakon was pretty good this year; in fact, I'd rate it as better than last (though 2008 was probably better overall).
I have no regrets attending Otakon this year. Even with the problems, I still had a lot of fun. Even the panel was a mild success, half-filling a 700 person room at the end of the hotel at 9-10 AM when we weren't in the printed schedule. However, as I said, it wasn't great. It was simply better than nothing.
And just as a comment, if people keep comparing Otakon to PAX, they're just going to be disappointed with every anime con.
Why should I hold Otakon to a lower standard than myself? I am constantly comparing myself to those better than me, figuring out ways that I can make myself better than I currently am. A convention should do no less.
Otakon draws 28,000I Guess the 12 or so of us FRC who didn't go didn't make much of a dent
Of course not. ;^)
But, you have to consider the quality and nature of the attendees. Discounting one-offs, the most common complaints in the forums are related to crowding/shouting among attendees and rude staff members. The former will be an issue moreso as the Otakon population increases.
I actually only saw a few rude staff members. Most of the staff I encountered were much nicer than last year. No extremely loud yelling lady who screams everything she says. A lot of staff members were trying their hardest to be nice. But yeah, the attendees are the real problem. The number of people partaking in memes just keeps going up...Saddening. It's like this way at some smaller cons, too. It's just an Anime Con problem, as Scrym has pointed out before. This sucks, because there are other parts of anime cons that I really enjoy that are exclusive to them, like the guests that don't fit anywhere else (Voice Actors/Seiyuu, Directors/Producers/Animators, and the musical guests). I dunno...
Thank you so much! The first picture is Gwendolyn from Odin Sphere and the second is Momohime from Muramasa. Also, I totally remember running into you for a few minutes but I was super tired and didn't stay to chat because my roommates were all leaving us behind. Sorry if I seemed... aloof?
Thank you so much! The first picture is Gwendolyn from Odin Sphere and the second is Momohime from Muramasa. Also, I totally remember running into you for a few minutes but I was super tired and didn't stay to chat because my roommates were all leaving us behind. Sorry if I seemed... aloof?
...Would it be rude to say I recognize you only in cosplay. :P
Comments
I should email them and find out.
70,000 Tons of Metal
5 day, 4 night metal festival/cruise.
Unrelated, I know, but possibly extremely awesome.
These girls won the convention.
Awesome King Hippo and Ninja Bunny photobomb.
Two of my roommates (I was totally behind the super cool, 80's action movie poster pose).
Too cool for words.
This is the reason the Death Star blew up.
More pictures are on my Facebook.
http://jococruisecrazy.com/
That's right.
Pirate metal + cruise ship = so much more awesome than anything else ever.
Also, Amon Amarth will be there. VIKINGS AND PIRATES ON A CRUISE SHIP TO MEXICO. Guaranteed win.
I vote for this song:
Bull.
RE: specifically, "To put it nicely, Otakon was one of the most unprofessional, disorganized cons I have ever gone too."
Your complaints are pretty weak, especially given the fact that Otakon is such an enormous convention with a huge rate of churn amongst its staff members and volunteers. In fact, you're pretty damn lucky to get a panelist ribbon at all, unlike actual "unprofessional, disorganized cons" where you'd be lucky to get one at all. Yeah, it sucks when you run into problems, but you gotta deal with the blows as they come. Did you even bother to tell your A/V person that there was a problem in the first place?
Otakon was pretty good this year; in fact, I'd rate it as better than last (though 2008 was probably better overall).
And just as a comment, if people keep comparing Otakon to PAX, they're just going to be disappointed with every anime con.
From what I recall, only a small number of the people running PAX are paid like Robert Khoo, Mike Fehlauher, and PRD (Head of Enforcers/Child's Play) are the ones who get paid and possibly a small handful after that. The rest are volunteers/Enforcers. Scrym has said this several times, it's the Enforcers who make the con awesome and make it happen. Anime convention staffers need to adopt the same mentality of Enforcers. Most of the debate on this thread was whether or not anime staffers can/are able to do this. My only guess here is because people realize how crappy being a staffer/gopher is and they don't want to do it again. PAX doesn't have nearly as much overturn of Enforcers and has had people who have been Enforcers since the beginning still doing it. They even give Enforcers service pins for their years of doing this.
What does Otakon give? I really wouldn't know, but the fact they scoffed at Rym's suggestion of changing the volunteers names from no longer being called "gopher" doesn't speak well for Otakon.
I would only go to Otakon if Yoko Kanno was there and I missed out on that a few years ago. Other than that, I really don't see the point of anime conventions if they continue to be ran like that. I am still thinking about being a staffer again for Sakura Con, but I really don't think I have the time/budget for it.
And it was not that no attempt was made to fix the problems. No attempt was even made to even acknowledge the problem from the staffer, even after we pointed it out and apologized for it. However, if blame lays at our feet for anything in that latter, it is that one item, and I apologize for it. I have no regrets attending Otakon this year. Even with the problems, I still had a lot of fun. Even the panel was a mild success, half-filling a 700 person room at the end of the hotel at 9-10 AM when we weren't in the printed schedule. However, as I said, it wasn't great. It was simply better than nothing. Why should I hold Otakon to a lower standard than myself? I am constantly comparing myself to those better than me, figuring out ways that I can make myself better than I currently am. A convention should do no less.
But, you have to consider the quality and nature of the attendees. Discounting one-offs, the most common complaints in the forums are related to crowding/shouting among attendees and rude staff members. The former will be an issue moreso as the Otakon population increases.