Ok, I'm making this thread just so you guys can post your opinions, comments, suggestions and criticisms thread. Here are the rules for this, cause it got kinda out of hand last year with the flames that I saw. So here are the rules:
-Flames will not be tolerated. This thread will be locked if this happens.
-Constructive Criticism of the con is accepted. If it is not constructive, say good-bye to this thread.
-Personal attacks to any member of the con that post in this thread, including Con-Staff and Con-Management WILL not be tolerated. The Mods here will report any offenders to the admins of this forum and they will deal with the appropriate response.
Cosplay pics are fine, but also, constructive criticism of cosplay can be discussed here. If this rule is broken, thread or the offenders will be dealt with.
There ya go, just follow this rules on this thread here and everything will go a-ok :D
So Post away. :D
This was my first year, along with ALL the boys staying in our room. It was great fun, ne. Although me and O Rly ninja really got on the nerves of some elevator people [>_>] we found it fun. We were able to construct random fun in the hotel, such as the 26 to 1 run [staircase run in some instances] and I think last night was a total depression night.
Edit~
I should've put more thought into this. The one of the few things I didn't like was also part of last night. The rave. This girl was nice enough to flee back to her room to get glow sticks, then part-way through of me finally doing my Crazy Frog Custom dance [<3] a battle circle started and lost all interest...
...yeah. I was basically just complaining there, but mehh...
I was sad cause I didn't know when anime hell was showing (it wasnt on the schedule), and the info booth people didn't know either. It also seemed to me like there were less panels? And this is the first year I didn't go to music fest, since it was all scattered.
I had great fun though XD
Yeah, I noticed that a lot of the video programming schedules (especially in the anime viewing rooms) kept getting changed...I didn't notice this in the Asian Films room though...
I'm not a very experienced congoer, nor do I wander anywhere other than the Dealers' Room and Artists' Alley, but I loved the sense of humor of the announcers in the DR (even though the booming voices every several minutes got kind of annoying, but it's for a good cause).
Also, I'm happy a lot of people turned in missing badges and other possessions ^^
I've learned to never expect perfection. It's not fun if there's no element of the unexpected. Things weren't perfect, but it was great to see how con staff worked to find solutions for the problems. I really liked the signs about the missing programs, they were funny and the appology was a nice touch.
I was impressed that two different members of the production staff stopped my sister and I to see what we thought of fanime and asked our opinions. That shows a really positive way of growing fanime. :-)
The charity auction was amazing too. (YAY for my Kakashi Bear!)
All in all it was great. Thank you EVERYONE!!! See y'all in 2008.
well... i thought it went over all, very well!!!
Badges.. once again.. i Think the 'fan name' should be bigger, and the 'legal name' smaller.... i really don't like my name being out there >.>
of course.. no programs *tear* i really like having those.. i still have mine from last year.. and it's nice to be able to see what all the Asian films are.. i didn't go to any because i didn't know what they were about and the titles sounded boring.... >.>
Reg line needs to be helped.. that was soooo huge!!! I think there needs to be more people working that, and it needs to be done a but faster.
Maid Cafe needs to be open longer... but i'm bias because i work there :-P
over all, i think it went very well!!! i already miss it!
The maid cafe I think was a successful experiment...now that everyone has seen the cafe, I think many more will be on board next year, and that the cafe can expand to be bigger space, contain more maids and butlers, and have a expanded menu.
What should be done about the programs is that the Fanime crew should mail those to each person who registered. I know it would be more work, but it would balance out the fact that there were no programs this year.
Quote from: "Kegan_Flame"
Reg line needs to be helped.. that was soooo huge!!! I think there needs to be more people working that, and it needs to be done a but faster.
With cash in on-site registeration, the process is very fast and takes less than one minute to do a person. But the problem with the speed are people who use credit cards and debit cards which do tend to slow things down because it is a longer process which requires a few extra steps.
The wait was about 3 hours average for each person on Saturday. I still hope everyone had fun despite the long wait
The dealer's room this year did not seem to have enough of a variety in merchandise. I would have liked to see more movie DVDs and music CDs and music related merchandise...but that's just me. I loved that one dealer with all of the miniature model boxes. I bought a full set of the bakery model. =X
Quote from: "HeeroYuy135"I think many more will be on board next year, and that the cafe can expand to be bigger space, contain more maids and butlers, and have a expanded menu.
As long as the maid who gave me the fork works next year. I'll be a customer for life <3
Lemme try and nutshell this:
-No Marvel vs Capcom 2. What happened?
-ZZ show=WOAH!
-Yuri night=XD
-Forum panel=LOL
-Dang I spent alot of money on food. Oh well.
-Pre-reg line on Thursday=Why were we asked to move?
-SSB Melee=Crowded. But the panel was good. I couldn't make it to FanficGuru's tourney though.
-I wish I took more cosplay pics.
-Damn you Disney for not putting Pirates 3 in theaters IN JULY! *Cusses at Disney*
Overall score for FanimeCon 2007= Damn solid! I'm coming back for sure. 8)
And I bought my 2008 badge already.
The Fanimaid cafe was very thoughtful. It gives various people in the con the the anime experience.
The dealer's room had some rare and up-to-date goods. Some of them were overpriced for a con.
IMO there should have been more staff members on the registration lines. Though I got my badge early, I don't think people should be waiting in line for this long.
The Yuri section of the con on Friday didn't please me. After watching the first few minutes of it, I realize that there was a lack of Yuri or none at all. There was also various technical difficulties to where 1/2 of the scenes were cut off. After Kashimashi ended, we got flat-out hentai in which already exists in another panel. Various people have left. I can see the Yuri section being improved for next year.
More posts later.
I thought the artists room and dealers room was fun, everyone was really nice and funny. I wish I took a picture of the person I gave my commission to on saturday because I swear I couldnt find her on Sunday, I was wondering around like a retard for a while.
The DJ was amazing. I <3 DJ Caen. Great music. A little crowded, maybe a bigger room next year, but w/e.
I was pissed that all the bottles of water were $3. I had to go into the hotel shop to find one that was cheaper.
Quote from: "Kanchii"I thought the artists room and dealers room was fun, everyone was really nice and funny. I wish I took a picture of the person I gave my commission to on saturday because I swear I couldnt find her on Sunday, I was wondering around like a retard for a while.
The DJ was amazing. I <3 DJ Caen. Great music. A little crowded, maybe a bigger room next year, but w/e.
I was pissed that all the bottles of water were $3. I had to go into the hotel shop to find one that was cheaper.
There's free half-pints in the fitness room on the third floor by the pool in the Marriot. I suggest you excersize a bit though so you just don't jack the water. :P
Quote from: "Barnes"Lemme try and nutshell this:
-No Marvel vs Capcom 2. What happened?
-ZZ show=WOAH!
-Yuri night=XD
-Forum panel=LOL
-Dang I spent alot of money on food. Oh well.
-Pre-reg line on Thursday=Why were we asked to move?
-SSB Melee=Crowded. But the panel was good. I couldn't make it to FanficGuru's tourney though.
-I wish I took more cosplay pics.
-Damn you Disney for not putting Pirates 3 in theaters IN JULY! *Cusses at Disney*
Overall score for FanimeCon 2007= Damn solid! I'm coming back for sure. 8)
And I bought my 2008 badge already.
Some guy stood next to the machine tech guy and asked what games they were having. The tech guy said MvC2 etc etc and that guy said no one plays MvC2 so Melty Blood would have been a better replacement. The tech guy took MvC2 out and there goes the party..
What I could change/improve:
-swap meet every day and no "registration"/signup stuff
-Fanimaid at the outdoor patio next to the existing site
-more variety in the dealers room
-room between machines at the e-gaming
Quote from: "HeeroYuy135"The maid cafe I think was a successful experiment...now that everyone has seen the cafe, I think many more will be on board next year, and that the cafe can expand to be bigger space, contain more maids and butlers, and have a expanded menu.
I would love to see an expanded menu on the Fanimaid Cafe! Especially food that you can eat easily with a fork or spoon. -nod nod-
Soup and salad would be a wonderful addition, and I don't recall seeing them. I also am not sure if they will work with the whole theme of the cafe but... maybe?
The thing I liked most about the fanime cafe, however, was that it stayed open a bit longer than the other refreshment stands (mainly in the dealer's hall), which happened to close just when you got very hungry.
I also liked how in the gaming room and some of the smaller hallways, there were water dispensers and cups for the water. It would be nice to have something like that in the main hallway, because not everyone's costume or wig permits them to get a drink from the water fountain (or perhaps they just don't want to mess up their costume or make-up).
It's not a "must" of course, but it would be a nice little treat. ^_^
The air conditioning was improved this year, but it would be wonderful if it could be kept going all through con. I don't know if this is controlable or not, but you have my many thank yous for having it run for as long as possible.
I definitely enjoyed it this year.
-Panels were amazing
-I LOVED how the arcade and tabletop gaming got put together
-I liked how all the video rooms were put on one side of the con
-I did not like how the dealers were selling magic: the gathering cards for unbeliveably high prices (that was probably the only thing that I ever got mad at) But this doesnt really count I don't think
-However, I was disappointed with the lack of good comedy AMVs in the AMV contest. Ouran High School with underlying yaoi plots in an AMV =! comedy.
Yep!
Quote from: "LordKefka"Some guy stood next to the machine tech guy and asked what games they were having. The tech guy said MvC2 etc etc and that guy said no one plays MvC2 so Melty Blood would have been a better replacement. The tech guy took MvC2 out and there goes the party..
"No one plays Marvel"?
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!
ME ANGRY! :evil:
the GOOD:
1) Masquerade ---> begin ON TIME - end ON TIME == amazing!
2) info desk ---> nice, helpful staffers (the very comprehensive food guide was a good idea)
3) schedules ---> very readable :wink:
----------------------------------------------
the BAD:
1) The Starbucks messed up on my frappuccino. The mixture was way off, too sweet. (yeah i know that's not Fanime's fault)
2) Program guide *sad* (mentioned already)
Quote from: "Barnes"Quote from: "LordKefka"Some guy stood next to the machine tech guy and asked what games they were having. The tech guy said MvC2 etc etc and that guy said no one plays MvC2 so Melty Blood would have been a better replacement. The tech guy took MvC2 out and there goes the party..
"No one plays Marvel"?
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!
ME ANGRY! :evil:
I silently cried when I found out....*cough*... yeah... silently...
Quote from: "Otakuya"-swap meet every day and no "registration"/signup stuff
The reason why we can't do this has to do with the Dealers. They won't put up with it. We have been able to get away with Thursday & Friday swap meets, but we are not allowed to have them on Saturday or Sunday, sorry :( (it's not that we don't want to! we also made money this weekend selling our stuff...)
Thursday will NEVER have a pre-reg, it will always be open for sellers.
Friday it is easier to pre-reg because we can only accomodate a limited number of sellers, and every single year we get people who hauled all their stuff from [insert remote location here] that don't get in because we filled the space with someone earlier in the line who has 500 VHS tapes that no one wants for sale. The idea of pre-reg is that you will KNOW that you have a spot so when you drag your stuff from [insert remote location here] you will not do so in vain. This year the Swap Meet pre-reg will be advertised in advance, so you will know exactly when pre-reg is.
Many thanks for your patience while we work out the kinks in the system!
+ IIDX for the win
+ American IIDX controller also for the win
+ 4-player Maximum Tune 2
- Speaking of MT2, too many GUESTs with 130-280HP cars, some of which challenged players with at least 600HP, and not enough pros. I was actually one of the best players there. I want to see people who can beat me by 100+ meters, dammit!
+ Several DDR players who made it to the extra stage on SuperNOVA, one of which got to the OMES.
+ I got to meet the Orange Lounge Radio crew in person.
+ Fanimaid Cafe was pretty good.
+ Hmm, I didn't smell a lot of "fanboy funk" this year.
+ Damn You Internets (aka 4FanimeChan) = WIN
+ PLAY! and Console Wars having the same timeslot = LOSE
- Not that it's any of my concern since I don't buy yaoi or yuri anyway, but there's way more yaoi in the dealer's room than there is yuri.
+ Very fun times in the gaming room. Specifically around the DDR, Para Para Paradise, and WMMT2 machines.
+ There were actually 2 game dealers in the Dealer's Room, as opposed to 1 last year. I hope we can get more game vendors next year.
- Parking, like in practically any other downtown area = HELL. Hilton and CC parking = too expensive, free parking at 2nd/3rd & San Carlos = some people park like noobs in the "Small Car" spaces, and I scratched a bumper. T.T
I really didn't experience the missing programs problem. I got one on Thursday and kept it with me the entire time. I still have it right here next to me.
+Great dealers room this year. Lots of yaoi stuffs.
+Lots of One Piece being shown.
+Gaming Room was super. I had never seen Melty Blood: Act Cadenza before, great game.
+The Artists Allie was great. Good set up, easy to see everything.
-People screwing around in the elevators in the Marriott, hitting buttons and jamming up the works. My roommate is a cop and kept getting paged every time some idiot started messing with the emergence button.
-While I enjoyed the powerful air conditioner, I don't think it was needed at two in the morning.
-We need more swap meet nights. I doubt all the dealers have a problem with it, seeing as most of what's being sold at the meet are essentially ancient products. If someone tries to pull something, we can kick them out, like that guy with the Dreamcast and Sega Saturn.
~Soda is $4 at one side of the convention hall, yet they are $3.50 in a similar machine on the other side of the hall. Go figure.
More as I think of it.
Overall, I think the Con was very well done. The panels I attended were entertaining, there was a wide variety of things to keep me occupied, Stage 0 was pretty fun whenever I stopped by, etc.
A couple of things:
- I was a little annoyed at the anime schedule. I guess there were some sort of technical problems mid-Saturday, but I missed a lot of what I wanted to see because the schedule changed on me.
- What was up with only being able to go in/out in one direction in the dealer's room? It was a little obnoxious to have to go all the way around.
So no major complaints here.
the bad:
A huge chunk of Stage zero being simply titled "stage zero programming". I only managed to catch the last few minutes of three minute video.(I luckily I caught one of my own videos) At least few a hints on what might come up.
Three minute video itself. The audience was suddenly more energetic after it was over. But that's more of a reason to make a better movie next year.
I would have liked to have seen more panels.
the Good:
Schedules outside the video rooms being updated and kept in their place(from thieving schedule stealers like last year :shock: )
Hentai night. Always fun.
The restaurant map. Much better and bigger than previous years. I had a nice lunch at the Peking House.
The Good-
Guests were awesome. I enjoyed talking with Ric Meyers and Giles Poitras a lot.
Panels were really cool, I especially enjoyed the Gainax and Gurren Lagaan panel. fun fun!
Arcade was also very fun. Played Dance ManiaX way too much that weekend.
Swap meet was, of course, amazing as well.
The Fanimecon 2007 sword was one of the coolest items in the dealers room. I got one and I would love it to return for next year.
I went to the Play! symphony on Saturday, and although Fanime wasn't directly related to the event, I was very impressed with the audience's courtesy. Everyone was worried that it would be loud and it would take away from the enjoyment of the show, but everyone cooperated and there were no annoying outbursts, even when they played One Winged Angel.
The Bad-
Not much variety in the dealers room. Wall scrolls were hard to find and there were hardly any soundtracks. It was nice seeing Video Games new york though. I'd like them to come back next year.
The Enies Lobby arc marathon was confusing....I came in and from the looks of it they went backwards after getting close to the 'Sanji's Scorching Kick' episode. What was up with that?
The AMV competition was lacking this year. There were some decent vids...but for the most part the AMV's weren't that good. Hopefully we'll get some better vids next year. Also, it would be nice if it would move back to the civic center.
That's about it. Great con overall. ^_^ Here's to 2008!
The Improvements
- Tabletop Gaming in the E-Gaming Hall. Freaking genius. There were tons of space and lots of games to play. Betrayal at House on the Hill and Uno were some of the funnest moments of the con.
-Arcade. Melty Blood was freaking great even though I don't play. It was seriously busy all the time. Puzzle Fighter, 2 DDR Machines, and Air Hockey were big bonuses too. Even if prices were kind of high (50 cents for Puzzle Fighter?!) it wasn't exorbitant enough to make me stop.
-MusicFest in Ballroom J or whatever it was. Better acoustics than the civic center, a closer, more personal concert, and still enough room to rock. Oh yeah, and having ZZ on Thursday night was really cool.
-Play! Symphony. I cried tears of joy.
-Swap Meet. Somehow it was a lot less chaotic and crowded than last year's. I got some great deals - good times, guys.
The Let-Downs
-Anime Music Videos. Too many action videos, confusing multiple showings, a too-small room, and a generally poor comedy showing made this a disappointment compared to previous years. But I think the staff is learning from their mistakes this year and so next year's should be good.
-Missing Program Guides. Of course.
The Unknowns
-Masquerade Ball. I couldn't go because it was during the PLAY! Symphony. Whoever scheduled the two "high-class" musical events during the same slot wasn't planning appropriately.
-Stage Zero. I didn't spend any time there, so I can't really say. It's a good landmark though.
-Yuri Night. I liked the idea, but ended up spending my time elsewhere.
-Asian Cinema. Without a program guide, I didn't have anything to go on when choosing movies to watch, so I ended up not actually walking into the viewing rooms except during one movie while I was practically falling asleep on Monday at 6am. So I didn't really get a taste of what was there, sadly.
Quote from: "mDuo13"The Improvements
The Unknowns
-Masquerade Ball. I couldn't go because it was during the PLAY! Symphony. Whoever scheduled the two "high-class" musical events during the same slot wasn't planning appropriately.
The Black & White Ball (formall ballroom dance) was on Saturday night. The Masquerade (Cosplay Spectacular) was on Sunday night in the same venue as PLAY.
Quote from: "Keys"Quote from: "mDuo13"The Improvements
The Unknowns
-Masquerade Ball. I couldn't go because it was during the PLAY! Symphony. Whoever scheduled the two "high-class" musical events during the same slot wasn't planning appropriately.
The Black & White Ball (formall ballroom dance) was on Saturday night. The Masquerade (Cosplay Spectacular) was on Sunday night in the same venue as PLAY.
Yes, I'm aware.
They could have put the Black & White Ball on Friday, you know.
The only good thing that I honestly Liked about the convention was the masqurade ( Being my first ever that I've went too, and I've been going to famine since 2001)
What I didn't Like about the convention
- The AMVs, too small of a room, the person sitting next to me was pratically sitting on half of my chair, and drallcome was sitting on half of his because he didnt want me to be uncomftorable. tooo many action videos, and too few comedy videos ( In my perspective there was 2 comedy videos since 3 of them were the same anime, We left them right after 'comedy')
That was basically the only thing that i didnt like, that and the fact that I'm not into anime at all anymore, I'm more of a gamer now (thanks to world of warcraft). Being there, sitting in the convention center with all of the other con goers, they all just seemed very immature... People yelling things that had no meaning at all...
The over all orderness of the con was kinda nice though, Minus the pre-reg line on thursday.... Drallcome and myself waited a wopping 10 minutes in that "Line" We arrived at the convention center at 6:30pm and left at 6:50pm with badges in hand..... The line gappage in that line was rediculious... It should have taken up an entire room, more booths to pick up badges, and more line snakeage..... This convention is getting to big for itself....
Drallcome and Myself played a little game, because we frankly wern't intrested in anything but the AMV (which were a total waste of time) and the Masqurade. The game, Find the highest number you can find on peoples badges.... The highest number we saw was 10390 on sunday.... In the 9000's on saturday... last year I registered at the door on saturday and my badge number was only 5901......
Sorry about the mini-rant.... 2007 will be the last year that Drallcome and Myself attend... (just mainly due to not being into all of the mundane anime that is being relesed these days)
While not my favorite year so far, I enjoyed Fanime 2007 quite a bit and had an all-around smashing good time. Some points of interest:
+ The FaniMaid Cafe. Working there was great, and from what I experienced there were very few problems that weren't dealt with quickly and fairly painlessly, and most of the attendees seemed quite pleased with their own experience--I'm quite looking forward to working again next year (especially if we're going to have a larger space like I've been told), although perhaps not the whole time both days like I did this year. *attempts to give self a back massage, fails*
+ The Hentai Room. This was the first year I was old enough to attend, and although I was very reluctant at first (I was dragged there by friends XD), I ended up enjoying myself immensely. Midnight Sleazy Train and Swallowtail Inn had me dying of laughter, I swear. ("Spirit of hospitality!")
+ The Game Room. Before this year I hadn't done a whole lot in the Game Room because I'm admittedly not much of a gamer, but I had some good times in there this time with the board games. Being able to check games like Apples to Apples and Connect Four out for playing was great--I don't know if this was in effect in previous years, but it was really cool and made up for the fact that we couldn't find our own set of Apples to bring. It was a little disappointing to have to turn the games back in at, what was it, eleven? But I can understand how leaving the games out all night without supervision would be a bad idea and would result in the probable loss of quite a few games, so that's reasonable enough.
Most of the negative comments I would have about this year's con experience are more my own fault than anything else--I missed the AMV contest despite it being shown several times because of my own poor planning, didn't browse the merchandise in the Dealers' Room as much as I would have liked, and didn't watch a whole lot of the video programming (aside from the aforementioned hentai) or attend many panels, mostly because of working the cafe and general lack of knowledge of what was going on. In any case, while this year didn't have quite the kick of last year, it was fun, and I'm looking forward to next year already.
Cons:
I only caught the last little bit of the masquerade, which was my fault. I also had bad seats because of it.
The amv contest was a let-down. I didn't stay through all of it because something came up, but I didn't go back for another showing either. The room was tiny and there were lines through some of the videos.... Poor quality. The volume was WAY too loud at times... I miss it being at the Civic Center. It really gave it a certain atmosphere. The videos all looked AMAZING there. It was really an experience. I know it took a lot from the con for my friend (fanime veteran of 5 years now) having it be in the new room. It was a big part of the con for him, a staple if you will, and it got ruined for him. So I don't know if we're going to go again if it's still in that room.
There seemed to be an increased number of creepy guys this year. I got approached several times by scary menfolk. Maybe there was the same number but they just found me this year.
We lost our expensive-ish mouse while carrying the laptop to a panel.
Pros:
It was fanime.
So many awesome people.
Some really awesome cosplay
We had a room on the 4th floor so there was the option of taking the stairs to our room, rather than the terrifying elevator/sardine can.
We had extra money
There was a lot of stuff I wanted from the dealer's room, which is unusual.
It was FANIME.
It got me away from home
Overall: Awesome.
A few random points, though I have not really reflected too much on the con:
- The dealer's room. I was very hard pressed to find anything worth buying. It was mostly either anime merchandise from specific series, weapons, or clothing. While I do LOVE clothing, I was not a fan of any of the clothing that was being sold at the con. I probably spent about $20 on merchandise this year, much less than years past, as I could barely find anything I wanted. I think we need more music being sold. Not just soundtracks, but Japanese music in general. Last year I was lucky enough to even get a copy of an Amano Tsukiko album, but this year there was little on intrest to me. (Things of intrest to me can even be cute decorated items. I mean practical tiems. Pencil tins, folders, etc. One year I got a really cute mechanical pencil that I loved, until it got stoeln, and I still have not found a replacement. Most of the items that I found practical were overpriced and not worth it for something from a series I dislike or do not know. (Heck, I would buy something as long as it were cute enough and in a good price range, whether I knew the series or not!) But a lot of the merchandise seemed to be things I would have no use for and would not want anyway because they are of a character from a series I either dislike or do not know. Then again, I am not a huge anime fan, so it is hard to find series that I do like. Sorry if you could not follow my rant, it makes a lot more sense in my head, I have a difficult time with wording sometimes.)
- The lolita picnic was pure love. All I can say.
- I liked the karaoke contest being split in two like it was. I beleive it was also like that last year, but I was not able to participate because it was Friday and I have school, but I was able to perform this year, and liked it much better. Also, the warmup time was a nice addition.
- Karaoke in general was MUCH less crowded than the past couple of years. Before, I had to wait at least an hour to sing a song, but this year there were only a few people ahead of me. I only sang open mic on Friday night due to other things I had going on, but would have loved to go other nights. The only problem was that the few people in the room were just sitting in there and not paying attention, so it was not as much fun, so I got discouraged from singing more that night. A few years back, there were short waits and enthusiastic audience members. Not really the con's fault, just an intresting point.
- Technical difficulties in the video rooms? And one of the only three anime series I like was cancelled due to them? How terrible!
- The masquerade ball was a lot of fun. I stayed the entire time. However, I felt a bit discouraged, as I could not make it to the lessons and was a terrible dancer, and I saw some good dancers in there. Also, I was by myself and felt like some of the people asking me to dance were a bit too creepy and asking a bit out of their age range, but I did have fun with the people I did dance with, which was most of hte people that asked me. Next year: better costume for dancing. Also: bigger room, no glowsticks (as fun as it was after we got them, it ruined the atmosphere a bit for me), more jazz (JiLL-Decoy association = love). I did hear some people outside complaining about the terrible dancers inside, and I felt just a bit upset. Hey, not everyone is born a great dancer or could attend the lessons, and as long as they are having fun, what does it matter? I know that I'm not the best dancer (that night was my second time ever dancing with someone, and the first time really did not count), but I had a lot more fun than the people that refused to go in because of the people that were not the best at dancing, I'm sure. The vast majority seemed to be having a great time, though, which made me glad that very few people took the quality of dancing too seriously. (It is an anime convention, not an actual ballroom dancing event. If you want to be with great dancers, go to a dance, not Fanime. I can understand why if you are a good dancer you would be a bit frustrated at it, but you can at least try to have fun with it, right?)
- I was just a bit dissapointed in how few pictures people wanted of my costume on Sunday, but I cannot really help that.
- Maybe it was just me and my perception, but there seemed to be much less maturity this year.
Overall, this was probably the best Fanime I have been to in a while, though. I had a whole lot of fun, and I hope that next year will be even better. :D
Well, I'll probably remember more things later, but here is what I can think of right now.
1) The Dance. Could we put it elsewhere? It really ruined the anime rooms for me because all I could hear was "boom boom boom tss boom boom tss" across the whole hall. I think if we could move it to where the panels were (which have nothing going on at that time of night anyway) that would be great.
2) One thing that really irritated me (and I felt really bad for the staff that had to deal with it) was when a room was supposed to be playing something, but the staff member didn't have the disc and didn't even know where it was. I forget where this happened to me, but apparently someone how borrowed the disk and hadn't brought it back or something of that nature. That threw off the schedule and there wasn't anything playing in that room for at least an hour while the poor staff guy had to hunt it down. I think with a con this big that sort of thing needs to not happen. All the rooms need to have all the shows that will be playing at all times.
3) Probably an all around complaint, but could we have schedule sooner next year? For everything, not just anime showings. And could there also be descriptions of everything (panels, etc.). Just brief ones to give all of us think-a-headers some idea of what things are about. I think most of the stuff had descriptions.
4) Clearer directions to the Masq. Maybe everyone else knew what CPA meant, but I hadn't a clue. I wandered all over the old site for the Masq until someone guided me in the appropriate direction.
5) This is not being mean to any individual, but just something that upset me. The lense for my glasses fell out at the con (I need them to drive). When I went to Con Ops to see if it had been dropped off or if they could keep an eye out for it they were very short with me. They weren't rude, but they didn't, to me, seem to want to help. I understand Con Ops is busy, but I just got the impression that my situation wasn't taken very seriously. If I misunderstood the intentions of any Con Ops people I apologize. It was a frantic time for me. We searched the hall in the dark five or six times...I ended up hunting down a lenscrafters in San Jose to get new ones, but anywho.
There were some things I did like (well a lot, but beyond the obvious). I liked that the Anime and Panels were split. That made navigation a lot easier I think because you knew where all the Anime would be, etc. I didn't have to go jumping around everywhere (although I missed all the panels because of other issues).
I think the Asian Films were rather good this year. I've liked them in previous years, but there was a lot of cool stuff. One thing though I think should be addressed for both the Asian Film areas and Anime is for stuff that is obviously going to be HUGE (Death Note perhaps) there should be room in the schedule to have extra showings. I imagine a lot of people did not get to see Death Note (either one) because they were just so full. So, maybe keeping an eye out next year for any big things...
I'll likely come back with more when I get more free time. For now, that's what I have. I don't think I broke any rules. If I did I apologize. I wasn't trying to be mean.
hi guys and girls,
well the end is here and i want to know what you thought what we did right, what we did wrong, what we need to improve on in the video dept. i love you all and i had a blast serving you and giving you the best of all new and old anime. i hope to see you next year!!!
please send comments here
http://forums.fanime.com/viewtopic.php?p=175626#175626
Overall I want to say I had a lot more fun this year than last! And that is partly due to the schedule getting put up online earlier this year. It allowed me to research what I might want to see.
Pros:
Tabletop in the game room was awesome this year. I was worried about being able to hear but it was not a problem. I would have spent tons more time there but I kept getting distracted by anime....
The concert room really was cool. When you break the concerts up over several nights having the smaller all standing room made the place feel full, and kept the crowd energy up. The acts were awesome this year too. I saw a concert every day of the con! (well except Monday when there wasn't any concerts.)
I also felt that the con as a whole seemed to run more smoothly than last year and I didn't see and many issues crop up.
Asian film and the anime programming were awesome! I haven't spent that much time in the video rooms ever at Fanime (this is my forth year).
The food court and the con seemd better this year. The prices are always a little high but they had a better variety this year I thought.
Cons:
The video room schedules did get messed up a bit. I also wanted to see Red Garden and one other had been shown at an earlier time than was supposed too.
Also better training for the poor video staff. On 2 separate occasions the room had to help the operators get the videos started. Also it seems that the formats of how the videos were set up; disk vs hard drive, DVD vs AVI etc. made it hard for them. One standardized player app would also help I think. I know the operators tried their best and they seemed genuinely sorry when the schedule got messed up.
Bigger rooms for the popular videos would be nice. I missed Deathnote live action because I was at the concert and got there right before it started and got turned away.
Registration line as mentioned could use some work. It was supposed to open at 5 on Thursday and got a late start. Though I am glad of the extend hours and the extended hours for buying pre-reg for 2008!
What few other issues were not the cons fault, but attendees. Angry drunken people suck. No program guide... ugh. Also it seemed like there was less cosplays this year.
I want to say again I had a blast and what issues I had were minor. I am looking forward to next year. Thanks again for everyones hard work.
I'm not banned anymore \o/(No reason to explain that)
I had a talk with quite a few people about the fanimaid cafe, and almost everything(ALMOST) I heard was negative. I also had a fun run in with Jerry in which he was quite rude to me.
The general things i heard was "I didn't get the point of it? I walked in and I was served food by a girl. And that was about it".
"I always thought there was more to Maid cafes than costumes" and the such.
It was quite funny, because I walked over there to check it out with my friend, and I saw Jun working who I wanted to say hi to and before anything happened Jerry walked up to me and quite rudely said "Is there anything I can help you with?" and I replied back with "Uh, yeah this is the maid cafe right?" and he instantly said "WELL AS YOU CAN SEE THERE IS A LINE OVER THERE". At this point I was considering my options. I could very easily had made a large scene but decided not to, due to the fact that a few of the maids were quite nice to me online and I didn't want to ruin things for them.
So I played it off "Oh sorry, I thought that was the line for the ATM" and then he replies back with... "OH well, is this for take out or dine in?" "Excuse me? Oh, I guess dine in, but it's fine, nevermind". "Yeah. LIKE I SAID there's a line over there, so go get in line".
So I just walked off.
Other things... people trying to hug me, and people trying to hug my friends. I had 4 people literally try to force themselves onto me at different times at the con while NOT cosplaying and multiple times while cosplaying. One I shoved to the floor and said that if he attempted anything like that to me or my friends again, I would break his nose. The thing is, this didn't phase him as I saw him just blindly run up and hug someone else about 2 minutes later.
Late night antics. I don't mind people having fun and messing around, I support it, but people need to be just a tad more considerate. Just because it's late and not many people use the elevators is not an excuse for people to sit in the elevators in a circle and mash the elevator buttons while screaming/singing/talking. I had just returned to the hotel from a very important meeting at around 2am and when I pressed the elevator floor I saw 5 people sitting in a circle on the ground screaming and singing show tunes. So I waited for another elevator only to see an overweight guy, reading a pornographic magazine(the magazine name escapes me right now, but it does reviews for eroge, and it's one that I pick up occasionally to see what's coming out) while eating chips on the floor on the floor. This... disgusted me. It was bad enough he was looking at porn... but him being totally overweight, unwashed, and in a t-shirt and pants that weren't exactly well fitting on him after I just returned was not what I wanted to see in an elevator heading back to my room. I wouldn't have even minded if he was doing it against the wall of the convention center or at a table, but on the floor of the elevator...
I didn't think that Fanime was as good this year as it was last year.
First, the AMVs... in the small room sucked. And my AMV was in drama and no one stayed to see it, that made me sad. I already threw in my two cents about the AMVs elsewhere, tho, so I won't say any more.
Second, the yaoi seems to be invading. I don't have a problem with yaoi, unless Fanime becomes Yaoi Con Lite. There seems to be a rise in the number of yaoi booths, and I think it's unnecessary.
There weren't as many appealing panels this year, at least to me. I didn't really end up going to any.
On the plus side, the gaming room still rocks. The best of any con I've been to.
Also, having experienced AX, I like the lack of lines at most things at Fanime. The longest line was reg, but I pre-reg so I was okay.
I just wish I had done more at the con. As much fun as it was to play Guilty Gear in my room with my friends, I can do that all summer. I also wish I hadn't missed most of Friday...
My only beef is that there is almost no coverage of events at the con whatsoever. Not nearly enough pictures of the good cosplayers (the Spartans in particular), no list of the Stage 0 programming (I want to know the names of the AMVs that were played Friday :( ), and even the really big, important events like thee Masquerade and Ball don't have much official coverage.
Overall I had a positive Fanime experience. I especially enjoyed browsing Artist's Alley this year and making new friends through some of the live programming. I enjoyed the ballroom dancing lesson, even if it was very basic and had a good time at the Black and White Ball, except for the idiots treating it like the rave. I'd like to add that I attended my first Yaoicon event- bingo- and was thoroughly entertained.
My complaints are minor irritations only, and they are as follows:
-Lack of definite schedule, but hey, whatever happens happens
-People messing around in the elevators. I was displeased to enter on the second floor going up to the 24th to find that all the buttons had been pressed and that I would have to wait an inappropriate amount of time to reach my floor, especially as I had a quick change to do to get to a gathering on time. The same problem occurred on my way back down, and I assume that this was the same people. I'd like to state that the elevators are not a toy, and treating them in such a childish and inconsiderate way really detracted from my enjoyment of the convention because I was made late on several occasions due to your antics.
-Being hugged without asking: now that's just plain rude.
-Growth of "gothic/industrial" clothing vendors. I know a lot of peple like this kind of stuff, but I really don't think it has a place at an anime convention. But that's just my opinion.
And that's pretty much it! Thanks everyone who I met and talked to and I hope to see you all next year!
+GGXX/\C + MBAC = mindgasm
+Puzzle Fighter matches with random people = craziness. comebacks left and right took a toll on my nerves. the good kind
+H-room was made of lulz. discipline ftw
+SJ mickey d's has hugo sodas for 69 cents. never saw that before. i was like...OMG.
+doing the robot on para para paradise was funny
-the dealers' room felt quite lacking this year. EVERYONE ran out of Negima! v.13, and i seriously felt as if i needed more time to find out what i wanted in there
-no program guides, missed some marathons, blah-blah-blah. everyone else pretty much said everything i had to say about this and then some
-i missed the maid cafe. was kinda lookin forward to that
on a scale of one to ten, one being crap and ten being perfection, i'd have to rate it a 6.5 this year, which pales in comparison to 2006's 9
Quote from: "Minagi-chan"
-People messing around in the elevators. I was displeased to enter on the second floor going up to the 24th to find that all the buttons had been pressed and that I would have to wait an inappropriate amount of time to reach my floor, especially as I had a quick change to do to get to a gathering on time. The same problem occurred on my way back down, and I assume that this was the same people. I'd like to state that the elevators are not a toy, and treating them in such a childish and inconsiderate way really detracted from my enjoyment of the convention because I was made late on several occasions due to your antics.
The Elevator Ninjas might have been partially responsible, although I'm not sure if I saw you as I got off the Elevator when O RLY Ninja pressed all the buttons and ran away. It was on Saturday, the same day as our first run. The Elevator Ninjas are against Button Pressing, and pretty soon I'll issue a rule area on our thread that prohibits the use of Mass Button Pushing [MBP], also I will issue out a request to the Brigade that people who do this should be spoken to and asked not to do this again.
So if it was O RLY Ninjas MBP skills on the elevator you got on, I'm deeply sorry and apologize for his and our childish behavior.
Though it had never been a problem in the past, the huggers and the "glompers" have SERIOUSLY got to go. It's practically assault and it's even worse when you're wearing a really sensitive outfit and some tard tries to tackle you.
Here's a whacky suggestion: You know how you can get a organ donor sticker on your license? Why not have a "huggable" sticker or something like that. That way, when you freak shows go to hug some random stranger, you'll know that they're cool with you even asking with it.
That way, those of us who don't want random people trying to grope us can go about the con in peace.
I agree about having way too much yaoi. You know, some us go to Fanime and are not into yaoi, and do not want to have to sort through it all in the dealer's room.
I also agree with Minagi on too many industrial/gothic clothing dealers. I mean, I love fashion, but I was not a fan at all of any of the clothes that were being sold in the dealer's room. Perhaps clothing dealers that have more to do with Japanese culture and fashion in particular, and not general gothic clothing? (I know, it was supposed to be visual kei and lolita and such, but really, I didn't see much of a connection to the theme of the con, and it could easily have been taken as just gothic clothing in general that had these terms tacked onto them.) Also, her point about the masquerade ball being treated like the rave. I have to admit that I was in a group for part of the ball that was off in the corner, all of us doing synchronized idiotic dances, but that was fun, until the glow sticks permeated the room and more and more people started acting totally idiotic in their dancing and it just turned into the rave with diffrent music. :/ I tried to actually dance semi-well to the music, but it is hard when I do not know how.
Also, my mom collects Hello Kitty merchandise, and she could not find anything in the Dealer's room. We found maybe four items, and none of them were anything collectable.
First let me just say thank you so much to all the staff/volenteers that made fanime run as well as it did. I know it takes a lot of work and of course everything isn't going to be perfect.
B&W Ball dance lessons: it would be great if they could have been longer or done at two different times because unfortunatly I couldn't make it during that time and from what I hear it was pretty full so a lot of people just left.
B&W Ball itself: the room was WAY too small. I'm sure that's because no one expected it to be so popular. It was actually my favorite event during all of fanime. We really needed more beverages & more space. I left when I stopped feeling safe (kept getting stepped on/hit and feeling dizzy from lack of water) A lot of people didn't know what to wear. I'm all for not having a strict, inforced dresscode but it would have been nice to have more of a specific/focused guidline of what to wear/theme. It would also be fun to have a decorated area/backdrop for people to take pictures of people in their fancy outfits in front of. You guys could even take polaroids shots and charge a couple bucks for each.
The Masquarade: seeing as how I've never actually been in the masquarade I may not be apreciating the greatness of our new location. As someone part of the audience I didn't think this location was any better than the last and it wasn't worth having to walk further.
Programs: I realize that something terrible must have happened to cause no programs but man that really sucked. Luckily I was staying at home each night of the con so I could just look online to see what everything happening the next day was about but not everyone goes home or has a laptop. It took FOR-EV-ER to load and was way too long to print out. Maybe next year there could be two versions: one that's meant to be passed out with badges and a condensed, simple, B&W version that can be printed out from home if need be.
Anime video room time changes: Rarw, it seemed liek everything I wanted to see was running really late or early so I kept missing an episod here and there.
Fanimaid Cafe: The location was way small. I'm guessing that like the B&W Ball it was because it was the first year and no one expected it to be so popular. The line was constantly crazy long so I didn't even get to eat there at all.
Quote from: "alkaline"Though it had never been a problem in the past, the huggers and the "glompers" have SERIOUSLY got to go. It's practically assault and it's even worse when you're wearing a really sensitive outfit and some tard tries to tackle you.
Here's a whacky suggestion: You know how you can get a organ donor sticker on your license? Why not have a "huggable" sticker or something like that. That way, when you freak shows go to hug some random stranger, you'll know that they're cool with you even asking with it.
That way, those of us who don't want random people trying to grope us can go about the con in peace.
Eh, I cosplayed and even then barely got glomped/hugged at all, at least without me initializing the hugging. Only until I wielded a "Free hugs" sign that it started happening.
Quote from: "mDuo13"The Unknowns
-Asian Cinema. Without a program guide, I didn't have anything to go on when choosing movies to watch, so I ended up not actually walking into the viewing rooms except during one movie while I was practically falling asleep on Monday at 6am. So I didn't really get a taste of what was there, sadly.
I realize how much having a program guide could have helped our traffic, but did the summaries in front of the rooms help at all? We do try to have full summaries for the films in front of the rooms, so I am just trying to gauge how much they make a difference.
Thanks!
As video staff, I'm honestly surprised there aren't more complaints about "OMG U CHAENG VIDEO U SUXOR." Thanks to you all for not lashing out at us.
The Black/White Ballroom was a lot of fun; it was kinda crowded, but a bigger space could solve the problem. Hell, I didn't think I would have fun there, and I learned to dance! That definitely counts for something.
There was one con-goer who mentioned to me that he liked the themed blocks for the video rooms, and how they were close together in one space. I agree with him, and I hope we keep that next year.
I think the computer thing could work out well, but we would need more testing of the videos and more refinement before we could truly get it to work right. If I were older and I had a spare computer, I'd gladly donate it to Fanime for the fansub room.
As for Yuri night, it definitely needs improvement, or it needs to be scrapped. I sound blunt saying this, but there's just not enough yuri hentai to fill six hours, and it's difficult as all hell to find non-hentai yuri as is; I mean, when people say yuri, I rarely feel that it doesn't imply sex of some sort, but hentai with pure lesbian sex is rare, if not nonexistent. Yaoi night exists more or less fine because there just happens to be a decent amount of yaoi hentai out there, and the term "yaoi" doesn't imply sexual relations as much as yuri does.
All in all, still a fun Fanime, and I'll be back next year, staffing for sure.
Question, is Fluffy ok?
Quote from: "asianfilm"Quote from: "mDuo13"The Unknowns
-Asian Cinema. Without a program guide, I didn't have anything to go on when choosing movies to watch, so I ended up not actually walking into the viewing rooms except during one movie while I was practically falling asleep on Monday at 6am. So I didn't really get a taste of what was there, sadly.
I realize how much having a program guide could have helped our traffic, but did the summaries in front of the rooms help at all? We do try to have full summaries for the films in front of the rooms, so I am just trying to gauge how much they make a difference.
Thanks!
Having the summaries in front of the room was a
HUGE help. And I enjoyed the music vids that were used as filler between movies/shows. Thanks! :wink:
I love being staff, but I still want to enjoy the 'con too, so my perspective on the con experience:
- I felt disappointed in the dealers room. Normally on the first day when I "sneak out" of the gaming room I look for stuff for myself and my little sister when I come back home. After I took a few rounds of walking around, with the exception of "WTF a M-249 bb gun? woah!" and the Gundam Models vendor (practically), nothing just stood out. It was not until Sunday and Monday that I decided to pick up a token gundam model and a few manga books for my sister from a vendor offering a deal on them.
- I thought the program guides were so popular that the 'con did run out, only to hear later there were none on site. There's the online version, but as a avid collector of 'con program guides, I felt sad. If there was a version out for even "sale" or handout next year, I'll take one for memory's sake. I hope this can be avoided next year.
- This is just me, but I felt the panels seemed a bit improved. I noticed a few from last year weren't continued but i'll assume its for good reason, scheduling issues or god knows what. I was hoping to see that "How to talk to women" panel or something like that from 2006 so I can offer some help. Other than that, I would like to see a web comic panel next year, if its possible.
- The Maid Cafe: every time I took my break to check it out, that line was just nuts. Expand it I say!
- The hug signs: a great concept, an execution that went terribly wrong at the end. At some point I had to pull my open-button over shirt to flash my staff badge to kinda give people a sign "please dont". I'll hug people when I want and I did a few times, but not when its aggressive.
- Artist alley was once again kick ass, but because of this year's work schedule, I didn't get a chance to see it much.
- I'll be biased, but putting tabletop in there with arcades and E-Gaming was a good idea. I also think it is time that we need to introduce some sort of handhelds area (a la what tabletop did, but in a designated area), as I noticed alot of players with DS's and PSP's sitting along the wall playing with others.
Overall a average con, but not the best. Still plenty of room to improve indeed.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"I'm not banned anymore \o/(No reason to explain that)
Well I can see why you
were banned. Sure people should ask for hugs instead of just taking them but do you really feel that it's necessary to push someone down to the floor because they wanted to hug you? Perhaps next time you could just tell them it's unwanted instead of being violent?
I'm sure the fanimaid staff would love some constructive feedback. What exactly was the "more" that you and your friends were hoping for? I really doubt Jerry was trying to be rude but there were lots of people trying to cut in line and sneak in real quickt o talk their the maids or take pictures with them and unfortunatly that's no able to happen if the cafe is to continue running smoothly.
Quote from: "asianfilm"I realize how much having a program guide could have helped our traffic, but did the summaries in front of the rooms help at all? We do try to have full summaries for the films in front of the rooms, so I am just trying to gauge how much they make a difference.
Thanks!
I know they sure helped me. If you guys hadn't posted that my friend's and I probably wouldn't have seen any of the movies. We ended up watching 4 of them, all of which we enjoyed. Thanks. :)
Quote from: "Minagi-chan"-People messing around in the elevators. I was displeased to enter on the second floor going up to the 24th to find that all the buttons had been pressed and that I would have to wait an inappropriate amount of time to reach my floor, especially as I had a quick change to do to get to a gathering on time. The same problem occurred on my way back down, and I assume that this was the same people. I'd like to state that the elevators are not a toy, and treating them in such a childish and inconsiderate way really detracted from my enjoyment of the convention because I was made late on several occasions due to your antics.
Some of the SJPD/FD members were ready and willing to arrest the people doing this, as many of them were messing with the emergence buttons. Be forewarned that my cop buddies that will be attending next year WILL arrest people abusing the emergency systems in the elevators.
Quote from: "felicity869"Quote from: "PyronIkari"I'm not banned anymore \o/(No reason to explain that)
Well I can see why you were banned. Sure people should ask for hugs instead of just taking them but do you really feel that it's necessary to push someone down to the floor because they wanted to hug you? Perhaps next time you could just tell them it's unwanted instead of being violent?
I'm sure the fanimaid staff would love some constructive feedback. What exactly was the "more" that you and your friends were hoping for? I really doubt Jerry was trying to be rude but there were lots of people trying to cut in line and sneak in real quickt o talk their the maids or take pictures with them and unfortunatly that's no able to happen if the cafe is to continue running smoothly.
-_- I was banned for this forum wrongly... hence why I'm unbanned now. Quite honestly, yes, I do feel the need to do something, and they're lucky I don't do more. I'm a firm believer that if you do something retarded like that, then don't be suprised when you get a reaction.
The fanimaid staff DOES NOT want constructive feedback... that was the reason why I was "banned" in the first place. And *I THINK* I have a better judgment on what he was to me compared to you. He was VERY RUDE in how he said it. I wasn't cutting or barging in, and at the time all I was doing was looking inside, I didn't say I wanted a table or even try to go inside or anything like that, I was merely looking around. For all he knew I was just trying to see what was going on. He was a total dick and I didn't make a deal out of it when I easily could have.
Ups: Masquerade Ball was a great addition even though it was helluv pack but I enjoy having a ballroom/swing/waltz dance wit various partners (as well as dancing wit my gf duh). It went pretty off when the glow sticks shows up towards the end of the masquerade ball.
Downs: Man I was about to watch Fanboy Bebop until I heard that it got delayed and got replaced by Naruto xbox360 game! That wasn't worth replacing!! I couldn't show up cuz of the Masquerade line!
When I have to spend the entire damnated con going:
"Can't sleep. Clowns will eat me..."
"Can't sleep. Clowns will eat me..."
"Can't sleep. Clowns will eat me..."
... then I know the con was a total loss.
I don't come to the con for cosplay. (Hell, if I hung around the cosplayers I find appealing for any length of time, they'd probably call the police on me.)
The dealers room??? Basically a schmear. Too much yaoi. Not into trinkets. The DVDs probably could be gotten cheaper on the Net or at Best Buy.
Gaming?? Too crowded for my taste, and the arcade pretty well was so competitive that I basically kept to the "Pile Up" game.
Panels?? Save the Console Wars and the over 30 panel, no real interest in most of the rest of it. Funimation is clearly continuing to run over the American market, and there's no mystery why.
Save Ouran High School Host Club, really nothing to talk about in the screenings... And that's what I come to cons for.
Spent most of my time bascially PSPing in the halls and the Net cafe...
... and getting royally honked at the "no sleeping at the con" rules and the hawks enforcing it.
Usually, I'll see some enforcement, but it was clear to me that it was Priority Number One Point of Emphasis made to security this year that the moment it became apparent that someone passed out anywhere, they were to be immediately rousted.
I want that kind of treatment, I can get it from the San Francisco Police Dept. By Sunday, I was already planning a possible trip to Dallas!!
And even when I was awake, it was like "DAMN!!! That's the third time this episode I've seen that burly security geek come through the room like that."
Suffice it to say I was almost arrested. I was definitely escorted out Monday morning to "cool my jets or surrender my badge" -- and, had I known what Monday would be like, I'd have handed over the damn badge. (I already answered "Do you want to come back tomorrow?" with "I don't know...") By that point, I was definitely ready to take a chair and chuck it over the balcony from the second floor to the first. Only overhearing the possibility that the police had _already_ been called stopped me.
(FWIW, Monday, by the time I had gotten some sleep, was a couple of bathroom breaks and a rather stunted meander through the dealer's hall. Everything else was beginning to close.)
I'm not going to pay $120/night for a hotel room that I'm literally going to have to be taken to in handcuffs by con security (if not the SJPD) to use. Because that basically costs me 12-18 hours of the con right there. Multiply it by two nights (much less the three!), and there goes any real need for the four-day pass.
Look, I'll say it a third time (I said it once to the info desk when I saw one of the most ridiculous pairs of contradictory statements I've ever seen at a con, and the second was to the four people who escorted me out at 5:30 AM Monday):
YOU DON'T WANT PEOPLE SLEEPING AT THE CON, SHUT THE CON DOWN AT 2 AM OR SOMESUCH. (And not reopen until 9-10 AM, like they did Sat. morning at ALA this year when there were only two people in the screening room at 2:30 -- one asleep and the other (me) fighting it off the best I could.)
(And before I get questions on that: Yaoi/Yuri/Hentai/Madness/Anarchy would be moved up to about 9-10 PM. I'd even go so far as to make the room that the Yaoi-Con people use a Kid's Room during the day. All marathons have their own room anyway. You've already moved up the dances and the karaoke such that the only thing left at 2-3 AM is the screenings.)
I could come up with several other possibilities if you like (that's basically what I spent a lot of time doing from about Saturday on):
1) Require con-goers to get hotel reservations before they can get a full-con pass.
2) Go the Naka-Con approach: Get rousted once, and that's your one warning. Second one costs you the convention. (With that, I'd have been tossed 7 AM Saturday.) You do that, I'm gone -- but it's a possibility for the con itself.
3 -- a variation of 1) If you're not willing to show accomodations, you can't stay past midnight. It would require a separate set of badges to be made, but still.
I think I thought of a couple more, but I'll save them for when I rethink of them.
Sorry. Fanime 2007 was no fun for me at all. In fact, I'd be surprised if I'm not already (or eventually) barred from 2008 (and probably onward).
If that's the case, there's always Kubla-Con.
I'm already deliberating whether to even attempt AX at this point...
I am gonna copypasta about my reply on the video programming situation
from http://forums.fanime.com/viewtopic.php?t=2223&start=120 which I am taking responsibility of. I am very sorry that I have fup and disappointed all the fans who wanted to see their favorite show. I am confident that 2008 will be better situated, organized and drama free.
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Quote from: "Mordyan"
The video room schedules did get messed up a bit. I also wanted to see Red Garden and one other anime had been shown at an earlier time than was supposed too. And the one that was supposed to be shown at the earlier time slot was just being shown when I got there.
I take responsibility with this. Since a lot of the stuff I downloaded either got corrupted or missingwhile moving it all to a 500GB external drive. I did try to get what was missing but the internet connection at the hotel was horrid and bit torrent is banned as well. What is ironic being in SJ that you would think you get higher bandwith instead of dsl speeds :P.
We had to make due with what we could get, which was frusterating. I just wish the fansubbers would stick to one codec that is compatible with (like the Toshiba divx/dvd players) everything instead of multiple ones. What was weird is the mkvs on the G4 power macs was the only thing that prevented things from being shown. Thank god the mac mini (video room 4) worked without any issues. Tho the G4 in video 2 ended up getting a kernel panic and died which I haven't had a chance to fix yet.
I am hoping next year we just go back to transcoding the fansubs back to dvd or seeing if the fansubbers would make a dvd for us to show their work so we don't have to worry about doing it ourselves. So any fansubbers out there want us to show your work please contact us at video-programming at fanime dot com.
So the moral of this story is expect the unexpected... which certanly rang true in this situation. I am confident that next year will run much smoothly and drama free *knocks on wood*.
Quote from: "Mordyan"
Also better training for the poor video staff. On 2 separate occasions the room had to help the operators get the videos started. Also it seems that the formats of how the videos were set up; disk vs hard drive, DVD vs AVI etc. made it confusing for them. One standardized player app would also help I think. I know the operators tried their best and they seemed genuinely sorry when the schedule got messed up.
They were told to contact the supervisor on the shift. We didn't want other people to touch the computers because if something worse happens then the video room would be f*cked. Another thing that makes it hard to train people is them actually showing up for the meetings that is why we had that rule...but again that will change for next year.
Quote from: "Mordyan"
Bigger rooms for the popular videos would be nice. I missed Deathnote live action because I was at the concert and got there right before it started and got turned away.
Thats it though. Like I said I really enjoyed video this year Thanks!
I wish we could show it in the bigger rooms but the live action/asian videos is a seperate department from anime video programming. I do think it would be cool to have a dedicated video room that has mix of the animated and live action versions together.
Thank you again for your comments, we have learned from our mistakes and strive to bring you better programming next year. Hopefully we can show the anime we were not able to show because of the issues we had.
Danielle
Video Programming Assistant 2007
First, thanks to all of the Fanime volunteers and staff for making yet another fun and successful Fanime! I know a lot of hard work goes into Fanime, and I'm glad you are willing to listen to our feedback.
The Good:
Elevating the screens finally. I was able to see all the subtitles this year, without sitting on the back of my chair, or on my knees, or standing off to the side. I REALLY appreciated this.
Anime summaries outside all the doors. HUGE PLUS. Especially because we marked down several anime to see, but then when we were pressed for time, we couldn't remember which ones were the must-sees vs. the kinda-wanna-sees.
Good anime variety, and getting the schedules online out early so we could do research. Excellent job.
Bishie Bingo: a whole lot of fun. Was run well. Past years were kind of dragging, but this year it seemed to flow well, and move along nicely. (My one quibble would be the guys need to be on a stage like last year, since everyone ended up standing on chairs to get good views)
Artist's Alley: Seemed more full this year, and people had a lot of good art for sale.
The Bad:
The FMVs were huge letdown for the first time during my Fanime history (6 years). There were several things I didn't like about them. 1) No Civic Center, and crowded into a regular video room. 2) Bad acoustics and volume adjustment. Some of them were just too loud. I had my hands over my ears for a couple of them. 3) WAY too many action and drama AMVs. These are the finals! Limit them to 10 or less. And hardly any comedy AMVs. So I'm not sure if there was just a poor turnout in this category or what. If that's the case, please do not add on more AMVs to the action and drama to try and fill 3 hours. I would've much preferred a 2 hour FMV final with quality videos, than 3 hours of dragging on. 4) The voting sheets were terrible. In all past voting, we got a nice 8.5x11 sheet of paper with all the videos on it, and we just checked the one we liked the most. Here we had to write down all the numbers in the dark, try to remember which one we liked (after slogging through 20 action vids), sometimes changing our answer... it was just bad.
Dealers room seemed smaller... but maybe there were just less booths of stuff I was interested in. I noticed a lot of cat ear booths, which I'm not really interested in. I still got a decent haul of manga and pins, so I'm ok. :)
People need to be trained properly in computer usage for showing anime. In one case, the person didn't know how to work the Mac. My friend tried to help, but was brushed away. After the audience started yelling "FULL SCREEN!!" my friend's advice was finally taken. During the second anime, the audience had to walk him through, step by step, saying stuff like, "Open... Browse... Click..." He finally got it by the third episode. (EDIT: I see this was explained above, so nvm.)
Make sure all the anime works. I saw at least two anime cancelled due to corrupted files. (EDIT: ditto on the above edit comment)
I think that's about it. My only real disappointment was the FMV finals. I hope they improve next year. I still had a fabulous time with my friends, and am looking forward to year number seven!
Across the board of cons, there may need to be a decision on AMV contests across the board.
What, there were four comedy AMV's this year, I overheard? (And all four got placed, as the one which didn't get top 3 in judges won the audience contest for comedy??)
Basically, with Azumanga Daioh SOOOOOOOOOOOOO 2003, there are no good comedy AMV's anymore. Either get the makers to start making some good ones, or get rid of the comedy category and lump it in with another one.
Quote from: "felicity869"Quote from: "PyronIkari"I'm not banned anymore \o/(No reason to explain that)
Well I can see why you were banned. Sure people should ask for hugs instead of just taking them but do you really feel that it's necessary to push someone down to the floor because they wanted to hug you? Perhaps next time you could just tell them it's unwanted instead of being violent?
So when someone forces themselves on me, I'd be the bad guy when I force them OFF of me, all because they wanted a "Hug?" Yeah, that doesn't fly. There are some serious freak shows around cons and I had to practically elbow one in the throat until he got the message to get his hands off me.
How about next time they attempt to tackle me I just take them to con ops, call the cops, press assault charges and ruin it for everyone? Because that's all it would take and trust me, I'd be
very happy to do it.
Or you could just wear a "Don't hug/glomp" sign.
Quote from: "G.S. LXVIII"Or you could just wear a "Don't hug/glomp" sign.
How is that a solution? People should have the decency to not assalt strangers. And we have the right to fight back when someone does.
I have an injury and I had to fight off at least 5 people to keep them from injuring me further. Not to mention the kids who tried to take our props without asking.
This really shouldn't be a problem. And if is happens again, I
will do what alkaline suggested and call the police on them. If someone did that on the street, it would be attempted robbery and assult. Why should it be any different just because you're at an anime convention?
Given the amount of people wanting hugs, you could probably have those huggers prone to assault figure everyone is fair game.
Read: The rules they normally have to go by do not apply.
I don't think wearing a sign is the solution either. But when someone does try and glomp you, make sure to give a serious reaction like you really don't need someone tackling you to the ground. You need to draw the line for them mentally rather than physically, unless they just all of a sudden tackle you from the back and crack your spine.
Quote from: "darkstar"Given the amount of people wanting hugs, you could probably have those huggers prone to assault figure everyone is fair game.
Read: The rules they normally have to go by do not apply.
Last time I checked, Fanime wasn't Lord of the fucking Flies and it still took place in California.
Seeing as how the San Jose PD love to patrol just outside the convention center, I'm sure they'd agree with me. Maybe we'll find out next year. Until then, stop trying to justify assaulting someone by saying it's a "hug." That's like me stabbing someone and saying "I only poked them!"
Quote from: "alkaline"So when someone forces themselves on me, I'd be the bad guy when I force them OFF of me, all because they wanted a "Hug?" Yeah, that doesn't fly. There are some serious freak shows around cons and I had to practically elbow one in the throat until he got the message to get his hands off me.
If someone is hurting you, destroying you costume, or not backing off when you tell them to then that's completely different than what I was refering to. The way it sounded PyronIkari was only hugged and responded by trying to kick someone's ass.
Quote from: "alkaline"
How about next time they attempt to tackle me I just take them to con ops, call the cops, press assault charges and ruin it for everyone? Because that's all it would take and trust me, I'd be very happy to do it.
Umm, yes. If someone is doing something that is making you feel uncomfortable/unsafe then they deserve to be reported and have their fun ruined. I think that is a much better solution that hitting someone.
Quote from: "G.S. LXVIII"Or you could just wear a "Don't hug/glomp" sign.
The entire convention worth of people shouldn't have to go aroudn wearing signs. People should asume that no one wants a stranger hugging them unless they ask for it. I really do believe the glompers/huggers get out of control and need to realize their are boundries that they should not be crossing.
I don't see how the "no sleeping in the convention center" rule was anywhere near enforced. People took shifts in there naps. IE: Five people sit down to talk/play/whatever, three take a nap while the other two talk, switch later.
Actually, there were a number of people sleeping all by themselves, me included (I was playing Pokemon and nodded off for a bit).
After seeing this, I tested a few other rules to see what would happen:
-"Something-High School, no standing" I stood, I watched, Staffer saw me and didn't do anything.
-That Redeath thing, funny as hell, I was watching it from the hallway. Staffer started bitching. Now, I can follow the rules, but don't think for a moment your little no-name punk ass is going to start barking orders at me. MOVE OUT, IT'S ALMOST OVER YOU CAN WATCH IT NEXT YEAR MOVE NOW. Yeah, go to hell.
We need Staffers that will do their jobs without being dicks.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"I'm not banned anymore \o/(No reason to explain that)
I had a talk with quite a few people about the fanimaid cafe, and almost everything(ALMOST) I heard was negative. I also had a fun run in with Jerry in which he was quite rude to me.
The general things i heard was "I didn't get the point of it? I walked in and I was served food by a girl. And that was about it".
"I always thought there was more to Maid cafes than costumes" and the such.
It was quite funny, because I walked over there to check it out with my friend, and I saw Jun working who I wanted to say hi to and before anything happened Jerry walked up to me and quite rudely said "Is there anything I can help you with?" and I replied back with "Uh, yeah this is the maid cafe right?" and he instantly said "WELL AS YOU CAN SEE THERE IS A LINE OVER THERE". At this point I was considering my options. I could very easily had made a large scene but decided not to, due to the fact that a few of the maids were quite nice to me online and I didn't want to ruin things for them.
So I played it off "Oh sorry, I thought that was the line for the ATM" and then he replies back with... "OH well, is this for take out or dine in?" "Excuse me? Oh, I guess dine in, but it's fine, nevermind". "Yeah. LIKE I SAID there's a line over there, so go get in line".
So I just walked off.
First off, all of the press that I personally talked to had nothing but positive things to say about the cafe. While yes, the line was long at the very beginning, I think its understandable considering that was the first year we've done things and really had to figure things out from scratch as far as how things were going to work.
As far as the whole "more to it" part of the maid cafe, after we got the kinks worked out as far as the actual serving and cleaning up and seating people, we were able to free up more time/maids for socializing more and hanging out with them. I feel bad for people who were unfortunately not able to get the same service as happened towards the end of the con as the beginning, but again, first year and we were figuring things out as fast as we could.
Next year looks to be more promising in ALL aspects. We'll have a bigger room, more maids, as well as we can now start working out kinks of maids socializing and playing games, doing drawings with the patrons, ect. I plan on taking on a bigger part of helping with next year as I feel like I have a good finger on the pulse of how we should change and improve for the future.
On another note, we do accept constructive feedback. However, everything you've said in general about the maid cafe has been nothing but negative. Perhaps if you had not been so argumentative and negative in the past, people wouldn't have been so willing to write you off. If you are genuinely interested in helping improve for next year, key term being HELPING, I'm sure you could take it privately to someone who is willing to take your advice given that it is constructive.
Quote from: "asianfilm"Quote from: "mDuo13"The Unknowns
-Asian Cinema. Without a program guide, I didn't have anything to go on when choosing movies to watch, so I ended up not actually walking into the viewing rooms except during one movie while I was practically falling asleep on Monday at 6am. So I didn't really get a taste of what was there, sadly.
I realize how much having a program guide could have helped our traffic, but did the summaries in front of the rooms help at all? We do try to have full summaries for the films in front of the rooms, so I am just trying to gauge how much they make a difference.
Thanks!
Those summaries are lifesavers btw. I was able to peak at stuff that I would have missed.(I did miss some stuff, but at least I know the names of interesting flicks to hunt down.)
Actually I was surprised that the signs came back because there was a BAN on people holding/wearing it. It is great that people give out hugs freely if wanted, but there was a lot of people who DO NOT WANT.
What pissed me off was people leaving messes in the CC. There was several parts of the con that garbage was left on the floor. Come on people, please don't shit up the con by leaving garbage all over the place :(.
STAGE ZERO ROCKED
WENDELL RULES!! and THE OTHER TWO HOSTS!!
yeah
E-gaming WAs bettar this year
eveyrthing was better +D
but i was staff so i did not get to see all the animes. or events.
Quote from: "lyricaldanichan"Actually I was surprised that the signs came back because there was a BAN on people holding/wearing it. It is great that people give out hugs freely if wanted, but there was a lot of people who DO NOT WANT.
What pissed me off was people leaving messes in the CC. There was several parts of the con that garbage was left on the floor. Come on people, please don't shit up the con by leaving garbage all over the place :(.
Agreed. The pre-reg line on Thursday had crap EVERYWHERE. That's just not cool. If you make a mess, clean it the hell up. I had a janitor thank me for throwing my soda bottle in the trash instead of just dropping it any old place.
Thanks to all the staff and volunteers!
Anime (overall): I was impressed with the selection of titles and I am happy that the screens were at a higher level this year so that the sub-titles could be easily read. Most of the problems have been addressed (corrupted files, people not knowing how to use the computers). Thanks to the people in the video department for getting the schedule out so early. That helped a lot.
Dealers Room: It seemed like there wasn't a lot to buy this year. I did get a good deal on some manga, but all the DVDs I wanted were much cheaper to buy online. I noticed a lack of wall scrolls and pins, but I suppose this is also because one can find these things online for cheaper. I don't care about lolita clothing or cat ears, so I ignored those booths, but there seemed to be a lot of them!
Artists Alley: AMAZING! I spent most of my money here since I couldn't find cute pins/pictures in the dealer's room. Thanks to all the artists who turned up.
Fanime (general): I would have liked to get a program, but guess there's nothing to be done about that at this point. My only other complaint is that for the third year in a row that I've gone, and after requesting it for the last 2 years, there are STILL NO FANIME SHIRTS IN GIRL CUT!!! I have really wanted a Fanime shirt, but I do not want one that is boy cut because even in small or child size, they do not fit a female body correctly. Would it hurt to make up a few girl cut shirts? Some of the booths in the dealer's room have finally caught onto this and I was able to find many cute anime shirts in girl cut which made me very happy.
Anyway, overall i had a great time (especially at Yaoi bingo) and I can't wait for next year.
:D
Edit- I forgot to mention that the FMVs were not great. I see this has been mentioned by a few people, so I'll leave it at that.
Another plus I just thought of- I loved having lists of the gatherings at each infobooth. It made it very easy for me so I did not have to remember all the various times and places I had to be. It was very helpful. :D
The con was fun, but not exactly because of the con. Besides events such as the masquerade and places like the dealers room and artist alley (where I spent most of my time helping out friends with their table), I didn't do or go any place con-related.
I was disappointed that there was no printed version of the program guide. I know there was a printing problem, but that's kind of why you would want to finish things early so that you have extra time in case things like this happen? Basically the bags this year didn't have anything of interest in it.
This isn't something I experienced myself, but a friend of mine who registered at-con was saying that it took 3 hours. I always pre-reg so I've got no problems, but I would think that everyone would like that at-con reg line to go a bit faster.
The programming schedule wasn't too great. I didn't see any panels listed for Sanada Asami. Either there weren't any listed or I'm just blind, but I didn't see her autograph session listed either. The only reason I knew when it was was because I was helping out in artist alley when the announcement was made.
While I love Fanime and won't stop attending, I think the con could use some work on getting things organized and having everything ready on time. This year felt more like paying $40 just to hang out with friends....
Quote from: "Barnes"Question, is Fluffy ok?
Actually, Fluffy died a total of 4 times during the con. I was onsite Tuesday of con in hopes of printing all of the schedules in advance so no one would have to do without it. Alas, Fluffy decided to be mean and not work half the time.
I'm sorry to all of those people who did not receive the program guides thus did not receive any of the pretty maps, panel/video descriptions, band info, etc.
The printers delivered some of the program guides to the wrong address and they're still printing out the bulk of our order. We're working on mailing them out to the members who are interested in receiving them.
My staff tried their hardest to get into high gear and print out copied maps, panel/guest info and policies that we needed to get out. Sorry about the wait for everything, but we didn't expect the program guides to just not come.
Sigh. At least you guys can see the program guide online. It's very beautiful...
Quote from: "GokuMew2" I was disappointed that there was no printed version of the program guide. I know there was a printing problem, but that's kind of why you would want to finish things early so that you have extra time in case things like this happen? Basically the bags this year didn't have anything of interest in it.
Oh we finished the program guide a month in advance. The printers were scheduled to deliver the program guides on Wednesday and they just didn't come. The printers had always been on time, if not early so we had no reason to believe they would do otherwise. This just happened to be a very bad year by having their printers break down as well as ours.
Quote from: "Pimpstress Rei"Quote from: "Barnes"Question, is Fluffy ok?
Actually, Fluffy died a total of 4 times during the con. I was onsite Tuesday of con in hopes of printing all of the schedules in advance so no one would have to do without it. Alas, Fluffy decided to be mean and not work half the time.
I'm sorry to all of those people who did not receive the program guides thus did not receive any of the pretty maps, panel/video descriptions, band info, etc.
The printers delivered some of the program guides to the wrong address and they're still printing out the bulk of our order. We're working on mailing them out to the members who are interested in receiving them.
My staff tried their hardest to get into high gear and print out copied maps, panel/guest info and policies that we needed to get out. Sorry about the wait for everything, but we didn't expect the program guides to just not come.
Sigh. At least you guys can see the program guide online. It's very beautiful...
Yeah! I'd LOVE a program!
Quote from: "Karisma Black"
First off, all of the press that I personally talked to had nothing but positive things to say about the cafe. While yes, the line was long at the very beginning, I think its understandable considering that was the first year we've done things and really had to figure things out from scratch as far as how things were going to work.
Hindsight bias. You are part of the cafe. I was rather unknown person asking for honest opinions of random patrons that walked into the cafe. I was outside on the balcony smoking a lot so quite a few people walked by me during the cafe hours. My exact question was "Hey did you just come out of the fanimaid cafe thing? How was it? Like, what happened exactly?"
And I let them talk about it for however long they did, said thanks and let them leave. Most of your patrons were disappointed and unimpressed.
Quote
As far as the whole "more to it" part of the maid cafe, after we got the kinks worked out as far as the actual serving and cleaning up and seating people, we were able to free up more time/maids for socializing more and hanging out with them. I feel bad for people who were unfortunately not able to get the same service as happened towards the end of the con as the beginning, but again, first year and we were figuring things out as fast as we could.
But that's only a minor part of it. Even if it's busy, there are small nuances that make it a maid cafe. Bowing, word choice how you carry yourself. There was no mannerisms or form in what I had witnessed, and not a single person even commented on the mannerisms or actions of the maids at all.
Quote
Next year looks to be more promising in ALL aspects. We'll have a bigger room, more maids, as well as we can now start working out kinks of maids socializing and playing games, doing drawings with the patrons, ect. I plan on taking on a bigger part of helping with next year as I feel like I have a good finger on the pulse of how we should change and improve for the future.
Doing drawings? Huh? From what I witnessed and what I knew prior and after... you guys are trying to make it more "Japanese" over more "Authentic". The things like, not taking pictures with them and what not only works when you have long time patrons and an established center of business. It's supposed to be rewards for repeat customers over long periods of time, but that doesn't work when all you have is a weekend, and a few hours per day. There was too much focus on things that DIDN'T matter and no focus on VERY IMPORTANT aspects of what "Makes a Maid Cafe".
Quote
On another note, we do accept constructive feedback. However, everything you've said in general about the maid cafe has been nothing but negative. Perhaps if you had not been so argumentative and negative in the past, people wouldn't have been so willing to write you off. If you are genuinely interested in helping improve for next year, key term being HELPING, I'm sure you could take it privately to someone who is willing to take your advice given that it is constructive.
Oh please... welcome to the real world. Negative comments reflect what is being done wrong. There are always pieces and places that need improvement, and without focusing on these parts, things will never get better. You can have millions of people telling you it's wonderful and ignore the flaws you have, but then it won't grow.
Think about it, someone who knows about Maid Cafes, someone who can tell you the differences between the kinds, which are real cafes, which are tourists traps, etc... is telling you "Something is wrong here and you should improve these points" and you're saying he's not being constructive?
QuoteIf someone is hurting you, destroying you costume, or not backing off when you tell them to then that's completely different than what I was refering to. The way it sounded PyronIkari was only hugged and responded by trying to kick someone's ass.
You seem to not understand the basis of what assault is? Me shoving someone to the ground is 100x better than me getting them arrested, fined, and put into prison from anywhere from a month to two years. Yes... I was hugged, unwantedly, by someone I have never seen before in my life while I was walking. If you did this on the street, you would have much more than me pushing you on the floor. Most people would break your nose, or beat the crap out of you even after the fact. I didn't chase after these guys to beat them, I did a reactionary push, compared to a reactionary punch to the face. You see "TRYING TO KICK SOMEONE'S ASS" doesn't fly with me. If I "Tried" to do so, I would. I shouldn't have to be polite to some idiot who has no social graces at all to politely ask them to stop hugging me, wait for it to register into their heads and then have them let go. For some people, they're too dense to even understand those words. One guy held up a sign to me and opened his arms to hug me. He then said "Can I hug you?" Me not being in a costume, just walking down the hall to my hotel room. I said "if he attempted to hug me, I'd punch him". He seemed to not understand this as he kept following me and saying things like "Why can't I hug you? I just want to hug you, let me hug you".
You would think after I said I'd punch him if he tried... he'd get the message. But no, he didn't.
Quote from: "Pimpstress Rei"Oh we finished the program guide a month in advance. The printers were scheduled to deliver the program guides on Wednesday and they just didn't come. The printers had always been on time, if not early so we had no reason to believe they would do otherwise. This just happened to be a very bad year by having their printers break down as well as ours.
Oops!
Well, maybe schedule for them to arrive a few days earlier next time? =.x Hopefully this thing won't happen often.
Regarding the maid cafe thing, there is always room to improve as this is the first time such an idea actually took a physical form. It was a decent start and so it goes from there. Constructive criticism would be helpful rather than insults please. You ask those patrons whether they liked it or not but fail to ask what they would like to see improve. If it's going to be either a 'yes' or a 'no' answer, you have to expand upon that rather than taking a generalized answer and coming up with your own conclusions.
If you truely wanted to help make the maid cafe better and help it expand, you would take in ideas from the people and post it on the forums, even your own, PyronIkari.
As for me, I did not have the money to eat there as all of the cash went into the dealers room and swap meet. I did, however walk around inside and looked around. Considering the big cultural differences between Japan and the US, to construct an imagine of a maid cafe like Japan in Fanime is a bit too exotic as of now.
Quote from: "asianfilm"I realize how much having a program guide could have helped our traffic, but did the summaries in front of the rooms help at all? We do try to have full summaries for the films in front of the rooms, so I am just trying to gauge how much they make a difference.
Thanks!
And the replies...
Quote from: "pchan"Having the summaries in front of the room was a HUGE help. And I enjoyed the music vids that were used as filler between movies/shows. Thanks! :wink:
Glad you enjoyed the music video intermissions! The main reason we do it is because we know there is time between showings, but I'm always happy to hear about people enjoying the music (most of which is coming from my personal collection of music video DVDs). I was really quite flattered when someone came up to me on Sunday and asked about one of the artists.
If you have questions or are looking for more information on the artists, just let me know, and I'd be more than willing to share.
Quote from: "felicity869"I know they sure helped me. If you guys hadn't posted that my friend's and I probably wouldn't have seen any of the movies. We ended up watching 4 of them, all of which we enjoyed. Thanks. :)
By any chance do you remember which four films you and your friends watched? I'm just trying to get a better feel of what people checked out on our schedule.
Quote from: "Glitch"Those summaries are lifesavers btw. I was able to peak at stuff that I would have missed.(I did miss some stuff, but at least I know the names of interesting flicks to hunt down.)
Anything notable that you were able to catch? Again, just trying to gauge what our audience watches.
Overall, though, sounds like those summaries were really useful. Maybe next year we'll work on larger versions of them so that they are more visible.
Thanks!
The maid cafe was off to a good start to this year, though next year I'd like to see a wider variety of food.
There is one particular machine at the gaming room that did irk me: Pop'n Music Animelo 2. The song selection itself is not bad, and the cabinet is prettier than SVGL's Pop'n Music 8, but I hated the lack of Hi-Speed (or if it existed on the machine, the knowledge to activate it).
Also, I barely met up with my cousin MistRCaboose at the con T_T I couldn't get my copy of SSBM back T.T
Quote from: "asianfilm"
Quote from: "Glitch"Those summaries are lifesavers btw. I was able to peak at stuff that I would have missed.(I did miss some stuff, but at least I know the names of interesting flicks to hunt down.)
Anything notable that you were able to catch? Again, just trying to gauge what our audience watches.
Thanks!
I was able to catch linda,linda,linda and funky forest. Both were great. I was surprised that funky forest was there since I hear from various places that's a very bizarre artsy films. I should know better than to underestimate the asian film staff. Anyway, I enjoyed that one. I like the wide variety of flicks you guys have.keep it up.
Quote from: "GokuMew2"Quote from: "Pimpstress Rei"Oh we finished the program guide a month in advance. The printers were scheduled to deliver the program guides on Wednesday and they just didn't come. The printers had always been on time, if not early so we had no reason to believe they would do otherwise. This just happened to be a very bad year by having their printers break down as well as ours.
Oops!
Well, maybe schedule for them to arrive a few days earlier next time? =.x Hopefully this thing won't happen often.
Since the program guides didn't come until the end of con, now we know that these things need to be worked out! So after discussing it with the convention center, we'll have the program guides on site a week before con just in case. It's really too bad that you guys had to go without one year to learn about this.
And really, this shouldn't happen ever again. I hope you all didn't suffer too much for the printing company's lack of delivery. I know my department scrambled to get you guys maps and such so you would know what's going on at con. We do our best and hope that you guys are ok with what we can provide.
Quote from: "Pimpstress Rei"Quote from: "GokuMew2"Quote from: "Pimpstress Rei"Oh we finished the program guide a month in advance. The printers were scheduled to deliver the program guides on Wednesday and they just didn't come. The printers had always been on time, if not early so we had no reason to believe they would do otherwise. This just happened to be a very bad year by having their printers break down as well as ours.
Oops!
Well, maybe schedule for them to arrive a few days earlier next time? =.x Hopefully this thing won't happen often.
Since the program guides didn't come until the end of con, now we know that these things need to be worked out! So after discussing it with the convention center, we'll have the program guides on site a week before con just in case. It's really too bad that you guys had to go without one year to learn about this.
And really, this shouldn't happen ever again. I hope you all didn't suffer too much for the printing company's lack of delivery. I know my department scrambled to get you guys maps and such so you would know what's going on at con. We do our best and hope that you guys are ok with what we can provide.
Does this mean you guys have printed programs that arrived after the con was over? ...can we buy them? ^^ they'll be great for memory sake.
I'd like to say a few things regarding the Maid Cafe:
PyronIkari, you say that just about everybody you talked to in retrospect had nothing but negative comments about their experience--but as a maid, while serving our patrons and interacting with them directly, most feedback I recieved was positive or at the very least ambivalent. Most patrons seemed quite pleased with the service they recieved, and we had several individuals and parties who came back on the second day to be served again.
From what I've seen and heard so far, the majority of negative (or at least non-positive) reactions have been regarding the length of the line or the price of the foodstuffs, and very little regarding their actual experience at the cafe or interaction with any of the maids, butlers, or other staff involved. I know we had at least one patron who had several questions regarding authentic maid cafes and how our project at Fanime was attempting to resemble such places, but Karisma took special time out of her duties as a shift manager to sit personally with that patron and answer all of her questions to the best of her knowledge, and in the end said patron seemed completely satisfied with the information she recieved.
Now, I will acknowledge that some patrons may have been reluctant to say anything negative directly to me because I was an actual serving maid involved in the project, but I find it hard to believe that you are the only person in the world capable of speaking their mind to somebody's face if they have a problem or are confused about something; if there had been so many patrons confused or disappointed with their service, I would have expected at least one or two to say something directly.
Quote from: "Sucrose"I'd like to say a few things regarding the Maid Cafe:
PyronIkari, you say that just about everybody you talked to in retrospect had nothing but negative comments about their experience--but as a maid, while serving our patrons and interacting with them directly, most feedback I recieved was positive or at the very least ambivalent. Most patrons seemed quite pleased with the service they recieved, and we had several individuals and parties who came back on the second day to be served again.
From what I've seen and heard so far, the majority of negative (or at least non-positive) reactions have been regarding the length of the line or the price of the foodstuffs, and very little regarding their actual experience at the cafe or interaction with any of the maids, butlers, or other staff involved. I know we had at least one patron who had several questions regarding authentic maid cafes and how our project at Fanime was attempting to resemble such places, but Karisma took special time out of her duties as a shift manager to sit personally with that patron and answer all of her questions to the best of her knowledge, and in the end said patron seemed completely satisfied with the information she recieved.
Now, I will acknowledge that some patrons may have been reluctant to say anything negative directly to me because I was an actual serving maid involved in the project, but I find it hard to believe that you are the only person in the world capable of speaking their mind to somebody's face if they have a problem or are confused about something; if there had been so many patrons confused or disappointed with their service, I would have expected at least one or two to say something directly.
You maids did a fine job. I'll thank you again for letting me take a group picture of you guys.
Quote from: "LordKefka"You maids did a fine job. I'll thank you again for letting me take a group picture if you guys.
Thank
you very much for saying so! Your patronage was much appreciated, and I hope you'll come back and see us again next year. ^_^
Quote"Can't sleep. Clowns will eat me..."
"Can't sleep. Clowns will eat me..."
"Can't sleep. Clowns will eat me..."
When I found people sleeping, I made an effort to wake them up in a reasonable manner, such as a tap on the shoulder, and remind them they are not allowed to sleep on the convention center grounds. In general, if there are some people awake in a group, they'll be left alone, and it's only when everyone's passed out in the middle of the hallway that it's an issue.
With that in mind, different staff members will take different approaches to waking people. Some woke up anyone that was sleeping, and some also woke up people in less then tactful ways, such as shining a flashlight in their face. I have taken note of it and will bring it up with the rover department in the future.
But regardless, people still can't sleep on convention center grounds, because I severely doubt the SJCC is going to change their policy on that anytime soon.
Even if they did, there's no public showers inside so I'd hope people would still seek out a place to shower, shave, etc. :P
QuoteHow about next time they attempt to tackle me I just take them to con ops, call the cops, press assault charges and ruin it for everyone? Because that's all it would take and trust me, I'd be very happy to do it.
If someone is going around jumping on people without their permission, by all means please seek out a staff member, preferable one of the rovers. If you can, note their badge number. If we get repeat complaints about them, we'll escalate the response appropriately.
It is an issue, along with stalkers and worse incidents, so please do not feel like you are ruining it for everyone by getting in touch with staff about problems like this. The con will continue (both ConOps and emergency response tend to be discrete) and a potential problem can be stopped early.
Quote...when I pressed the elevator floor I saw 5 people sitting in a circle on the ground screaming and singing show tunes. So I waited for another elevator only to see an overweight guy, reading a pornographic magazine(the magazine name escapes me right now, but it does reviews for eroge, and it's one that I pick up occasionally to see what's coming out) while eating chips on the floor on the floor.
Quote-People messing around in the elevators. I was displeased to enter on the second floor going up to the 24th to find that all the buttons had been pressed and that I would have to wait an inappropriate amount of time to reach my floor, especially as I had a quick change to do to get to a gathering on time. The same problem occurred on my way back down, and I assume that this was the same people. I'd like to state that the elevators are not a toy, and treating them in such a childish and inconsiderate way really detracted from my enjoyment of the convention because I was made late on several occasions due to your antics.
Again, noted and I'll bring it up to Rover staff to make sure checking the elevators is a part of their route. Unfortunately it is hard to catch people since they usually hop off right after pressing all the buttons, but hopefully it will help at least a little bit. At the very least we won't have people sitting on the elevator floors.
QuoteWhat pissed me off was people leaving messes in the CC. There was several parts of the con that garbage was left on the floor. Come on people, please don't shit up the con by leaving garbage all over the place Sad.
I also agree with this. Running around I saw a lot of trash lying just inches from garbage cans at times.
Unfortunately, if there's one thing people get butthurt about it's when you tell them to please pick up their shit and dispose of it properly.
===========
As for the maid cafe, I'm in the "I didn't get the point of it? I walked in and I was served food by a girl. And that was about it" boat, as were the other 4 people I sat with. We ordered our items at a counter, sat down, ate the small portions, and basically were in and out in maybe...10 minutes. It's so short I had no time to appreciate the maids or service, other than to note that she was cute. We came to the conclusion that you were pretty much just paying for food so you could get a photograph with them, but there were a couple other people wandering the con in maid outfits later so even that seemed a bit pointless.
Remember, it's not just constructive 'feedback'. It's constructive 'criticism'. Sometimes feedback is negative, but that just means you have something to improve on for next year.
I'm sure an expanded menu (with more 'sit-down' food) along with a larger room (which cuts down on lines and also allows people to loiter longer) would greatly improve the experience. At the very least, spending a longer length of time in the cafe itself would give more opportunity to actually note the service, etc.
That being said, I understand it's a new event and I appreciate the effort and work put in by everyone. The lines were surprisingly long for it, so I definately look forward to seeing what you all put together for next year. =)
I have no idea why someone would go to the Maid Cafe for take-out either....did anyone actually go for that? Seemed to defeat the purpose to me.
We were having problems with large crowds gathering in front of the entryway. People having to stop and order food right at the entrance probably didn't help either, nor did having the entrance be located right in front of the Marriott...You would have to probably wait until things thinned out to talk to your friend, but that doesn't excuse a lack of tact. We are all human and sometimes the stress gets to us. I just want to thank you very much for not making a scene.
Another thing I know we had a problem with was the maid cafe line. I know one patron was upset because he lost his place in line since it kept getting reorganized and I, along with the rover who was trying to reorganize the line, apoligize for that. We'll definately have to look into a more pre-organized plan for next year.
Okay, that's enough rambling for now. Hope that helps. I'll check back once in a while.
=====
Oh yeah,
If anyone has any comments, gripes, complaints, what we did good, what we did bad, etc. regarding the Rover staff or individual rovers please feel free to either post it here or PM me and we'll work on improving for next year.
We switched dep. heads at the last minute this year so we were kind of flying by the seat of our pants the whole time. Hopefully things worked out, but any feedback you share for us to iron things out for next year would be greatly appreciated.
I didn't get to go into the cafe. Perhaps I will go next year.
In any case, the only thing that really displeased me about fanime this year was that music fest was on at the same time as yaoi bingo and I really had a hard time choosing between the two. Those two events are very popular and would it be possible if they were not going on at the same time?
Also, as someone mentioned before, there was a lot of yaoi stuff in the dealer room. Although I like yaoi...I must say, I saw more of it this year. Of course, I like the fact that the yaoi-con booth had more space and was situated in a better place (threw me off at first, but at least there is more room for the raffle!).
I think the dealers' room was about as good as last year's, which was kind of a disappointment. The amount of yaoi was, in my estimation, about the same as last year, which I thought was too much. I'd much rather see more people selling manga, plushies, etc., rather than all these eroge and yaoi books. You know, stuff that people of ALL ages can enjoy. Legally.
As for the maid cafe, some people get it; some people don't. That much was expected, and in fact next year some people won't go because the novelty will have worn off; others who were turned off by the long lines might go. PyronIkari, I would appreciate it if you would restrain yourself from being so self-righteously negative with regards to the cafe.
Ah, Fanime 2007; I'm still wishing it wasn't over.
Pros:
+The location of the Yaoi-Con booth was MUCH better this year, as I remember in previous years it being nearly impossible to get around.
+More Food vendors: I actually was able to spend all of Fanime on-site this year, and while part of that was due to the fact I had a cooler in the hotel room, the extra vendors made the lines short enough that I was able to purchase lunch quickly and easily.
+The spacing of the dealers room was much better, there was more room between booths, and that made getting by cosplayers in the aisles much easier.
+The new location for the Masquerade was MUCH better. I was seated in the back for the first time in all my years of attending and was able to see everything completely. I'd even venture to say I saw everything better than when I've sat in the front due to the raked seating.
+The staff members, especially those at Con-Ops and the Rovers were excellent this year. All of those who I spoke to were courtious and well informed. They dealt with line situations superbly. (Yaoi-Bingo line anyone? X_x yay for sick attendees.) And I'd like to thank the staff members of the console gaming who helped me by testing a used game I purchased from the dealers room which I ended up having to return do to it not running correctly.
+I know they're not actually part of Fanime, but I greatly enjoy the Yaoi-Con events that are held, and find that the staff members are polite and fun to be around. The events are always well organized, and I've yet to see things get out of hand.
Negatives:
-Panels: the panels themselves I can't comment on, but this year there wasn't any interest in any of them to me. If some had been later on in the evening (read: after 6PM) I might have attended.
-Video Rooms: The issues with the technical difficulties couldn't really have been avoided, so I do understand, but it was still a let-down.
-Lack of getting a projector for the game show. -.-
-Lack of things to do after 8PM or so. I mean, sure, there's Yaoi-Con's nightly event, and usually one other big thing, but for some of my younger friends (15-16) there's nothing for them to do but go to the dance, as they aren't allowed off-site. Even small panels would have been appreciated.
-Lack of Programs. I know the whole ordeal on it, and it was out of your hands, but it was disappointing.
-Dealers room: There just wasn't much variety of items this year, and the DVDs I saw I will be purchasing for the same price or $1 or $2 higher from Best Buy.
-The game room prize game. It was the lift game, where the prizes were mostly Ufo Catchers. The issues I had with it were simple. Most, if not all of the prizes, were boot-legs. There's no KHII set of official plushes, as an example of one I saw. Being a collector I was rather up-set by this.
-I noticed that many of the big events were scheduled at the SAME TIME. ;_; I can't be in two places at once.
I know there were a few other things, but seeing as I have a head-ache I'll try and think of them later.
Glomping.
Oh dear, glomping. This year seemed to have an ESPECIALLY bad problem with it. I was the mudkip walking around during the con, and I was glomped from BEHIND without PERMISSION or warning. I was almost knocked down, and by the time I was able to recover from it, the people were gone. The Beelzeneff I attended with had the same problem. They were glomped twice from behind, and also almost knocked over. We were able to tell off the people, seeing as there were two of us, but it was rather ridiculous. We both also managed to avoid it a few times, but had there not been two of us, we wouldn't have been able to. The mudkip costume is top-heavy, and had someone knocked me down, I wouldn't be surprised if they had broken my teeth or nose, because it was a wire-frame mascot head. The beelzeneff cosplayer isn't as strong as I am, and has back-problems, glomping could have caused serious injury.
I was told after the fact when inquiring at Con-Ops that we could have taken down badge numbers and reported them to Rovers. But this shouldn't be happening in the first place. I, personally, feel that next year there should be a rule in place about glomping, and should it be broken, there be a potential for badge revokation.
I'd love to hear from staff members on why or why-not this would be something that can be put into action, and I'd think that others who have had this problem should also bring it to light.
Sorry for the long post, and thanks for your time. I hope Fanime 2008 will be the best yet.
Quote from: "Xeluu"
Glomping.
Oh dear, glomping. This year seemed to have an ESPECIALLY bad problem with it. I was the mudkip walking around during the con, and I was glomped from BEHIND without PERMISSION or warning. I was almost knocked down, and by the time I was able to recover from it, the people were gone. The Beelzeneff I attended with had the same problem. They were glomped twice from behind, and also almost knocked over. We were able to tell off the people, seeing as there were two of us, but it was rather ridiculous. We both also managed to avoid it a few times, but had there not been two of us, we wouldn't have been able to. The mudkip costume is top-heavy, and had someone knocked me down, I wouldn't be surprised if they had broken my teeth or nose, because it was a wire-frame mascot head. The beelzeneff cosplayer isn't as strong as I am, and has back-problems, glomping could have caused serious injury.
I was told after the fact when inquiring at Con-Ops that we could have taken down badge numbers and reported them to Rovers. But this shouldn't be happening in the first place. I, personally, feel that next year there should be a rule in place about glomping, and should it be broken, there be a potential for badge revokation.
I'd love to hear from staff members on why or why-not this would be something that can be put into action, and I'd think that others who have had this problem should also bring it to light.
Uhg. This is
exactly what I'm talking about. The worst of them? The ones really worth complaining about? They're the ones who take zero consideration into the persons costume. Whether it's delicate or whether it's (like in your case) huge and already difficult to just walk around in, they just don't care and launch themselves at people.
Sorry to hear about it. I saw you walking around in your costume and yeah, getting "glomped" from behind in that thing had to be scary as hell.
I think that the fanime needs the glomping rule. Glomping is like the anime con tradition but has its dangerous point. I've witnessed people glomping on Death Note Cosplayer unattendly and it would of broke the cosplay and they seem to be really upset about those. People worked so hard for their cosplay and people need to know how to respect it and give care to it by either giving them a light hug.
Quote from: "alkaline"Quote from: "Xeluu"
*snippysnip*
Uhg. This is exactly what I'm talking about. The worst of them? The ones really worth complaining about? They're the ones who take zero consideration into the persons costume. Whether it's delicate or whether it's (like in your case) huge and already difficult to just walk around in, they just don't care and launch themselves at people.
Sorry to hear about it. I saw you walking around in your costume and yeah, getting "glomped" from behind in that thing had to be scary as hell.
Yes, it was slightly scary, and it turned me away from wearing the costume as much as I would've liked. It happened the first time I went out with it on, and unfortunately I was alone at that point. After that I refused to go out in it without my friend with me as a handler to help stop people from doing it. I didn't mind the random people who wanted to hug me, as long as they asked. Heck, even the person who bear-hugged and lifted me from the ground without permission, was more acceptable, in my eyes, than the glompers, especially because it was from the front so I was able to brace myself.
I forgot who was selling it (I think it was for some anime convention in Burbank), but they had little stick-on ribbons that that had something along the lines of "Yes, glomp me!"
What I'd like to see is that Fanime issue their own "Yes, glomp me!" ribbon that you can stick on the bottom of your badge. When you go and register (either online or at the con), you can request one. That way, you can look at their badges to see if you they have already consented to be glomped. If they don't have the offical ribbon given out by Fanime, you can't glomp them.
Quote from: "Xeluu"Negatives:
-Lack of things to do after 8PM or so. I mean, sure, there's Yaoi-Con's nightly event, and usually one other big thing, but for some of my younger friends (15-16) there's nothing for them to do but go to the dance, as they aren't allowed off-site. Even small panels would have been appreciated.
Did you check out the Asian Film Room area? We usually have themed programming from 6PM - 12AM every night, and in addition, we had some really huge screenings during the prime hours of the evening, including Memories of Matsuko (from the director of Kamikaze Girls), Honey and Clover live-action, the Death Note movies, Jackie Chan's latest film Rob-B-Hood, Dragon Tiger Gate (based on a Chinese manga of the same name), The Host (internationally-acclaimed monster movie from Korea), and a ton more.
We keep our programming fresh and are open all hours of the night, so this might be a place you look to check out next Fanime. It's just too bad that you didn't make time for us this year.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"Quote from: "Karisma Black"
First off, all of the press that I personally talked to had nothing but positive things to say about the cafe. While yes, the line was long at the very beginning, I think its understandable considering that was the first year we've done things and really had to figure things out from scratch as far as how things were going to work.
Hindsight bias. You are part of the cafe. I was rather unknown person asking for honest opinions of random patrons that walked into the cafe. I was outside on the balcony smoking a lot so quite a few people walked by me during the cafe hours. My exact question was "Hey did you just come out of the fanimaid cafe thing? How was it? Like, what happened exactly?"
And I let them talk about it for however long they did, said thanks and let them leave. Most of your patrons were disappointed and unimpressed.
Quote
As far as the whole "more to it" part of the maid cafe, after we got the kinks worked out as far as the actual serving and cleaning up and seating people, we were able to free up more time/maids for socializing more and hanging out with them. I feel bad for people who were unfortunately not able to get the same service as happened towards the end of the con as the beginning, but again, first year and we were figuring things out as fast as we could.
But that's only a minor part of it. Even if it's busy, there are small nuances that make it a maid cafe. Bowing, word choice how you carry yourself. There was no mannerisms or form in what I had witnessed, and not a single person even commented on the mannerisms or actions of the maids at all.
Quote
Next year looks to be more promising in ALL aspects. We'll have a bigger room, more maids, as well as we can now start working out kinks of maids socializing and playing games, doing drawings with the patrons, ect. I plan on taking on a bigger part of helping with next year as I feel like I have a good finger on the pulse of how we should change and improve for the future.
Doing drawings? Huh? From what I witnessed and what I knew prior and after... you guys are trying to make it more "Japanese" over more "Authentic". The things like, not taking pictures with them and what not only works when you have long time patrons and an established center of business. It's supposed to be rewards for repeat customers over long periods of time, but that doesn't work when all you have is a weekend, and a few hours per day. There was too much focus on things that DIDN'T matter and no focus on VERY IMPORTANT aspects of what "Makes a Maid Cafe".
Quote
On another note, we do accept constructive feedback. However, everything you've said in general about the maid cafe has been nothing but negative. Perhaps if you had not been so argumentative and negative in the past, people wouldn't have been so willing to write you off. If you are genuinely interested in helping improve for next year, key term being HELPING, I'm sure you could take it privately to someone who is willing to take your advice given that it is constructive.
Oh please... welcome to the real world. Negative comments reflect what is being done wrong. There are always pieces and places that need improvement, and without focusing on these parts, things will never get better. You can have millions of people telling you it's wonderful and ignore the flaws you have, but then it won't grow.
Think about it, someone who knows about Maid Cafes, someone who can tell you the differences between the kinds, which are real cafes, which are tourists traps, etc... is telling you "Something is wrong here and you should improve these points" and you're saying he's not being constructive?
I regret taking the time to bother talking to you. Honestly, the entire time you've been on the boards and commenting on this project you have been critical of the entire idea. You've said nothing at all remotely positive, and even on other forums other than Fanime's own boards insulted the Maid Cafe. Yeah, it's great to know what we're doing wrong, but its good to hear what we're doing right as well.
And obviously, in your eyes and in your comments, we aren't doing anything right. In fact, you can't even take the time to be polite and discuss this project without ridiculing someone who took the time to type out a response to you. Phrases like "oh please... welcome to the real world" are not ones that are considered being polite towards the person you're speaking to. While I agree that there can not be a REAL maid cafe exactly like its done in Japan at an anime convention, as far as anime conventions go, for an entirely volunteeer based, no-profit project, I believe we did a good job.
Maids paid money to get their costumes and put a lot of hard work and effort into this project, and honestly, to be attacked for no real reason verbally simply because I was responding to your very negative post is pretty offensive. If you honestly want to help this project, then do so instead of insulting the people, the project, and people on the boards.
Quote from: "Sucrose"
PyronIkari, you say that just about everybody you talked to in retrospect had nothing but negative comments about their experience--but as a maid, while serving our patrons and interacting with them directly, most feedback I recieved was positive or at the very least ambivalent. Most patrons seemed quite pleased with the service they recieved, and we had several individuals and parties who came back on the second day to be served again.
I don't deny that some people probably loved it and thought it was the greatest thing sliced bread. But you need to remember your audience. Think about it in this form. Remember why i was banned in the first place? Merit or weight of words didn't matter, it was only for the fact that I was being negative in a community where negativity is frowned upon. That was even anonymously on the internet... in person the magnitude is amplified atleast a hundred. People are afraid of saying something bad, because they believe if they something bad, everyone will gang up on them(like happened to me). Again... it's worse in person. I wouldn't go far as to say "pleased" but "content" I will accept. most of the people I talk to didn't say they hated it or anything, but found it rather pointless. If memory served me correctly, I asked about 9 people that just left the cafe on saturday, 6 people on sunday, and there were two people who I asked during my panel(but I don't count these due to hindsight). That's a small amount of people considering, but when none of them were "happy" or "impressed" then we're talking about getting average ratings instead of "good". This means there was a very major point lacking for something that was supposed to be a "new experience" for these people.
QuoteFrom what I've seen and heard so far, the majority of negative (or at least non-positive) reactions have been regarding the length of the line or the price of the foodstuffs, and very little regarding their actual experience at the cafe or interaction with any of the maids, butlers, or other staff involved. I know we had at least one patron who had several questions regarding authentic maid cafes and how our project at Fanime was attempting to resemble such places, but Karisma took special time out of her duties as a shift manager to sit personally with that patron and answer all of her questions to the best of her knowledge, and in the end said patron seemed completely satisfied with the information she recieved.
Mmm... sorry for this but I don't trust anyone on the staff outside of Jun to give an accurate depcition of what an authentic cafe is, and for her, it's shaky at best. She even knows that, although she has a decent understanding, she only knows so much from her experiences.
The majority of responses I got were that they didn't see how or what the point was outside of the costumes. There was no difference in demeanor or action. What I mean by this was that "They didn't act like maids".
QuoteNow, I will acknowledge that some patrons may have been reluctant to say anything negative directly to me because I was an actual serving maid involved in the project, but I find it hard to believe that you are the only person in the world capable of speaking their mind to somebody's face if they have a problem or are confused about something; if there had been so many patrons confused or disappointed with their service, I would have expected at least one or two to say something directly.
You'd be suprised.
Edited for Karisma's post:
So what, you want me to say how great of a job you guys did, and how wonderful it was? Sorry, but it wasn't. You felt insulted by my post? Well, too bad for you then, nothing I said was directly insulting at all, if me telling you guys how you guys made mistakes, what was wrong, and what not... is insulting to you? Then honestly... *TOO BAD*. This was a volunteer thing... and? I run panels. I ran one of the biggest(if not the biggest panel) this year. A lot of time and effort was put into running it. It went off and was a huge success. I've heard a lot of things that people said sucked about the panel, and did I get pissy about it? Did I say they shouldn't bitch at me, or that they should be constructive? NOPE... WHY? Because they are my audience, and they are the ones that I'm listening to. Fortunately for me... the subject matter of my panel is something I understand. I understand the audience, I understand the subject, I understand what they want... and I plan that accordingly.
You are missing the biggest point of my complaint here. NONE OF YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT A MAID CAFE IS. You give me this bullshit like "Well we did the best we could to be authentic but it's due to *CON* limitations, and *UNION REGULATIONS* that prevented you to be fully authentic? Then let's hear it Karisma... what would you have done if there were 0 limitations? How would maids act? What would they say? How would you regulate things, in what can and cannot be done?
Quote from: "asianfilm"Quote from: "Xeluu"Negatives:
-Lack of things to do after 8PM or so. I mean, sure, there's Yaoi-Con's nightly event, and usually one other big thing, but for some of my younger friends (15-16) there's nothing for them to do but go to the dance, as they aren't allowed off-site. Even small panels would have been appreciated.
Did you check out the Asian Film Room area? We usually have themed programming from 6PM - 12AM every night, and in addition, we had some really huge screenings during the prime hours of the evening, including Memories of Matsuko (from the director of Kamikaze Girls), Honey and Clover live-action, the Death Note movies, Jackie Chan's latest film Rob-B-Hood, Dragon Tiger Gate (based on a Chinese manga of the same name), The Host (internationally-acclaimed monster movie from Korea), and a ton more.
We keep our programming fresh and are open all hours of the night, so this might be a place you look to check out next Fanime. It's just too bad that you didn't make time for us this year.
Ah, yes, I was aware of you all, and while I didn't visit this year, I have in the past. I wasn't aware of Rob-B-Hood, and unfortunately I think that programs would have rectified that. x_X Oh well. What I meant by late night programming, was more along the lines of panels and more interactive things. I'd almost say that a Stage Zero at night would be a good remedy. Mind you, Stage Zero is just an example of the types of things I'd be interested in at night.
Fanimecon 2007 was my first experience at an anime convention. I was pretty much blown away by my surroundings. Everyone that I came across seemed to have a costume. I and a couple of friends that came along were probably the only ones that didn't wear anything. Even so, it didn't stop me from running to the nearest stand, and quickly purchasing an Itachi headband. We were just walking around, and enjoying the experience. I got a picture of myself and a Night Elf from World of Warcraft, so that was pretty cool. It's funny that even though I did feel out of place, I felt right at... home.
I'll probably be at the next Fanimecon in 2008. I probably won't be in the Bay any longer, but if I have to fly in, I'll do it. Even if I'm living in some place as far as Mongolia.
The only criticism I have is that we didn't stay very long; we kept going to the bar to get drinks.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"So what, you want me to say how great of a job you guys did, and how wonderful it was? Sorry, but it wasn't. You felt insulted by my post? Well, too bad for you then, nothing I said was directly insulting at all, if me telling you guys how you guys made mistakes, what was wrong, and what not... is insulting to you? Then honestly... *TOO BAD*. This was a volunteer thing... and? I run panels. I ran one of the biggest(if not the biggest panel) this year. A lot of time and effort was put into running it. It went off and was a huge success. I've heard a lot of things that people said sucked about the panel, and did I get pissy about it? Did I say they shouldn't bitch at me, or that they should be constructive? NOPE... WHY? Because they are my audience, and they are the ones that I'm listening to. Fortunately for me... the subject matter of my panel is something I understand. I understand the audience, I understand the subject, I understand what they want... and I plan that accordingly.
You are missing the biggest point of my complaint here. NONE OF YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT A MAID CAFE IS. You give me this bullshit like "Well we did the best we could to be authentic but it's due to *CON* limitations, and *UNION REGULATIONS* that prevented you to be fully authentic? Then let's hear it Karisma... what would you have done if there were 0 limitations? How would maids act? What would they say? How would you regulate things, in what can and cannot be done?
Okay. Take a chill pill here. First of all, I believe the first post in this thread mentions that flames, non-constructive criticism, and personal attacks are not allowed in this thread. My point is that you didn't say anything constructive as far as how to improve the cafe. You suggested that you talked to a majority of the people who were at the cafe (which you later admitted to being less than 20) and they were displeased. It's great you took the time out of your convention to ask people what they thought, but then again.. where's the room for improvement when you're talking about responses? That's the whole point in constructive criticism. It's criticism that allows someone to construct something better than they did before.
I never claimed to be an expert on a maid cafe. I've never been to Japan, nor been to a maid cafe, and I can't claim that I know a hell of a lot about it. I've read up on some things and I know more about it than an average American congoer, but I can't say that I'd be the person to ask how to set things up. I respect that you spent time working on a panel and whatnot, but don't insult the work all of us put in. We went to a training day, meetings, and a good chunk of us worked the entire shifts of the cafe each day, all of which was a good deal of work. Given that you didn't actually attend the cafe, I don't think you have any room to judge it or say what the audience wants, as you are not a representative of them. You may or may not know more about a Japanese Maid Cafe, but, like I said, things can't be exactly the same within a convention setting.
As far as what I would have people do? Don't bother asking me that question. I'm not an expert and there's no way we can make an ACTUAL cafe with fully trained maids at a convention. What we can do is make an adaptation. And we did. There are things you've mentioned before, such as having privledges for repeat customers that we can't actually do at the convention. There are other things, such as actual handling of the food that we can't do for legal reasons. We can't pour you a soda or do certain things because in foodservice we aren't trained or allowed to mess with any of that.
So what I'm trying to get at here is that yes, we aren't like the Maid Cafes in Japan. We've taken the idea, done an adaptation of it for an American convention and put a lot of hard work into it. We'd like feedback as for as what we can do in the future to try and make it a more positive experience for those who actually experienced the cafe. If you don't have anything to say in regards to that, then I suggest you drop the subject.
For people who spent their oh so precious time to bitch about what is wrong, needs to give advice on what they should be doing right, what they should change, and so forth. Simply saying what's wrong isn't enough. That isn't constructive criticism. That's just plain criticism.
Now can we drop the personal attacks before Ryu gets back from work and discovers World War III in this topic.
Quote from: "Glitch"Quote from: "Pimpstress Rei"Quote from: "GokuMew2"Quote from: "Pimpstress Rei"Oh we finished the program guide a month in advance. The printers were scheduled to deliver the program guides on Wednesday and they just didn't come. The printers had always been on time, if not early so we had no reason to believe they would do otherwise. This just happened to be a very bad year by having their printers break down as well as ours.
Oops!
Well, maybe schedule for them to arrive a few days earlier next time? =.x Hopefully this thing won't happen often.
Since the program guides didn't come until the end of con, now we know that these things need to be worked out! So after discussing it with the convention center, we'll have the program guides on site a week before con just in case. It's really too bad that you guys had to go without one year to learn about this.
And really, this shouldn't happen ever again. I hope you all didn't suffer too much for the printing company's lack of delivery. I know my department scrambled to get you guys maps and such so you would know what's going on at con. We do our best and hope that you guys are ok with what we can provide.
Does this mean you guys have printed programs that arrived after the con was over? ...can we buy them? ^^ they'll be great for memory sake.
Woah I never thought someone would actually suggest buying them! Right now we're discussing our options so there is a possibility of mailing the program guides to people, but the decision might take a while. We would never entertain the thought of selling the program guides! We're not that mean @_@ But thank you for that thought. Makes me feel like someone actually wants to look at my department's work and appreciate it like I do.
This is my point. How can you do an appropriate adaptation of something... when you don't know the original? I made this comparison before, I work in translation. If someone doesn't understand the original, he/she cannot make an adequate translation or output of what the localized version should/can/will be.
I was against things like paying for pictures, because that idea is based on long term patrons. I understood fully well what could and could not be done in food service, but the things that should have been brought over form the original was neither of these things. I didn't offer any suggestions? What about everything I said about mannerisms? Everything I said about how they should place there hands, how they should carry themselves? These ARE things that were very much capable of bringing over from "real maid cafes" that seemed to not be even considered. You are half right in that, I didn't physically become a patron. You are incorrect that I don't know what happened. A lot of friends(again hindisght so I didn't include them in anything I said on these forums) went and they gave me depictions of what happened. I watched multiple people get served while smoking, as well as while I was standing next to the ATM to meet up with people. I flamed? I made non-constructive criticisms and personal attacks? Just because you do not agree to what I've said thus far does not make what I said any of these things.
First of all, this started out when I made comments about the Maid cafe, and instead of accepting these factual things that happened(yes people said these things so there's no denying that it's factual), you challenged it as if your customers don't know what they were talking about, and thusly had no right to say anything they did. Your patrons said these things... maybe you, should listen to them.
To each his own, I guess.
Maid Cafe/Criticisms:
How often do you go to a restaurant and tell your waiter/waitress that the food and service is shitty? In the REAL WORLD of things, there are very few people who will voice out their opinions because everyone knows this unspoken rule: Don't piss off the people who handle your food!! There many times when I hold back my tongue at restaurants when the waiters would stop by and ask "how is everything?". While most positive reviews are fine and dandy, how many more people actually held their tongue?
Glompers:
It's obvious that some people don't understand the seriousness of sexual harassment and assault. It is a violation of a person's privacy and should not be taken lightly. If it was up to me, I’d kick the glompers in the balls, then I’d politely ask them to please “knock it offâ€. And from what I heard this past weekend, they will not stop if you “ask†them to. They will move on to their next target.
Hallway Bums:
If you can't afford a damn hotel room, go sleep at a friends house or in your car. SJCC is considered PUBLIC PROPERTY. FanimeCon PAYS for this event space. This event space does not belong to you, the homeless bums.
Medical Emergencies:
When someone yells at you to get away from a group of paramedics and EMTs, there's a reason why. They need space to work on the patient!! People need to stop taking cosplay pictures at the wrong time. And what is up with the cameras? How would you like it if you passed out unconciously and some random person started taking pictures of you while the medics were trying to stabilize you?
Quote from: "HeeroYuy135"I forgot who was selling it (I think it was for some anime convention in Burbank), but they had little stick-on ribbons that that had something along the lines of "Yes, glomp me!"
What I'd like to see is that Fanime issue their own "Yes, glomp me!" ribbon that you can stick on the bottom of your badge. When you go and register (either online or at the con), you can request one. That way, you can look at their badges to see if you they have already consented to be glomped. If they don't have the offical ribbon given out by Fanime, you can't glomp them.
I really don't see how this is going to help. It's a cute idea, but do you really think the people that are ambushing people are really going to stop to look at their badges? And most cosplayers don't wear their badges out in the open anyway.
I would really like to see the whole "glomping" thing taken out completely. Like what was said earlier, you wouldn't do that to someone outside of a convention, so why should it be any different IN a convention?
I understand that kids get excited to see their favorite characters and all that but what if this were, say, Disneyland. What do you think would happen if someone forgot their manners and ran up on Mickey? They would get ejected from the park if not banned.
I'm not asking for "ZOMG TEH NAZIS," but it would be nice for these "glompers" to understand that other people would just like to be shown a little common curtesy.
As for the whole badge number thing, it's a little difficult to pick out a number when all you can see is a blur coming straight at you or sneaking up from behind. :]
Quote from: "miss shelby"I would really like to see the whole "glomping" thing taken out completely.
QuoteI'm not asking for "ZOMG TEH NAZIS,"
...
Glomping and maid cafes are officially serious business. -.-;;;
How about this: if you glomp someone with a "glomp me" sign or other signs of approving it, it's okay. If you glomp someone who DO NOT WANT, you get executed on the spot.
Quote from: "darkstar"... and getting royally honked at the "no sleeping at the con" rules and the hawks enforcing it.
A rule is a rule... I don't really understand your complaint.
QuoteI'm not going to pay $120/night for a hotel room that I'm literally going to have to be taken to in handcuffs by con security (if not the SJPD) to use. Because that basically costs me 12-18 hours of the con right there. Multiply it by two nights (much less the three!), and there goes any real need for the four-day pass.
I don't understand this at all. Why would it cost you 12-18 hours of the convention if you had a room? It takes 10 minutes to get back to a hotel room, and the amount of sleep you'll get is the same (since you're already napping in the rooms anyway).
QuoteYOU DON'T WANT PEOPLE SLEEPING AT THE CON, SHUT THE CON DOWN AT 2 AM OR SOMESUCH.
... how does that make sense? Are you saying you don't want to miss parts of the convention, so we should shut everything down? Staying up that long is near impossible, and attempting it is bad for your health.
Any case, programming is actually arranged for some sleep time. Notice how the schedule gets thin from about midnight to noon.
Ok, the whole maid cafe thing - everyone is really tired of it. Please, distill your criticisms to a bullet-point-list or something, submit the post, and let it be. I don't want all the back and forth. It's an opportunity for a clean slate on both sides, so let's leave it clean.
Or else I'm banning everyone and shutting down the convention. :P
More schedules, more announcements! Since there was no paper guides/schedules available, you could have used the PA system to announce what things were coming up next. I could not find *any* info at all about the AMV station, and only came across some video's by pure chance.
I found myself (virtually) running back and forth, from one end of the hall to the other, trying to figure out what was going on.
IMHO, you should design this con to be the most friendly as possible for first time visitors. [Of course, this was my first so I am biased ^_^]. The "Pro's" are going to ignore the instructions and do their own thing anyway, so there is no need to worry about "offending" them. More signs, with descriptions as necessary. For the hard to reach places that are off in the corner, make arrow/crossroad signs!!!
Add a "hang out" room. Okay, I know the whole con is in a way but maybe a designated room with more chairs that is sectioned off from everything. There were a lot of people standing in the middle of the hallway talking, and it looked awkward for them and difficult for those trying to pass by them. Although i suppose that is inevitable to occur at some level, as that is the nature of the event.
To be honest, I think the people that are complaining about getting hugs are girls. No offense, but it seemed to me that some of the people holding "free hugs" were semi-creepy and very lonely looking guys (who's only purpose was to hug/glomp a girl). I mean, I feel sympathy for them and all, but I think those were the one's that were violating people's personal space (without permission).
As a possible solution, perhaps you could make a "hug" or "glomp" room (with large signs) that makes it clear that anyone who enters agrees it is OK to be hugged. That way, people don't have to deal with signs and guessing people's intention. For a while, there was effectively a "glomp row" with a bunch of those people right next to each other, and making a designated place would eliminate quite a bit of confusion. I don't know what would be the ideal way to implement this..
-------
All that said, I do feel that overall fanime was indeed a good event. Part of Fanime's appeal is because it is zany, spontaneous and informal and we have to be careful to not go too far the other way and suck out the life of the con either.
Quote from: "Tony"Ok, the whole maid cafe thing - everyone is really tired of it. Please, distill your criticisms to a bullet-point-list or something, submit the post, and let it be. I don't want all the back and forth. It's an opportunity for a clean slate on both sides, so let's leave it clean.
Or else I'm banning everyone and shutting down the convention. :P
Thanks man, i couldn't have said it better myself.
Now, continue on and this time, without the flames, ok?
Indeed. Internet drama puts me in a I-want-to-kill-everybody-in-sight mood.
ahem, no swearing in here as well. can you please edit your post dude. <<
Quote from: "Tony"Ok, the whole maid cafe thing - everyone is really tired of it. Please, distill your criticisms to a bullet-point-list or something, submit the post, and let it be. I don't want all the back and forth. It's an opportunity for a clean slate on both sides, so let's leave it clean.
Or else I'm banning everyone and shutting down the convention. :P
BLASPHEMY!! Not even God can shut the con down! 8)
Quote from: "trooper715"Quote"Can't sleep. Clowns will eat me..."
"Can't sleep. Clowns will eat me..."
"Can't sleep. Clowns will eat me..."
When I found people sleeping, I made an effort to wake them up in a reasonable manner, such as a tap on the shoulder, and remind them they are not allowed to sleep on the convention center grounds.
....
Thank you rovers dept. for a job well done.
What's up with all this hating over the Cafe? It was a first year experiment, and it went very well...
I do agree that unwanted glomping has gotten out of hand. People who have stated that it is assault are correct (a quick search on the internet shows this). That is why I think that the Con may have to enforce tougher rules against this behavior.
People also need to report offenders to the con staff. I realize this can be difficult. Those who have suggested violence as a solution may want to rethink their stance.
In the case of self defense:
QuoteThe degree of force which may be used must be limited to such force as would have appeared to be necessary to a reasonable person in all of the circumstances, knowing what the defendant knew, and facing the facts which presented themselves at the time to the defendant. In determining whether the degree of force was reasonable, the amount of force exerted, the means or instruments by which it was applied, the manner or method of applying it, and the circumstances under which it was applied are factors to be considered, but that determination is ultimately one for the trier of fact. . If excessive or improper force is employed, such force will itself constitute an assault and battery though the act would have been lawful if excessive or improper force had not been used. The necessity for the use of force may be either real or apparent.
This means that if you hurt someone trying to glomp you it is possible for them to file counter assault charges which would then have to be dis proven in court.
Ugh...
Quote from: "G.S. LXVIII"Quote from: "miss shelby"I would really like to see the whole "glomping" thing taken out completely.
QuoteI'm not asking for "ZOMG TEH NAZIS,"
...
Glomping and maid cafes are officially serious business. -.-;;;
I
know you did not just invoke Godwin's Law on this.
Listen. There are people.. people who are not sad and lonely, who are sick and tired of getting tackled by fat, smelly anime fans who have absolutely no idea how to act in public, or their mommies never loved them or whatever.
And anime conventions == Public.
Stop trying to defend it. The people who want it curbed are not on the same level as a mass murderer. We just want to be able to walk about without risking our health and the people who do this are exactly that: health risks.
Anecdotal proof: After being "glomped" by some fan girl, Miss Shelby's foot was injured and swelled to the point where we had to go back to the hotel room and soak it in hot water for an hour. Please, do defend this.
I have to agree with the complaints about glomping. (Though, alkaline and mikey please don't swear on the boards.) One of the MusicFest guests was glomped by Dude in a Blue Thong. He was incredibly professional about it and simply wrote it off, but I could see him (and others, such as the hotel and convention center professionals) seeing these sorts of things and really reconsidering whether they want to work with FanimeCon.
The sandwich-making party late night on the concourse pissed me off. One, PB&J and OJ in the carpets isn't fun to clean up. Two, someone put tape on the carpet to act as a line, and that messes up the carpet too. Third, food is highly controlled in the convention center, and FanimeCon would have taken the blame for that.
I can say that the facilities were not entirely happy about people pushing all of the buttons on the elevators, trashing the rooms, abusing the hospitality suite, and not getting tipped. (They lost money, having to tip their staff because no one else did.)
Maybe you all didn't look pissed enough.
Whenever anyone came near me I gave them my "don't f*ck with me" face and they backed off right away. Then again I was pretty upset the entire con due to the program guides not showing up and people complaining that my department wasn't doing its job by not having enough schedules and maps out. Sigh.
The attendees are usually the worst part about any convention. They have no social graces nor understandings. When I was leaving the hotel I had a long wait and our bellboy was really patient. But then someone came about 10 minutes after us and had their cart of luggage(no bellboy). The entire time I could hear them bitching about how the bellboy didn't carry their luggage for them(we requested a bellboy, not a cart). When an elevator came, they rushed into it, instead of letting us and the bellboy with our luggage go in(despite us waiting there much longer).
I tipped the bellboy 10$ (woulda been more had I had any other smaller bills outside of a 100$). The entire time I was waiting for our car in valet I saw 2 people tip the driver.
Things like this, in addition to the glomping, random hugs, and others trying to get me to buy them stuff or eat there pocky... kiss them, and a number of other things. Why can't people act like respectable human beings? Being excited having fun doesn't mean not having any social graces at all when dealing with strangers. Hey, you wanna screw around with friends you know, more power to you... when it's a stranger though... follow simple social graces... please.
Speaking of elevators, there were idiots who tried to fill as many people into an elevator as possible. I thought I was going to die when I heard the alarm go off while going down cause there was literally 20 people in there. Some guy tried to grab me too..-__-.
Quote from: "LordKefka"Speaking of elevators, there were idiots who tried to fill as many people into an elevator as possible. I thought I was going to die when I heard the alarm go off while going down cause there was literally 20 people in there.
'Could've been worse. Imagine getting stuck between floors with that bunch (No! Not Fan-boy Funk!) :x
Oh my gosh, I just realized. I forgot to tip the valet. Crap. I feel pretty bad now, cause I was all prepared to tip him. He was really cool, too. Oy.
I forgot to add, with all the issues happening I should have scream out OUUUUEEEEEEEDAAAAAAAN !!!!!!! :P
I also forgot to ask what was up with the bondage cat gear going on at the con. I noticed several groups with leashes and thought that fad ended like 5 years ago.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"The attendees are usually the worst part about any convention. They have no social graces nor understandings. When I was leaving the hotel I had a long wait and our bellboy was really patient. But then someone came about 10 minutes after us and had their cart of luggage(no bellboy). The entire time I could hear them bitching about how the bellboy didn't carry their luggage for them(we requested a bellboy, not a cart). When an elevator came, they rushed into it, instead of letting us and the bellboy with our luggage go in(despite us waiting there much longer).
I tipped the bellboy 10$ (woulda been more had I had any other smaller bills outside of a 100$). The entire time I was waiting for our car in valet I saw 2 people tip the driver.
Things like this, in addition to the glomping, random hugs, and others trying to get me to buy them stuff or eat there pocky... kiss them, and a number of other things. Why can't people act like respectable human beings? Being excited having fun doesn't mean not having any social graces at all when dealing with strangers. Hey, you wanna screw around with friends you know, more power to you... when it's a stranger though... follow simple social graces... please.
I agree. I wasn't assaulted like most people seemed to be over the weekend, and I didn't really see much of it going on actually. I did see the guy in the blue thong. Disturbing...
Also, no offense Mikey, but how hard is it for your panel to be a 'success' when the main point of it is for people to get together and swear and rant about the idiots that roam the interwebz? Doesn't seem terribly complex. My friends went and had a good time though so, hoorah.
In any case, I had a great con, personally. My main complaint is the AMV contest was not as good as it has been the last few years. I still think there are plenty of shows you can make a good comedy AMV to, but they are seriously lacking as of late.
The Dealers room was also lacking in variety, but it was cool to see Video Games New York there. THey had some cool stuff.
I can't comment on the maid cafe, I just noticed the line was really long, but I never went to it.
Anyways, hopefully next year the AMV contest will be back in the civic center and we can get some cool guests. Until then...back into the cocoon.
Quote from: "macmouse"More schedules, more announcements! Since there was no paper guides/schedules available, you could have used the PA system to announce what things were coming up next. I could not find *any* info at all about the AMV station, and only came across some video's by pure chance.
I found myself (virtually) running back and forth, from one end of the hall to the other, trying to figure out what was going on.
....
Confucius says "He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask is a fool for the remainder of FanimeCon."
We may not of had the program guides but we certainly had printed schedules...at each of the info desks. If you needed info you simply could of just walked up to any of the 4 info desks Fanime had this year. Fanime staffers actually like it when attendees ask for help. *seriously* That's what we're here for. :mrgreen:
QuotePeople also need to report offenders to the con staff.
Yep. Again, if anyone has future problems with people jumping on them, behaving inappropriately, etc. Please get in touch with staff. It has a lot less red tape than either violence or going straight to police involvement.
QuoteThe sandwich-making party late night on the concourse pissed me off. One, PB&J and OJ in the carpets isn't fun to clean up. Two, someone put tape on the carpet to act as a line, and that messes up the carpet too. Third, food is highly controlled in the convention center, and FanimeCon would have taken the blame for that.
Ah. We overlooked it because they were just giving out food and not asking for payment. That seemed to be the main guideline on wether to allow it: wether they were getting payment/donations. I'll look around for more clarification on the food policy since right now the staff notes just say "Giving food away is a case-by-case basis;"
But as for the mess, tape, etc. That was just an oversight on our part. Noted for next year.
Quotethere were idiots who tried to fill as many people into an elevator as possible.
Noted to keep an eye on next year. Again, with people wandering around all the time it won't put a stop to it completely, but hopefully by at least having people swing by the eleveators more and checking for these things it'll cut down on it.
QuoteI did see the guy in the blue thong. Disturbing...
We let him wander around for a while since all his...important bits, were covered up. But after we got a couple of complaints he was asked to put clothes on if I'm not mistaken.
Again, if somethign is bothering you, note it to a staff member!
QuoteThank you rovers dept. for a job well done.
You're welcome. We try to do our best, and while we do have a few kinks and misses here and there, hopefully things will just get better and smoother as the years go on. ^^
QuoteI'm banning everyone and shutting down the convention. Razz
OH noez. :shock:
Well, this is kind of a stupid suggestion, but I'm just seeing if anybody is really 'into' it...
If we get more stationed staff [not moving around, or at least far away from their spot] to spot / catch glompers. If a glomper the stationed staff member can ask if the glomping was harmful / offensive to them in any way. If it was, then two actions are to be taken:
1) A special yellow ribbon is to be given to the glomper if the glompee is offended by the tackle.
2) The badge number will be taken down:
- A) If the ribbon is removed, automatic badge removal.
- B) If it happens twice, badge removal.
...just thought I'd throw that out there... this being my first year, and not cosplaying, I wasn't glomped much, but I do say there was a well-planned glomp in the Dealer's Room on Monday around 10:30 AM. But that's just me... so... any feedback on this idea?
Edit -~=
Let the Elevator Ninjas be the Elevator Police. :roll:
Quote from: "PyronIkari"Quote from: "felicity869"Quote from: "PyronIkari"I'm not banned anymore \o/(No reason to explain that)
Well I can see why you were banned.
-_- I was banned for this forum wrongly... hence why I'm unbanned now.
To put this to rest, Mikey was not supose to get banned. He is correct when he said he was wrongfully banned.
That's all I'm going to say about it and I'm walking on glass saying it.
Quote from: "Ekac"But that's just me... so... any feedback on this idea?
Edit -~=
Let the Elevator Ninjas be the Elevator Police. :roll:
Regarding the idea, we're a bit shortstaffed for a dedicated anti-glomping squad. =P And instead of the whole ribbon dealio, it's a lot simpler to just give them a warning and write down their badge number. If it becomes a repeated problem, we'll move it up appropriately.
As for the 'elevator police', the Elevator Ninjas are more than welcome to apply for staff. =P
Or, while in the course of your elevator ninja duties, if you happen to see problem behavior, just ninja their badge number and slip it to a staff member. :wink:
Well I had a wonderful time, anyways. :D First time at Fanime, second con overall.
Everybody there seemed quite nice and helpful (save for this one creepy stalker dude >_>; ). I came mostly for the cosplay/stuff to buy (so my experience is probably a lot different than people who came for other stuff). Artist Alley was great! Dealer's room seemed to carry a little too much clothing type stuff and manga/DVDs that I could get elsewhere for the same or better price, but the Cosworx booth was a lifesaver and yay for random buttons and posters and little figurines. XD Also, I think I spent the majority of my money at the Yaoi-con booth. *cough* Damn doujinshi and prints.
I thought the food stands were a bit overpriced ($3 for bottled water?! ;_; ), but the actual hotel food in the Marriot (I think?) cafe was quite good and relatively cheap. Pizza FTW!
The signs down that stretch of hallway between the Artist Alley and the Game Room did get a bit tedious, but nobody really hassled us if we didn't make eye contact. Did get one random glomp from behind- "DANTE!!!" "Huh? Where? Oh, is she talking about m-" *THUNK*- but no innocent parties were injured.
Didn't go the the Masquerade (as I had to leave early) or spend much time in the Video rooms, so not much opinion there.
I didn't stay in one of the hotels, so my elevator experience was limited. However, there was a fair bit of wait time for the next one. Nothing too bad, though.
Also, could you guys maybe make our real names smaller on the badges and the 'handles' larger? Many more people would recognize me by 'vasher', and I don't want everybody walking by to have easy access to my actual name. ^^;
Edit: Oh, and maybe turn up the air conditioning? *cough* The ball was fun, but the space was kind of ... limited for the amount of people, especially with a few couples making wide dance moves. Conga line got annoying after the first few minutes. Got nearly run over. x_x
that sucked..
Quote from: "phoenixphire24"My only other complaint is that for the third year in a row that I've gone, and after requesting it for the last 2 years, there are STILL NO FANIME SHIRTS IN GIRL CUT!!! I have really wanted a Fanime shirt, but I do not want one that is boy cut because even in small or child size, they do not fit a female body correctly. Would it hurt to make up a few girl cut shirts? Some of the booths in the dealer's room have finally caught onto this and I was able to find many cute anime shirts in girl cut which made me very happy.
Ah, yes, I forgot to mention this as well. I was really disappointed this year that once again, no girl cut Fanime shirts. I bought one last year in a youth (i.e. boys) as the pattern was really cute, but I don't even wear it because it fits so badly (see, there are these things called "boobs" that make boy shirts fit terribly). I DO however, wear my other two girl cut Fanime shirts that were offered before--Fanime 2004 with all the pirates, and my red one with the black cap sleeves with the female mascot's eyes peering out. There are tons of girl anime fans, and why whoever does the shirts does not recognize this, is irritating. American Apparel does girls shirts just fine; is there a reason that Fanime just doesn't use their shirts, like so many shirt printers do?
Personally I didn't see people getting glomps or hugs when they didn't, it was very respectful.
I also don't think we should ban ALL glomping for the mistakes of the few. That's like banning the Rave because people get intoxicated on alcohol or whatever and break their leg on the dance floor. I mean heck the rave itself was shut down for awhile...so by your "No Glomping Policy" you should want to ban the Rave to since it's apparently such a danger. :roll:
a LOT more AC for the Rave room.
More room for the dance instructions for the B&W Ball...and more instructors for individual attention. Seriously...some of us STILL can't get 123 down!! :cry: :cry: Also it got waaaay too crowded in there
This was my first con and I had alot of fun^^ Next year I definately plan to cosplay. I enjoyed most of the con, but i noticed alot of people there werent very sociable at all. Some people, expecially around the console gaming place were rude, grabbing at controllers and not sharing.
The dealers room was a small dissapointment for me. The majority of the items been sold were Naruto/Bleach items with deathnote mixed in. I was looking for particular anime collectibles like keychains or figuress but few dealers had anything besides large quantities of Naruto. :roll: Dont get me wrong, i like Naruto, but it got old fast how many headbands and keychains that series has while Azumanga or Chobits got ignored :cry:
Quote
Also, no offense Mikey, but how hard is it for your panel to be a 'success' when the main point of it is for people to get together and swear and rant about the idiots that roam the interwebz? Doesn't seem terribly complex. My friends went and had a good time though so, hoorah.
N'ah, that would be the anime boston 4chan panel where it was an hour of people shouting memes at each other. We had real content, and things that made it a real panel. Because for the most part, we didn't rant about idiots at all, we talked about the culture.
Quote from: "Ayanami Rei First Child"Personally I didn't see people getting glomps or hugs when they didn't, it was very respectful.
I also don't think we should ban ALL glomping for the mistakes of the few. That's like banning the Rave because people get intoxicated on alcohol or whatever and break their leg on the dance floor. I mean heck the rave itself was shut down for awhile...so by your "No Glomping Policy" you should want to ban the Rave to since it's apparently such a danger. :roll:
*snipsnip*
Actually, I'm more for a rule along the lines of "If you don't ask before glomping (
maybe hugging, but that wasn't a problem) you get a warning." Or just have something stating that if you want glomps you need to wear a sign. x_X Mudkipz didn't mind the hugs, it was the surprise glomp(s) that were bad.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"Quote
Also, no offense Mikey, but how hard is it for your panel to be a 'success' when the main point of it is for people to get together and swear and rant about the idiots that roam the interwebz? Doesn't seem terribly complex. My friends went and had a good time though so, hoorah.
N'ah, that would be the anime boston 4chan panel where it was an hour of people shouting memes at each other. We had real content, and things that made it a real panel. Because for the most part, we didn't rant about idiots at all, we talked about the culture.
We also had a lot more people show up the second night when compared to the first and it was mainly due to word of mouth. Why? Because it wasn't (like Mikey said) like other "4chan panels" where people just screamed "jokes" at one another. We put on a production, we had a program, we stuck with it and people loved it.
Also, the next time you try and belittle the work of those putting on panels for Fanime? Try attending it first.
It's a task for anyone to go up in front of people and talk as it takes some effort and guts regardless of how easy it many seem.
My thoughts on the con:
+ Wonderfull people. For the most part everyone I met were people I would love to hang out with all the time. I did notice some very creepy people wondering around, but thankfully my creep-radar is in full working order so I easily avoided them.
+Black and White ball. I'll admit it, when I first heard you guys were seriously going to do this my thought was "That's a stupid idea, nobody will have fun dancing to ballroom." But as it turns out it was one of the most fun events of the con for me (this is probably in part due to the great company I had for the dance). Next year bigger room, and emphasize the mask part, I felt kind of silly being one of the few people actually wearing a mask.
+ Con Volunteers. For the most part the con volunteers were very nice, especially the security at the concerts. Sorry I didn't get to see my volunteer friend from elementery (thinking back on it that was a LONG time ago...) more than once, but she was very busy as was I.
+ Great variety of things to do. I never had a moment where there wasn't something for me to do. There was actually TOO much stuff, I missed out on what sounded like some great things. But I had fun anyways. Now if you guys can just figure out someway so that all the attendees could stay up for the entire con without getting sleepy...
OK now on to the few things I didn't like:
- No backdrop on the con floor for photoshoots. I was looking forward to using the white backdrop that you guys had last year for some of my shoots. Oh well I made do with shooting outside.
-Too much Yaoi. I understand that some people like that stuff, but a lot of us don't. Having several dealers of only Yaoi stuff seems a little over kill.
-Too little variety in the dealers room. All the dealers seemed to be selling pretty much the same stuff. There were a couple of dealers with some great stuff, but for the most part it was just Bleach and Naruto knick knacks.
-The rave. Now don't get me wrong, I had a ton of fun at the raves, but that was mainly due to great company. DJ Stormy on Saturday really rocked, however DJ Caen did a terrible job of transitioning between songs, meaning he(she?) didn't transition between songs. So the entire dance stopped for a beat while everyone wrapped their heads around the new beat. The music selection was pretty spot on at least (there were a couple of songs that I didn't like, but that's normal).
I blame Ebner for all of this by the way. ITS ALL YOUR FAULT EBNER. JEEZ WHY YOU GOTTA BE THAT WAY?! :D :P :wink:
All in all it was a great con! It seemed like people were having some problems in the video rooms but it seemed like people in the audience managed to help solve the problems somewhat. I don't really know as I hardly watched any video the entire con. If you guys need help training for Macs I'd be more than willing to help the video staff out (yes I'm the same IamTetsuo as on the animesuki forums).
I will definatly be attending again next year, as long as whatever job I get allows me enough time off.
Quote from: "alkaline"Quote from: "PyronIkari"Quote
Also, no offense Mikey, but how hard is it for your panel to be a 'success' when the main point of it is for people to get together and swear and rant about the idiots that roam the interwebz? Doesn't seem terribly complex. My friends went and had a good time though so, hoorah.
N'ah, that would be the anime boston 4chan panel where it was an hour of people shouting memes at each other. We had real content, and things that made it a real panel. Because for the most part, we didn't rant about idiots at all, we talked about the culture.
We also had a lot more people show up the second night when compared to the first and it was mainly due to word of mouth. Why? Because it wasn't (like Mikey said) like other "4chan panels" where people just screamed "jokes" at one another. We put on a production, we had a program, we stuck with it and people loved it.
Also, the next time you try and belittle the work of those putting on panels for Fanime? Try attending it first.
I attended it last year for about 15 minutes before the idiocy drove me out.
That's why I assumed this year was no different, but alas, it seems that it is more than I thought.
Perhaps next year I'll give it another shot.
Quote from: "trooper715"As for the 'elevator police', the Elevator Ninjas are more than welcome to apply for staff. =P
Sadly, all of the Elevator Ninjas [so far] are underage, and I don't know if a Waiver applies to ninjas. :roll:
Quote from: "FanFicGuru"
I attended it last year for about 15 minutes before the idiocy drove me out.
That's why I assumed this year was no different, but alas, it seems that it is more than I thought.
Perhaps next year I'll give it another shot.
And... that was my point. We took all of the negative feedback we got from the first panel, and then used that to make things this year(which blew it out of the water). Hence my point that... "YOU LISTEN TO YOUR AUDIENCE, THEN IMPROVE" instead of just getting pissed off that people are saying negative things and stating that they are wrong for thinking that.
Pro: Pre-registration for Swap Meet Friday!
Exhibit Hall was very nice
Host Hotel Hilton was superb
Con:
Sign Ban... not enforced. Solicitation is still illegal, right? Even more disturbing if they look underage x_X
I'm not into people pouncing each other in public spaces (even if both players are into it).... do it at Mascarade or at a panel so not one else gets hurt and you're not making a spectacle and crowding up a walkway
Cosplay Gatherings... same location, 4 different versions of the name on the schedule makes for lost photographer ;_;
People manning doors needs to know the hours for the room (exhibit hall, for example)
Artist Colony table pre-registration was a mess
Oh, the Mudkip lady? You were one of the highlights of the con, and I'm sorry to hear you got glomped badly.
Sign ban?
Quote from: "asianfilm"By any chance do you remember which four films you and your friends watched? I'm just trying to get a better feel of what people checked out on our schedule.
Umm...the Honey & Clover live action is the only one I remember the name of off the top of my head. We watched a bunch of sappy dramas :D
QuoteSadly, all of the Elevator Ninjas [so far] are underage, and I don't know if a Waiver applies to ninjas. Rolling Eyes
Ninja your way into staff? =P Just show up at a staff meeting and when people ask "Hey, wait who are you?" Just be like *poof* and dissapear.
But yeah, you would need a waiver if you're under 18. Rovers will use people under 18 these days though. You just won't be assigned to do certain things...so no hentai room patrol. :wink:
QuoteSign Ban... not enforced. Solicitation is still illegal, right? Even more disturbing if they look underage x_X
We weren't told anything about a complete ban on signs as far as I know. The policy was signs were okay as long as they do not ask for food, money, donations, etc. We cracked down a bit more on this....sunday if I recall correctly. People were fairly compliant once we let them know, tearing off or sharpie-ing out the violating portions of their signs.
I remember there was one group of people with a keyboard and a cup in front of them, and when I told them they couldn't accept tips, they were like..."Oh, this is my sister's money in the cup" and I'm just thinking to myself..."Who keeps money in a cup?' They eventually removed it though.
QuoteI'm just trying to get a better feel of what people checked out on our schedule.
For the Asian Film room, I wanted to check out Silmido and The Host, although I didn't get a chance to. Too busy working. Q_Q My friend who was at Cannes recommended 200 Pound Beauty also, but that was after the con ended and I would've probably been working then also. =P
Quote from: "IamTetsuo"-Too much Yaoi. I understand that some people like that stuff, but a lot of us don't. Having several dealers of only Yaoi stuff seems a little over kill.
I definitely agree on that. I don't buy yaoi or yuri, but it strikes me odd that there is practically no yuri dealers at Fanime. It makes yuri seem quite unacceptable and not simply the female equivalent of yaoi.
Quote from: "G.S. LXVIII"Quote from: "IamTetsuo"-Too much Yaoi. I understand that some people like that stuff, but a lot of us don't. Having several dealers of only Yaoi stuff seems a little over kill.
I definitely agree on that. I don't buy yaoi or yuri, but it strikes me odd that there is practically no yuri dealers at Fanime. It makes yuri seem quite unacceptable and not simply the female equivalent of yaoi.
I agree with you one that, I said myself there should be a yuri booth, it deserves the same appreciation that yaoi gets which as said was over kill.
Quote from: "billgoku"I said myself there should be a yuri booth, it deserves the same appreciation that yaoi gets which as said was over kill.
Something that came up during the feedback session after the closing ceremonies is that yaoi is an actual genre with an actual definition in Japan, while yuri is not. If that's true (and I have no idea if it is or not), then that might explain why there would be things like yaoi doujinshi but not yuri doujinshi. Just a thought.
mmm... This sorta makes sense, but not in the sense your putting it.
I sell doujinshi for a company so lemme explain.
Much like the base fandom, things are seperated into girls/boys style things. The category of "Yaoi" isn't a real category, but used because it's easier for (stupid) Americans to differentiate between girls comics and guy comics. Especially when dealing with ero-doujin. At Anime-Expo especially we usually separate into "Guy Comics" and "Yaoi" because "Girl comics" is sometimes misleading. We also have people bitch about how "Hey, I'm a girl, and I like comics like this, why are you separating them!".
Frankly, American usage of "Yaoi" bothers me because rarely is it used correctly.
But as a point, there isn't *THAT* much comparatively, because any "normal" comic is the opposite of "Yaoi". Though to be honest... why complain that there's "Too much yaoi" it's not like you're buying it. There's a big market for it, and that's why it's there.
And just to be picky... technically lesbian ero is also "Yaoi". Boys love or Shounen Ai is the correct term you should be using.
Just not worth discussing. Removed by author.
Quote from: "angeljibrille"
Um... having been to Comike multiple times, and being someone who regularly corresponds with my doujinshi artist friends in Japan... it -IS- called yaoi, and yaoi is almost always associated with "boys love". However, yaoi is almost strictly a doujinshi term, usually for explicit "boys love" books, and it doesn't mean "gay" per se. A lot of publishers do not use it, they use "Boys Love" instead -- but it's definitely used for doujinshi.
The term Yaoi was a description of books, not necessarilly boys love nor content. "No climax, no punchline, no meaning".
Meaning, the doujinshi had no climax, no punchline, and no meaning. It originated as a derogative description of "terrible doujinshi". Many simple boys love comics fell into this category. Comics that would build a pointless relationship between two male characters, with nothing happening at all in the end(sex or otherwise). Ending on a pointless note.
This later got pushed onto boys love comics in general as a bad description, which again... many people in the US misused(like they do with every god damned Japanese word... hentai... otaku... etc.) the world thinking that it meant only male-male comics without knowing about origins of words. Essentially It's misused a lot, but in Japan they tend to stick with "Boys Love" when refering to anything with male-male relations.
QuoteHow do I know? I personally do not like yaoi, I'm more of a "normal pairings" fan (what they call it in Japan, not a judgement) and so I will ask an artist about a book and if it is yaoi... they call it yaoi.
Every shop I have seen doesn't label there comics "yaoi" as a description. The ones that do have "US sections online". For the most part, especially at comiket, people know circle/artist/day they are going on so they know what to look for and what each booth is. If it's a new booth, it's rather impolite to ask something such as "Is this yaoi" or the such.
QuoteYuri, on the other hand, is not a term I usually hear from anyone. It's usually just "Hen" or "Hentai" for porn, which includes anything that over here in the US would be thought of as "yuri". Girls Love books, such as Utena, or Oniisama e, which feature girl pairings in a romanticized way is relatively rare in Japan, and instead of being referred to by a term -- it's usually just desginated by the pairings and mixed in with the normal and yaoi sections at Comiket.
Uhm... Japanese people do not use the word "hentai" for pornography. It has never ever been used to describe pornography in Japan, and it has US origins because people mistaken the word and it was overly used. The "normal" comics would be described simply as "Doujinshi" or "Ero-doujinshi" or "Over 18 doujinshi".
Yuri's origins are that it was an off balance for "Rose".　Roses was a common symbol for homosexual males.
If homosexual males are ROSES then homosexual females are ______.
So they came up with "Lily/lillies". But again, it's used incorrectly in the US because people in the US do not understand word origins and correct usage of words.
Quote
So.. I wouldn't get too huffy about it. :) People use it fairly accurately over here, but they don't pronounce it properly :O
Edit: PS -- lesbian ero is NOT yaoi...
Uh... no, rarely do people use it correctly. "Will Yaoi for pocky" does not make sense. "I would so yaoi him"... does not make sense. Yaoi isn't a verb.
I could argue that most ero-doujin are pointless but it's an effort I don't want to make. If you want though, come by my booth at AX, there will be many people that work in the doujinshi business there. A rather popular long time artist, some who have bought/sold/traded doujinshi since the mid 80's, and myself, the simple salesman that's been doing this for a while.
But back to the main point of all this. Boys love comics sell... very well. On average about 40% of our sales at AX every year are boys love comics, about 40% are regular ero-doujinshi and the last 10 are misc. things like shirts or pvc's and the such. In general Boys love sales would out do the other doujin if not that there's usually a few people that buy a LOT of ero-doujin, but there are more that will pick up a few boys love doujin.
Quote from: "darkstar"... and getting royally honked at the "no sleeping at the con" rules and the hawks enforcing it.
Usually, I'll see some enforcement, but it was clear to me that it was Priority Number One Point of Emphasis made to security this year that the moment it became apparent that someone passed out anywhere, they were to be immediately rousted.
And even when I was awake, it was like "DAMN!!! That's the third time this episode I've seen that burly security geek come through the room like that."
its a convetion center, not a hotel. i worked volunteers this year, and i saw more than enough people trying to sleep in the video rooms this year; i even saw two people walk into the hentai room with a blanket and a couple of pillows, in which they then started to reorganize the chairs into a makeshift bed. knowing this is not supposed to happen, i advised them that they cant sleep in there, and asked them not to try or rovers would be called to deal with it.
Quote from: "darkstar"I'm not going to pay $120/night for a hotel room that I'm literally going to have to be taken to in handcuffs by con security (if not the SJPD) to use. Because that basically costs me 12-18 hours of the con right there. Multiply it by two nights (much less the three!), and there goes any real need for the four-day pass.
if you dont want to have to pay that much for a room, try sharing a room with others so you dont have to pay as much cash; thats what i did, and
i only paid $70...for the whole weekend.Quote from: "darkstar"Look, I'll say it a third time (I said it once to the info desk when I saw one of the most ridiculous pairs of contradictory statements I've ever seen at a con, and the second was to the four people who escorted me out at 5:30 AM Monday):
YOU DON'T WANT PEOPLE SLEEPING AT THE CON, SHUT THE CON DOWN AT 2 AM OR SOMESUCH. (And not reopen until 9-10 AM, like they did Sat. morning at ALA this year when there were only two people in the screening room at 2:30 -- one asleep and the other (me) fighting it off the best I could.)
(And before I get questions on that: Yaoi/Yuri/Hentai/Madness/Anarchy would be moved up to about 9-10 PM. I'd even go so far as to make the room that the Yaoi-Con people use a Kid's Room during the day. All marathons have their own room anyway. You've already moved up the dances and the karaoke such that the only thing left at 2-3 AM is the screenings.)
even if the con was shut down at 2am, it doesnt stop people from being out and about. also, hentai/yuri/yaoi nights are started at midnight due to the fact that its stuff that wouldnt normally be shown in the day/evening time, because its so controversial/risque/stuff that would get people in trouble for showing it at a time when there are a few tikes out with the parents.
another reason why you/me/no one can sleep in the video rooms, or anywhere in the convention center is because it conflicts with possible fire codes, plus someone could easily do stuff to anyione sleeping in the video rooms, which would probably cause a lawsuit to come into play, either against the con center or fanime itself, which then leads to more enforcement and more complaints. its a simple rule to follow: dont sleep in the con center: easy as that.
Quote from: "darkstar"I could come up with several other possibilities if you like (that's basically what I spent a lot of time doing from about Saturday on):
1) Require con-goers to get hotel reservations before they can get a full-con pass.
2) Go the Naka-Con approach: Get rousted once, and that's your one warning. Second one costs you the convention. (With that, I'd have been tossed 7 AM Saturday.) You do that, I'm gone -- but it's a possibility for the con itself.
3 -- a variation of 1) If you're not willing to show accomodations, you can't stay past midnight. It would require a separate set of badges to be made, but still.
theres are all legitimate ideas, but they dont work; main reason they dont work are as follows:
#1 cant be done since there are some people that live very close to the con (close to 10-15 minutes away from the con and they could just go home for the night) wouldn't need to get a hotel room, or some people dont want to pay for a room and rather commute;
#2 could work, but its too unfair to those that get blamed accidentaly because someone wants to point the finger at them when they didnt do anything and the person pointing the finger is actually the one that did it
(that was simply an example);
#3 is too complicated to do, and would require paperwork that would simply take up resources and time/manpower. having to have a separate badge that states that you have a hotel room would once again be unfair to those that live close by or commute.
all in all, they are very good ideas, but too many complications involved with them, since there would be complaints from many people saying that its 'unfair', 'silly', and the like. fanime is too big to do this, and it would simply complicate matters more.
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"if you dont want to have to pay that much for a room, try sharing a room with others so you dont have to pay as much cash; thats what i did, and i only paid $70...for the whole weekend.
You can room with someone and split the cost? I thought if, for example, it's $85/night, each guest has to pay $85/night.
Quote from: "G.S. LXVIII"Quote from: "otakuapprentice"if you dont want to have to pay that much for a room, try sharing a room with others so you dont have to pay as much cash; thats what i did, and i only paid $70...for the whole weekend.
You can room with someone and split the cost? I thought if, for example, it's $85/night, each guest has to pay $85/night.
no, youre thinking about it differently. let me give the example of how my situation was:
i needed a room, and i called up one of my friends who i roomed with the year before. they got a room and were fronting the money for it. since they were paying and since they didnt want to pay so much money on their own, a bunch of us roomed together. so, instead of said person having to pay close to 400 for the whole weekend just for themselves, they only had to pay $80-90, with ther rest of us each paying $70.
basically, you split the cost among the group of people who will be in the room. if its just you, them youre gonna pay alot. but if you room together with 4-5 people then the cost gets split among everyone, with your roomies paying you their share.
now to put in in simplemans' (or laymans') terms:
you have a room for four nights. each night costs you $100, making it $400 for four nights. you get three other people to room with you. each person only pays $100 for the room, including yourself.
1 person pays $100; multiply that by 4, and you get your $400. theres your room right there.
Fanime 2008 was practically my best Fanime ever! ^_^ Heres my details:
+ The Maid Cafe was excellent! ^_^ It had a pretty good menu, great food, plus the hosts and maids were excellent. It was an honor to have a pic taken with the maids! ^_^
+ Cosplaying as Vergil and having some pics taken. I even had a few taken with Reuben Langdon, the voice of Dante from Devil May Cry 3 as well! ^^ Hopefully i'll find them lurking around the net.
+ Cosplayers around the con to take pics of, with permission of course! ^_^
+ The rave was pretty good, and really fun, although I only went on Fridays rave.
And the (few) downpoints:
- I lost my digital camcorder, which still had not only a small handful of my cosplay pics, but also a few videos of me and a few pics from previous trips.
- The random glompers. Now, I wasn't randomly glomped, but I couldn't comfortably take some pics of a few cosplayers without them getting a random glomp. If you'd like a glomp (and/or kiss or other things), please ask the cosplayer for permission first!
- The Mariott elevators. Elevator ninjas, eh? Well, once they're done with me, they'd better think twice before using an elevator as a play toy! ^^
All in all, a great con! ^_^ I might throw in some constructive advice later! ^_^
here is your annual video post
Q, A, C, & R
Q= question
A= answer
C= comment
R= Reply
Q: Yeah, I noticed that a lot of the video programming schedules (especially in the anime viewing rooms) kept getting changed...
A: yes we know and we our sorry for that lots of tech problems with our power Macs
C: I liked how all the video rooms were put on one side of the con
R: thanks!!
C: Lots of One Piece being shown
R: well of course it’s the best and the hottest ser in Japan
Q: I was a little annoyed at the anime schedule. I guess there was some sort of technical problems mid-Saturday, but I missed a lot of what I wanted to see because the schedule changed on me.
A: we are sorry about this. The power Macs we used couldn’t handle certain files (mkvs and HD)
C: Hentai night. Always fun
R: thanks we aim to please
Q: The Enies Lobby arc marathon was confusing....I came in and from the looks of it they went backwards after getting close to the 'Sanji's Scorching Kick' episode. What was up with that?
A: oh yeah that…… well what happen was our staffer listen to the audience and skiped episodes that helped set up the story for new one piece fans who didn’t know what the story was about or characters (since 4kids butchered one piece!!!!!) also it threw off the timing of when the ser ended. So I had to have him play all the back eps to keep the marathon on schedule. I really hoped you enjoyed it. Also in case anyone else had a question as of why we ended it when he beat rob, there are 2 reasons. 1. I felt it ended the story we were aiming for in the arch. Robin is saved, all the main bad guys are beat, and it ends on a good note. 2 vegapunk ep 310 was the last ep they released that week before the con. I really hope you enjoyed the one piece marathon like I did (I was the guy in the middle of the room in front of the projector enjoying sec of it) its something I hope we can do again.
C: The Hentai Room. This was the first year I was old enough to attend, and although I was very reluctant at first (I was dragged there by friends XD), I ended up enjoying myself immensely. Midnight Sleazy Train and Swallowtail Inn had me dying of laughter, I swear. ("Spirit of hospitality!")
R: yeah that’s 2 who love our hentai room yah for hentai
C: Technical difficulties in the video rooms? And one of the only three anime series I like was cancelled due to them? How terrible!
R: we are so sorry about this. You can be assured we are taking measures that this never happens again.
C: One thing that really irritated me (and I felt really bad for the staff that had to deal with it) was when a room was supposed to be playing something, but the staff member didn't have the disc and didn't even know where it was. I forget where this happened to me, but apparently someone how borrowed the disk and hadn't brought it back or something of that nature. That threw off the schedule and there wasn't anything playing in that room for at least an hour while the poor staff guy had to hunt it down. I think with a con this big that sort of thing needs to not happen. All the rooms need to have all the shows that will be playing at all times.
R: I feel the same way too. I don’t remember this happening but if you say it did then we will take measures to make sure disc are were there suppose to be.
C: anime programming were awesome! I haven't spent that much time in the video rooms ever at Fanime (this is my forth year).
R: thanks once again hearing things like this makes me so happy
C: The video room schedules did get messed up a bit. I also wanted to see Red Garden and one other had been shown at an earlier time than was supposed too. Also better training for the poor video staff. On 2 separate occasions the room had to help the operators get the videos started. Also it seems that the formats of how the videos were set up; disk vs hard drive, DVD vs AVI etc. made it hard for them. One standardized player app would also help I think. I know the operators tried their best and they seemed genuinely sorry when the schedule got messed up.
R: it’s so hard to do that. Certain players will only play just a hand full of encoded anime. We tried doing that last year and it was a nightmare so we got computers but we ran in to mkv and HD crashing our power Macs. But next year since we know what needs to be done we will have everything up and running with no problems or codec’s error.
C: Anime video room time changes: Rarw, it seemed like everything I wanted to see was running really late or early so I kept missing an episode here and there.
R: once again sorry.
C: Elevating the screens finally. I was able to see all the subtitles this year, without sitting on the back of my chair, or on my knees, or standing off to the side. I REALLY appreciated this. Anime summaries outside all the doors. HUGE PLUS. Especially because we marked down several anime to see, but then when we were pressed for time, we couldn't remember which ones were the must-sees vs. the kinda-wanna-sees. Good anime variety and getting the schedules online out early so we could do research. Excellent job.
R: oh thank you so much!! You noticed all the little things we did to improve our video rooms from last year. We really do aim to please. Also if you noticed a lot of other cons don’t do this thus this is what separates Fanimecon from the rest!
C: People need to be trained properly in computer usage for showing anime. In one case, the person didn't know how to work the Mac. My friend tried to help, but was brushed away. After the audience started yelling "FULL SCREEN!!" my friend's advice was finally taken. During the second anime, the audience had to walk him through, step by step, saying stuff like, "Open... Browse... Click..." He finally got it by the third episode. (EDIT: I see this was explained above, so nvm.) Make sure all the anime works. I saw at least two anime cancelled due to corrupted files. (EDIT: ditto on the above edit comment)
R: it is a new idea (computers), we know what needs to be done now and we hope not to have this happen again.
C: So when someone forces themselves on me, I'd be the bad guy when I force them OFF of me, all because they wanted a "Hug?" Yeah, that doesn't fly. There are some serious freak shows around cons and I had to practically elbow one in the throat until he got the message to get his hands off me.
R: please people go to con ops if you don’t know were that is go to the info booth and they will tell you were it is. Lets stop this early so it doesn’t get out of hand and ruin it or the con for the rest of us.
C: Anime (overall): I was impressed with the selection of titles and I am happy that the screens were at a higher level this year so that the sub-titles could be easily read. Most of the problems have been addressed (corrupted files, people not knowing how to use the computers). Thanks to the people in the video department for getting the schedule out so early. That helped a lot.
R: another satisfied Fanimecon attendant
C: The issues with the technical difficulties couldn't really have been avoided, so I do understand, but it was still a let-down.
R: oops our bad will do better next time. Promise
Well thank you for your questions and comments. Lots of good things happen and some unforeseen problems but all in all we got threw it and gave you one of the best video programs we could offer. Right now we are working on ideas to make video run even better. Also I just have a couple of question.
1. What did you think of our new programs we put out there this year?
2. Did you see anime hell? If so did you like it as much as I did?
3. Did you check out famine short anime films? If so was it just right or do we need to improve it
4. Did you like the new line up of parodies? New and old? You say yamato, voltron hell bent for leather, robotech pineapple salad, true naruto style,
5. What other future parodies would you like to see?
6. What else can you think of that could improve video programming.
7. Did having the anime descriptions in front of the door ways and on the net help you? Did you download them to see what ser were about?
I hope to hear from you soon and thanks for making video programming a success once again!
I've been going to Fanime since 2003, and this year has got to be my least favorite. Don't get me wrong or anything, Fanime was still a lot of fun, but there was just...something about it that totally didn't do it for me. So, here are my dislikes and likes:
Lo Bueno:
- Great atmosphere, everyone was quite friendly and people seemed genuinely happy.
- schedules were definetely improved, props on that.
- staff, the staff is always helpful and friendly.
Lo Malo:
- there was a lack of goods in the dealer's room. I am the type of person to buy everything at once and then have no money left for the remaining days, but I had a really difficult time finding anything that I liked. I got some great stuff in the end, but when I walk into the dealer's room I've kind of built myself up to find something great.
- I was really annoyed by the vast amounts of Naruto and Bleach I saw. While this is something that can't be helped, it was very annoying to see it everywhere I went. I know it's because of the popularity, but still. Now, I'm being a bit vain here, but my cosplay took many many hours to do, and I put a lot of work into it. Yet my cosplay was horribly overlooked compared to something like Naruto. Once again, this can't be helped because my cosplay was obscure and not many are familiar with it. But people should be able to acknowledge when something is well made, and was made with a lot of effort. To all that commented on my cosplay and took pics, thank you so much for your kind words ( I was the one with the large wings and the green wig, King Chaos )
Those were my only gripes with Fanime really. The rest is simply stuff on my part that I could have done to make it more enjoyable. For instance, rooming with someone else. This year I came alone, and spent most of my time alone. I had groups of friends come to Fanime, but I spent very little time with them due to the fact that their schedule just didn't coincide with mine. I seriously spent most of my time in my hotel room staring at the ceiling because I felt so alone. The other thing I could have done was bring my own supply of snacks and water, things like that. That was just me being stupid, so yah.
Anywho, that's enough from me. I still had a great time, but if I manage to get the same time off next year, I will come again. Hopefully by next year the dealer's room might grow a bit more and have a bit more variety. And most of all, I will not come alone. I hate being alone. I'll be seeing everyone in '08!
Quote from: "Moogleborg"Fanime 2008 was practically my best Fanime ever!
0_o Well, I hope it will be, anyway.
Quote from: "blancoisma"- I was really annoyed by the vast amounts of Naruto and Bleach I saw. While this is something that can't be helped, it was very annoying to see it everywhere I went. I know it's because of the popularity, but still. Now, I'm being a bit vain here, but my cosplay took many many hours to do, and I put a lot of work into it. Yet my cosplay was horribly overlooked compared to something like Naruto. Once again, this can't be helped because my cosplay was obscure and not many are familiar with it. But people should be able to acknowledge when something is well made, and was made with a lot of effort. To all that commented on my cosplay and took pics, thank you so much for your kind words ( I was the one with the large wings and the green wig, King Chaos )
I know exactly what you mean here. I was a bit dissapointed with how few people wanted my picture on Sunday. (I was the one in the big black dress with the poofy sleeves and 10 foot train, also seen in the masquerade.) I spent months handsewing every tiny detail of the original into my costume, but then when it came down to it, no one wanted my picture. In fact, very few people even complemented me on it. It was only after I resigned myself to standing along the side of the concourse with my train fully spread out (a difficult task to do by myself), did a few people stop and take pictures, but I felt that it was only because it was convinent. Yes, it was a very obscure costume and I doubt anyone knew what it was, but it made me a bit sad to see all these people cosplaying popular characters that probably did not (and did not, from the looks of some of their costumes) put nearly as much effort as I did into making a complex costume. But, that cannot really be helped, I suppose. People will be people.
If you are cosplaying to get your picture taken... you're cosplaying for the wrong reasons... seriously.
Cosplaying SHOULD be about loving the character, and loving it enough to want to dress up like said character. I cosplayed one of my favorite characters as of recent, Chrono from Nanoha. Guess what, no one recognized me, no one took my picture, and someone who cosplayed from the same series didn't even recognize it. Did I care? Hell no, because the costume was awesome, and I love the character. If what I cared about was getting my picture taken, or getting recognized, I'd whore myself out and do something totally obvious(cough cough... anything 4chan, or anything bleach, or naruto, death note...).
"Cosplay is love~"
-ComiPa
Well it used to be, now it's about attention whoring. I liked how things were pre 2000 where the majority of people didn't cosplay, and those that did, did it not for the attention, but for love of the character.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"If you are cosplaying to get your picture taken... you're cosplaying for the wrong reasons... seriously.
Cosplaying SHOULD be about loving the character, and loving it enough to want to dress up like said character. I cosplayed one of my favorite characters as of recent, Chrono from Nanoha. Guess what, no one recognized me, no one took my picture, and someone who cosplayed from the same series didn't even recognize it. Did I care? Hell no, because the costume was awesome, and I love the character. If what I cared about was getting my picture taken, or getting recognized, I'd whore myself out and do something totally obvious(cough cough... anything 4chan, or anything bleach, or naruto, death note...).
"Cosplay is love~"
-ComiPa
Well it used to be, now it's about attention whoring. I liked how things were pre 2000 where the majority of people didn't cosplay, and those that did, did it not for the attention, but for love of the character.
Word. Also keep in mind that with a million cosplayers nowadays, photographers do run out of film (although they should be carrying enough cards/film/whatever for a million shots, right?). =)
Quote from: "PyronIkari"If you are cosplaying to get your picture taken... you're cosplaying for the wrong reasons... seriously.
Cosplaying SHOULD be about loving the character, and loving it enough to want to dress up like said character. I cosplayed one of my favorite characters as of recent, Chrono from Nanoha. Guess what, no one recognized me, no one took my picture, and someone who cosplayed from the same series didn't even recognize it. Did I care? Hell no, because the costume was awesome, and I love the character. If what I cared about was getting my picture taken, or getting recognized, I'd whore myself out and do something totally obvious(cough cough... anything 4chan, or anything bleach, or naruto, death note...).
"Cosplay is love~"
-ComiPa
Well it used to be, now it's about attention whoring. I liked how things were pre 2000 where the majority of people didn't cosplay, and those that did, did it not for the attention, but for love of the character.
Also QFT'd. I had a costume on hand for this year - the Akatsuki outfit from Naruto, aka OMG THE ITACHI!1! outfit - and I chose not to wear it, because even though I like the outfit itself, I simply am not into the series.
There's a difference between costume
play and just plain costuming.
Quote from: "Jelly Soup"Quote from: "Moogleborg"Fanime 2008 was practically my best Fanime ever!
0_o Well, I hope it will be, anyway.
It's so awesome you can feel it from a year away.
Quote from: "MPLe"...Also keep in mind that with a million cosplayers nowadays, photographers do run out of film (although they should be carrying enough cards/film/whatever for a million shots, right?). =)
Don't forget the extra batteries! A digital camera can eat more electricity then an aluminum smelting plant.
You're more likely to run out of energy before memory....or is that just me? I'm surprised anime con photographers don't walk around with 100 foot extension cords like Evangelion units. :wink:
Quote from: "PyronIkari"If you are cosplaying to get your picture taken... you're cosplaying for the wrong reasons... seriously.
Cosplaying SHOULD be about loving the character, and loving it enough to want to dress up like said character. I cosplayed one of my favorite characters as of recent, Chrono from Nanoha. Guess what, no one recognized me, no one took my picture, and someone who cosplayed from the same series didn't even recognize it. Did I care? Hell no, because the costume was awesome, and I love the character. If what I cared about was getting my picture taken, or getting recognized, I'd whore myself out and do something totally obvious(cough cough... anything 4chan, or anything bleach, or naruto, death note...).
"Cosplay is love~"
-ComiPa
Well it used to be, now it's about attention whoring. I liked how things were pre 2000 where the majority of people didn't cosplay, and those that did, did it not for the attention, but for love of the character.
If you honestly think that I only cosplay for the attention, then you obviously know nothing about me at all.
I cosplay because I honestly LOVE doing so. Why else would I choose some obscure costume that I adore (Bodaiju PV Amano Tsukiko - it's my favourite song) and spend months hand-sewing the darn thing? If I wanted attention and didn't love what I was doing, I would buy a really popular costume instead of spending a lot of time and energy on trying to figure out how to make something else that I know no one will know. I do it out of love for the costume and the original designer and wearer of the costume, not for the attention.
That was not my point at all.
My point in my above post was that it is discouraging when you spend a lot of time and energy and money making your dream costume, and it just gets alked all over, quite literally, like no one even notices you are there. It also makes one wonder why some people with costumes of lesser quality get all sorts of complements, pictures, etc., when the one costume that you spent a year doing breakdowns and drafting your patterns for and then months sewing it only gets a few nods, if that. (Even though I was carrying the 10 foot train the vast majority of the time, I was still scared of getting my costume ripped from all the people that did not even look where they were walking and accidentally stood on my costume. It can be a bit hurtful when no one even noices that you and your costume are there.)
I'm not saying that I am sad becuase I didn't get any attention, if you knew me at all, you would know that I am anything but an attention whore. I'm saying that when someone spends months hand-sewing every detail onto an elaborate costume because they absouletly love the costume and the sourse material, it can be discouraging and make one not really want to make something so elaborate and time-consuming again when barely anyone even acknowledges your existance. That's it. I'm out there for anything but the attention, I'm out there for the love. But sometimes, if one barely gets anyone even noticing their hard work, it makes it harder to pull out the needle and thread and make another dream costume.
Quote from: "Xeluu"
+The staff members, especially those at Con-Ops and the Rovers were excellent this year. All of those who I spoke to were courtious and well informed. They dealt with line situations superbly. (Yaoi-Bingo line anyone? X_x yay for sick attendees.) And I'd like to thank the staff members of the console gaming who helped me by testing a used game I purchased from the dealers room which I ended up having to return do to it not running correctly.
Ahahha. I'm glad you liked the staff, I was one of the rovers working the yaoi bingo line... thanks for being part of a fun line. ^^
Oh dear.
Glomping was such an issue, as were the people with the "glomp me" signs. Unfortunately, there's only so much we can do as staff.
We had only about 30 rovers this year, I believe, and most of us worked 70+ hours (Meaning that there was one of us for about every 350 guests, give or take), however, that's not nearly enough of us to be where we needed to be at all times, and a lot of stuff we took care of after a con-goer informed us that it was a problem... we simply could not be everywhere. So yes, taking down their badge numbers is the best way to get them taken care of; we have the badge numbers and we use them to find people and make sure they're not continuing to do the same thing again and again. We really do use them, I promise, and repeat offenders do find themselves escorted off con premises, and some badges do get pulled.
The glomping thing is definitely going to have to be addressed by the staff, and perhaps there will be a rule put in place for next year, I can't really say for sure. A general rule of courtesy obviously isn't enough; asking whether people mind is the best way. But somehow, it will be dealt with.
As far as the
sleeping... Wow. Seriously, get a freaking hotel room, go home, etc. It is not
our fault that you want to stay 24-hours, but... err... go somewhere else, sleep, BATHE, etc. I don't especially care if you eat so long as you don't turn yourself into one of our medical emergencies... though I'd reccommend it, the body doesn't function well without eating.
I'm sorry to anyone who got woken up badly, and yes, we do have a strong presence at night, and we do check the video rooms. It's something that's necessary. As Trooper said earlier, it's something that we'll be discussing for next year.
Midnight Snack Parties... Are peachy, if they could just please in the future be taken to a hotel room or off convention property to where it is not our problem. The PB&J wouldn't have even been nearly as bad if they'd bothered to clean up after themselves, but we still have rules about what we can and can't allow...
Cosplay... I had some issues in that I didn't have my camera with me a lot of the time when I saw good cosplays... and then there were some where I was like ... *blink, blink* who are you?? But still, yes... good job. I'd like to see fewer half-arsed naruto outfits where people just grabbed a headband and called it cosplay. ><;
General Behavior... For the most part, as a rover, the people I encountered were as nice to me as I was to them... but there were problem people, and some issues that couldn't be addressed, etc. Remember guys, the behavior of our congoers determines whether we can continue to work with SJCC... if we make them too mad at us, we won't get the spot again, it's that simple. So try to play nice, and clean, and when there are issues, let the staff know; we can't fix things that we don't know are broken.
Okay, now that I'm done responding... (this is the post of doom already, can't you tell?)
+ Dealer's hall layout was far superior and had a lot more space than it has in past years.
+ Artist's alley was also well laid out.
+ Many, many people bothered to get their items peacebonded. Thank you to all of you who did.
- Program guide; I love looking at them and it was a bummer. But I've seen all the reasons... I hope that printing company is either offering a huge discount for next year or this year or something. *le grumble*
- Event overlap; deadly. It's hard enough as a congoer, even harder when you're a rover.
+ Events; I liked the variety.
+/- Maid Cafe; Location. I didn't go, so I'm just going to say that the location should be changed if it returns next year... that room downstairs from where it was would have been much better... also, decorations. But, as I said, I didn't go, so I don't know what it was really like. I do, however, like that it was something new and different... with some work it could be an awesome event.
+/- Food; I liked that there were food vendors. I disliked their prices (Seriously? They wanted that much?!), and it'd be nice if they could perhaps offer better deals...
- Video Rooms; Some of them were labelled badly, some of them had technical difficulties, etc. As a whole they were alright, but maybe attatching whiteboards where video staff can update statuses outside would be good...
+ Yaoi-Con Events; I liked the lines... XD that's a lame thing, isn't it? But thank you to all of you who were in the line that were nice. (I worked the Yaoi-Bingo, and yeah). It sucked when that girl got sick, but I'm glad she was ultimately alright.
- Hentai Rooms; I wanted funny, not scarring. O_O;;;; Sushi is ruined... Seriously. I'd like to see *funnier* hentai, not awkward, gross, and fetish-filled.
- Dealer's Hall; I'm going to support the opinion that it should be more anime-related. We're not all goths, and goth-gear is more than a little out of place. I'd love to see more variety in merchandise, though I realize there's only so much the con can do...
- Fanime Booth; The booth in the dealer's hall for fanime was... err... lame? C'mon guys, do something fun in there! Seriously. Don't just do a huge cuddle pile... that was awkward.
---- Registration Line; Wow. Good Lord. I did line control on Saturday and it was insane. Then I had people yell at me for things that I'm not in control of... harsh. Please, please, please Pre-Reg!! ><;
And... umm... yeah. Now, I'm good.
Quote from: "Nina Star 9"I was carrying the 10 foot train the vast majority of the time
I barely saw any of the con, so I didn't get a chance to see you, but I'd love to see your costume. Do you have any pictures you can post somewhere please?
Quote from: "Nina Star 9"
I cosplay because I honestly LOVE doing so. Why else would I choose some obscure costume that I adore (Bodaiju PV Amano Tsukiko - it's my favourite song) and spend months hand-sewing the darn thing? If I wanted attention and didn't love what I was doing, I would buy a really popular costume instead of spending a lot of time and energy on trying to figure out how to make something else that I know no one will know. I do it out of love for the costume and the original designer and wearer of the costume, not for the attention.
Oh... ther'es a number of reasons to do so. The same reason why some people PURPOSELY choose to cosplay obscure things, it's not the amount of attention they get, but the elite feeling that if someone recognizes their super obscure costume, that it means that much more... or it could be that you wanted to be elitist completely and have people ask you about it... I'm not saying you are any of those... but those are possibilities.
Quote
My point in my above post was that it is discouraging when you spend a lot of time and energy and money making your dream costume, and it just gets alked all over, quite literally, like no one even notices you are there. It also makes one wonder why some people with costumes of lesser quality get all sorts of complements, pictures, etc., when the one costume that you spent a year doing breakdowns and drafting your patterns for and then months sewing it only gets a few nods, if that. (Even though I was carrying the 10 foot train the vast majority of the time, I was still scared of getting my costume ripped from all the people that did not even look where they were walking and accidentally stood on my costume. It can be a bit hurtful when no one even noices that you and your costume are there.)
You missed completely where I said absolutely know one asked me for my picture, or that no one even recognized it... even someone from the exact same series. If you're whining that no one recognized it, or that you didn't get attention... then you aren't doing it for love. You ARE doing it for the recognition. Some costumes I've done have gotten me loads of attention, some have gotten me absolutely none. Van from Escaflowne got me so much attention it's not even funny... but the reason why I did Van in the first place is a very personal reason and connection I had with something that's not worth mentioning on here. Had I gotten 0 pictures and no one cared who I was... I still would have been super happy because I did that character, and I did that costume that I was very much connected to.
I did a sprite from the Atelier Series(Iris version) and I got 1 picture taken... and it was because he thought I was cosplaying Li Syaoran(which if anything is more insulting than not getting your picture taken before) and had a person cosplaying from the Atelier series say she had no clue who I was, and stated that she had no clue who she was, she just thought the costume was cute so she did it.
I even had a little chemistry set with the bottles and the rack and I sat on the floor playing with it like in the game... XD it was so bad ass.
I did Laharl(LOL first Laharl in the US and possibly Japan) since it was before Disgaea was even okayd for release in the US and it had only been out in Japan for about 2weeks. Of course no one recognized that costume at all. Girls just wanted to take my picture because I had no shirt on and I apparently have nice legs or something.
See, cosplay is about yourself. It's about doing something you like for yourself. Not for anyone else. Not for the attention you might get, not for the picture opportunities, not for anything accept your will to do it, and your wanting to do it. Recognition is nice, but definitely not important.
Quote
I'm not saying that I am sad becuase I didn't get any attention, if you knew me at all, you would know that I am anything but an attention whore. I'm saying that when someone spends months hand-sewing every detail onto an elaborate costume because they absouletly love the costume and the sourse material, it can be discouraging and make one not really want to make something so elaborate and time-consuming again when barely anyone even acknowledges your existance. That's it. I'm out there for anything but the attention, I'm out there for the love. But sometimes, if one barely gets anyone even noticing their hard work, it makes it harder to pull out the needle and thread and make another dream costume.
You're right, I don't know you at all, I can only base this on the logic you have put forth in your posts. I can only rationalize what you have presented as a base point. And your base point is...
"I Don't cosplay for anyone but myself. I do things I love... but I don't want to do it anymore unless people recognize me and give me attention".
Sorry, but things don't add up that way. You might not be an attention whore... but you're definitely seeking attention for you to have that attitude. That's not love at all. That's an excuse.
I think you might be reading too much into things PyronIkari. My feeling from the posts was that these cosplayers do love the characters and that's the main drive behind their costume, but that a little positive reinforcement never hurt. Nina Star 9 was just a 'bit disappointed.' blancoisma went a bit further saying they were 'really annoyed' but it seemed like blowing off disappointment to me. More photographs would be icing on the cake, not the driving force.
For instance, I'm sure Nina Star 9 will end up doing another wonderful costume next year. This is the second one I've seen from her in as many years at Fanime. I think she was just trying to say that after all that work, she would be more eager to get right back on the sewing train rather than take a time out, if she had more feedback.
I know when I'm happy with work I've done, I like to share it with others, but it's hard if no one is interested.
I doubt many people cosplay for only one reason. After all, if you're only cosplaying for yourself, why bother bringing it to a con? Why not just cosplay for yourself at home? I assume you want to at least see how it goes and perhaps play with other people with like interests... aren't you glad when you do find some of those people at con? Isn't it fun to play dress up with other people? The driving force is the love for the character, sure, but there are added bonuses.
Nina Star 9 - You were in the Cosplay Spectacular right? Assuming you were craftsmanship judged, you should have at least gotten some feedback from them correct? Also, I'm sure you are friends with other Amano Tsukiko addicts who can appreciate your hard work. I'm sorry to hear that people were inconsiderate regarding your costume, that's the worst. It's tough going it alone, usually when I cosplay, I'm with friends who can help carry stuff. If I see you next year and we're both not busy, I'd love to hear how you made your costume(s.)
Another thing about photos is, often photographers don't want to inconvenience the cosplayer. I pretty much only take pictures myself when I see someone already stopped for pictures. Maybe you just tend to look like you're busy? Also, maybe people don't realize you're wearing a costume and think that the dress is your usual fashion. It does look very professional after all.
People take photographs for different reasons. Some people want to catalog all the costumes that wow them, others want characters they love, some people like to set up stories... the list goes on and on.
blancoisma - It's hard to notice immediately how well made something is and how long it must have taken on a quick walk by, depending on the costume. Sometimes you have to be up close or take a long look to full tell how difficult it must have been. Also, how are people to know if you made the costume or had it commissioned?
Plus, maybe those Naruto costumes did take people a long time to do. Some Naruto costumes aren't simple and depending on skill level and experience, putting together a costume even if you don't think it looks that hard might have been quite an endeavor for the person wearing it.
Or, to look at the issue in a more simple way, you may be cosplaying for the love of the character, but it'd be nice to see that others share that love for the character as well and see that others recognize the character besides yourself.
Quote from: "Stormfalcon"Or, to look at the issue in a more simple way, you may be cosplaying for the love of the character, but it'd be nice to see that others share that love for the character as well and see that others recognize the character besides yourself.
Ah but you're comparing two different things. Cosplaying and getting a bonus is different than cosplaying and being disappointed that you didn't get recognized.
It's like offering to help out a friend, then getting mad that he didn't offer to buy you dinner or something afterwards...
compared to
It's like offering to help out a friend, then being surprised when he offers to get you a beer afterwards.
I certainly wouldn't get mad or disappointed if I offered to help out a friend and he doesn't get me diner or anything like that. I'm helping him because I want to help him. If he does get me something that's a bonus, but if he doesn't, there's 0 reason to be disappointed.
IT IS seeking attention no matter how you look at it, or word it. By being disappointed or sad, or angry, or anything along those lines at all, it means that you WERE SEEKING ATTENTION. I like when people talk to me about my costume, but if no one does, I don't really care. I find it kinda pitiful and irritating when someone from the same series doesn't recognize me, because that's disrespectful to the character they're cosplaying, the series as a whole... and the production of that series to cosplay about something you have such little knowledge about. That's not love at all.
Pyon, this discussion is completely pointless. You are totally misinterpeting what I am trying to say and taking on some eleitest attitide. I will not diginfy this with any more responses.
Thank you all of you that are giving encouragement and understand what I mean. Especially you, Keys, your kind words have really lifted my spirits. I hope to see you next year, as well. :D (By the way, unless you want specifics, here is how I make my costumes- I make it up as I go. @_@) But thank you all who actually understand my logic.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"It's like offering to help out a friend, then getting mad that he didn't offer to buy you dinner or something afterwards...
compared to
It's like offering to help out a friend, then being surprised when he offers to get you a beer afterwards.
I certainly wouldn't get mad or disappointed if I offered to help out a friend and he doesn't get me diner or anything like that. I'm helping him because I want to help him. If he does get me something that's a bonus, but if he doesn't, there's 0 reason to be disappointed.
I'm seeing it more like, you help your friend because he's your friend. While you're helping, you get thirsty and think "Wow, it would sure be nice if he offered me a beer" and then "Too bad he didn't offer me a beer." Later, once you've gotten your own beer or gatorade, you don't really think about it ever again.
I've done some characters where other people from the series haven't recognized me. I didn't find it pitiful or irritating though. I figured either my costume wasn't good enough, they hadn't read that far in the manga/seen that far in the series, or I had just picked someone who was too much of a side character or an outfit that was on screen way too short an amount of time.
While I've never cosplayed someone I didn't know, couldn't it be seen as a sign of respect to the character designer to cosplay a character even if you don't know much about them? It's like saying "Wow this design is so cool, I want to cosplay it even if I can't read/watch/play."
Of course I'm the one that is misinterpereting logical reasons and not believing in something that you want to believe to be true because it makes you look better.
Sorry, no dice. I've explained it how it works. I've explained the scenario you would like to believe you're in, and the actual you are in. Funny thing is, you're the one taking more offense at this than you should. I never said you were this terrible person or anything, just merely stating that you are seeking attention(which you cannot deny since you said you were disappointed that you didn't get attention).
I merely just stated, you shouldn't feel that way. You're not whoring yourself out like a lot of cosplayers do, but you are still focusing on something you shouldn't.
In simpler terms "Don't let it get to you that people don't know who you are, or aren't giving you attention, just be happy with yourself".
Of course I could have worded it that way, but then others wouldn't have thought about it from the other perspective I gave and reflected upon themselves in the same way... ala "Am I an attention whore?".
Quote
While I've never cosplayed someone I didn't know, couldn't it be seen as a sign of respect to the character designer to cosplay a character even if you don't know much about them? It's like saying "Wow this design is so cool, I want to cosplay it even if I can't read/watch/play."
Nope, because that's only caring about appearances and not giving a damn about the character as a whole. Think about it this way. If the creator of the character came up to you and said "Wow I'm glad you like my character, what are your favorite parts about that character"... what would you say?
"Oh I don't know anything about the character other than how it looks!"
How would you think it'd feel for him, that you've cheapened the character to only it's appearance?
If the costume was bad or you did a very minor character, I'd understand. Chrono is a very important main character in Nanoha... and the sprite is the staple character of the Atelier series. It's like stating you're a fan of Final Fantasy and not knowing what a chocobo is.
Quote from: "Nina Star 9"(By the way, unless you want specifics, here is how I make my costumes- I make it up as I go. @_@)
Yeah, I like talking about people's costumes in person so you can be like "Oh how did you get the sleeves to do that?" or "What did you use to get this effect here?"
*Usually raids sales and uses parts of patterns to form franken-pattern for her costume base, the rest is usually an ill-advised experiment. ^^*
Quote from: "trooper715"
I have no idea why someone would go to the Maid Cafe for take-out either....did anyone actually go for that? Seemed to defeat the purpose to me.
I did, but that was only because my friend who happened to be staffing for Tabletop Gaming was doing badge checks near the door(he wasn't allowed to leave yet) and he wouldn't stop bothering me and my friend about getting his energy drink(and there wasn't too many nearby areas in the SJCC that supplied it), so that was probably the only time I bought something from Maid Cafe.
Quote from: "miss shelby"
I understand that kids get excited to see their favorite characters and all that but what if this were, say, Disneyland. What do you think would happen if someone forgot their manners and ran up on Mickey? They would get ejected from the park if not banned.
I'm not asking for "ZOMG TEH NAZIS," but it would be nice for these "glompers" to understand that other people would just like to be shown a little common curtesy.
I think we should consider improving how we remind congoers about convention ettiquettes. Although it might be fun to "STAWK DAT HAWT RIKU COSPLAYER!", we still need to keep in mind that underneath that "SMEXEH" costume is a regular person like us. Although some people do abide by the "Do unto others what you would want done to you", we also need to remember that others have different tastes from ours, meaning not everyone is as ecstatic for a glompie as someone else would be. The solution I can suggest so far is to ask permission, or have a friend talk to the person-to-be-glomped(or that person's friend) to see if that particular person is okay with glomps(since it might ruin the fun if you were planning a suprise glomp) just to be sure that you don't invoke any medical dangers or cause an inconvienience to that person.
Glomping wasn't much of a problem for me since more than half of the time, I'd be seen walking around the con wearing a radio and we all know there's nothing worse than getting on a staffer's bad side, especially one that looks like he/she is of a high rank. Or if I was offered a hug, I'd politely thank the person and tell him/her no.
Feedback-wise, I'll start on my opinions.
Artist Colony: The artists were rather decent, though most of them weren't as skilled as I hoped they would appear to be. I think with the exception of 1 or 2 artists as well as the works displayed on the Artist Auction, the styles seemed a bit too generic for my taste. I couldn't really purchase too many prints because none of them really caught my interest in an impacting manner, but other than that, the artists were really friendly.
Black and White Ball: One of the best events I have attended this year. I had so much fun dancing over there. It was a little difficult because none of my friends attended the panel beforehand, but then again, who really needed it? It was the music and just having a good time with my friends and a few other congoers that made my experience enjoyable. If we do decide to have this event next year, I'll definetly be there.
Masquerade: Seating was much better, especially since I was in the back corner and I was still able to have a good view. The skits were really interesting, though I really can't sit through 3+ hours of it so I ended up leaving(I really hoped to stay longer too).
Dance: In terms of decency, it was pretty stable(I'm referring to Saturday bte). Other than a few cases, I didn't really have to make too many reports to Rovers.
Fanimaid Cafe: The maids were really lovely in terms of costume. I wasn't able to receive the service because I was in a hurry and was just stopping there on my way, however I was able to enter and see for a little while and it seemed rather peaceful. Like everyone else, I was a little bit confused as well.
Gaming: I liked how everything was grouped and slightly spread out. The gaming areas didn't really stink as much.
Karaoke: Didn't get to see it, but I really wished I did :[...
MusicFest: I wasn't really too fond of the room because it had this "cramped" feeling to it around the back walls. I really worry about the room as the attendee size grows because if we end up with too many attendees at MusicFest, that could end up causing a fire hazard(some of my staff friends and former dept heads were mostly concerned about the room due to this possibility). I thought the bands were an improvement compared to last year's. Not so much styles clashing, though I was sad that I had to miss out on Mari Ijima(I was looking forward to seeing her too :[...
Panels: There weren't enough interesting panels nor were there enough allocated during the night.
Video Programming: I was not pleased at all with the delays of screenings, because it ruined a lot of my plans during con. I didn't think it was really fair for the attendees to put up with it either.
My biggest grippe would have to be this year's programming, which is probably the only aspect of Fanime that went down the drain(slightly) for this year.
I think Ops(ConOps, Rovers, Facilities, etc.) did an good-excellent job this year though. The Registration lines for Saturday was rather hectic, but the important thing is, everyone survived! :D
One of the biggest criticisms I will often hear about Fanime is that it keeps getting worse and worse each year. I think the reason for this because people are not used to drastic changes, such as the arcades and artist tables being moved into a single room instead of being out on the concourse. It sorta makes the concourse feel naked if there aren't any around. I have been finding myself becoming dissatisfied with the Dealer's room each year, and this is mostly due to a lack in variation in terms of the products. There was nothing that really caught my eye since it felt like everyone was selling the same thing. The types of panels that have been going on could be thrown in here as well.
I'll probably edit this once I find more things to say.
Hi! This is the general comments and feedback thread as it relates to the con, not "Why do you cosplay?" :P Keep it on the subject!
Quote- Hentai Rooms; I wanted funny, not scarring. O_O;;;; Sushi is ruined... Seriously. I'd like to see *funnier* hentai, not awkward, gross, and fetish-filled.
That's the beauty of hentai rooms: They're inherently funny due to the crowd's squawks and chatter, combined with lame dialogue and cheesy voice-acting/fake moaning.
Seriously, I've never actually seen the crowd boo the hentai playing, except for that one night where we played Princess 69 a couple years back.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"I did a sprite from the Atelier Series(Iris version) and I got 1 picture taken... and it was because he thought I was cosplaying Li Syaoran(which if anything is more insulting than not getting your picture taken before) and had a person cosplaying from the Atelier series say she had no clue who I was, and stated that she had no clue who she was, she just thought the costume was cute so she did it.
I even had a little chemistry set with the bottles and the rack and I sat on the floor playing with it like in the game... XD it was so bad ass.
I saw you, but I didn't recognize your costume immediately. I thought about it, realized who the character was and tried to find you (for pictures). Alas.....anyway, you wouldn't happen to have a pic of your cosplay, would you?
Quote from: "Jelly Soup"
I saw you, but I didn't recognize your costume immediately. I thought about it, realized who the character was and tried to find you (for pictures). Alas.....anyway, you wouldn't happen to have a pic of your cosplay, would you?
Nope XD.
Quote from: "E-Chan"
Oh dear. Glomping was such an issue, as were the people with the "glomp me" signs. Unfortunately, there's only so much we can do as staff.
It's probably going to have to require a significant increase in security. If there's only so much you can do as staff, time to increase the staff or get more help from the outside.
Face it: You're dealing with a bunch of people who, quite frankly, aren't that socially adept. And simply saying "no means no, stop means stop", etc., doesn't cut it.
Take it from me -- thrown out of one college and almost out of a second back in the day for that stuff. If I were to hang too long around the cosplayers, chances are I'd probably end up in jail for (what was that one post saying??) "STAWKING THAT HAWT RIKU COSPLAYER!!!"
(Although for me, it'd probably be _Rikku_ -- and, as for the other, been there, done that, and got on the front cover of the New York Post...)
You're probably going to have to make it more clear that violations might be considered criminal acts. You might well have to see a lot more SJPD around next year.
Quote from: "E-Chan"
The glomping thing is definitely going to have to be addressed by the staff, and perhaps there will be a rule put in place for next year, I can't really say for sure. A general rule of courtesy obviously isn't enough; asking whether people mind is the best way. But somehow, it will be dealt with.
Reiterating: An increase in the security is going to have to be the starting point. Additionally, you're probably going to have to delineate the criminal aspects of it.
And now to my favorite pet-peeve which has now wrecked more than one convention:
Quote from: "E-Chan"
As far as the sleeping... Wow. Seriously, get a freaking hotel room, go home, etc. It is not our fault that you want to stay 24-hours, but... err... go somewhere else, sleep, BATHE, etc. I don't especially care if you eat so long as you don't turn yourself into one of our medical emergencies... though I'd reccommend it, the body doesn't function well without eating.
First off, I'm not going to spend $120 for a hotel room that I'm not going to freaking use unless you want to post a San Jose police officer at the door and demand I stay there for eight hours. That's #1.
#2, No, we aren't forced to stay 24 hours, but if you're going to put out that kind of programming (and, admitted, the amount of programming late-late was reduced this year -- probably in anticipation that you probably are going to have to cut programming completely in the future at 3 AM or so (like other cons are!)...
I mean, let's go another route: I decided to go to A-Kon last weekend and decided to do it the way you guys want to. I spent more freaking time in my hotel room than at the con!!
And don't give me this crap about "You don't come to the con to sleep in your hotel room." Especially if you are going to be fascists about the "no sleeping at the con" rules, then you DO come to the con to spend money and use the hotel rooms.
Quote from: "E-Chan"
I'm sorry to anyone who got woken up badly, and yes, we do have a strong presence at night, and we do check the video rooms. It's something that's necessary. As Trooper said earlier, it's something that we'll be discussing for next year.
If I don't get banned from Fanime or arrested somewhere else by next year, I'll be VERY interested as to how it's addressed.
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"Quote from: "darkstar"... and getting royally honked at the "no sleeping at the con" rules and the hawks enforcing it.
Usually, I'll see some enforcement, but it was clear to me that it was Priority Number One Point of Emphasis made to security this year that the moment it became apparent that someone passed out anywhere, they were to be immediately rousted.
And even when I was awake, it was like "DAMN!!! That's the third time this episode I've seen that burly security geek come through the room like that."
its a convetion center, not a hotel. i worked volunteers this year, and i saw more than enough people trying to sleep in the video rooms this year; i even saw two people walk into the hentai room with a blanket and a couple of pillows, in which they then started to reorganize the chairs into a makeshift bed. knowing this is not supposed to happen, i advised them that they cant sleep in there, and asked them not to try or rovers would be called to deal with it.
Then, as I very forcefully (to the point that I came to the very edge of, and should've just went over to, getting thrown out of Fanime 2007) made clear, DON'T FREAKING SCREEN AT 3-4-5 AM!!!!!!!!!!!!
You don't want it to be a hotel, then take all the late-night stuff other than the theme blocks and put it on the dark channels of the hotels you do have.
I mean, it's not hard to figure out that, especially when there are screenings that people want to watch at such insane hours and you have 80 hours or so of consecutive screenings, people are going to pass out from time to time.
The easiest solution would be to move all the late-late blocks a couple hours forward and close everything at 2-3 AM if it's going to be that much of a problem for the con center and the like.
Now, "building" beds is bad form. Make oneself that obvious, and you risk whatever you're going to get.
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"Quote from: "darkstar"I'm not going to pay $120/night for a hotel room that I'm literally going to have to be taken to in handcuffs by con security (if not the SJPD) to use. Because that basically costs me 12-18 hours of the con right there. Multiply it by two nights (much less the three!), and there goes any real need for the four-day pass.
if you dont want to have to pay that much for a room, try sharing a room with others so you dont have to pay as much cash; thats what i did, and i only paid $70...for the whole weekend.
Me and roommates don't mix.
Basically, for me, an anime convention (or, really, ANYTHING) comes down to a very delicate balance. I could be the single biggest security risk that people face at Fanime, but they might not know it. If I told people about my history, past, and potential, I'd be barred from not only Fanime, but probably every anime convention in the West.
Sharing a room would probably involve some degree of police involvement as they throw me out of the room on Friday night. So that doesn't work.
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"Quote from: "darkstar"Look, I'll say it a third time (I said it once to the info desk when I saw one of the most ridiculous pairs of contradictory statements I've ever seen at a con, and the second was to the four people who escorted me out at 5:30 AM Monday):
YOU DON'T WANT PEOPLE SLEEPING AT THE CON, SHUT THE CON DOWN AT 2 AM OR SOMESUCH. (And not reopen until 9-10 AM, like they did Sat. morning at ALA this year when there were only two people in the screening room at 2:30 -- one asleep and the other (me) fighting it off the best I could.)
(And before I get questions on that: Yaoi/Yuri/Hentai/Madness/Anarchy would be moved up to about 9-10 PM. I'd even go so far as to make the room that the Yaoi-Con people use a Kid's Room during the day. All marathons have their own room anyway. You've already moved up the dances and the karaoke such that the only thing left at 2-3 AM is the screenings.)
even if the con was shut down at 2am, it doesnt stop people from being out and about. also, hentai/yuri/yaoi nights are started at midnight due to the fact that its stuff that wouldnt normally be shown in the day/evening time, because its so controversial/risque/stuff that would get people in trouble for showing it at a time when there are a few tikes out with the parents.
Well, the first answer is that people aren't "out and about". Basically, once the con closes, non-staff that are still in the con center 15-30 minutes after closing are considered trespassing. The whole point of closing the con is to clear the building.
And as far as starting the controversial stuff at midnight, all I can say is what I said above: Sleeping in the screening rooms becomes part of the territory if you decide to keep it open ridiculous hours. And if you don't want the tykes around, then just do as you do normally and cordon off the yaoi/yuri/hentai area.
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"another reason why you/me/no one can sleep in the video rooms, or anywhere in the convention center is because it conflicts with possible fire codes, plus someone could easily do stuff to anyione sleeping in the video rooms, which would probably cause a lawsuit to come into play, either against the con center or fanime itself, which then leads to more enforcement and more complaints. its a simple rule to follow: dont sleep in the con center: easy as that.
Then don't screen past 2 or 3. Judging by most of the rest of this thread (the glompinators out of control at Fanime), you seem to have another lawsuit risk on your hands. (Again, trust me, I know about this kind of stuff... The hard way!)
You could even say that people could take advantage of people in the screening rooms anyway, given the lack of light in the room.
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"
Quote from: "darkstar"I could come up with several other possibilities if you like (that's basically what I spent a lot of time doing from about Saturday on):
1) Require con-goers to get hotel reservations before they can get a full-con pass.
2) Go the Naka-Con approach: Get rousted once, and that's your one warning. Second one costs you the convention. (With that, I'd have been tossed 7 AM Saturday.) You do that, I'm gone -- but it's a possibility for the con itself.
3 -- a variation of 1) If you're not willing to show accomodations, you can't stay past midnight. It would require a separate set of badges to be made, but still.
theres are all legitimate ideas, but they dont work; main reason they dont work are as follows:
#1 cant be done since there are some people that live very close to the con (close to 10-15 minutes away from the con and they could just go home for the night) wouldn't need to get a hotel room, or some people dont want to pay for a room and rather commute;
Fine, but they have to show something in the area at that point. Whether it's their own residence or the like, they have to show something. And, as far as commuting:
If I were to come from San Francisco, I'd be looking at 2 hours each direction (and that's even factoring a wait for the Caltrain -- late-night transit is far worse) plus 8 hours just for the sleep back up here. That's half a day to begin with -- and why did I attend the con again???
The point of the argument is that if you want to be fascists about the "no sleeping" rule, then you don't want people like me who won't drop $500 or so on four nights of hotel.
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"
#2 could work, but its too unfair to those that get blamed accidentaly because someone wants to point the finger at them when they didnt do anything and the person pointing the finger is actually the one that did it (that was simply an example);
It's something that at least one con will do. (It's a con in Nebraska, for the record.)
The fact is that that's something you would do as a "feature" of security -- basically, your fascist comes down, catches someone sleeping, and gets that person escorted to security. They would get a mark on their badge. If they already had one, for that reason or something else, see you next year.
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"
#3 is too complicated to do, and would require paperwork that would simply take up resources and time/manpower. having to have a separate badge that states that you have a hotel room would once again be unfair to those that live close by or commute.
Basically, if it's that much of a problem, then, again, don't screen at obscene hours.
Because there is screening at late night hours doesn't mean that you are allowed to sleep on convention grounds. I'm a night person. On average I go to bed at around 6am PST and wake up at around noon PST. But I sleep... during that time in a designated sleeping area(my hotel room at the convention while I'm at the con).
You don't like people and don't want to share a room? Then don't. You act as if, because you have a badge at a convention you should be allowed to do whatever you want at said convention, and no one has a right to say you are wrong. It comes down to having basic respects. First off, respect for the convention, because they are providing you a service, and it is up to you to uphold your conduct within their service. If you can't respect the laws then you don't deserve said service.
But I still don't get the majority of what you're trying to prove with your backwards logic. You go on about this rant about how YOU are the ones with problems, and how you have this past, blah blah blah, which none of us should give a damn about. If YOU have the problem, then shouldn't you be the one that fixes it? It's not any ones job to look after you like a 4 year old. You throw yourself into a situation you can't really control and then blame others for it?
You seem to miss the point, that if people have business in the area it's fine. If people are in screening rooms... to screen. Or staff is there doing business, or people are talking in the lobbies and what not, these are fine. But by sleeping in public areas, you are breaking the law.
I'll put it how a lot of the old Karaoke staff puts it. If you have enough money to travel to the convention, buy a badge, and spend money on other crap at the convention, you should have money to rent a hotel room. If you cannot afford both... guess what, priorities take affect here. If you can't afford that... THEN DON'T COME AND BE A SEMI-INTELLIGENT HUMAN BEING.
Karaoke staff will do whatever the hell they want to people that fall asleep in the Karaoke room. They tell me to do whatever *I WANT* to them. I've done some pretty mean things before.
QuoteThe point of the argument is that if you want to be fascists about the "no sleeping" rule, then you don't want people like me who won't drop $500 or so on four nights of hotel.
No, I'll put it more correctly. They want people that are respectable and intelligent people. If you cannot afford a hotel room, then share a room with people. If you're too picky to share a room, that isn't the conventions fault, that is your fault. You're the one being difficult, the convention is just trying to uphold laws and rules that are regulated and mandated by the state. If you feel the convention has no right to uphold these laws, then you sir are an idiot.
You're the one that is turning them into "fascists"(I love people that have no clue what a fascist really is but claim it so loudly). You're the one that can't follow simple rules, so what other choice does the convention have? Hey, if they could be lax and just let people do what they wanted with no reprehension... then they probably would(it's your ass... not theirs). But fact of the matter is, the attendees' conduct reflects on the convention. You being stupid and sleeping in screening rooms gets back to the convention center. The convention center can go "sorry you guys let people break laws, and act uncivilly, no con next year". So what does the con do? What is the bigger issue? Punishing someone who acted stupid and didn't follow the clearly posted rules... or stopping the convention completely?
Here's a better idea if you really don't want to get a room.
Exit the convention center. Walk 400 feet away from the convention building. Pull out your sleeping bag, and sleep on the street. That way, the convention isn't responsible and you don't have to share a room with anyone, and it costs you nothing. If a cop picks you up, or you get harassed, or whatever, that's all on you, but that's your choice for not getting a legitimate hotel room where you are sanctioned to sleep.
just like PyronIkari said: if you dont want to shell out that much cash, room with others; if you dont want share a room, then dont b!tch about it.
your actions and the actions of others reflect against the con staff, and against the con itself. by sleeping in the video rooms (or anywhere inside the convention center, for that matter), you are breaking the law.[/u] alot of stuff happened that shouldn't have happened this year; by breaking the rules and sleeping in the vid. rooms and not following the rules of the con in general, it puts not just us, but the con itself in danger.
just because you don't want to go to sleep and miss all the late-night programming doesn't mean that the rest of us want to stay up with you; some people like a bit of sleep every now and then.
the staff do a hell of alot more than you think (i should know); they can only do so much to insure everyones' safety and there are only so many Rovers Staff out during late-night to stop/prevent those trying to sleep. they lose more sleep than you do; just trust me on that note.
also, like P.I(PyronIkari) said, if you are able to have enough cash for food/arcades/dealers room, then you should be able to at least gather up a bit of money for a room. NOTE: if its just you, youre payin' somewhere between $340 and $385.
i know things will be reworked for next year, as well as some rules being more enforced. i'll be on rovers next year, and i will enforce the rules, believe that.
i'm just gonna put this as simply as possible and hope that it sticks: DON'T SLEEP IN THE CONVENTION CENTER, PERIOD.
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"first off: no offense to PyronIkari, but this is probably the first time that i agree with him on something (not completely, just partially).
Not that this is important or anything... but you realize that it is more offensive to even say that, than not? If you really wanted it to be non-offensive you wouldn't have mentioned it at all, and it's due to guilt that you normally have disdain for anything I say, that forced you to put what you did. Just something for you to keep in mind, because others probably will take offense at that if you said something similar to them. And more than anything, it puts what you have to say in a negative light. You're "agreeing with someone you think is stupid and usually has nothing to contribute...".
Quote from: "PyronIkari"Quote from: "otakuapprentice"first off: no offense to PyronIkari, but this is probably the first time that i agree with him on something (not completely, just partially).
Not that this is important or anything... but you realize that it is more offensive to even say that, than not? If you really wanted it to be non-offensive you wouldn't have mentioned it at all, and it's due to guilt that you normally have disdain for anything I say, that forced you to put what you did. Just something for you to keep in mind, because others probably will take offense at that if you said something similar to them. And more than anything, it puts what you have to say in a negative light. You're "agreeing with someone you think is stupid and usually has nothing to contribute...".
well noted, and changed. it was my sad attempt at sarcasm, and it failed; my apologies.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"Because there is screening at late night hours doesn't mean that you are allowed to sleep on convention grounds. I'm a night person. On average I go to bed at around 6am PST and wake up at around noon PST. But I sleep... during that time in a designated sleeping area(my hotel room at the convention while I'm at the con).
Sorry, I don't follow. It's part of the freaking territory. If you're going to have late-night screenings, people are going to pass out. Period. Otherwise, you see people carrying half-cases of energy drinks around (and I saw more than a couple here at Fanime this year -- a scary thought to be sure!).
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
You don't like people and don't want to share a room? Then don't. You act as if, because you have a badge at a convention you should be allowed to do whatever you want at said convention, and no one has a right to say you are wrong. It comes down to having basic respects. First off, respect for the convention, because they are providing you a service, and it is up to you to uphold your conduct within their service. If you can't respect the laws then you don't deserve said service.
I'm just saying not to say "You didn't come to the con to sleep in your room" in one side of your literature and then come out with this crap in the other. And if you want to talk about respect with respect to this anime convention, I'd suggest you take a look at a lot more of this thread than just my stuff to know what respect actually gets you.
I don't respect the law because I don't respect the rule. I don't understand why the convention, then, places itself into such jeopardy. I think the rule and the law are baloney. Don't like it? You probably know who I am and have my address to send the letter banning me from future Fanime events.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
But I still don't get the majority of what you're trying to prove with your backwards logic. You go on about this rant about how YOU are the ones with problems, and how you have this past, blah blah blah, which none of us should give a damn about. If YOU have the problem, then shouldn't you be the one that fixes it? It's not any ones job to look after you like a 4 year old. You throw yourself into a situation you can't really control and then blame others for it?
What I'm saying is that my presence there is a delicate balance. Period.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
You seem to miss the point, that if people have business in the area it's fine. If people are in screening rooms... to screen. Or staff is there doing business, or people are talking in the lobbies and what not, these are fine. But by sleeping in public areas, you are breaking the law.
Then arrest me. I have no problem going to jail if it comes to it. Didn't back in 1998, and really don't now.
I find the law and the rule to be complete baloney. And you're not the first con with which I've had this discussion.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
I'll put it how a lot of the old Karaoke staff puts it. If you have enough money to travel to the convention, buy a badge, and spend money on other crap at the convention, you should have money to rent a hotel room. If you cannot afford both... guess what, priorities take affect here. If you can't afford that... THEN DON'T COME AND BE A SEMI-INTELLIGENT HUMAN BEING.
I guess that's how it's going to have to be, then. So the theoretical entry fee to Fanime is about $500, then.
Of course, then go to the post I made earlier and ENFORCE that too, then.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
No, I'll put it more correctly. They want people that are respectable and intelligent people. If you cannot afford a hotel room, then share a room with people. If you're too picky to share a room, that isn't the conventions fault, that is your fault. You're the one being difficult, the convention is just trying to uphold laws and rules that are regulated and mandated by the state. If you feel the convention has no right to uphold these laws, then you sir are an idiot.
You're the one that is turning them into "fascists"(I love people that have no clue what a fascist really is but claim it so loudly).
A fascist is a dictator who has help from economic forces. It would apply here. You're shilling for the damn hotels.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
Here's a better idea if you really don't want to get a room.
Exit the convention center. Walk 400 feet away from the convention building. Pull out your sleeping bag, and sleep on the street. That way, the convention isn't responsible and you don't have to share a room with anyone, and it costs you nothing. If a cop picks you up, or you get harassed, or whatever, that's all on you, but that's your choice for not getting a legitimate hotel room where you are sanctioned to sleep.
What do you think I do come about 7 AM?
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"just like PyronIkari said: if you dont want to shell out that much cash, room with others; if you dont want share a room, then dont b!tch about it.
I'll b!tch about whatever the heck I want to b!tch about.
This is a subject with which I have more than a subtle problem -- if it's that much of a problem to pass out 20 minutes at a time or so in the screening rooms, then I can't attend four days, and probably better I didn't attend this year at all, underwhelming as it was to begin with.
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"
your actions and the actions of others reflect against the con staff, and against the con itself. by sleeping in the video rooms (or anywhere inside the convention center, for that matter), you are breaking the law.[/u]
I have no problem going to jail. I have no realistic problem risking jail if it comes to it. But that's just me in general, not specific to Fanime.
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"
alot of stuff happened that shouldn't have happened this year; by breaking the rules and sleeping in the vid. rooms and not following the rules of the con in general, it puts not just us, but the con itself in danger.
Well, I gave you more than a list of stuff to deal with that too.
I just cannot understand for the life of me that if it's that much of a law-breaking (and what law in the first place??) situation: Why do you even bother risking it at that point?? If "a lot of stuff happened that shouldn't have", then basically one has to admit that Fanime is probably in some danger of cancellation to begin with. (See the Glompinator discussions...) I just see it completely bonkers to say openly "You didn't come to the con to sleep in the hotel room" and then force exactly that on the table.
But, personally, if I got a hotel room, I'd probably end up there more than at the con, and then why did I come in the first place??? It's probably not safe for me to be around that many cosplayers (which is why the screenings are my event of choice), and, frankly, the schedule of events was so underwhelming that, save the Fans Over 30 panel and the last half of Ouran (between watching the security scan the room literally every 10 minutes to toss people out for sleeping), the whole con was lost.
I basically spent the last three days of the con wondering openly when I was going to get tossed, not if.
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"
just because you don't want to go to sleep and miss all the late-night programming doesn't mean that the rest of us want to stay up with you; some people like a bit of sleep every now and then.
That would seem more logical to close the video rooms at a reasonable hour than to keep them open! Now who has the backward logic??
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"
the staff do a hell of alot more than you think (i should know); they can only do so much to insure everyones' safety and there are only so many Rovers Staff out during late-night to stop/prevent those trying to sleep. they lose more sleep than you do; just trust me on that note.
Again, then your logic is backwards... Why not close down the con at 2-3 AM and NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT??? If it's that much of a freaking federal case about it, why even open the door to it?
You see, this is what I just do not get... It isn't just a matter of "we'll keep going for those who can stay awake". They'll pass out eventually too, unless they want to risk health on energy drinks all weekend.
Basically, the way I see your argument is that you're in business to fill the hotel space. Why not just force the issue, and those who won't just will not attend the con, or certainly won't do all four days...
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"
also, like P.I(PyronIkari) said, if you are able to have enough cash for food/arcades/dealers room, then you should be able to at least gather up a bit of money for a room. NOTE: if its just you, youre payin' somewhere between $340 and $385.
That's if you go remote. (The Motel 6 is probably pushing about $300 for the four nights.) You're looking at $500 or so when you start figuring the regular con hotels -- add an extra night for pre-reg, and it gets real fun, real fast. And, then, of course, you can run into the guy I ran into on the light-rail -- probably the one guy in San Jose that made me look sane.
Quote from: "otakuapprentice"
i know things will be reworked for next year, as well as some rules being more enforced. i'll be on rovers next year, and i will enforce the rules, believe that.
i'm just gonna put this as simply as possible and hope that it sticks: DON'T SLEEP IN THE CONVENTION CENTER, PERIOD.
I find the rule just utterly beyond ridiculous unless you shut down the con at a reasonable hour (which I will put at about 2 or 3). If it's that much of a problem, I'm sure you have my real name and can have me turned away from next year's con.
LOL.. why do people do anything? Why do you leave your house? Why do you post on the internet? Why do you go to conventions?
You're basically stating that you don't give a damn about anything but your own self-absorbed ego. Ah, you're not afraid to get arrested. What a cop out excuse. You act as if your actions only affect you, and that responsibilities of actions don't affect anyone but you. It must be so nice to be that self-centered and egotistical.
But no, you're fortunate that your hobby seems to be Japanese cartoons and comics, I'd love to see try this crap with a different hobby or what not. It'd be really really cute. You see, people don't like when you ruin things for them(I should know! People accuse me of doing it all the time.) for selfless acts like you being to cheap, or too picky that you can't share a room.
But just to be more realistic... I live a 5hour+drive from Fanime. Let's account for the necessities that were required for me to go to Fanime.
Gas: total was 35$
Hotel: 90$
Food: 24$
Badge: 45$
that's under 200$. And that's because I'm generous and paid my friends share for the hotel. 194$ total. How is that 500$? Again, you're the one that is too picky, so it's up to you. You don't want to pay for a hotel room, then don't, but don't think you should be allowed to get the convention in trouble by breaking laws.
They have viewing rooms at 4 am, for people like me. For people that don't sleep during that time. I'm a night person. I don't sleep until 6. At Fanime I'm free to go to viewing rooms to spend my time at 4am, then when i get tired at around 6, I return back to my hotel room to sleep. See how that works? This is basic principles of understanding the human body. "When you are tired, you go to sleep. You should know when you are getting tired, so you should retreat to your sleeping area."
Here's the thing, you can complain all you want, and in return we will tell you how your complaining is stupid. It's like complaining that the law prohibits rape.
Closing the viewing rooms etc. will not stop some people(such as yourself) from sleeping on con grounds because they're too pathetic/stupid/insert word of choice here, to get a room, or realize their own budget, or find roommates, or commute back home. You think, they should screw over the intelligent people that just like being up late and sleeping longer in the day because you and others aren't capable of being intelligent social beings. Rather... not capable, but CHOOSE not to.
QuoteBut, personally, if I got a hotel room, I'd probably end up there more than at the con, and then why did I come in the first place??? It's probably not safe for me to be around that many cosplayers (which is why the screenings are my event of choice), and, frankly, the schedule of events was so underwhelming that, save the Fans Over 30 panel and the last half of Ouran (between watching the security scan the room literally every 10 minutes to toss people out for sleeping), the whole con was lost.
Then don't come. Again, you choose to stay in your room, no one is forcing you to. If you have that much lack of will that having a room means you will not leave it... then whatever. You didn't enjoy the con, that's fine, don't come... again that's your choice. If you do come, abide by the rules.
Though if anything this does bring up a point... Fanime is too laxed about things. But I remember when I said that a long time ago, Craige said I was demanding conformity.
QuoteA fascist is a dictator who has help from economic forces. It would apply here. You're shilling for the damn hotels.
That's actually incorrect. ^^ Like I said, I like when people use buzz words like that and have no clue what it actually means. Fascism has specifics with how he controls and censors people. If they were fascist none of these "opinion threads" would exist.
Ok, let's not go back and forth on this. darkstar, do what you want to do, but you've been warned that sleeping in the convention space will get you in trouble.
It's going to happen. We have rules, and we will enforce them. If you don't want to be hassled, then sorry, don't come to the convention.
Let's continue with other discussions now.
Sounds like this is going to be the last public word on the subject, but some of this ties back in to the rest of the stuff on several levels...
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
You're basically stating that you don't give a damn about anything but your own self-absorbed ego. Ah, you're not afraid to get arrested. What a cop out excuse. You act as if your actions only affect you, and that responsibilities of actions don't affect anyone but you. It must be so nice to be that self-centered and egotistical.
I've really had to over the years. Otherwise, basically, I'd really be a basket case. People in therapy have told me I should care less about what other people think of me.
But there's one thing that disturbs me about the way you guys go about business.
You make it sound as if Fanime is about thisclose from getting shut down. If that's the case, given what I saw, it would appear that, especially with the sleeping at the cons being priority 1 this year, that you had to do a significant amount of civic tap-dancing not to get the con called off _this year_.
Now, add the glompinators from the rest of this thread, and I can't see how you are going to get Fanime '08 off the ground without a Veteran's Stadium solution.
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, it would be that Fanime would have to create, complete with holding cell, a remote station of the San Jose Police Dept. for next year's Fanime. (And I'm not joking in the least here!!) In Philly, in the old Veteran's Stadium, the fans got so unruly that the city had to create a remote police station, holding cell, and even a judge had to come in on game days to dispense justice.
It really sounds to me (and this is before I involved myself in this thread) that the last couple of Fanimes have gotten so out of control that there is real danger of the whole thing being scrapped. If that's the case, so be it.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
But no, you're fortunate that your hobby seems to be Japanese cartoons and comics, I'd love to see try this crap with a different hobby or what not. It'd be really really cute. You see, people don't like when you ruin things for them(I should know! People accuse me of doing it all the time.) for selfless acts like you being to cheap, or too picky that you can't share a room.
Law of the beatdown??? That's what it might have to come to. It's basically where it comes down to where I've come from. Unless you're implying a lawsuit or six.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
But just to be more realistic... I live a 5hour+drive from Fanime. Let's account for the necessities that were required for me to go to Fanime.
Gas: total was 35$
Hotel: 90$
Food: 24$
Badge: 45$
that's under 200$. And that's because I'm generous and paid my friends share for the hotel. 194$ total. How is that 500$? Again, you're the one that is too picky, so it's up to you. You don't want to pay for a hotel room, then don't, but don't think you should be allowed to get the convention in trouble by breaking laws.
I'm still waiting for what law is broken here -- probably going to have to go to IM with this whole thing, but I'm still waiting.
That's because you are considered sane. Let's play the same game if I were to play by The Rules:
Transportation: $15 for two Caltrains.
Hotel: It depends on if you want it on-site or off-site. Take the hotel room and multiply it by a factor of four. If off-site, add another $15 to transportation. Talking MINIMUM $300 here, and probably past $400.
Badge: You think I can plan that far in advance for anything? $55.
Food: $100 for 4 1/2 days remote.
That'd be your $500 to start with. And, note, as I said before, that's ENTRY FEE. That's just to get _in the door_.
Part of the point in which I am making vis-a-vis being such an a**hole about all this is that if you want The Rules to be abided by, you're going to have to shut people out of the con. People like me. People like the glompinators. One of the very real possibilities that I think you might have to do next year is that no one gets the badge without signing off on a strict Code of Conduct.
And the no refunds policy is in effect. So don't pre-reg without a thorough understanding of the Code of Conduct.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
They have viewing rooms at 4 am, for people like me. For people that don't sleep during that time. I'm a night person. I don't sleep until 6. At Fanime I'm free to go to viewing rooms to spend my time at 4am, then when i get tired at around 6, I return back to my hotel room to sleep. See how that works? This is basic principles of understanding the human body. "When you are tired, you go to sleep. You should know when you are getting tired, so you should retreat to your sleeping area."
I'm a night person too, FWIW. I'm also the kind of person that will basically crash where I damn well please, within some degree of reason.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
Here's the thing, you can complain all you want, and in return we will tell you how your complaining is stupid. It's like complaining that the law prohibits rape.
Well, there are those, back in the day, that said I had a problem with _that_ too, even though that wasn't true...
If my complaining is that stupid, it's because of the fact that not only am I a bit hard-headed, but I find your rules and law to be stupid in that regard...
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
Closing the viewing rooms etc. will not stop some people(such as yourself) from sleeping on con grounds because they're too pathetic/stupid/insert word of choice here, to get a room, or realize their own budget, or find roommates, or commute back home.
And this kind of backwards logic is why...
Let's go through this one final time: You close the con area, and THAT'S NOT AN OPTION. Attendees would HAVE TO LEAVE at closing time. Remaining on con grounds after that point would add trespassing to the equation. Now, chances are I either will be banned, ejected, or arrested next year. Fine, if it gets to that point -- but what I'm saying is that if there's that much of a GD problem with it on a general sense, then finish the job you started this year. You moved the dances forward, you moved the karaoke forward. Just finish the damn job.
I mean, the level of security you will probably need to enforce what needs to be enforced next year will make it basically impossible (if not IMPLAUSIBLE) to have enough security to keep the McEnery open 24 hours a day over the course of the next Fanime.
And you're talking about realizing a budget at an anime con??? What do you take these "will yaoi for yuri" people for? Why do you think they thought they banned all signs for Fanime? (confusing it for the ban on signs at AX...)
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
You think, they should screw over the intelligent people that just like being up late and sleeping longer in the day because you and others aren't capable of being intelligent social beings. Rather... not capable, but CHOOSE not to.
If the people at Fanime (or any anime con!!), across the board, would be intelligent social beings (I find the choice of words especially laughable, given the context), you wouldn't have the problems you have now. I mean (and, again, take this from someone who _KNOWS_), it really sounds as if you have severe assault problems at the con with the glompinators after '07. From what I used to hear back in the day, it could even be construed as a form of sexual assault.
You also wouldn't have the "con funk" problems nor many of the other security problems you have. We aren't intelligent social creatures -- it's one of the things that creates the "open season" effect that you get at an anime con!
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
QuoteBut, personally, if I got a hotel room, I'd probably end up there more than at the con, and then why did I come in the first place??? It's probably not safe for me to be around that many cosplayers (which is why the screenings are my event of choice), and, frankly, the schedule of events was so underwhelming that, save the Fans Over 30 panel and the last half of Ouran (between watching the security scan the room literally every 10 minutes to toss people out for sleeping), the whole con was lost.
Then don't come. Again, you choose to stay in your room, no one is forcing you to. If you have that much lack of will that having a room means you will not leave it... then whatever. You didn't enjoy the con, that's fine, don't come... again that's your choice. If you do come, abide by the rules.
Basically, once I leave the environment, it's hard for me to come back.
Let me give you a brief breakdown of how Dallas went:
Friday: Con 7-4 Room 4-Sat 10
Sat: Con 10-10 Room 10-Sun 10
Sun: Con 10-4ish
If it weren't a trip 1500 miles away to wash away the stain of this Fanime, frankly, I wouldn't have gone. Under Fanime, certainly not a four-day pass. And then, once I took one look at the underwhelming schedule, probably Kubla-Con gets my time (at the very least, splitting between the two cons).
But I didn't enjoy Fanime in the least because I was more worried about following your darned rules than having fun.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
Though if anything this does bring up a point... Fanime is too laxed about things. But I remember when I said that a long time ago, Craige said I was demanding conformity.
Something that would probably make it more enjoyable, but might have a significant impact of cutting next year's attendance by a good 5%.
Quote from: "PyronIkari"
QuoteA fascist is a dictator who has help from economic forces. It would apply here. You're shilling for the damn hotels.
That's actually incorrect. ^^ Like I said, I like when people use buzz words like that and have no clue what it actually means. Fascism has specifics with how he controls and censors people. If they were fascist none of these "opinion threads" would exist.
[/quote]
Well, I am pressing my luck on responding to this after the next post, but still...
I'll take this to IM now, yes...
Move this to PM now and stop spamming this thread with this debate. Thank you.
Now let the the constructive criticism and ideas/suggestions/feedback continue.
Was hotel prices REALLY that big a deal? I got my room for $235 total (that's with my $50 deposit, all of which I got back plus a little more).
I can't really complain about the hotel prices. $79.00 a night at the Hilton was pretty nice (and I plan to stay there again next year)..
Try looking at prices at Comic Con International...
http://www.tphousing.com/res/startres.asp?EICode=1470&AttCode=72
And most of the rooms sold out within the first two hours!
Even the two motel 6's in downtown San Diego are $99.00 a night! (and they ain't that close to the convention center either!).
Thinking about the area it's in, $99 a night isn't as bad as it could be. I've seen cheap motels in Castro Valley for upwards of $400 a night.
Edit: When I say 'cheap motels', I am referring to motels that are supposed to be cheap, such as Hotel 6.
Originally at the Mariott, my room would've been $109.00 per night, but since I had my two bros stay with me this year, they reduced it down to $89 per night (from Thursday to Monday) and I paid a bit over $200 for the whole weekend! ^^
I thought of something else, not sure if I said it, and have not been able to post it until now due to login issues and the such.
But now I return. XD
I was not sure which room the Masquerade check-in was in or what time it started (this was before there were large signs in the hall, they put those out right as I was leaving after finally finding the place), so I asked at an infodesk. The guy there did not know, so he radioed, and told me a room, so I thanked him, and tried to find it on a map, but could not. Then I asked some other people at an info desk, and the two girls told me two diffrent things, which were different from the original response I received and from anything on the map. I found it (they all had the right letter, but I got Confrence Room C, Ballroom C, and any other word you could think of for it), but it was a bit of a pain. Is there any way to instruct staff to all use the same system of reffering to rooms, and keep it the same as the maps posted throughout the CC? It would really make it much easier to navigate. (And I'm not new to Fanimes at this CC, my first one was at the Westin and I have been going ever since, so I can imagine if someone was new to the con and got such confusing responses.)
Thanks.
Thank you Fanimecon staff and volunteers for once again, another great year! I have not attended this con since 2003 due to many events happening that same weekend. I'm glad I could come back and participate, meet new people, and, of course, share the anime spirit together. (Hey, weird Cliches can be tolerated. o_o)
Awesome Dealers Room, of course. Gaia Online's booth was quite fun, and so was Yaoi-Con's booth. Bwaha. Artist Alley was fun too. That was my first time being in there, and quite frankly, I was amazed at how many people were offering commisions. -drool- AND OF COURSE, REUBEN LANGDON. Hehe.
A few things were a little questionable, and my first problem has probably been repeated millions of times: The Line. Yes, the big Domo Congestion Line was soooo huge, I thought I was really going to be there for almost 4 hours, but, we were fortunate and we moved a little quicker, making it a 2 1/2 wait with me and my Loli sister. Fanime has become such a huge event, so I can see why the lines would have been LENGTHY, but still...it was a shocker. I was a little sad that no Programs were out. Fanime I guess is trying to go green.
Other than that, I want to give you my sincere gratitude in making my Fanime Experience enjoyable and fun and a day/weekend I wish never ended. I hope to go next year in 2008~!
I'm just wondering
I remember the first time I went to Fanime was the last time it was at the Santa Clara convention center and they had really cool anime goody bags to give us that were big and sturdy. How come we don't get those anymore? Is it due to lack of donation and budget?
Quote from: "koella"I'm just wondering
I remember the first time I went to Fanime was the last time it was at the Santa Clara convention center and they had really cool anime goody bags to give us that were big and sturdy. How come we don't get those anymore? Is it due to lack of donation and budget?
It's been discussed. Basically the story was that our printers broke, so we didn't have much to give out. On top of that, the bags we got were few and very small, so they probably ran out/weren't useful anyway.
It's certainly not for lack of trying! I overheard a lot of conversation over the goodie bags... things just kind of fell apart, I guess.
I hate to resurrect an old topic like this, but something just dawned me (and a few friends) a little bit ago.
Along with many rules being cracked down on, will what is and isn't acceptable attire (not just cosplay) be better defined this year? We all saw the guy in the blue thong, which was addressed early in the thread, but what about the other less obvious, but just as offensive people?
There was this one guy who was wearing essentially see through clothing, with the words 'Fuck Me' scribbled over his chest and back. I saw him at various points throughout the weekend harassing male con-goers.
I'm probably a little late in the game to be bringing this up, but I thought it bared stating.
Quote from: Jelly Soup on May 15, 2008, 08:20:04 PM
Along with many rules being cracked down on, will what is and isn't acceptable attire (not just cosplay) be better defined this year? We all saw the guy in the blue thong, which was addressed early in the thread, but what about the other less obvious, but just as offensive people?
Thanks to the internet or perhaps no thanks at ALL!
We live in a world where every action we take in our lives has the potential to be digitally recorded.
Think about that for a moment.
1) bad - having regrets of past actions in life
2) very bad - having regrets of past actions that have been digitally recorded
3) super duper bad - having regrets of past actions that have been digitally recorded and are now freely distributable to the entire planet!
*smacks forehead*
I hope that answers the question. ;D
Quote from: astroboy on May 16, 2008, 01:21:47 AMI hope that answers the question. ;D
I don't even know what the hell you're on about. How does this answer my question in the slightest?
Quote from: Jelly Soup on May 16, 2008, 02:44:50 PM
Quote from: astroboy on May 16, 2008, 01:21:47 AMI hope that answers the question. ;D
I don't even know what the hell you're on about. How does this answer my question in the slightest?
It didn't. Anyways. From what I heard, it's basic rules of decency. Here's the issue with that though. If people don't complain, then the con usually won't take any action, as horrible as that is. This was a huge subject concerning AX and other cons where people complained and got Man-Faye and similar people banned, but girls were strutting around in even less and no one complained(LOLOLOL BECAUSE THEY'RE GIRLS!!!!). So basically if you see something that you think is indecent, just let a staff member know. If it does break decency laws, ten they'll do something about it. If it doesn't, they can't really say/do anything(or rather shouldn't) because they're not doing anything wrong.
Thanks.
And let me add, outside of decency laws, I'm sure the convention center and attached hotels have code of conduct rules themselves, so that might be another channel to consider.