Suggestions for Fanime 2012

Started by mdarkpoet, May 30, 2011, 01:08:49 PM

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xxxplizit (pogi1kenobi)

#60
All eGaming discussions should be posted here:

http://forums.fanime.com/index.php/topic,16406.0.html



Quote from: raltga on May 31, 2011, 07:16:20 PMGaming

Only complaint was no Naruto Shippuden UNS2 tournament.  Every time the game was being played on one of the TVs it drew a big crowd of folks wanting to play.  I understand everyone wants tournaments for the mainstream fighting games (SF/MK/BB/GG/SSB/etc), but this is also is an anime convention and there should be tournaments for some anime themed games.  I would say even themed tournaments where cosplayers play as their character and fight it out for prizes would be excellent entertainment on stage0 or in the gaming hall.

We will work on our staff who wants to run these kind of tournaments.  While we, we also pay attention of how a good tournament is being ran in the most fair way possible.  The other comes with..."What system did you want it for?"

Anything related to Stage0 is a separate entity from eGaming.  However, we can try working together for this to happen.  =)



Quote from: MikeTSA on June 01, 2011, 08:46:12 PM1) It would be awesome if you guys could allow people to bring their own games/consoles to the eGaming setup for free play.

As much as some people are requesting this, here are the major problems to keep in mind:


  • Liability issues.  What if your equipment breaks?  Despite believing in the honor code that people will "take responsibility," I highly doubt that will happen; it is gamer nature to get upset if something goes wrong with their own equipment, especially that precious PS3 of theirs.
  • Excessive amounts of paperwork.  Not sure if reading 50+ pages of people's Games + Consoles is going to be a good idea at all...
  • Confusion with official equipment from those bringing their own console/games, mixing up equipment that may belong to others and this may encourage people to steal equipment.
  • Trying to please 50+ people of bringing their own console/games.  This can get very hectic keeping track.
  • Tournament conflicts.  Because specific tournaments on demand can rack the max cap of 128 + watchers/spectators, numerous TV's are needed and we may need the TV that the equipment-bringer is hogging.
  • Bringing games that exists with the arcade.  This is very obvious.
  • Illegal content (i.e. Homebrew Channel, etc.).  Does this really need to be explained at all?

All of the above creates a lot of confusion and headaches to deal with, leading to infighting between attendees and staffers.  Let's not ruin the FanimeCon experience for the fans, shall we?  If you want to bring your own stations, there's always your own hotel room.

The ONLY thing we will allow others to bring is controllers, BUT that has to be approved by staffers.  We know people want to use their Fightsticks etc for some of the tournaments and that's fine; we still have to examine anything that plugs into the machine(s)

If you really REALLY want to bring your own equipment, we may consider it (though unlikely), but respond to [email protected] as early as possible (no later than a month before con).  At least with notifications ahead of time, it gives staffers ways to prepare in case it gets allowed.

...or better yet apply for a staff position at eGaming.  Saves all the trouble.  =P

...or request games you want as early as possible so we can possibly get the game before con?
eGaming Head / FanimeCon, SacAnime, Y-Con, Kintoki-Con, Deceptikon
Tournament Director / AOD
Anime + Gaming Article Lead / GreenTeaGraffiti
Cosplays: Wii Remote, Pink DS Lite

CatToy

In the case that the weather is nice next year, could you put some fans in the pre-registration maze area on Thursday? When it's packed with humanity, it gets unbearably hot in there.

nemuneko

I've been going to Fanime since the late 90's (way back when it was held at Foothill College and was a LOT smaller) and this is my first time posting on the forum. Though it wasn't my favorite Fanime so far, I still had an awesome time this year. I didn't run into many problems and I found it very enjoyable.

Schedule: My main complaint is the lack of printed schedules this year, but I know this has been mentioned 1000+ times already. The pocket guide last year was awesome and very convenient, and I think that should be implemented again. Thankfully, I studied the schedule before going and wrote down most of the events I wanted to go to with the times and locations, so I didn't have too much of a problem. The couple times we did use the Info desk, though, they weren't very helpful and didn't seem to know where things were, which was a little frustrating.

I did like the mobile schedule, but since I only have an iPod Touch and not a fancy smart phone, I had to rely on WiFi (which was only available in minimal places). My boyfriend does have a Droid, so we were able to access the schedule on the days I went with him. A PDF of the schedule would be really appreciated and easier to access because it can be saved (I don't believe there was one this year and if there was, I couldn't find it on the website). A downloadable Fanime app for iPhone/iTouch/iPad, Droid, etc., would be awesome (preferably one where you don't need an Internet connection to view the schedule), but should be coupled with a printed schedule/pocket guide for those who don't have smart phones or other mobile devices.

Dealers Room: Yes, the dealers room was expensive, but most imported items are and I only bought one item there, anyway. I did enjoy the more diverse selection this year, however, and the selection of cosplay items (especially high-quality wigs) was nice. The lack of video games was a disappointment, though, as was the lack of CDs (which mainly my friend was disappointed about... she really missed the booth with all the J-pop and J-rock CDs and merchandise, which we couldn't find). Other than that, I thought the selection was good. My boyfriend really loved all the Gundam and other anime models in the middle of the dealers room.

Panels: All in all, a good selection this year. The ones I went to were quite a bit of fun and not super-crowded. I really enjoyed MANime! and An Intro to Memes (though I wish it was an hour longer... there are a lot of memes to cover!). I'm guessing WOWOWTF?! Filipino Cinema was cancelled because my boyfriend and I went to the room Friday and Saturday at the scheduled time, but nobody ever showed up after waiting 15-20 minutes. It made me a bit sad because we really wanted to see it. : ( My boyfriend (who is Filipino) said they were probably running on "Filipino time," so that's why they were late or never showed up, haha. It was just a bummer that it was never mentioned online about being cancelled or whatnot since it would have saved us some time.

Videos: Good selection this year. We enjoyed the DBZ Abridged Series showing (although it would be nice if it was more specific on the schedule next year about the specific Abridged series that is showing, since there are several out there... it was just too vague). The music videos were fun, as always, and we found a new show we absolutely love (the Nostalgia Critic, which was so freaking hilarious!). I hope that is brought back next year. Hentai Nights was fun, too, although we didn't stay long for it. It was VERY crowded in there Sunday night (we barely found a seat), but that's to be expected. ID checking was very strict this year, as it should be.

Rovers: I didn't have any issues with the Rovers this year. Actually, they seemed a lot nicer, helpful, and laid back compared to previous years, in my experience, but perhaps that's because I didn't dress up this year and didn't go to any big events, so I had minimal contact with them. No problems there.

Dance Room: I didn't enjoy having the Dance 2 room (Market) down where the food is sold on the lower level of the Hilton across from Peet's Coffee. We usually buy food there at the restaurant once or twice each year during the con and I don't recall it ever being that noisy. It's been one of the few places there in previous years to have a bite to eat without a lot of disturbance and noise, so that was disappointing. The noise level was awful (very loud bass), along with the constant opening and closing of the door, so we had to take our food to the Marriot side to eat in relative silence. I don't think we'll be eating there again if it's going to be held there again. One of the employees there did give us a free soda because of the noise, though, so that was nice. We usually only buy food there because of the selection and better quality (otherwise, we bring small snacks to keep us energized throughout the day so we don't have to spend too much money on food), so the amount of noise there was very disruptive to us.

Parking/Security: Does anyone know if you can get someone from the con or hotel (like security) to escort you to your car late at night? I drive in from Benicia and usually go back to my car late at night to go home (past midnight when the events we are interested in are over) when a lot of weirdos are out. It seemed like there were more shady people than usual (ghetto, "gangsta"-looking guys in large groups taking up the whole sidewalk that made insulting comments at us, scuzzy-looking (homeless, I'm guessing) people (one of which was peeing all over a pillar in clear view), a few hookers (yes, hookers), etc., that were clearly not part of the con) hanging out a couple blocks from the convention center where we usually park and it was only my female friend and me on Saturday, so I felt a bit paranoid walking there with no other con-goers around. It honestly makes me want to carry pepper spray. Next year, I'll try parking in the parking garages that are closer to the convention center, but since we get there relatively late in the day on the busiest days because the main events we are interested in aren't until late afternoon to evening, it's hard to find close parking at times. For future reference, though, I'm curious if there are people who can escort you to your car at night. If not, then I think it would be a great idea to offer that as a service in future years for those who have to park further away and don't have a group of people to go back with to the parking lot late at night to go home. It would be a huge help.

Sorry for the length of my post. All in all, I had a great time, despite those few problems. Looking forward to next year! Keep up the awesome work!  :)

Himeno

Quote from: Seiyuu on June 01, 2011, 10:18:31 PM
The entrance/exit-only doors to the AA and Dealers Hall was kind of annoying, especially if you were coming from one end (e.g. Marriott) and had to walk all the way to the other end (Hilton end) just to get in, but I understand it's to speed up traffic flow. Maybe have one side of the door be entering and one side be leaving since there were two people at each door checking badges? I mean, it's a pretty wide door IMO.
How about opening all the doors when the dealers room is closing and not have a thousand people cramming through the same single door.

Mantaray3000

Quote from: Jelly Soup on June 01, 2011, 08:27:20 PM
Quote from: Mantaray3000 on June 01, 2011, 12:24:33 AM
Midnight Madness: This is was my biggest gripe of the whole con! I was planning and hoping that I would get to see True Naruto Style the movie but instead we had a two hour video screening of fake trailers and whats worst is there was no schedule on what was going to be playing! I also complained about this last year when nobody told us that the Berserk parody was three hours long and whats worst was that it was already available on youtube where as True Naruto Style is not played anywhere but at cons! I know the event lasts all night long but my point is that there are people who have no plans on actually staying up all night especially if they have plans early the next day! Please improve this by actually showing showtimes schedules for midnight madness in advance.

I'm going to interject here as I have some slight insight on this. This was the last year for the guy that puts together Midnight Madness, who goes by the name Jerry C. He's a close friend who I visit and work with often. Honestly, he thought a great way to end it all would be with a compilation of the best of the previous years Midnight Madness showings. I'm not sure as to why TNS wasn't shown (might have been too long, might have been a favoring for the shorter trailers or he may just have never shown it at MM). However, TNS is on Youtube if you'd still like to see it.
My gripe was not the compilation trailers but the fact that there was no knowledge of how long it would take and what was going to be played after the compilation trailers which is why I suggest having a showtime schedule to whoever will be in charge of midnight madness next year. And no TNS the movie is not on youtube unless you can show me a link.

Jelly Soup

Quote from: Mantaray3000 on June 02, 2011, 12:35:37 AM
Quote from: Jelly Soup on June 01, 2011, 08:27:20 PM
Quote from: Mantaray3000 on June 01, 2011, 12:24:33 AM
Midnight Madness: This is was my biggest gripe of the whole con! I was planning and hoping that I would get to see True Naruto Style the movie but instead we had a two hour video screening of fake trailers and whats worst is there was no schedule on what was going to be playing! I also complained about this last year when nobody told us that the Berserk parody was three hours long and whats worst was that it was already available on youtube where as True Naruto Style is not played anywhere but at cons! I know the event lasts all night long but my point is that there are people who have no plans on actually staying up all night especially if they have plans early the next day! Please improve this by actually showing showtimes schedules for midnight madness in advance.

I'm going to interject here as I have some slight insight on this. This was the last year for the guy that puts together Midnight Madness, who goes by the name Jerry C. He's a close friend who I visit and work with often. Honestly, he thought a great way to end it all would be with a compilation of the best of the previous years Midnight Madness showings. I'm not sure as to why TNS wasn't shown (might have been too long, might have been a favoring for the shorter trailers or he may just have never shown it at MM). However, TNS is on Youtube if you'd still like to see it.
My gripe was not the compilation trailers but the fact that there was no knowledge of how long it would take and what was going to be played after the compilation trailers which is why I suggest having a showtime schedule to whoever will be in charge of midnight madness next year.

That's kind of the point of MM, actually. It's six hours of new fansubs with a few classics mixed in, you're not supposed to know whats to be shown beyond that. Do you expect the hentai/yaoi rooms to have complete listings of what is being shown before hand? If yes, you're missing the point.

QuoteAnd no TNS the movie is not on youtube unless you can show me a link.

I typed 'True Naruto Style' into the search and found it, don't know why you're not.



otakuya

-big printed arrow signs, rather than 8 1/2x11 Sharpie signs.
Saying things like:
[Dealers Room -->]
[<--Artists Alley]
[EXIT-->]
[Not an Exit]

-move Stage Zero to an Exhibit Room?

-(going with 2012's 'sports' theme) basketball hoops, tennis nets, volleyball nets, and/or soccer goals with taped off bounderies and lines in the gaming room
note: I could imagine basketball with a Pokeball and a real-life blitzball game breaking out

-meditation or quiet room (away from noise and traffic of main floor, but not the hotel room where it is a b**** to get up to with the elevators)

-"meet the mascots". When I was staff several years ago, we/I helped name the 5 Fanime mascots that you see on the street banners, promos, and program guide. Yet, I'm still not able to tell which one is Amber, Becky, Candy, Damian, or Elliott (ABCDE, get it?). Maybe something in the program guide to let us know the characters and their personality?

-a huge sign in front of the cc. such as:


Melly

nemuneko said something about the Dance room by peet's being really loud and bassy; well im going to add something to that.

i was trying to sleep in my room (14th floor in the Hilton) and i could hear the bass all the way from up on the 14th floor :/

this was at like 4AM too v__V;.......

maybe you could ask the DJs to keep the bass a bit lower :/ cause i mean.. hearing/feeling it all the way up on the 14th floor is pretty extreme if you ask me lol;;

SquallLHeart

Quote from: lurker9000 on June 01, 2011, 06:33:30 PM
The guy you are quoting has nothing to do with anything related to Musicfest except doing a great job w/ Autographs and is making hopeful assumptions.
indeed... it's just a hopeful assumption :P

still hoping. :D
Trung D. Nguyen
Fanime: Autographs Head '11 | Rovers '01-present | Gopher '99-'00
Anime Expo: AxCon '07-'2009
ComicCon: Vol '04-'05

staff/vol. for misc. conventions all around the nation... ranging from 30.. to 130K+ attendees...

Nina Star 9

I had a really great Fanime this year, but there are some improvements that can be made!


- Exiting panel rooms. After the Whose Line is it Fanime? panel, we were only allowed to leave the panel room in a single-file line out one door. This line wasn't moving at all at some points, and there was just a big mob of people pushing against the doors. It took us several minutes to exit the room. Maybe open up the other doors to the panel rooms when people are leaving so that there isn't so much chaos? I understand that chaos is probably what they were trying to prevent, but it slowed things down considerably and was very uncomfortable.

- Lolita picnic. We have had this gathering every year for a very long time (~5 years?). After the first year, it was located outside in a little terrace area towards the Hilton side of the CC. Last year, it was moved up to the Marriott-side patio attatched to the main concourse, and this year it was scheduled for the same place. We have been bringing sweets to share with each other to this gathering since the beginning, and it was very nice to have some tables and chairs last year. This year, we were kicked out of our gathering location because of the food, so we moved mid-gathering to the previous location. since this area is a large, flat, concrete area and we weren't prepared to be here, there was no where to sit and play games since no one is going to sit on the ground in an expensive dress. I understand the problem with the CC being unionized so that any food served has to be union food, but we are simply sharing sweets with our frilly friends and not in competetion with the food vendors at all, since outside people do not eat our sweets and the lolis who would have bought a burger anyway would still buy one. I just hope that next year, we get a suitable location to hold our picnic and daintily eat our sweets (or con burgers if the loli is so inclined!) while still being able to do our planned activities. <3

- Karaoke room hours. there can always be longer karaoke hours. I agree with starting it a bit earlier in the day, though I did like the 3PM opening on Sunday. I like the idea of having a 24-hour karaoke room, but that may be difficult to maintain.

All my other complaints and suggestions I've posted in the appropriate threads for that department.

hikanteki

Gripes:
I know this is by fans for fans, but I don't think it would hurt to have a few more anime-related industry or professional panels.  My main gripe about Fanime, besides the lack of schedules -- although even this was somewhat mitigated by the schedule being clearly displayed outside each room (& don't get me wrong, I still had an awesome time this year) was that overall it felt unprofessional and with that many people, there wasn't really anything holding it together.  The Viz panel was good & so was the butler one (which I happened to walk into, but couldn't find on the schedule.)  I did see quite a few fan panels that were awesome, but others were just too painfully amateurish to sit through.  I'd also like to see more panel rooms, because only 3 dedicated rooms for a conference of 16000+ seems really low.

Annoying, but understandable:
Movies/anime that I want to see being shown at 5 AM (but if it's 24 hours, then there's bound to be some things being shown at odd hours), items in dealers room being expensive (because they're expensive anyway), having to go all the way around to enter the gaming room/dealer's hall (as opposed to one entrance being ridiculously crowded).

Good:
Seemed like a pretty big group of special guests this year.  Also love the big names that Fanime brings in for MusicFest...it's such a treat to see popular Japanese bands perform here, especially since some of them are only their first or second time performing in the states.  Also, loved all the 24-hour video rooms.  I could always hang out in one of those when I didn't feel like doing anything else.  All the staff I talked to was friendly & tried to be helpful (not all of them knew everything, but who does.  It's not like they're getting paid.)  I never got attitude that many people spoke of...but then again I never gave them attitude.  Imagine that.  The 10% discounts on food was a great idea too (it got me to try Philz Coffee & Good Karma) BUT if there are any caveats -- such as was the case with Hydration where you had to spend $15 in order to get the discount -- those should have been mentioned too.

Jelly Soup

This had slipped my mind till now, but I wanted to make a comment about the Swap Meet. You know what I really like about the Swap Meet staff? When they lead us to our spot. Why do I like this? So we don't have a repeat of Friday night, were our neighbor was insisting that he had two spots, including ours and a loud heated argument ended with me telling him to get his shit out of my spot or I'd shit can it (all the while, a non-swap meet staffer was doing his best to help but finally agreed with my approach).



zeroelement

My overall thought about this year fanime is it went well. It could of used a few days or more training. Also the Schedule should of been up sooner and printed, but otherwise the convention was great. The main negative feed back could be fixed with more time for like the DJ's to practice with that set up for it is not their own and people complain about that. Rovers... no one likes people who enforce the rules rare to be positive i personally had no problem with them besides day0 when my friend wanted to throw something away they wouldnt let him duck under the tap when we were in the first stretch of the line.

Artist ally  perfectly done.

Dealers Perfectly done. Only improvement would be 2 entrances 2 exits(there are 6 doors on each side i think but staff yea not possible).(our feet hurt already XD so maybe in and out after the main line gets in)(also you cant control the prices in there useless to complain)

Game room  Great job might make some money selling water in there cheaper than the vending machines.

Panels Well staffed and controlled (lines)

Video (something for everyone and not all mainstream)

Cosplay hang out   Perfect!

Gatherings Went well

Protesters Controlled ish (to bad they didn't get arrested ive read they cant use the speaker thing without a permit. i say make a few anti poster blocker (black bags between two poles) that are held up blocking them.




Cosplayer of Host club (nekozawa) and Soul Eater (Free)
Looking for local cosplay groups and new friends.

ayame_nguyen

fanime this year was pretty good overall.

Schedules : please do bring back the pocket schedules. if there was a problem with printing them it would have been nice to tell us so we can print our own. it was a pain to find when things were happening esp. when some things were being moved to another time or were cancelled. i like the app idea! thats a wonderful way to keep people updated but the bad thing about this is that not everyone has an smart phone or an itouch.

musicfest : is there anyway to get the camera & video policy up before the con starts or a day or 2 before the concert starts? i dont have a hotel room or a car so i can't put my camera away somewhere really quick. this year it was really on and off. at first someone came and said "no cameras or video" . then about 30mins later it was" cameras allowed but no video". then at the end it was "no cameras or videos but you can bring cameras inside just not allowed to take it out". it was somewhat of a pain to deal with. please do release this info ahead of time.

thats about it ^_^ i look forward to 2012 !

zeroelement

Quote from: ayame_nguyen on June 02, 2011, 10:34:53 PM
fanime this year was pretty good overall.

Schedules : please do bring back the pocket schedules. if there was a problem with printing them it would have been nice to tell us so we can print our own. it was a pain to find when things were happening esp. when some things were being moved to another time or were cancelled. i like the app idea! thats a wonderful way to keep people updated but the bad thing about this is that not everyone has an smart phone or an itouch.

musicfest : is there anyway to get the camera & video policy up before the con starts or a day or 2 before the concert starts? i dont have a hotel room or a car so i can't put my camera away somewhere really quick. this year it was really on and off. at first someone came and said "no cameras or video" . then about 30mins later it was" cameras allowed but no video". then at the end it was "no cameras or videos but you can bring cameras inside just not allowed to take it out". it was somewhat of a pain to deal with. please do release this info ahead of time.

thats about it ^_^ i look forward to 2012 !

i think its a general rule for the music events no camera's every one ive gone to was no no no
Cosplayer of Host club (nekozawa) and Soul Eater (Free)
Looking for local cosplay groups and new friends.

InsaneChan

This was my 8th Fanime, and I really thought that for the most part, everything was very well organized. My first two days of the con were amazing, and I really was impressed by Music Fest this year as well. My only two major peeves were such:

Schedules: It wasn't so much that there were no schedules, but that they didn't say anything about it until the DAY OF. I checked the Fanime site every day, constantly, up until Thursday afternoon (when I left for the con). Only to find out when we arrived that there were no printed schedules. The only way we got by was because one person in our group had a smart phone. If he hadn't been there, however, we would have missed everything we had wanted to see. The digital schedule was neat, but only applied to a percentage of attendees. Again, if even 1-day notice had been given about the schedules, I could have easily printed some out for our group and avoided the constant stress of missing a panel, etc.

FLOW autographs: This was less Fanime's fault, but I was extremely disappointed that I didn't get an autograph. I waited in the line for two hours, only to walk away empty-handed. I understand that these things happen, but I was absolutely crushed. I've never cried at a Fanime before, I've only left with some of the best memories of my life. But I started crying in the middle of the hall, cried off-and-on the rest of the day, and was irreversibly, miserably upset for the rest of the con. For such a huge guest, more than one autograph session would have been nice.
Love. Life. fANIME.

lurker9000

Quote
i think its a general rule for the music events no camera's every one ive gone to was no no no

and ESPECIALLY no video. :]

People are removed from the event if caught doing that.
ChristopherLee:MusicFest2nd

PickleBunny

To ayame_nguyen:  The policy was consistently no taking pictures or videos so I wonder who told you, at one point, that taking photos would be okay...  
MusicFest Staff 2005
MusicFest Second 2006-2011

PunkDrunker

Quote from: PickleBunny on June 02, 2011, 11:45:22 PM
To ayame_nguyen:  The policy was consistently no taking pictures or videos so I wonder who told you, at one point, that taking photos would be okay...  
While we were waiting in line, two different staff members walked up and down the line and told us that pictures were okay, just no videos, and we should run and get our cameras if we wanted them. And about 15 minutes later, we were told no cameras again, like ayame_nguyen said.

Jelly Soup

Quote from: PunkDrunker on June 03, 2011, 12:44:28 AM
Quote from: PickleBunny on June 02, 2011, 11:45:22 PM
To ayame_nguyen:  The policy was consistently no taking pictures or videos so I wonder who told you, at one point, that taking photos would be okay...  
While we were waiting in line, two different staff members walked up and down the line and told us that pictures were okay, just no videos, and we should run and get our cameras if we wanted them. And about 15 minutes later, we were told no cameras again, like ayame_nguyen said.

This has been a problem in previous years as well, one staffer saying one thing, then a different staffer saying something else. There are decent photos/vids of various no-camera events from various years of Fanime floating around due to this.