1. At $150 a ticket, it's one of THE most expensive "cons" out there, which is bizarre considering that it is also one of the newest and smallest. Part of the reason it is so expensive is that they book a theme park for all attendees the first night (last year Disney Paris, this year Universal Islands of Adventure). I say if I want to go there I can do that separately--I'd much rather have a cheaper ticket and/or a longer convention, and NOT have that be part of it!!! The expenses don't stop there, either--the Orange County Convention center turned off all the water fountains, trying to force you to purchase their $3+ water bottles. Food prices there are jacked up too--$9 to $10 for fast food junk like a personal pizza or hamburger (no drink or fries included, those are another $3-4 each). Being in Orlando or Paris doesn't help either. People will GO to this thing wherever they have it, so why not go somewhere that is less of a tourist trap? I'm betting there are smaller towns out there with rocking convention centers and cheaper hotels & services!!
2. Crowd control was a problem, especially for the "panels." I heard many many stories of people waiting in line for an hour or more only to be turned away at the last minute (including one of my own sons!). They could easily solve this by having one of the volunteers or staff hand out tickets or stamps (on a hand or a stamp card or whatever) as people arrive to line up an hour or so in advance of each session. Once you are stamped, you can go have fun until it's time for the actual session instead of wasting time sitting in line... or if you are the 201st person in line for a panel that only has room for 200, you have time to go to another panel at the same time instead of being forced to miss both (too late for the 2nd, too far back in line for the first). Many of the panels were led by amateurs too, so after waiting all that time people were walking out after 10-15 minutes. There's nothing wrong with amateur panels, of course, but more information about which panels were professional and which were just for fun wouldn't have hurt either. Many of the best panels were held at the exact same hour, or so close together that it was impossible to go to both. The most likely solution to this would be to extend the next Con to 3 days, which they may not be prepared to do yet, but that would give them time to space things out better and/or have duplicates of the best panels (like one about kids writing Code which attendees are raving about, but I was disappointed to not get into... I'm hoping Mojang or *someone* might post that on youtube at some point so I can see the presentation).
3. Access to the "big names" was a huge disappointment for many, especially kids (close to 2/3 of the attendees were probably 16 and younger, with the biggest age group in the 10-14 range). They should have had photos pre-signed in advance to hand out or sell (inexpensively) for those who couldn't get into the meet and greet sessions. Better still, do that AND have more than one meet and greet scheduled for people they KNOW in advance are going to be insanely popular.
4. Some of the presenters were also not very well prepared for a crowd of that size... I'm not sure what the problem was there, space or lack of information or ?? For example, there was one company with a cool virtual reality roller coaster... it had ONE game available, in 10-minute increments (8 minutes' game time plus prep).... for 7,500 people, seriously?? There were only two stores (Think Geek and Jinx), which had a lot of staff, but it still seemed not nearly enough to handle a crowd of that size. There were HUGE lines all day both days. This could be solved several ways--selling fewer tickets, allowing more vendors to break up the crowd wanting to buy things, getting a survey of fans and/or attendees in advance to get an idea of which things will be more popular and need more space and equipment, or probably more ways that just haven't occurred to me!
5. This is a minor one, but we thought the overall presentation was just not very professional. Perhaps we've been spoiled, or been listening to my uber-professional aunt too much, but both Dave and I commented that the main presentations (opening, closing, and the costume contest) seemed quite amateurish and slapped together. Part of this could be the youth and inexperience of the person they hired to handle the convention, but really they could have done SO much better. Just a couple of quick specifics: there were "dead spots" during the major presentations where the audience was just sitting there; neither presentation started on time, nor was there any apology or explanation offered for the late starts; the sound system was erratic, sometimes MUCH too loud and other times hard to hear; the costume contest was very poorly organized. To explain the last just a bit more, the way they did the costume contest was to tell you to wear your costume full-time for the first "couple of hours" of the convention. There was no clear judging time or place, but just some mysterious "team" with cards to hand out to costumes they happened to see and like as they wander about. Really? The easy and obvious answer would have been to have a "parade of costumes" across the stage first thing as part of the opening ceremonies. This would not only ensure the judges are able to SEE every single costume, but would also allow all their child fans who worked so hard on their costumes to at least have a few seconds to shine and show them off for everyone. :) Moms would have appreciated it too, because many of those awkward cube heads could be put away after that, and those who made heavy and elaborate costumes could have put them away and enjoyed the convention freely, only having to put them back on for a little while at the end of the day when they announced the top choices and the final winners (they could still use the card system, but at the end of the parade line).
Okay, now for our BEST and favorites of Minecon 2013!!
1. I have to say that the people who play, write, and love Minecraft are truly amazing. All of the above problems could have been a LOT worse had the Minecraft fans and families not been so wonderful. That is by far my best experience from this thing--for all the thousands and thousands of people we met and spoke with and stood in line with this weekend, there was shockingly little rudeness, cursing, pushing, or other bad behaviors that you often see at big crowded events. Almost every person we met was kind and cheerful and friendly and patient, from the staff to the volunteers to our fellow attendees. I've been to zoos and parks designed for little children that had worse atmospheres; the atmosphere here was truly amazing, and I have to shout out a huge BRAVO to all of my fellow Mineconians. :)
2. The flip side of my #3 worst thing about the big names is just WHO those big names were. We saw programmers and amateur youtubers walk on stage to cheers and applause like rock stars. Parents have been lamenting for decades about how their children's heroes tend to be movie stars, sports players, and musicians--people who are famous for talents, yes, but talents that are rare and in fields that are extremely difficult in which to make a living. How many parents have wished their kids would admire professionals who earn a living with their brains, inspiring them to do better in school and pursue careers with a greater chance of success? Parents, I give you Minecon. :)
3. Some of the presenters and "personalities" there were really great. I was VERY impressed with Greg Aronowitz, for example. He is the artist and special effects guru who created all of the artwork, diorama models, statues, etc. to decorate Minecon. His work was professional; his panel was interesting and informative; and yet he was just as friendly and approachable as everyone else we met there. The "master lego builder" from Legoland who designed the floor art in the lego exhibit was working the booth most of the weekend, talking with people and even taking photos for us. There was a family who spoke at the "minecraft for families" panel with whom I was also quite impressed. So while some of the vendors and exhibitors seemed unprepared and poorly organized, others were done quite well. And while a few more exhibitors would have been nice to aid those areas that were too popular, overall there were plenty of different things to do and see!
4. I thought it was really great how a big section in the exhibitors hall was devoted to indie developers. There were numerous brand new baby games to try out, all of them being produced by small independent programmers and developers, like the team my son and some friends were trying to put together at his college. Most of them were college age or not much older, and some of the games were really really fun and creative! :)
5. My fifth thing is how happy it made the kids, because they definitely enjoyed themselves. :) I'll also add here what my kids said were their favorite bits. Both said they loved the whole thing, but Phil's favorite was being able to meet some of his favorite Youtube personalities, and see the programmers (though we didn't really get a chance to meet any of them). Thomas said his favorite thing was to try out "occulus rift," which evidently is the name of the 3-D platform allowing the immersive virtual reality experience of being inside the game.
Okay, now for our BEST and favorites of Minecon 2013!!
1. I have to say that the people who play, write, and love Minecraft are truly amazing. All of the above problems could have been a LOT worse had the Minecraft fans and families not been so wonderful. That is by far my best experience from this thing--for all the thousands and thousands of people we met and spoke with and stood in line with this weekend, there was shockingly little rudeness, cursing, pushing, or other bad behaviors that you often see at big crowded events. Almost every person we met was kind and cheerful and friendly and patient, from the staff to the volunteers to our fellow attendees. I've been to zoos and parks designed for little children that had worse atmospheres; the atmosphere here was truly amazing, and I have to shout out a huge BRAVO to all of my fellow Mineconians. :)
2. The flip side of my #3 worst thing about the big names is just WHO those big names were. We saw programmers and amateur youtubers walk on stage to cheers and applause like rock stars. Parents have been lamenting for decades about how their children's heroes tend to be movie stars, sports players, and musicians--people who are famous for talents, yes, but talents that are rare and in fields that are extremely difficult in which to make a living. How many parents have wished their kids would admire professionals who earn a living with their brains, inspiring them to do better in school and pursue careers with a greater chance of success? Parents, I give you Minecon. :)
3. Some of the presenters and "personalities" there were really great. I was VERY impressed with Greg Aronowitz, for example. He is the artist and special effects guru who created all of the artwork, diorama models, statues, etc. to decorate Minecon. His work was professional; his panel was interesting and informative; and yet he was just as friendly and approachable as everyone else we met there. The "master lego builder" from Legoland who designed the floor art in the lego exhibit was working the booth most of the weekend, talking with people and even taking photos for us. There was a family who spoke at the "minecraft for families" panel with whom I was also quite impressed. So while some of the vendors and exhibitors seemed unprepared and poorly organized, others were done quite well. And while a few more exhibitors would have been nice to aid those areas that were too popular, overall there were plenty of different things to do and see!
4. I thought it was really great how a big section in the exhibitors hall was devoted to indie developers. There were numerous brand new baby games to try out, all of them being produced by small independent programmers and developers, like the team my son and some friends were trying to put together at his college. Most of them were college age or not much older, and some of the games were really really fun and creative! :)
5. My fifth thing is how happy it made the kids, because they definitely enjoyed themselves. :) I'll also add here what my kids said were their favorite bits. Both said they loved the whole thing, but Phil's favorite was being able to meet some of his favorite Youtube personalities, and see the programmers (though we didn't really get a chance to meet any of them). Thomas said his favorite thing was to try out "occulus rift," which evidently is the name of the 3-D platform allowing the immersive virtual reality experience of being inside the game.
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