Lots of things to be said, though most of it has been touched upon.
I've been attending for 8 years now, and I've gone through the personal transformation of annoying squealing fangirl to something a little more mature. That being said, I've also seen the con morph to what it is today. It went from space - artist alley in the hallway, anyone? - to almost no space to get around. I agree with the sentiment that Fanime may be getting too big for itself, but that just means that changes need to be made and it's a matter of trial and error.
For me, on a scale of 1-10, I give it a 5. It wasn't horrible. It wasn't the best either.
2011 Positives:
Maturity Level of Attendees I'm not saying it's perfect, but I'm seeing a lot more maturity from the attendees. In years passed ('04-'07ish) I noticed a lot more annoying squealing/glomping/general discord. I remember seeing people do stupid and dangerous things (back in the days of Der Cosplay, on my way out, I saw 2 guys having a battle with the swords they bought from a booth) and reflecting back on that, it seems it's gotten 100x better.
Table Top Gaming I loved the selection of games - board, video, and arcade. I stayed up until all hours playing jenga with random people and it was some of the most fun I'd had all con! Needs more tables and chairs, though the floor sufficed.
2011 Negatives
Staff Issues I know that Fanime is severely understaffed, and so I try to be understanding, however, I think that if you're working the info desk you should actually have the information I need, or at least be able to lead me somewhere else that does have it. More than once I went to an info desk to be told they had no idea where I was talking about. The most important of this was the blood drive. I had an appointment at 10, and I needed to find Parkside A (later changed to Parkside B). I was under the impression it was at the con center, so I tried looking for it myself. After wandering about and noticing 10 o'clock approaching quickly, I decided to ask an info desk. I went up to the staff member there, and they shrugged their shoulders and told me they didn't know. They looked at a map, and said he just couldn't help me, sorry. ..Ok, I'll try a new one. I went downstairs and asked that desk. They were a little more helpful, though they were wrong - they told me it was outside, I just needed to go outside, take a right, and walk until I saw the blood drive bus. They said not to worry though, the blood mobile hadn't come in yet. One guy there kept talking into his headset to get more information for me, and said he might have more info if I came back later - and it was already 10 by this time. I went back upstairs to the main one, and they said the same as the one below (Go outside, keep walking til I see the blood mobile). I kept wandering back and forth until I made it over to the info desk near the Hilton where I finally got the correct lead - it was connected to the tech museum, about a 10 minute walk. I was already 10 minutes late so I skidaddled my butt over, and ended up being 20 minutes late to my appointment, and I ended up missing the Pokemon gathering. It wasn't such a huge deal, I'm not terribly upset by it now (though I was at the time), but I just think that people at info desk should maybe have A. Updated Maps and B. Basic knowledge of where events are happening.
Another thing I noticed was attitude by some rovers. I didn't get their names, and I was so tired that I can't really give a description - nor do I really want to, as maybe they were just having a bad day - but I didn't really appreciate being talked to in the manner they did. The first incident was as I was walking down the designated walkway by stage zero. I was quite angrily snapped at to keep moving I was blocking traffic. While I understand that blocking traffic is not a good idea, there was a small child who tripped in front of me. I most certainly was not going to just stomp over this kid, I stopped to give him the space to stand up and brush himself off.
The second incident was as the gaming room was closing on Monday. I was sitting in a back corner, packing up my stuff (the announcement had been made about a minute before) when a rover comes up yelling that we needed to get out NOW. Now, I know you're tired, overworked, and just want to be done with it, I understand. But did you really need to be so mean about it? I was actively packing when you came up, how about worrying about the people putting coins in the games even though the announcement was made instead of the 2 girls who are obviously packing their things? The rovers in both of these cases were indeed doing their job, and I don't hold a grudge against them for the actions themselves, but it was in the way things were said. Attitude can be the difference between "This con was the best one yet!" and "THIS CON SUCKS, I'M NEVER GOING AGAIN." However, all in all, staff are awesome and kind folk who are super helpful. Tons of my friends staff/rove/etc and I hold tons of respect for those who do it.
Scheduling This has been touched on enough by everyone else, but those mini books should definitely reappear next year.
Pre-Reg lines/Times I was going to show up on Thursday to pick up my badge, only to get stuck in traffic. It passed the 8 o'clock time limit, so I went back home. I was later told that the line wasn't cut off until 9:30. It would have been nice to know that before I wasted a lot of gas. I expect times to be more or less honored. The line on Friday was crazy too, I've never dealt with lines like that to pick up my PreReg badge, I had to wait for an hour or so maybe while a friend registered at-con and it took 5 minutes. This isn't some major gripe, it's better than the 3 hour wait I experienced my first con in '04. But still, it sucked.
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Topic: Anyone else let down by this year's Fanime? (Read 8538 times)