As I am Enforcing, and also very likely paneling, I almost definitely won't need them. So if any of you are too late to the party, I will likely sell them to you at straight face value.
Strangely enough, it looked like the 3-days were sold out, so I went with a full set of single days. However, when I clicked back to add one more Saturday pass, it looked like the 3-Days were back in stock. Grabbed as many as I needed, so I'm good to go!
yea I'm going to make the decision to go around the time Enforcing is called and then if someone has a badge maybe I'll just last minute go and not enforce for once.. we'll see.
As for ticket sales, I'm starting to think their policy of only giving ticket sale info via Twitter is part of some (evil genius?) plan to have the highest possible percentage of attendees be Twitter users. It's an incredibly useful tool from a con management standpoint, and PAX uses the heck out of it to spread info quickly, cap lines for events, etc.
Considering the tickets sell out in less time than it would take to update multiple pages to add the announcement, I think it just plain makes sense to point everybody to the same place and announce it once.
I get people from various circles and gaming groups that complain to me every year that they somehow missed the sale, sometimes getting pretty irate in their complaining. They are really hung up about the sale date being listed on the event page way ahead of time.
Obviously, PA doesn't have to care, because shit sells out anyway. So why not reward the people who go out of their way to follow you on Twitter? Who are proactive about seeking out info?
It also probably puts a dent in scalping. As far as I can tell, scalping is essentially a non-issue given a few hundred badges on eBay out of tens of thousands each year. I don't think that would change considerably if they pre-announced, but hey, why take a chance when you don't have to.
I don't even think the scalping comes into it. By putting the tickets suddenly on sale, they end up going to the people who are most dedicated and most badly want to go to PAX. If you aren't willing to plan your life around getting the tickets, and someone else is, they want to go more than you do. If you wanted it so badly, why didn't you try harder? There's nobody to blame but yourself.
Exactly. I see the grumpy people who complain to me, and I don't want to help them. I almost always have an extra PAX badge right up until the day of, but if they're gonna whine and moan that much (after only having themselves to blame), they are just going to find more things to nitpick about the con and not have a good time anyway. I like that the people who want it most (or are smart) get there.
Exactly. I see the grumpy people who complain to me, and I don't want to help them. I almost always have an extra PAX badge right up until the day of, but if they're gonna whine and moan that much (after only having themselves to blame), they are just going to find more things to nitpick about the con and not have a good time anyway. I like that the people who want it most (or are smart) get there.
I don't even think the scalping comes into it. By putting the tickets suddenly on sale, they end up going to the people who are most dedicated and most badly want to go to PAX. If you aren't willing to plan your life around getting the tickets, and someone else is, they want to go more than you do. If you wanted it so badly, why didn't you try harder? There's nobody to blame but yourself.
This is really the key. Lots of arguments have been raised: What about the people who have jobs where they can't stalk Twitter all day? What about the people who are driving 8 hours to visit their family out of town? What if I have a lot of other things to do that are way more important than PAX tickets?
Find a new job/risk getting fired. Your job is more important to you than PAX tickets? Out of luck. Don't go visit your family during PAX ticket season. Seeing your family then is more important to you than PAX tickets? Out of luck.
If it's not worth the effort (and potential risks) of stalking Twitter for hours and hours every day until tickets drop or setting up a text notification, then JUST FUCKING DON'T GO. Pete and I decided a few years ago that it just wasn't worth it anymore. We get a lot less aggravation and inconvenience from MAGfest for less money, and we get just as much enjoyment. We chose to stop trying to go to PAX East and just go to MAGfest.
You have choices in life. If PAX isn't enough of a priority that you are willing to work your job/family/life around getting tickets for it and attending, then you might not get to go. Suck it up.
I agree with everything Nuri said. Plus, if you're truly dedicated (but also have bad luck, or are a surgeon and can't be on twitter in the OR), there's always enforcing.
Comments
As I am Enforcing, and also very likely paneling, I almost definitely won't need them. So if any of you are too late to the party, I will likely sell them to you at straight face value.
Obviously, PA doesn't have to care, because shit sells out anyway. So why not reward the people who go out of their way to follow you on Twitter? Who are proactive about seeking out info?
It also probably puts a dent in scalping. As far as I can tell, scalping is essentially a non-issue given a few hundred badges on eBay out of tens of thousands each year. I don't think that would change considerably if they pre-announced, but hey, why take a chance when you don't have to.
Find a new job/risk getting fired. Your job is more important to you than PAX tickets? Out of luck.
Don't go visit your family during PAX ticket season. Seeing your family then is more important to you than PAX tickets? Out of luck.
If it's not worth the effort (and potential risks) of stalking Twitter for hours and hours every day until tickets drop or setting up a text notification, then JUST FUCKING DON'T GO. Pete and I decided a few years ago that it just wasn't worth it anymore. We get a lot less aggravation and inconvenience from MAGfest for less money, and we get just as much enjoyment. We chose to stop trying to go to PAX East and just go to MAGfest.
You have choices in life. If PAX isn't enough of a priority that you are willing to work your job/family/life around getting tickets for it and attending, then you might not get to go. Suck it up.