Yes, there is a ridiculous and silly price point (e.g, 1 BILLION DOLLARZ) at which anyone will sell their badge, but it's not a price anyone would actually pay, and is thus immaterial to this discussion and a ludicrous and useless point in general.
San Diego would be excellent insofar as meeting the Scrym requirements.
It's big, has good hotels nearby, and since its smack in the middle of downtown of a major city, its got food and outside distractions.
I'm not that into SD but I think it would work.
Already has a huge geek convention. Try again.
I'm not advocating San Diego, but that's a bullshit reason. People are obviously willing to go to several cons per year. It's not like PAX and Comic Con would be on the same weekend, or even in the same season. You've also got examples of weekends where three major geek cons across the country have run at the same exact time, and they all still did well, demonstrating that demand is so high that even a split regional audience can fill a major event.
If you wouldn't be willing to buy a badge for $500 but you refuse to sell one for $500, you are (assuming the transaction is relatively safe and easy) simply irrational.
That's patently wrong and absurd on a number of levels.
I'm currently willing to buy Toyota stock at $90. I'm not, however, willing to sell it at $90. That's how the stock market works. There is an order book of bids and offers. There is a spread between the two. Any time the bid and the offer meet (meaning someone is willing to sell at X price and someone is willing to buy at X price), a transaction immediately and automatically occurs.
But just because I own a position in a stock doesn't mean I'm willing to sell it at any particular price unless I enter an order. The reason? The instrument itself has value. If I believe that a stock will go up in price, I will not be willing to sell it for the price I paid for it.
You're assuming that a PAX badge has no value in your example.
You totally misread my argument. Yes, owning a position in a stock doesn't mean you're willing to sell it. However, not owning a position in a stock means that you should be willing to sell it at a certain price if you had it.
What I said is an oversimplification for a couple of reasons, but those reasons have nothing to do with what you just said. The main issue with my argument is with regards to liquidity. I did say "assuming the transaction is relatively safe and easy", but even then the transaction costs are not $0, but perhaps more like $50.
Another issue is that your utility is not linear with respect to money - losing $500 generally hurts you more than gaining $500 helps you. This, however, is a comparatively slight effect unless you have very little money.
So, to correct the above issues: If you bought a PAX badge for $100 but you wouldn't have bought it if it was $500, then someone else should be able to buy it off you quite easily for $600, unless of course you're irrational (which, of course, you are).
San Diego would be excellent insofar as meeting the Scrym requirements.
It's big, has good hotels nearby, and since its smack in the middle of downtown of a major city, its got food and outside distractions.
I'm not that into SD but I think it would work.
Already has a huge geek convention. Try again.
I'm not advocating San Diego, but that's a bullshit reason. People are obviously willing to go to several cons per year. It's not like PAX and Comic Con would be on the same weekend, or even in the same season. You've also got examples of weekends where three major geek cons across the country have run at the same exact time, and they all still did well, demonstrating that demand is so high that even a split regional audience can fill a major event.
It's not that it won't fill. PAX would fill no matter what convention center they put it in. It's more about the drama it will create. Even then, the drama isn't the reason they wouldn't go there. The reason they won't go is that PAX Prime can never leave Seattle. And any location for a new PAX is going to be far away from any existing PAX. They will probably have one in Europe before they have another one in the US. If they do have another one in the US, it will almost definitely be Austin.
If I had bought five badges, I would gladly sell them at this point and cancel my hotel reservation for the silly amount of funds that $500/each would bring if that was on the table. That said, while I knew it was a possibility, I don't actually want to be that guy.
San Diego would be excellent insofar as meeting the Scrym requirements.
It's big, has good hotels nearby, and since its smack in the middle of downtown of a major city, its got food and outside distractions.
I'm not that into SD but I think it would work.
Already has a huge geek convention. Try again.
I'm not advocating San Diego, but that's a bullshit reason. People are obviously willing to go to several cons per year. It's not like PAX and Comic Con would be on the same weekend, or even in the same season. You've also got examples of weekends where three major geek cons across the country have run at the same exact time, and they all still did well, demonstrating that demand is so high that even a split regional audience can fill a major event.
It's not that it won't fill. PAX would fill no matter what convention center they put it in. It's more about the drama it will create. Even then, the drama isn't the reason they wouldn't go there. The reason they won't go is that PAX Prime can never leave Seattle. And any location for a new PAX is going to be far away from any existing PAX. They will probably have one in Europe before they have another one in the US. If they do have another one in the US, it will almost definitely be Austin.
See, that's a different (an IMO, more compelling) argument.
I don't see the logical leap between your original point and the one you made here.
We are under the assumption that PA MegaCorp wants as many different people as possible to be able to get some PAX. If that is truly the case, they should do the following.
1) Completely eliminate multi-day passes and only have single day passes.
2) During checkout process any individual credit card/home address/etc. can only buy badges for one day, with a limit of 4. So if you choose to get Friday passes, you can get between 1-4 of them, and then you can't get any Saturday, Sunday or Monday.
Obviously it would suck if they did this. You get Friday, your friend gets Sunday, etc. You can't see all of PAX in one day. It's not worth it to travel that far across the country for just one day of PAX. You really want to see an even that is only on one day. You want to enter a tournament that has a qualifier on Friday, and finals on Sunday. You want to see a panel that is on Sunday, and go to a concert that is on Saturday. You have even less total PAX hours, so no way are you wasting 4 of them on a tabletop RPG. I could go on with this forever.
The beauty is that you could effectively avoid all of the casino/gambling and just enjoy the convention if you wanted to. Space would be satisfied and lord knows theres enough hotel rooms in vegas within close proximity of each other.
Organization though I could see being a nightmare.
Oh jesus, the thread that was on reddit's frontpage about PAX scalpers is just nuts. It's got everything. Drama, personal stories, trolling, more sour grapes than a bad wine harvest.
Oh jesus, the thread on reddit's frontpage about PAX scalpers is just nuts. It's got everything. Drama, personal stories, trolling, more sour grapes than a bad wine harvest.
This is what I imagine all of Reddit to be like, so I just don't go there.
Actually I do go to their game deals subreddit but that is basically a blog and not a discussion board.
Oh jesus, the thread on reddit's frontpage about PAX scalpers is just nuts. It's got everything. Drama, personal stories, trolling, more sour grapes than a bad wine harvest.
This is what I imagine all of Reddit to be like, so I just don't go there.
Actually I do go to their game deals subreddit but that is basically a blog and not a discussion board.
I do keep my subreddits to a minimum, and unsub from most of the defaults, but I do have an active watch for PAX related threads outside of the PAX subreddits. Mostly to get an eyeball on some of the cool stuff, since I mostly don't get to go.
Just today I learned there was a PAX subreddit. Pretty much 100% of its top threads are about tickets.
Holy fuck these people like to complain.
It's like they've never tried to get tickets to a popular sporting event or concert before, and they've never heard of DragonCon.
This is the only reasonable explanation, I think. I'm betting a lot of the complainers are kids who really don't do "big ticket" things. Getting tickets to significant events is always a crapshoot - unless you're on a guest list or something. That's just how life works.
This is the only reasonable explanation, I think. I'm betting a lot of the complainers are kids who really don't do "big ticket" things. Getting tickets to significant events is always a crapshoot - unless you're on a guest list or something. That's just how life works.
That could be it too. Sasquatch AND Coachella sold out in roughly the same amount of time (if not shorter) and the ticket prices were double and triple what it costs to go to PAX.
Dragon*Con allows you to purchase next year's tickets at the con itself. The only mad dash is for hotel rooms.
That's bullshit and backwards. You are giving priority attendance to people who are already at the convention, making it very difficult for people to go who were unable to go last year, or never able to go before. If anything, they should sell them far away from the convention at another place so if you go this year, it is very difficult for you to go next year.
Comments
Now that I've made that point, SDCC and PAX are not that related at all. I've been to both. How about you?
I'm currently willing to buy Toyota stock at $90. I'm not, however, willing to sell it at $90. That's how the stock market works. There is an order book of bids and offers. There is a spread between the two. Any time the bid and the offer meet (meaning someone is willing to sell at X price and someone is willing to buy at X price), a transaction immediately and automatically occurs.
But just because I own a position in a stock doesn't mean I'm willing to sell it at any particular price unless I enter an order. The reason? The instrument itself has value. If I believe that a stock will go up in price, I will not be willing to sell it for the price I paid for it.
You're assuming that a PAX badge has no value in your example.
What I said is an oversimplification for a couple of reasons, but those reasons have nothing to do with what you just said. The main issue with my argument is with regards to liquidity. I did say "assuming the transaction is relatively safe and easy", but even then the transaction costs are not $0, but perhaps more like $50.
Another issue is that your utility is not linear with respect to money - losing $500 generally hurts you more than gaining $500 helps you. This, however, is a comparatively slight effect unless you have very little money.
So, to correct the above issues:
If you bought a PAX badge for $100 but you wouldn't have bought it if it was $500, then someone else should be able to buy it off you quite easily for $600, unless of course you're irrational (which, of course, you are).
See, that's a different (an IMO, more compelling) argument.
I don't see the logical leap between your original point and the one you made here.
We are under the assumption that PA MegaCorp wants as many different people as possible to be able to get some PAX. If that is truly the case, they should do the following.
1) Completely eliminate multi-day passes and only have single day passes.
2) During checkout process any individual credit card/home address/etc. can only buy badges for one day, with a limit of 4. So if you choose to get Friday passes, you can get between 1-4 of them, and then you can't get any Saturday, Sunday or Monday.
Obviously it would suck if they did this. You get Friday, your friend gets Sunday, etc. You can't see all of PAX in one day. It's not worth it to travel that far across the country for just one day of PAX. You really want to see an even that is only on one day. You want to enter a tournament that has a qualifier on Friday, and finals on Sunday. You want to see a panel that is on Sunday, and go to a concert that is on Saturday. You have even less total PAX hours, so no way are you wasting 4 of them on a tabletop RPG. I could go on with this forever.
Organization though I could see being a nightmare.
Actually I do go to their game deals subreddit but that is basically a blog and not a discussion board.
The rest? Unwashed masses. Don't sully yourself.
Ask them to name one ticketed event of relatively equal or greater popularity that does it better than PAX.