Gamer Con March 2017

johnny_ultimate

Mod note: da gamer is taking a short break from the forum. Please back on topic everyone else, thanks.

0ph0rce0

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Shills plz go.

You're not helping your case.

This is the thing here, Why can't anyone believe that me and my kids had a great day out? Just because so many others didn't ?

Calhoun

If you had a child with autism you would understand how stupid your statement was/is. Parents were bringing up kids who were fans of YouTubers not being able to get in is something they wouldn't easily understand and would have a meltdown.

You seem to be one of the people who took the piss and played off the fact they had very few volunteers, with your sly trick with the box of cigarettes.

Not all parents are as "street wise" as yourself and expected something decent to be organized. The buck for this event stops with the organizer and not enough volunteers and every other problem is on him.

ixoy

Well the kids got needlessly wet I guess could be their complaint - it's one thing being in the rain for about half an hour, which is what I'd expect from the queue after DCC last year but it's another thing to be in the rain for hours as you'll start to get a lot colder especially if there's no room to move about to warm yourself.

No time for people shouting at staff - understandable to an extent but you're an adult so you reign it in.

One other thing - is it common to lock the door to stairwells (from the ground floor) ? I know it was designed to control the traffic of people (and a stellar job they did there..) but it meant that people even going down the stairs thought the doors locked (the button isn't that clear). Not sure if that constitutes a fire hazard or not.

CiDeRmAn

My son is on the autistic spectrum and we were going to head in today, but decided against it, as a result of this thread.
To be honest we've tried the PSVR system in a mates house, none of the Youtubers he is into are at the show and we have possibly a larger range of games, certainly a better range of systems here!
So, no frustrating trip for us, and agitation and distress avoided.
I'm sure there are those who enjoyed the event, but they, even in the most generous of estimations, have been a minority.
It's a pity, and my sympathies to those who traveled a distance to the event.

0ph0rce0

Calhoun wrote: »

If you had a child with autism you would understand how stupid your statement was/is. Parents were bringing up kids who were fans of YouTubers not being able to get in is something they wouldn't easily understand and would have a meltdown.

You seem to be one of the people who took the piss and played off the fact they had very few volunteers, with your sly trick with the box of cigarettes.

Not all parents are as "street wise" as yourself and expected something decent to be organized. The buck for this event stops with the organizer and not enough volunteers and every other problem is on him.

Not stupid really, I planned my day and it was a success. I've said already it was unacceptable and the thing was a farce due to bad planning. But yet I still couldn't have a good day? Was in here a few weeks ago looking forward to it.

Not as if i have just come out of the woodwork.

sniper_samurai

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

This is the thing here, Why can't anyone believe that me and my kids had a great day out? Just because so many others didn't ?

Don't think anyone is disputing your account. Da Gamer on the otherhand was argumentative and light on details while claiming to be in a cosplay costume(DOA:XV Kasumi) that would be deemed unacceptable at other cons.

CiDeRmAn

ixoy wrote: »

Well the kids got needlessly wet I guess could be their complaint - it's one thing being in the rain for about half an hour, which is what I'd expect from the queue after DCC last year but it's another thing to be in the rain for hours as you'll start to get a lot colder especially if there's no room to move about to warm yourself.

No time for people shouting at staff - understandable to an extent but you're an adult so you reign it in.

One other thing - is it common to lock the door to stairwells (from the ground floor) ? I know it was designed to control the traffic of people (and a stellar job they did there..) but it meant that people even going down the stairs thought the doors locked (the button isn't that clear). Not sure if that constitutes a fire hazard or not.

As someone who was involved in putting together organisational fire safety policy the answer is typically no, unless the doors are secured with a system that automatically unlocks when the fire sensors activate, to maintain safe routes of escape.
Also, on the other side of the door there was more than likely a bar to press or simple mechanism to open the door, people don't flee upstairs from a ground floor location in the event of a fire, unless the actual exit is also in the stair well, on the far side of the stairway ground floor lobby.

johnny_ultimate

Just to clarify, I have no doubt some people fully managed to enjoy their time there yesterday despite the widely reported and documented issues. We very much welcome and encourage any such positive reports. Any mod actions were taken solely in relation to an individual poster.

CiDeRmAn

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

Not stupid really, I planned my day and it was a success. I've said already it was unacceptable and the thing was a farce due to bad planning. But yet I still couldn't have a good day? Was in here a few weeks ago looking forward to it.

Not as if i have just come out of the woodwork.

I think you have had the misfortune of being caught in that other posters wake, people who say they share a common view aren't always doing it for the reasons you think they are.
Nevertheless, it's great you had a good time.

Sunny Dayz

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

My kids got wet, yes they did it's Ireland and it rains, it was raining in the morning when you left your home. I saw clowns in t-shirts. Wrap up and bring an umbrella.

I have to agree with you there. The amount of people complaining on Facebook about the weather and that they got wet. The weather is completely out of the control of the organisers of ANY event! It's Ireland, it's mid March, it's hardly surprising that it was wet or cold. We were prepared with jackets, hats and an umbrella.

Calhoun

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

Not stupid really, I planned my day and it was a success. I've said already it was unacceptable and the thing was a farce due to bad planning. But yet I still couldn't have a good day? Was in here a few weeks ago looking forward to it.

Not as if i have just come out of the woodwork.

Yet you cannot see that people had such a bad day and had a pop at folk with kids who have autism.

I know you haven't come out of the woodwork I don't take issue with that but its not having empathy with others. If I remember correctly you once ran a lan in Bray ? So your from the area probably didn't take you long to get in compared to folk who came from down the country and had to book accomdation ect.

0ph0rce0

Calhoun wrote: »

Yet you cannot see that people had such a bad day and had a pop at folk with kids who have autism.

I know you haven't come out of the woodwork I don't take issue with that but its not having empathy with others. If I remember correctly you once ran a lan in Bray ? So your from the area probably didn't take you long to get in compared to folk who came from down the country and had to book accomdation ect.

I can that's the thing. I have said in pretty much every post that it was a mess, That i felt bad for people that didn't get in. If i paid good money and didn't get in myself then I'd be fuming too.

Kids getting tickets for Christmas and waiting months is bad form.

I'm not having a pop at anyone, Just the people that are slating it and didn't even go or plan to go.

I'm sure your man that ran the thing is just as pissed off as everyone else that is. Big market there for it, Put the money in to get it up and running and ends up a big fail for a lot of people. Will probably cost him more down the line. Refunds and Reputation destroyed.

Anyway had a good day and glad I went. Feel bad for the others. I wont post anymore

Sunny Dayz

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

Parents giving out about i didn't get to do this or that,i couldn't find this? Many mails and advertisments went around about the Mobile App, Had all the times of everything and location. Why didn't you use it?.

We actually had the app on the phone. It was handy with the schedule of events. But the floor plan only showed 2 floors, we didn't realise there was another 2 floors til we went for a wander! Events were given locations on the app but the app and the signage in the place meant we hadn't a clue where in the building they were. We didn't find out where the auditorium was til near the end. Now we weren't fussed about seeing any particular talks. While it didn't really bother us, that's not to say it wouldn't have really annoyed others.

Calhoun

If your man's twitter Is anything to go by he is a startup. I highly doubt he will get another shot at this because 1. Most venues won't touch him after this negative publicity and 2. Reputation​ has been destroyed.

Not everyone had to be there to have an opinion on it though as a gamer crap like this is the least of what I want to see, that goes double as a parent blatant cash grabs aren't good.

Gunmonkey

Calhoun wrote: »

If your man's twitter Is anything to go by he is a startup. I highly doubt he will get another shot at this because 1. Most venues won't touch him after this negative publicity and 2. Reputation​ has been destroyed.

Not everyone had to be there to have an opinion on it though as a gamer crap like this is the least of what I want to see, that goes double as a parent blatant cash grabs aren't good.

Read the Irish Times article he had some software company and this is his attempt to branch into the games industry and its huge money.

Also mentions he planned to take it on the road and run other Gamercon events in Spain, Germany and other parts of Europe later in the year. Would like to see how that plays out now.

Worst part, come Liveline on Monday as most have speculated, we will see 5 minutes of how much a mess this whole thing was before some caller goes "oh its terrible Joe, these kids should be out climbing trees not inside playing games" and it devolves into the usual "Games = evil/for nerds/lame/destroying children/t....t....totally different and bad unlike sitting watching a sports match or tv show" that crops up everytime games are brought up in the public sphere.

Shiminay

The fact that the organiser threatened people who raised concerns ahead of time with legal action and then went on to produce this shtshow is telling. He shat upon the community of hard working "amateurs" who've built gaming events in Ireland from nothing and any one of those so called amateur event had more professionalism in their figurative little finger than this event.

I've run big events. I've helped run bigger events (gaming, world cyber games, lan parties and I'm assistant con director for this year's Gaelcon and helping with this year's Octocon). There was a fundamental lack of comprehension of the audience and requirements here that screams one thing: someone saw an opportunity to Smash and Grab and make a quick buck and they took it doing massive amounts of harm to the future of honest event organisers out there. We will never be able to convince a majority of the parents of the next generation of gamers to spend time and money on a gaming event after this.

Calhoun

Gunmonkey wrote: »

Read the Irish Times article he had some software company and this is his attempt to branch into the games industry and its huge money.

Also mentions he planned to take it on the road and run other Gamercon events in Spain, Germany and other parts of Europe later in the year. Would like to see how that plays out now.

Worst part, come Liveline on Monday as most have speculated, we will see 5 minutes of how much a mess this whole thing was before some caller goes "oh its terrible Joe, these kids should be out climbing trees not inside playing games" and it devolves into the usual "Games = evil/for nerds/lame/destroying children/t....t....totally different and bad unlike sitting watching a sports match or tv show" that crops up everytime games are brought up in the public sphere.

Ah I didn't even know he had a software company I just saw the startup tags on his Twitter.

You are right about Joe Duffy lol but as I said same Scrooge's who spent the weekend in a public commenting so I'm not concerned.

ButcherOfNog

Shiminay wrote: »

We will never be able to convince a majority of the parents of the next generation of gamers to spend time and money on a gaming event after this.

One thing the event shows is the size of the market and interest in an event like this here in Ireland. There's the opportunity for someone to "do it right".

I was there yesterday, got in the queue at 10:30, was in by 11:30, my kids (5yr old and 14 yr old) had a great day. They also happily queued for an hour and 10 minutes for a photo with Lil Carly and Lil Kelly. Then they met some friends and spent till around 16:00 on the ground floor in the gaming area playing games. They loved it, we got lucky. Overall it was a mess:

1. Venue too small, spread over multiple floors and oversold. We had to queue for 10 minutes at one point to go up the escalators!
2. Food and snacks in the venue was limited
3. You had to queue just to see what most of the vendors were selling
4. eSports setup looked good on floor 1 but that maybe lacked some organisation too? Not much happening on the big screens when I was there, had hoped to catch a game of CS:GO but nothing seemed to be happening.
5. Lack of staff for the ground floor gaming area

I was at a number of Gaelcons (including the first one) and part of the Irish gaming scene when the internet "happened", so looking at it objectively, I was amazed by the sheer numbers yesterday and the mix of people there. There are positives off the back of this disaster.

nix

hah

how much were tickets for this?

I read they sold 12,000 tickets and the venue can only hold 9,000??

Should the organizer not be thrown in prison? :pac:

0ph0rce0

nix wrote: »

hah

how much were tickets for this?

I read they sold 12,000 tickets and the venue can only hold 9,000??

Should the organizer not be thrown in prison? :pac:

I just had a look at the website as there is numbers being thrown around all over the place and the site says that in a

Theater Style the venue over all floors and rooms listed like the Auditorium which is in use can hold up to about 13000 people.

The numbers being thrown out there are obviously over 2 days and not one.


If the list says 13000 people and they sold 20 - 26000 tickets then it doesn't seem unreasonable.

But I would guess that with floor space used on the main floor that might have an Impact the over all numbers.


But when you compare it it's not far off the ticket numbers being reported.

MilesMorales1

I think it was a little mis leading. They sold 12,000 odd for each day, 24,000 in all. Venue capacity is 9400, so about 3000 odd over each day.

CiDeRmAn

I suppose it's assuming that they were to be spread across the day.
It would have been better to have sessions, with tickets available for all day entry or the first or second half, wrist bands colour coded.
Then they could have limited entry to those with the appropriate tickets and kept attendance within safety and comfort limits across the weekend.

Retr0gamer

I wonder how it's going today, wouldn't be surprised if it's a lot smoother with so many people not bothering to turn up.

PauloMN

The fact that volunteers were even involved says a lot. Volunteers are for Coder Dojo and other such local/community/non profit events. To use volunteers for an event like this shows a complete lack of skills in organising large events.

As for some posters here thinking people were putting blame on GamerCon for the weather.... talk about missing the point! The point is making people who had paid 80 plus for a family ticket stand for 2 plus hours in a queue to just get in is totally unacceptable. Is it really that hard to understand?

ixoy

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

I just had a look at the website as there is numbers being thrown around all over the place and the site says that in a

Theater Style the venue over all floors and rooms listed like the Auditorium which is in use can hold up to about 13000 people.

Sure but that's assuming not only that the space is free (as opposed to a huge area taken up with stalls, game consoles, merchandising stalls, etc) but very importantly: how it's spread out over those floors. Sure 12000 might work if everyone is on a different floor but if 60% of the people are most interested in what's on the ground floor then the figures won't work. That's why you don't cram it to maximum capacity.

FAILSAFE 00

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I wonder how it's going today, wouldn't be surprised if it's a lot smoother with so many people not bothering to turn up.

Word is that they are at max capacity inside at the moment so they can only let people in has other people leave.

https://twitter.com/shaneomad/status/843442240215302144

0ph0rce0

PauloMN wrote: »

The fact that volunteers were even involved says a lot. Volunteers are for Coder Dojo and other such local/community/non profit events. To use volunteers for an event like this shows a complete lack of skills in organising large events.

As for some posters here thinking people were putting blame on GamerCon for the weather.... talk about missing the point! The point is making people who had paid 80 plus for a family ticket stand for 2 plus hours in a queue to just get in is totally unacceptable. Is it really that hard to understand?

Yes it is. I've been to gigs at the 3 arena and due to lack of crowd management or Pat Downs taking forever on the way in I've queued for up to 2 hours to get in while it pisses down on us. at up to 100 per ticket. What's your point. These shows aren't oversold and that's the way it is. **** happens its to be expected.

I paid nearly 10 grand to go on a holiday to Florida just for the parks, When we got in we had to queue for 2-4 hours for rides. Was i expecting that, Not that long no way but I knew there would be lines.

Big demand for a big event. If people thought there would be no queues for entrance, games & meet and greets then they should have never bought tickets or stayed at home.

It still does not excuse people being turned away like I've said.

Calhoun

No one expected there to be no queues but as has been called out plenty of times, there was allot more disorganized crap along with it.

The fact you were able to saunter up with a packet of cigarettes and get in after you had left shows just how bad it was. People were left waiting unnecessarily because of how badly organized it was.

IRL_Sinister

Today is better, apparently. Took a mate of mine 30 mins to get in.