AGDQ 2015 Feedback

2015-01-23 07:15:40 pm

As a viewer, I enjoyed the marathon. I'm not going to reiterate earlier complaints I agree with (long setup times, PC problems, segregation of audience and runners), but instead just say I think a new charity should be considered for AGDQ 2016. PCF is a legitimate charity, sure, but what they put their funds toward is not something I'm particularly interested in supporting. I know cancer is a loaded word and I wholly support the idea of working toward preventing it, but investigating where the money PCF raises actually goes does leave me a little bit concerned that we're raising over $1.5 million for them. I believe others raised these same concerns in other outlets of the community (IRC chats, /r/speedrun/, SRG, Twitter).

In addition, I think a lot of people who donated were confused about PCF's mission as well ("Let's kick cancer's butt!", "With all these donations, we will find a cure!", etc.). Due to the growth of GDQs, I think there should be a discussion as to where the donations go.. probably in a different thread. SGDQ supports MSF and I don't see any reason AGDQ shouldn't either.

Is there any sort of discussion that goes into what charity we, as a community, support?

As a viewer, I enjoyed the marathon. I'm not going to reiterate earlier complaints I agree with (long setup times, PC problems, segregation of audience and runners), but instead just say I think [b]a new charity should be considered for AGDQ 2016[/b]. PCF is a legitimate charity, sure, but what they put their funds toward is not something I'm particularly interested in supporting. I know cancer is a loaded word and I wholly support the idea of working toward preventing it, but investigating where the money PCF raises actually goes does leave me a little bit concerned that we're raising over $1.5 million for them. I believe others raised these same concerns in other outlets of the community (IRC chats, /r/speedrun/, SRG, Twitter).

In addition, I think a lot of people who donated were confused about PCF's mission as well ("Let's kick cancer's butt!", "With all these donations, we will find a cure!", etc.). Due to the growth of GDQs, I think there should be a discussion as to where the donations go.. probably in a different thread. SGDQ supports MSF and I don't see any reason AGDQ shouldn't either.

Is there any sort of discussion that goes into what charity we, as a community, support?

Rakuen

2015-01-23 07:41:26 pm

Weegee Time

Quote from Melodia:

Only one person mentioned this so far, but Marisa Land had audio at half pitch -- not only did this make it EXCRUTIATING to listen to (I certainly turned it off after not too long) but multiple people in Quakenet chat knew exactly what was wrong and mentioned the fix. Did no one read the chat at all?

Personally, I was winding down for bed during Marisa Land and wasn't paying as much attention as I probably should have been. When in doubt, do a quick look for the most recent chat op(s) to say something and then nick flash or PM them. Most if not all of us use external clients that raise some sort of alert when those things happen, and we'll be much more likely to see and do something about it. Smiley

I have no name

2015-01-23 08:05:53 pm

Obscure games ftw

I don't have too much to say-I didn't watch any of the marathon live, but I've been watching a lot of the VODs (even during the marathon itself!). This wasn't because I didn't want to watch live, but because I ended up liable to be pulled away at any moment, so I chose to watch the runs on my own time as opposed to being limited to the live part. Since I didn't have any money to donate and would ignore twitch chat anyway, the experience was the same except I could pause.

Anyway.

I feel like the layout was a huge step up from AGDQ 2014. I don't remember offhand what SGDQ 2014 had for a layout, so no comparison there. What was shown onstream was fine, the camera was a little off at times but for the most part the feel of the event went through. Audience and runners being separated is the lesser of two evils (empty rooms vs. can't see everyone). Finally on this part, I was concerned about AGDQ 2014 being overcommercialized and watched next to none of it as a result, since it felt like it was losing its appeal. AGDQ 2015 nicely avoided this, even though sponsor plugs were abundant.

My main concern is the balance of runs. As Linkinito put it, Nintendoverload. Awful Games Done Quick was cute when there were interesting games and really good commentary for them and the stream was more casual but now it's overstayed it's welcome. It seems like anything that isn't Nintendo is a token game put in as an afterthought: and scheduled at bad o clock (see: Sony 'block' of 3 games, it was originally scheduled for 4 in the morning to 8 in the morning-the delay moved it to still early in the morning, though). I understand that Nintendo games are what most people grew up with who watch, but a better balance of games in the future would be nice to see. F-Zero block was about 4 hours of very similar looking games, and could probably have been half the length of what it was.

Lastly, TAS block was amazing. Please never cut that.

I don't have too much to say-I didn't watch any of the marathon live, but I've been watching a lot of the VODs (even during the marathon itself!).  This wasn't because I didn't want to watch live, but because I ended up liable to be pulled away at any moment, so I chose to watch the runs on my own time as opposed to being limited to the live part.  Since I didn't have any money to donate and would ignore twitch chat anyway, the experience was the same except I could pause.

Anyway.

I feel like the layout was a huge step up from AGDQ 2014.  I don't remember offhand what SGDQ 2014 had for a layout, so no comparison there.  What was shown onstream was fine, the camera was a little off at times but for the most part the feel of the event went through.  Audience and runners being separated is the lesser of two evils (empty rooms vs. can't see everyone).  Finally on this part, I was concerned about AGDQ 2014 being overcommercialized and watched next to none of it as a result, since it felt like it was losing its appeal.  AGDQ 2015 nicely avoided this, even though sponsor plugs were abundant.

My main concern is the balance of runs.  As Linkinito put it, Nintendoverload.  Awful Games Done Quick was cute when there were interesting games and really good commentary for them and the stream was more casual but now it's overstayed it's welcome.  It seems like anything that isn't Nintendo is a token game put in as an afterthought: and scheduled at bad o clock (see: Sony 'block' of 3 games, it was originally scheduled for 4 in the morning to 8 in the morning-the delay moved it to still early in the morning, though).  I understand that Nintendo games are what most people grew up with who watch, but a better balance of games in the future would be nice to see.  F-Zero block was about 4 hours of very similar looking games, and could probably have been half the length of what it was.

Lastly, TAS block was amazing.  Please never cut that.

Raelcun

Edit history:

Raelcun: 2015-01-23 08:14:35 pm

2015-01-23 08:11:53 pm

We require more minerals

Instead of trying to pick out specific posts to reply to, I’m going to address the donation reading situation in general since most of the complaints fall under the same couple recurring issues.

Too many of one type of donations being read:

This is a problem that’s harder than a lot of people seem to realize, partially because it requires some understanding of what’s going on from the marathon’s point of view. With that, let me try and address that in particular. We have always put some priority on reading donations that are personal stories about cancer and how it affects people’s lives because that’s the core of what the event is about. Hearing about these cases enforces how important it is to try and prevent as many of these as possible which leads back to the charity we’re supporting. This year, however, we had a much larger volume of donations about cancer than we’ve dealt with in the past. Part of this is because cancer is a growing problem that’s affecting more and more people, but it’s also because the event, as a whole, is getting more exposure.

We started advising the hosts to try and scale back on it part way through the week, but in some cases, we were only reading donations about cancer because they were the only ones making it through filtering. In the future, we will be pickier about which ones we read and try not to be so overbearing with reading large blocks of personal stories about cancer. Yes, this is an event to benefit the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and we will never completely exclude those comments, but it’s important that some of the fun still happens at the same time. More than anything else, be sure that we’re aware of the problem and are trying to find the right balance for the future.

Comments getting through that shouldn’t/Comments being filtered that shouldn’t be:

This is an ongoing issue that we’re always working to improve. This year we had over 39,000 donations being processed by a relatively small pool of hardworking volunteers using a two tiered system so that it’s never just one person approving comments. Mistakes happen, but that isn’t an excuse, we're working on it.

Part of dealing with the above problem means that in many cases if a donation volunteer is uncertain about something they will choose to not have it read. When dealing with this many donations, we have to play it safe when we’re uncertain if something is borderline or not. As a result, we may not read a fun comment because of a minor issue.

This is partially because of another policy where we do not edit comments. A comment that is mostly acceptable but has one problematic portion at the end won’t be read because we don’t want to only read part of the donation. We don’t even want to explore any of the gigantic problems that could start occurring if we edited donations to make them acceptable to read on air.

Instead of trying to pick out specific posts to reply to, I’m going to address the donation reading situation in general since most of the complaints fall under the same couple recurring issues.

[b]Too many of one type of donations being read:[/b]

This is a problem that’s harder than a lot of people seem to realize, partially because it requires some understanding of what’s going on from the marathon’s point of view. With that, let me try and address that in particular. We have always put some priority on reading donations that are personal stories about cancer and how it affects people’s lives because that’s the core of what the event is about. Hearing about these cases enforces how important it is to try and prevent as many of these as possible which leads back to the charity we’re supporting. This year, however, we had a much larger volume of donations about cancer than we’ve dealt with in the past. Part of this is because cancer is a growing problem that’s affecting more and more people, but it’s also because the event, as a whole, is getting more exposure.

We started advising the hosts to try and scale back on it part way through the week, but in some cases, we were only reading donations about cancer because they were the only ones making it through filtering. In the future, we will be pickier about which ones we read and try not to be so overbearing with reading large blocks of personal stories about cancer. Yes, this is an event to benefit the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and we will never completely exclude those comments, but it’s important that some of the fun still happens at the same time. More than anything else, be sure that we’re aware of the problem and are trying to find the right balance for the future.

[b]Comments getting through that shouldn’t/Comments being filtered that shouldn’t be:[/b]

This is an ongoing issue that we’re always working to improve. This year we had over 39,000 donations being processed by a relatively small pool of hardworking volunteers using a two tiered system so that it’s never just one person approving comments.  Mistakes happen, but that isn’t an excuse, we're working on it.

Part of dealing with the above problem means that in many cases if a donation volunteer is uncertain about something they will choose to not have it read. When dealing with this many donations, we have to play it safe when we’re uncertain if something is borderline or not. As a result, we may not read a fun comment because of a minor issue.

This is partially because of another policy where we do not edit comments. A comment that is mostly acceptable but has one problematic portion at the end won’t be read because we don’t want to only read part of the donation. We don’t even want to explore any of the gigantic problems that could start occurring if we edited donations to make them acceptable to read on air.

doicm

2015-01-23 08:18:15 pm

Doicm feedback..and stuff!

Some of the categories on the schedules for games were a bit confusing (I think that was a point that ewaller had made earlier).

I appreciated it when the tech crew took the time to delay the run for Shovel Knight so that the music could be fixed, because I enjoy the music in that game.

Regarding unread donation comments (ones that are relevant) or poorly read donation comments (as in donation comments with poor taste)...I feel like this should be looked into more? I'm not entirely sure how, but I don't know how often this gets discussed to see quite a few concerns in the comments on here about it and the lack of accountability. Also, is donation tracking an on-site only deal, or are these sorts of things also done off-site as well?

I'm sorry to all that had to deal with the bathroom doors not working well. I hope your roommates were nice.

The VODs were a bit of a concern for me, as there were a large number of uploads to YouTube by other groups during the marathon that I have yet to see whether or not they have been taken down by non-GDQ affiliates. Idk if that's a concern or not...but just thought I'd bring it up here since I don't peruse every corner of this forum.

I feel like for checking for whether or not the stream is still running is to simply communicate with the other...dudes? I imagine there's some sort of administrative chat thingy going on and that you guys are watching the marathon 24/7, right? thumbsup

Communication is probably the most important thing, I guess.

I loved the marathons, and I loved the games. I probably watched more of this GDQ than past marathons. The layout was great, and I'm looking forward to SGDQ.

Doicm feedback..and stuff!

Some of the categories on the schedules for games were a bit confusing (I think that was a point that ewaller had made earlier).

I appreciated it when the tech crew took the time to delay the run for Shovel Knight so that the music could be fixed, because I enjoy the music in that game.

Regarding unread donation comments (ones that are relevant) or poorly read donation comments (as in donation comments with poor taste)...I feel like this should be looked into more? I'm not entirely sure how, but I don't know how often this gets discussed to see quite a few concerns in the comments on here about it and the lack of accountability. Also, is donation tracking an on-site only deal, or are these sorts of things also done off-site as well?

I'm sorry to all that had to deal with the bathroom doors not working well. I hope your roommates were nice.

The VODs were a bit of a concern for me, as there were a large number of uploads to YouTube by other groups during the marathon that I have yet to see whether or not they have been taken down by non-GDQ affiliates. Idk if that's a concern or not...but just thought I'd bring it up here since I don't peruse every corner of this forum.

I feel like for checking for whether or not the stream is still running is to simply communicate with the other...dudes? I imagine there's some sort of administrative chat thingy going on and that you guys are watching the marathon 24/7, right? :thumbsup:

Communication is probably the most important thing, I guess.

I loved the marathons, and I loved the games. I probably watched more of this GDQ than past marathons. The layout was great, and I'm looking forward to SGDQ.

burningsoup

2015-01-23 08:30:12 pm

flatluigi: When I sat in the audience I FELT separated. I guess that gives me a good transition for my feedback:

You had to be sitting in the aisle seats to even be able to see the runner/couch, and of course the TV was never visible. At one point I specifically remember thinking "The only difference between watching this live and watching this at home is that I paid $200 for this and there's no 30 second delay." In retrospect, that's an exaggeration--I was already very depressed that week. Ultimately, I still found the experience valuable. At the same time, I think I'd only attend again if I was volunteering or running a game (don't worry though, that just means I plan to volunteer next time). It just felt like we were being corralled into otherwise empty space, like we were all just "those people over there." I understand if this setup works best, that's just how it felt to me--I can't exactly speak for anyone else.

One note on which I CAN speak for others is that the rule dictating who could sit behind the couch was unclear. From the way the rule was written and the way it was explained it seemed pretty clear that unless we had a distinct connection to the game or the runner, we shouldn't be in that area at all, or at least that you'd prefer us not to be there. But a lot of the "less hype" games, particularly in Awful block, were completely desolate behind the runner while there were maybe 10-15 people sitting out in the audience, uncertain of whether not it was "okay" to sit in. I remember right before Brossentia's Town With No Name run he came out into the audience and invited all of us to sit behind him. When drafting the rules for future GDQs I think it should be more clear that the stream area isn't a total red zone. Or if it is a red zone... maybe try to make it less of one. I felt so bad after Kaizo Mario when the room cleared out before EmoArbiter's NSMBW run, and I would have gone over for support if I had thought it was okay.

Aside from that, I'm just going to mention the food issue again. The first two days I subsisted entirely on the free breakfast, any fruit I could sneak out of the breakfast to eat later on, and vending machine snacks. I think a good idea for any future GDQ is to have some sort of official, public, physical sheet for people to sign up to get food. It's a lot harder to ask someone you just met to get you food than somebody who has already made it clear that they are willing to make food runs. Not sure exactly how to set it up or work it out, but I just don't want anybody else to be in the position where they're so desperate for food they take a shuttle to the airport and have a Cinnabon as their entire dinner.

More to the game side of things: I don't necessarily think all the "blocks" from an individual series (eg, Mega Man, 2D Metroids, etc) should be split up. The only one that stood out was F-Zero though, and I think that's only because 1) multiple racing games in a row tend to feel repetitive just because of the nature of running laps; 2) a lot of levels and music are reused and remastered throughout the series, so they tend to wear down; and 3) take 1 and 2, then consider both of these factors over the course of 4 hours. Love the games and nothing but respect for the runners, but please spread them out.

If you're going to race randomly generated games like Binding of Isaac, at least get the racers to use the same seed. Their explanation that the players might screenwatch each other if they used the same seed seemed kind of flimsy, and it really doesn't provide any indication of skill when one player becomes OP within 10 minutes and the other person goes 10 minutes over estimate simply because of bad luck.

The Rayman Legends showcase was very confusing. Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of talent on display, but it just kind of seemed like... I don't know... nobody really knew what was going on? Maybe I missed something behind the scenes, but it seemed like there wasn't a lot of communication there, and the title for it on the schedule was a bit misleading.

All that aside, I really did enjoy the event when I got into the flow of things. It was well organized, well maintained, and everybody I came across was very friendly. You all continue to amaze me with your abilities and unflinching generosity. I only hope I can be a little more social next time and put in as much as I get out of it.

Also, I liked ending with a 100% Zelda run. I wouldn't mind that becoming a new tradition. But that might just be because I'm not the biggest Final Fantasy fan.

flatluigi: When I sat in the audience I FELT separated. I guess that gives me a good transition for my feedback:

You had to be sitting in the aisle seats to even be able to see the runner/couch, and of course the TV was never visible. At one point I specifically remember thinking "The only difference between watching this live and watching this at home is that I paid $200 for this and there's no 30 second delay." In retrospect, that's an exaggeration--I was already very depressed that week. Ultimately, I still found the experience valuable. At the same time, I think I'd only attend again if I was volunteering or running a game (don't worry though, that just means I plan to volunteer next time). It just felt like we were being corralled into otherwise empty space, like we were all just "those people over there." I understand if this setup works best, that's just how it felt to me--I can't exactly speak for anyone else.

One note on which I CAN speak for others is that the rule dictating who could sit behind the couch was unclear. From the way the rule was written and the way it was explained it seemed pretty clear that unless we had a distinct connection to the game or the runner, we shouldn't be in that area at all, or at least that you'd prefer us not to be there. But a lot of the "less hype" games, particularly in Awful block, were completely desolate behind the runner while there were maybe 10-15 people sitting out in the audience, uncertain of whether not it was "okay" to sit in. I remember right before Brossentia's Town With No Name run he came out into the audience and invited all of us to sit behind him. When drafting the rules for future GDQs I think it should be more clear that the stream area isn't a total red zone. Or if it is a red zone... maybe try to make it less of one. I felt so bad after Kaizo Mario when the room cleared out before EmoArbiter's NSMBW run, and I would have gone over for support if I had thought it was okay.

Aside from that, I'm just going to mention the food issue again. The first two days I subsisted entirely on the free breakfast, any fruit I could sneak out of the breakfast to eat later on, and vending machine snacks. I think a good idea for any future GDQ is to have some sort of official, public, physical sheet for people to sign up to get food. It's a lot harder to ask someone you just met to get you food than somebody who has already made it clear that they are willing to make food runs. Not sure exactly how to set it up or work it out, but I just don't want anybody else to be in the position where they're so desperate for food they take a shuttle to the airport and have a Cinnabon as their entire dinner.

More to the game side of things: I don't necessarily think all the "blocks" from an individual series (eg, Mega Man, 2D Metroids, etc) should be split up. The only one that stood out was F-Zero though, and I think that's only because 1) multiple racing games in a row tend to feel repetitive just because of the nature of running laps; 2) a lot of levels and music are reused and remastered throughout the series, so they tend to wear down; and 3) take 1 and 2, then consider both of these factors over the course of 4 hours. Love the games and nothing but respect for the runners, but please spread them out.

If you're going to race randomly generated games like Binding of Isaac, at least get the racers to use the same seed. Their explanation that the players might screenwatch each other if they used the same seed seemed kind of flimsy, and it really doesn't provide any indication of skill when one player becomes OP within 10 minutes and the other person goes 10 minutes over estimate simply because of bad luck.

The Rayman Legends showcase was very confusing. Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of talent on display, but it just kind of seemed like... I don't know... nobody really knew what was going on? Maybe I missed something behind the scenes, but it seemed like there wasn't a lot of communication there, and the title for it on the schedule was a bit misleading.

All that aside, I really did enjoy the event when I got into the flow of things. It was well organized, well maintained, and everybody I came across was very friendly. You all continue to amaze me with your abilities and unflinching generosity. I only hope I can be a little more social next time and put in as much as I get out of it.

Also, I liked ending with a 100% Zelda run. I wouldn't mind that becoming a new tradition. But that might just be because I'm not the biggest Final Fantasy fan.

ButtersBB

2015-01-23 08:32:40 pm

The event was awesome. I had a great time. Many things were improved, and I loved having all the extra walking space. Best AGDQ experience yet.

The wifi connection was a pain. I had no connection in my room, no connection downstairs, and no connection in many other parts of the hotel. Had to go to the lobby to get any sort of connection going. The food thing was also annoying. Overall though, I liked the hotel.

As far as marathon logistics, only a few things worth noting. The runners and couch not being able to hear the host was a problem, and occasionally led to awkward moments. I hope this can be addressed.

As far as tasteless comments go, I think the filterers are getting a bit of a bum rap. At the end of the day, the buck stops with the host. Hosts: READ THE COMMENT TO YOURSELF BEFORE READING OUT LOUD. If you make a mistake and start reading a comment that you realize is a troll, DON'T ADDRESS IT, STOP READING IT, SOFT EDIT IT, WHATEVER. I have seen tons of wildly inappropriate comments get "filtered" to me over the last couple of years, and you just need to not blindly trust that the donations you are getting are ok.

Setup time has already been mentioned plenty, but yeah, it's a problem. Hope it improves next time.

Lastly, this really confused me and I have to ask: Why were Kid Chameleon and Big Rigs in the marathon? I was keeping track of the submission process and never saw them anywhere near the schedule, so I was surprised that they were somehow added in. This was even more surprising to me considering that we were way behind schedule. So why were they there?

The event was awesome. I had a great time. Many things were improved, and I loved having all the extra walking space. Best AGDQ experience yet.

The wifi connection was a pain. I had no connection in my room, no connection downstairs, and no connection in many other parts of the hotel. Had to go to the lobby to get any sort of connection going. The food thing was also annoying. Overall though, I liked the hotel.

As far as marathon logistics, only a few things worth noting. The runners and couch not being able to hear the host was a problem, and occasionally led to awkward moments. I hope this can be addressed.

As far as tasteless comments go, I think the filterers are getting a bit of a bum rap. At the end of the day, the buck stops with the host. Hosts: READ THE COMMENT TO YOURSELF BEFORE READING OUT LOUD. If you make a mistake and start reading a comment that you realize is a troll, DON'T ADDRESS IT, STOP READING IT, SOFT EDIT IT, WHATEVER. I have seen tons of wildly inappropriate comments get "filtered" to me over the last couple of years, and you just need to not blindly trust that the donations you are getting are ok.

Setup time has already been mentioned plenty, but yeah, it's a problem. Hope it improves next time.

Lastly, this really confused me and I have to ask: Why were Kid Chameleon and Big Rigs in the marathon? I was keeping track of the submission process and never saw them anywhere near the schedule, so I was surprised that they were somehow added in. This was even more surprising to me considering that we were way behind schedule. So why were they there?

musical_daredevil

Edit history:

musical_daredevil: 2015-01-23 08:47:57 pm

musical_daredevil: 2015-01-23 08:47:09 pm

2015-01-23 08:44:34 pm

This was the first GDQ I went to in person and had an amazing time. All the staff did an amazing job to make sure the event was a success, considering everything that happened with Mike. Hosting an event for close to 1000 people is not easy and you should all be proud of yourselves for what you've accomplished.

Most of my feedback has been stated already, but here's a couple points I'd like to make:

Regarding tech station, there needs to be some better clarification about roles/responsibilities and making sure every role is adequately staffed. There were quite a few times during my tech shift that there were three people doing stuff at the stream computer (updating the graphics, moving cameras, changing scenes in OBS), and there were other times I was the only person in the tech area and had to do things I wasn't sure it was my responsibility to do at that time. Hopefully this problem will fix itself as more people get experience and the staff adjust to having volunteers there, but with more volunteers than slots (so I heard) this station and set-up shouldn't be understaffed. You might want to have an additional person as an "alternate" for the tech station to take over if someone doesn't show up or needs to leave the tech area for some reason.

There's been a lot of comments in the thread about people being unaware of certain rules at AGDQ and a lack of communication in some areas to attendees. I've helped organize and run conferences for 200-300 students and one of the things we did was distribute a small booklet to everyone which included basic information like a schedule (i.e. what time volunteer orientation is), maps of both the conference floor and places to go nearby, rules, and other things which attendees should know. This would be a good way to inform attendees about stuff like tournaments being in the tournament room or remind people that there is no streaming on hotel wifi. You could upload a pdf to gamesdonequick.com with a shortened url if you're worried about printing 1000 books.

Quote from Kirua:

+/- I can't believe i'm saying that but you should probably read more donations. I noticed that there was a great deal of effort to let the players & couch talk a lot, which was great. But at the same time, when the hosts were talking, I felt that the balance between the things that were being read wasn't necessarily the best. Like reading so many times about sponsors, and way less donations than before. The sponsors were already in the layout to begin with, reading so much about them felt overkill.

I was the host during your run and one thing that happened then (and might have happened several other times during AGDQ) was that during most of your run I didn't get any new donations passed to me, either because none came in or they were filtered out. After a few points without commentary, tech signaled to me to start reading about the sponsors which I did until I got a few donations in the queue I could read. That's why your run was a bit heavy on the sponsorships rather than donations.

Quote from AlbinoAlbatross:

Donation Screening: How tight is the moderation on donation screening, out of curiosity? There were some pretty bad donation comments that got read aloud that definitely should not have made it past any screening, one of which put one of my friends in a really bad spot.

Seriously? If I read anything during your run which hurt your friend I'm sorry. While it is difficult to filter out unique cases and well-hidden comments, it sounds like this was a bit more than that and it was ultimately my responsibility to ensure that didn't happen while I was hosting.

This was the first GDQ I went to in person and had an amazing time. All the staff did an amazing job to make sure the event was a success, considering everything that happened with Mike. Hosting an event for close to 1000 people is not easy and you should all be proud of yourselves for what you've accomplished.

Most of my feedback has been stated already, but here's a couple points I'd like to make:

Regarding tech station, there needs to be some better clarification about roles/responsibilities and making sure every role is adequately staffed. There were quite a few times during my tech shift that there were three people doing stuff at the stream computer (updating the graphics, moving cameras, changing scenes in OBS), and there were other times I was the only person in the tech area and had to do things I wasn't sure it was my responsibility to do at that time. Hopefully this problem will fix itself as more people get experience and the staff adjust to having volunteers there, but with more volunteers than slots (so I heard) this station and set-up shouldn't be understaffed. You might want to have an additional person as an "alternate" for the tech station to take over if someone doesn't show up or needs to leave the tech area for some reason.

There's been a lot of comments in the thread about people being unaware of certain rules at AGDQ and a lack of communication in some areas to attendees. I've helped organize and run conferences for 200-300 students and one of the things we did was distribute a small booklet to everyone which included basic information like a schedule (i.e. what time volunteer orientation is), maps of both the conference floor and places to go nearby, rules, and other things which attendees should know. This would be a good way to inform attendees about stuff like tournaments being in the tournament room or remind people that there is no streaming on hotel wifi. You could upload a pdf to gamesdonequick.com with a shortened url if you're worried about printing 1000 books.

[quote="Kirua"]
+/- I can't believe i'm saying that but you should probably read more donations. I noticed that there was a great deal of effort to let the players & couch talk a lot, which was great. But at the same time, when the hosts were talking, I felt that the balance between the things that were being read wasn't necessarily the best. Like reading so many times about sponsors, and way less donations than before. The sponsors were already in the layout to begin with, reading so much about them felt overkill.
[/quote]

I was the host during your run and one thing that happened then (and might have happened several other times during AGDQ) was that during most of your run I didn't get any new donations passed to me, either because none came in or they were filtered out. After a few points without commentary, tech signaled to me to start reading about the sponsors which I did until I got a few donations in the queue I could read. That's why your run was a bit heavy on the sponsorships rather than donations.

[quote="AlbinoAlbatross"]Donation Screening: How tight is the moderation on donation screening, out of curiosity? There were some pretty bad donation comments that got read aloud that definitely should not have made it past any screening, one of which put one of my friends in a really bad spot.[/quote]

Seriously? If I read anything during your run which hurt your friend I'm sorry. While it is difficult to filter out unique cases and well-hidden comments, it sounds like this was a bit more than that and it was ultimately my responsibility to ensure that didn't happen while I was hosting.

NiL8r

2015-01-23 09:12:16 pm

Pretty much anything I have to say has already been said, but I wholeheartedly agree that communication between volunteer posisitions is one of the things that needs to be improved most.

Being on host and trying to get tech station to see you was, well, frustrating to put it mildly. Even trying to get donation station's attention was slightly annoying, and they are literaly right next to you. Even other volunteer positions were hard to track down, I remember seeing someone come to the registration desk in the afternoon one day, and there was no one around anywhere who could help him, effectively barring him (if he were to follow the rules) from attending the event rooms until someone showed up.

I know literally nothing about what it would take to set this up, but is it possible to set up some kind of closed instant message system solely for use between volunteer stations, or all staff pc's/notebooks? That way, for example, if someone on head donation PC hears about an issue from a mod, they can immediately message tech crew, and let host know at the same time.

Pretty much anything I have to say has already been said, but I wholeheartedly agree that communication between volunteer posisitions is one of the things that needs to be improved most.

Being on host and trying to get tech station to see you was, well, frustrating to put it mildly.  Even trying to get donation station's attention was slightly annoying, and they are literaly right next to you.  Even other volunteer positions were hard to track down, I remember seeing someone come to the registration desk in the afternoon one day, and there was no one around anywhere who could help him, effectively barring him (if he were to follow the rules) from attending the event rooms until someone showed up.

I know literally nothing about what it would take to set this up, but is it possible to set up some kind of closed instant message system solely for use between volunteer stations, or all staff pc's/notebooks?  That way, for example, if someone on head donation PC hears about an issue from a mod, they can immediately message tech crew, and let host know at the same time.

StingerPA

2015-01-23 09:16:39 pm

One other thing I forgot to mention was the finale. OoT 100% was probably the worst finale I've seen in a GDQ since I began watching at AGDQ 2013. The couch was falling asleep (being at 4 AM didn't help, but at least the FFVI couch at SGDQ was alert at 9 AM after starting at 2 AM) and seemed entirely uninterested in the run. ZFG didn't help bring them in either. It ended up just being a snoozefest for over 4 hours. Ending the marathon with something that's actually hype like Super Metroid (Kill/Save as the final thing in the marathon would be amazing) would actually be interesting instead of watching a bunch of people who don't care about the game in front of them.

thief

2015-01-23 09:18:48 pm

Hey everybody. I loved this AGDQ probably as much as any other, however I do have one gripe about one specific run, which was the Super Marisa Land run. I honestly don't know how this got entered into the marathon, but I will try to keep my criticism as constructive as possible. Not to mention it was right after Battleblock Theatre which was ridiculously awesome/hilarious.

1) The game was peppered with auto-scrollers, in which it doesn't matter how fast or slow you go, you go the speed the game allows you.
2) The runner mentioned that there were skips in a few areas, but often avoided them as they were a risk. He didn't go into details about these risk, or how much time would be lost, but it would at least be nice to know why we're playing such a safe (yet seemingly dull) run.
3) The runners were overly comparing the game to Super Mario Bros, and even often slamming Super Mario Bros in certain features of the game. This seemed unnecessary and kind of immature.
4) The scheduling of the game should have probably been after something not so epic. Battleblock Theatre is a hard act to follow, but this really was a downer to watch.

Hey everybody. I loved this AGDQ probably as much as any other, however I do have one gripe about one specific run, which was the Super Marisa Land run. I honestly don't know how this got entered into the marathon, but I will try to keep my criticism as constructive as possible. Not to mention it was right after Battleblock Theatre which was ridiculously awesome/hilarious.

1) The game was peppered with auto-scrollers, in which it doesn't matter how fast or slow you go, you go the speed the game allows you.
2) The runner mentioned that there were skips in a few areas, but often avoided them as they were a risk. He didn't go into details about these risk, or how much time would be lost, but it would at least be nice to know why we're playing such a safe (yet seemingly dull) run.
3) The runners were overly comparing the game to Super Mario Bros, and even often slamming Super Mario Bros in certain features of the game. This seemed unnecessary and kind of immature.
4) The scheduling of the game should have probably been after something not so epic. Battleblock Theatre is a hard act to follow, but this really was a downer to watch.

BaronHaynes

2015-01-23 09:28:08 pm

Strange days, incredible days

Quote from CBenni:

Ok so. Everyone says that twitch chat was bad. I however say twitch chat was alot better than in the last events.

It gets worse every time from what I've seen. But it's bad in a way that can't be solved with moderation. The simplest way to put it is is that there's a pervasive culture of event-shitting that lasts for the entire marathon. A lot of people tune in to these marathons purely to hate-watch them and insult every aspect of them. There was almost never a time I loaded the chat and didn't mostly just see abuse toward whoever was on camera or talking. I wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not: it's hard to remember a single time when it wasn't like that. Spam isn't a problem, it's part of the hype engine, and the chat is actually better when it's moving quickly. But in between games, during graveyard, or simply any time someone on camera looks different in any way, it's vicious and toxic the entire time.

There are arguments to be made on either side about sub-only and the value of chat as a hype engine, but let's not pretend it's just a rowdy atmosphere with the occasional sexist/racist comment that gets through. Nothing about chat in its current form reflects well on the community or the event, IMO. It was a common theme on twitter as well, people being astonished at just how bad the attitude was. The best thing I can say about it is that the GDQ site no longer embeds it directly.

I think Brossentia's approach is probably the best remedy for this, which is to actively try and steer the discussion away from insulting people at the event or shit-talking the charity, warning people not to do it, and putting the chat in sub-only for a bit if it doesn't let up. Maybe it isn't necessary to heavily police the chat or make it sub-only permanently, but pushing back against constant abuse more proactively would be a big help. It's strange to me that the most visible, active outlet for commenting on the event is so overpoweringly negative toward everyone participating, and the official response seems to be kind of a shrug.

One other thing regarding subs: Currently, there's no real incentive to subscribe to the channel. You're not going to talk in this thing, no one is going to see what you have to say, and the room is never in sub-only. This is partly a Twitch problem, I think it'd help tremendously to be able to turn on sub-only locally and talk in a functional chat with other subscribers, but the site doesn't have that functionality. This could be a good middle ground if it was ever a thing. But at the moment, there's no reason to subscribe apart from a handful of emotes vs. just making a $5 donation.

[quote="CBenni"]Ok so. Everyone says that twitch chat was bad. I however say twitch chat was alot better than in the last events.[/quote]It gets worse every time from what I've seen. But it's bad in a way that can't be solved with moderation. The simplest way to put it is is that there's a pervasive culture of event-shitting that lasts for the entire marathon. A lot of people tune in to these marathons purely to hate-watch them and insult every aspect of them. There was almost never a time I loaded the chat and didn't mostly just see abuse toward whoever was on camera or talking. I wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not: it's hard to remember a single time when it wasn't like that. Spam isn't a problem, it's part of the hype engine, and the chat is actually [i]better[/i] when it's moving quickly. But in between games, during graveyard, or simply any time someone on camera looks different in any way, it's vicious and toxic the entire time.

There are arguments to be made on either side about sub-only and the value of chat as a hype engine, but let's not pretend it's just a rowdy atmosphere with the occasional sexist/racist comment that gets through. Nothing about chat in its current form reflects well on the community or the event, IMO. It was a common theme on twitter as well, people being astonished at just how bad the attitude was. The best thing I can say about it is that the GDQ site no longer embeds it directly.

I think Brossentia's approach is probably the best remedy for this, which is to actively try and steer the discussion away from insulting people at the event or shit-talking the charity, warning people not to do it, and putting the chat in sub-only for a bit if it doesn't let up. Maybe it isn't necessary to heavily police the chat or make it sub-only permanently, but pushing back against constant abuse more proactively would be a big help. It's strange to me that the most visible, active outlet for commenting on the event is so overpoweringly negative toward everyone participating, and the official response seems to be kind of a shrug.

One other thing regarding subs: Currently, there's no real incentive to subscribe to the channel. You're not going to talk in this thing, no one is going to see what you have to say, and the room is never in sub-only. This is partly a Twitch problem, I think it'd help tremendously to be able to turn on sub-only locally and talk in a functional chat with other subscribers, but the site doesn't have that functionality. This could be a good middle ground if it was ever a thing. But at the moment, there's no reason to subscribe apart from a handful of emotes vs. just making a $5 donation.

dangodofthunder

2015-01-23 09:34:10 pm

Okay, so I'm saying this as a viewer and prize donator's perspective, so take that for what it's worth (Not a ton).

1. I understand that as these events grow it becomes harder and harder for a camera to encompass everyone in a single view, much less one while the runner is performing. But it's really cool to me to be able to SEE everyone hyped and excited... the only time that I got the impression of the event being as big as it truly was was when the announcers asked for the crowd to get hype, or when they did the occasional pan shot. I don't think this is objectively worse, but I will be on the record to say that I don't like this aesthetic change.

2. Everyone's talked about the tech issues and delays between runs already. I think this is something that IS an issue, but I have no real information to add other than I hope we can improve on this in the future.

3. I think that having the sponsors filling so much of the air time, along with occupying so much of the screen real estate, wore us out significantly. My suggestion is that especially for races or multi-screen runs, that the sponsors need to take a backseat, since we had major difficulty seeing the races when each screen takes up 10% of the stream real estate.

4. As a donor of a prize, I was tremendously disappointed with the amount of mention and hype that was made for my prize. At no point at all during the designated block was my prize ever mentioned or shown, despite many other prizes being shown. The prize I donated was only shown the following day, about 24 hours after the donations window had already closed. It was never announced at any point. Understand that this is a prize with a retail value of roughly $85.00, and I am extremely reluctant to donate a similar or even larger prize for future GDQ's if there is no promotion, hype, or even outward signs of appreciation. It's disappointing to me that no one from the GDQ community has really reached out or thanked me for my donation, and the prize donors were one of the only groups not mentioned for thanks during the finale. I've noted a few people here say they were extremely disappointed with the prizes available in this year's event, but as a donor, I would have serious reservations about repeating this commitment.

Okay, so I'm saying this as a viewer and prize donator's perspective, so take that for what it's worth (Not a ton).

1. I understand that as these events grow it becomes harder and harder for a camera to encompass everyone in a single view, much less one while the runner is performing. But it's really cool to me to be able to SEE everyone hyped and excited... the only time that I got the impression of the event being as big as it truly was was when the announcers asked for the crowd to get hype, or when they did the occasional pan shot. I don't think this is objectively worse, but I will be on the record to say that I don't like this aesthetic change.

2. Everyone's talked about the tech issues and delays between runs already. I think this is something that IS an issue, but I have no real information to add other than I hope we can improve on this in the future.

3. I think that having the sponsors filling so much of the air time, along with occupying so much of the screen real estate, wore us out significantly. My suggestion is that especially for races or multi-screen runs, that the sponsors need to take a backseat, since we had major difficulty seeing the races when each screen takes up 10% of the stream real estate.

4. As a donor of a prize, I was tremendously disappointed with the amount of mention and hype that was made for my prize. At no point at all during the designated block was my prize ever mentioned or shown, despite many other prizes being shown. The prize I donated was only shown the following day, about 24 hours after the donations window had already closed. It was never announced at any point. Understand that this is a prize with a retail value of roughly $85.00, and I am extremely reluctant to donate a similar or even larger prize for future GDQ's if there is no promotion, hype, or even outward signs of appreciation. It's disappointing to me that no one from the GDQ community has really reached out or thanked me for my donation, and the prize donors were one of the only groups not mentioned for thanks during the finale. I've noted a few people here say they were extremely disappointed with the prizes available in this year's event, but as a donor, I would have serious reservations about repeating this commitment.

LeonPowPow

Edit history:

LeonPowPow: 2015-01-23 10:35:55 pm

2015-01-23 09:44:06 pm

This is the view of a viewer, who has attended a prior GDQ and has many friends who attended AGDQ '15

Pros
* The layout was such a massive step up from previous GDQs, and although some minor things could be worked out with it, it was seriously a very noticable improvement that went quite a way with how nice the stream's presentation seemed.

* Outside of setup, tech issues were much better than before. Naegleria's proposal earlier of having 2 runner stations (the 'off' one being used to prep the next runner in line) seems the most obvious and effective way of cutting set up times, but I have no idea of the feasibility of that and that's something the organizing staff would know better than I (and probably already considered).

* Adding music during the setup periods was a wonderful move, pls keep doing that in the future. It really added a large amount to the vibe and enjoyment of those periods

Cons
* Location. Can't stress enough that it's important for an event like this where the bulk of attendees are overseas, international, and out of state residents to have basic food options within walking distance if at all possible as very very few people will have their own transportation, and the ones who do will (and have) find themselves extremely burdened or pestered by chauffeur requests.

* I feel the couch rules, though I do understand why they developed the way they did, went a bit strict. Or maybe I'm entirely misinformed here after reading the thread and it was just that the runners or couch people themselves suffered from low energy. This is something that was let up noticeably around day 3~ or so and the general opinion on this aspect improved a lot around then from what I saw in chat(s) and discussion boards, but was something in the first two days that was being commented a lot and was the primary reason attributed for the complaints or feelings of the event feeling "less hype" than before. The dwindling engagement and activity levels of the couch area with the runner is, imo, an area where the excitement of past gqs is being lost. I understand that these are made in place due to undesirable elements finding their way onto the couch in past segments (people, plushies, etc.), but I feel that the more stringent ruleset imposed is an issue that could simply be solved by more people exercising their "hey, get off of my couch please" rights as a runner. Again, I made this post before I read the thread and after reading it seems maybe this isn't a rule thing so much as a "maybe people are just 'over' the novelty or possibly even burned out on GDQs 'thing'"

* The donation/host stuff this year felt very heavy this event. A lot of sponsor plugging, which is fine, although given the screen space used for that feels redundant, however a lot of donations this year that were read that were really ... eh. There's the instances of donation comments that shouldn't have gone past screening that I'm sure we all know about, but past that did *every* comment have to be a cancer story? I do not want to seem unsympathetic and I'm sure neither do others (If they weren't they wouldn't be supporting, contributing to, or participating in AGDQ!) but it seriously does go at odds with the atmosphere of the runner and run area having a cheery group of people playing games overlayed with a nonstop dialogue of personal and familial loss.

Ideas/Thoughts
*FrankerFaceZ did a really incredible thing with their addon during the event of having a "Follow Runner" button embedded into the page to correspond with the run and runner(s) currently on camera. Is there any way this could be communicated with twitch to support (even temporarily just for the event) an on-site feature? It was a small gesture that went a massive way with supporting the runners of the event in a way that didn't distract or detract from the event and purpose itself

* This is something entirely unrelated and probably out of the questions just due to how established the GDQs are at this point, but.. is there any way we could do a swap of seasonal locations? Having the Winter event held in an area that experiences considerable winter weather whereas the summer event being in an area (at least conceptually; I know Denver does experience Winter and that SGDQ is meant to be a West or more south event) that experiences a mild winter feels like it would be a better experience all around if swapped. As a throwaway example the previously mentioned food issues were more exacerbated by the winter as there was food venues within reasonable walking distance (around a mile I have heard), however by the middle of the week when the large snow and ice waves hit, no one was wanting (rightfully so) to do a considerable walk to get food.

* This will probably get shut down immediately and I'm fine with that, but possibly having donation comments/reading being transferred to a text ticker (conveniently there's a nice bar at the top and bottom of the layout that could hold this without being an eyesore or conflating the layout) like what you see on many streams? Keeping host to doing just donation incentives, announcements, sponsors and etc. plugs would help with the duality felt with the host & runner + couch situation of both parties consistently having some difficulty in hearing one another

* Twitch chat sub mode: don't do this. It never fosters a more pleasant experience, as the kind of people you get when that is activated is near as bad as any other sort of chatter

This is the view of a viewer, who has attended a prior GDQ and has many friends who attended AGDQ '15

[b]Pros[/b]
* The layout was such a massive step up from previous GDQs, and although some minor things could be worked out with it, it was seriously a very noticable improvement that went quite a way with how nice the stream's presentation seemed.

* Outside of setup, tech issues were much better than before. Naegleria's proposal earlier of having 2 runner stations (the 'off' one being used to prep the next runner in line) seems the most obvious and effective way of cutting set up times, but I have no idea of the feasibility of that and that's something the organizing staff would know better than I (and probably already considered).

* Adding music during the setup periods was a wonderful move, pls keep doing that in the future. It really added a large amount to the vibe and enjoyment of those periods

[b]Cons[/b]
* Location. Can't stress enough that it's important for an event like this where the bulk of attendees are overseas, international, and out of state residents to have basic food options within walking distance if at all possible as very very few people will have their own transportation, and the ones who do will (and have) find themselves extremely burdened or pestered by chauffeur requests.

* I feel the couch rules, though I do understand why they developed the way they did, went a bit strict. Or maybe I'm entirely misinformed here after reading the thread and it was just that the runners or couch people themselves suffered from low energy. This is something that was let up noticeably around day 3~ or so and the general opinion on this aspect improved a lot around then from what I saw in chat(s) and discussion boards, but was something in the first two days that was being commented a lot and was the primary reason attributed for the complaints or feelings of the event feeling "less hype" than before. The dwindling engagement and activity levels of the couch area with the runner is, imo, an area where the excitement of past gqs is being lost. I understand that these are made in place due to undesirable elements finding their way onto the couch in past segments (people, plushies, etc.), but I feel that the more stringent ruleset imposed is an issue that could simply be solved by more people exercising their "hey, get off of my couch please" rights as a runner. [b]Again, I made this post before I read the thread and after reading it seems maybe this isn't a rule thing so much as a "maybe people are just 'over' the novelty or possibly even burned out on GDQs 'thing'"[/b]

* The donation/host stuff  this year felt very heavy this event. A lot of sponsor plugging, which is fine, although given the screen space used for that feels redundant, however a lot of donations this year that were read that were really ... eh. There's the instances of donation comments that shouldn't have gone past screening that I'm sure we all know about, but past that did *every* comment have to be a cancer story? I do not want to seem unsympathetic and I'm sure neither do others (If they weren't they wouldn't be supporting, contributing to, or participating in AGDQ!) but it seriously does go at odds with the atmosphere of the runner and run area having a cheery group of people playing games overlayed with a nonstop dialogue of personal and familial loss.

[b]Ideas/Thoughts[/b]
*FrankerFaceZ did a really incredible thing with their addon during the event of having a "Follow Runner" button embedded into the page to correspond with the run and runner(s) currently on camera. Is there any way this could be communicated with twitch to support (even temporarily just for the event) an on-site feature? It was a small gesture that went a massive way with supporting the runners of the event in a way that didn't distract or detract from the event and purpose itself

* This is something entirely unrelated and probably out of the questions just due to how established the GDQs are at this point, but.. is there any way we could do a swap of seasonal locations? Having the Winter event held in an area that experiences considerable winter weather whereas the summer event being in an area (at least conceptually; I know Denver does experience Winter and that SGDQ is meant to be a West or more south event) that experiences a mild winter feels like it would be a better experience all around if swapped. As a throwaway example the previously mentioned food issues were more exacerbated by the winter as there was food venues within reasonable walking distance (around a mile I have heard), however by the middle of the week when the large snow and ice waves hit, no one was wanting (rightfully so) to do a considerable walk to get food.

* This will probably get shut down immediately and I'm fine with that, but possibly having donation comments/reading being transferred to a text ticker (conveniently there's a nice bar at the top and bottom of the layout that could hold this without being an eyesore or conflating the layout) like what you see on many streams? Keeping host to doing just donation incentives, announcements, sponsors and etc. plugs would help with the duality felt with the host & runner + couch situation of both parties consistently having some difficulty in hearing one another

* Twitch chat sub mode: don't do this. It never fosters a more pleasant experience, as the kind of people you get when that is activated is near as bad as any other sort of chatter

Keaur

2015-01-23 09:49:03 pm

ヾ(´▽` )ノ

Hello!

This year was the first AGDQ I’ve been to. I stayed Tuesday till early morning Friday, (Jan 6-9) and had a pretty decent experience.
These are the high and low points that stood out from my trip.

-The location was decent, but as described previously the lack of food was an absolute irritant. It really bites flying in alone from Texas to find nowhere close to eat or shop at. In hindsight I probably should have done a map check, but would this really have changed anything? I felt that my money spent on pizza and UBER taxi was not used efficiently, even being a necessity. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the pizza. I only wish there had been more options in that regard. To make matters worse there weren’t any 24 hour establishments or restaurants for the late-nighters, such as myself. Unfortunately most food places were closed around 10:00PM - 11:00PM.

- The Practice room was good overall with the exception of having zero cell service. I felt like I couldn’t practice as long I wanted because of this. Cell service isn't really something that's controlled directly by the GDQ staff, but I’m pleased to have read there are plans to alleviate this issue. The CRTs there were better than I had expected. I loved their size and the response time was solid for practice.

-The Registration table was manned when I arrived and they were very pleasant. However I noticed it wasn’t staffed much of the time after that. When the tables weren’t being operated there were no signs left for people to know when to return. A simple “BRB in 5 min.” sign could have saved other attendees time and confusion blindly looking for assistance to get their badges. Not everyone arrives immediately when the event starts. Some of us can’t afford to stay the whole week, and have to work with shorted stays, myself included.

-Where was The Yetee booth? I managed to ask registration about the shirts I purchased. They had a representative give me my order, but I felt there should have been volunteers dedicated to this. There were no signs informing people about any of this.

-I LOVED the attendance perks, such as the 25% off Papa Johns, free wifi, and the like. Likewise the room prices were pretty freakin' generous as well. My stay in the hotel was wonderful and the beds were super cozy.

-I disliked like the lack of things to do when not watching a speed-run. Ultimately I ended up back in the room just browsing on my laptop, which didn’t sit well with me. Of course this is a speed-running event, but one would think there would be something else to stave boredom. This is especially relevant for people who didn't really know other people at the event. I have some ideas for this, and would love whoever is in charge of events to get with me in a PM. I'm not entirely sure who to contact for idea pitching.

-They definitely needed to be on better point with roll calls. For instance checking that the commentators are actually scheduled with the current runner. I was informed that at least one commentator on the couch wasn’t supposed to be there at all. This wasn’t my run, but I still feel that it shouldn’t have happened to anyone and could’ve easily been avoided.

-Could we not "HOYP"? We are nerds/geeks/fans of video games, not seagulls. I get that "nerding out" is a thing, but there are better ways to bring the *hype. I apologize if this came off harsh, but I've read and heard from numerous sources that it was an issue.

-It bites that the donation tracker wasn't functioning correctly. Apparently there were several donations that had comments towards me, but they unfortunately weren’t tracked. Either way I’m still thankful to those who gave. Overall I did have fun for what it was, and I'm glad I got to speed-run at the event.

To the higher ups, I'd love to discuss ideas for possible improvements to future GDQ events and welcome PMs.

Thanks for reading.

Hello!

This year was the first AGDQ I’ve been to. I stayed Tuesday till early morning Friday, (Jan 6-9) and had a pretty decent experience.
These are the high and low points that stood out from my trip.

-The location was decent, but as described previously the lack of food was an absolute irritant. It really bites flying in alone from Texas to find nowhere close to eat or shop at. In hindsight I probably should have done a map check, but would this really have changed anything? I felt that my money spent on pizza and UBER taxi was not used efficiently, even being a necessity. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the pizza. I only wish there had been more options in that regard. To make matters worse there weren’t any 24 hour establishments or restaurants for the late-nighters, such as myself. Unfortunately most food places were closed around 10:00PM - 11:00PM.

- The Practice room was good overall with the exception of having zero cell service. I felt like I couldn’t practice as long I wanted because of this. Cell service isn't really something that's controlled directly by the GDQ staff, but I’m pleased to have read there are plans to alleviate this issue. The CRTs there were better than I had expected. I loved their size and the response time was solid for practice.

-The Registration table was manned when I arrived and they were very pleasant. However I noticed it wasn’t staffed much of the time after that. When the tables weren’t being operated there were no signs left for people to know when to return. A simple “BRB in 5 min.” sign could have saved other attendees time and confusion blindly looking for assistance to get their badges. Not everyone arrives immediately when the event starts. Some of us can’t afford to stay the whole week, and have to work with shorted stays, myself included.

-Where was The Yetee booth? I managed to ask registration about the shirts I purchased. They had a representative give me my order, but I felt there should have been volunteers dedicated to this. There were no signs informing people about any of this.

-I LOVED the attendance perks, such as the 25% off Papa Johns, free wifi, and the like. Likewise the room prices were pretty freakin' generous as well. My stay in the hotel was wonderful and the beds were super cozy.

-I disliked like the lack of things to do when not watching a speed-run. Ultimately I ended up back in the room just browsing on my laptop, which didn’t sit well with me. Of course this is a speed-running event, but one would think there would be something else to stave boredom. This is especially relevant for people who didn't really know other people at the event. I have some ideas for this, and would love whoever is in charge of events to get with me in a PM. I'm not entirely sure who to contact for idea pitching.

-They definitely needed to be on better point with roll calls. For instance checking that the commentators are actually scheduled with the current runner. I was informed that at least one commentator on the couch wasn’t supposed to be there at all. This wasn’t my run, but I still feel that it shouldn’t have happened to anyone and could’ve easily been avoided.

-Could we not "HOYP"? We are nerds/geeks/fans of video games, not seagulls. I get that "nerding out" is a thing, but there are better ways to bring the *hype. I apologize if this came off harsh, but I've read and heard from numerous sources that it was an issue.

-It bites that the donation tracker wasn't functioning correctly. Apparently there were several donations that had comments towards me, but they unfortunately weren’t tracked. Either way I’m still thankful to those who gave. Overall I did have fun for what it was, and I'm glad I got to speed-run at the event.

To the higher ups, I'd love to discuss ideas for possible improvements to future GDQ events and welcome PMs.

Thanks for reading.

Stingrayy

Edit history:

Stingrayy: 2015-01-23 09:55:22 pm

2015-01-23 09:54:43 pm

-I don't know how others felt but I absolutely LOATHED the spectator set up. The crowd really needs to be behind the couch IMO. It adds to the feel of a community event over a corporate event which gdqs seem to be becoming.

-Also I don't know if this was controllable but the lights in the stream room need to be way brighter. Watching a screen in a dimly lit room is extremely bad for the eyes and I found myself leaving the room every few runs because my eyes were starting to hurt.

-Like someone said before in the thread I really don't think it was necessary to have large blocks of a series where all the games are similar (ie F-Zero). I think if you have games like that it would be better to spread them out across a couple days like what happened with sonic.

Between that, the setup times, and the fact that there was almost no food within walking distance I thought it was a pretty good marathon overall.

LeonPowPow

2015-01-23 10:01:44 pm

The "hoiiiip" thing got really forced and obnoxious after a certain point, I agree

flatluigi

2015-01-23 10:02:49 pm

it was cute/funny and it helped show that yes, there were people there having fun. I liked it.

Kenos

2015-01-23 10:13:32 pm

This was my first GDQ I attended, and it awesome overall. A few issues come to mind about the whole event, from the attendee POV.

-The person I was with and I arrived a little after 10pm on Sunday, and found that registration was closed for the day. After seeing several comments about it, is there any way there can be a schedule posted before the marathon, so everyone knows when it will be open or closed? I feel this would help those who come in late, for example, due to airplane delays.

-The rules weren't regularly enforced, such as large groups standing in the halls. Many times, the halls would be almost blocked because of large groups. Also, I feel it needs to be reminded we are not the only guests in the hotel. Some hotel rooms got loud, to the point me and my roommates couldn't sleep.

-The hospitality room was great, although there was an odd odor. I found myself in this room a lot, mainly because the casual room was packed, and hot.

-I was not a fan of the setup of the stream room. My experiences from watching previous GDQs, seeing the audience built up the excitement, and as some have already said, there was a lack of it at times.

-If there is an issue finding volunteers, maybe set up something to get volunteers during the event? In case of no shows, or something just falls through. Just a suggestion.

Overall, this was an awesome experience, and the way the hotel was setup was pretty cool. I enjoyed how spread out everything was, and everyone was pretty much respectable. I didn't have any major problems.

This was my first GDQ I attended, and it awesome overall. A few issues come to mind about the whole event, from the attendee POV.

-The person I was with and I arrived a little after 10pm on Sunday, and found that registration was closed for the day. After seeing several comments about it, is there any way there can be a schedule posted before the marathon, so everyone knows when it will be open or closed? I feel this would help those who come in late, for example, due to airplane delays.

-The rules weren't regularly enforced, such as large groups standing in the halls. Many times, the halls would be almost blocked because of large groups. Also, I feel it needs to be reminded we are not the only guests in the hotel. Some hotel rooms got loud, to the point me and my roommates couldn't sleep.

-The hospitality room was great, although there was an odd odor. I found myself in this room a lot, mainly because the casual room was packed, and hot.

-I was not a fan of the setup of the stream room. My experiences from watching previous GDQs, seeing the audience built up the excitement, and as some have already said, there was a lack of it at times.

-If there is an issue finding volunteers, maybe set up something to get volunteers during the event? In case of no shows, or something just falls through. Just a suggestion.

Overall, this was an awesome experience, and the way the hotel was setup was pretty cool. I enjoyed how spread out everything was, and everyone was pretty much respectable. I didn't have any major problems.

Cool Matty

2015-01-23 10:24:00 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Quote from Stingrayy:

-I don't know how others felt but I absolutely LOATHED the spectator set up. The crowd really needs to be behind the couch IMO. It adds to the feel of a community event over a corporate event which gdqs seem to be becoming.

I need to address this again, since it always comes up.

There isn't any way to do what you're asking for a crowd of our size. Here's the options:

1. We orient the couch so the crowd is behind. Then they will be primarily blocked by the projector screens.
2. We try placing said projector screens on the other side of the couch/tech/crew. Now it's blocked by everyone, so no one can see the screens.

That's really all there is for choices. We don't have the space for an EVO-style layout with massive screens on each side. We would need a convention center, not a hotel, and the costs of that are sky high (you don't want to know).

If we ever do get a place with a stage, then we'll do that. But it's just physically impossible to do the layout you guys want with the size we're at.

Quote:

-Also I don't know if this was controllable but the lights in the stream room need to be way brighter. Watching a screen in a dimly lit room is extremely bad for the eyes and I found myself leaving the room every few runs because my eyes were starting to hurt.

You should probably get up every few runs regardless. The lighting was necessary to make the screens viewable, like in a movie theater.

[quote="Stingrayy"]-I don't know how others felt but I absolutely LOATHED the spectator set up. The crowd really needs to be behind the couch IMO. It adds to the feel of a community event over a corporate event which gdqs seem to be becoming. 
[/quote]

I need to address this again, since it always comes up.

There isn't any way to do what you're asking for a crowd of our size. Here's the options:

1. We orient the couch so the crowd is behind. Then they will be primarily blocked by the projector screens.
2. We try placing said projector screens on the other side of the couch/tech/crew. Now it's blocked by everyone, so no one can see the screens.

That's really all there is for choices. We don't have the space for an EVO-style layout with massive screens on each side. We would need a convention center, not a hotel, and the costs of that are sky high (you don't want to know).

If we ever do get a place with a stage, then we'll do that. But it's just physically impossible to do the layout you guys want with the size we're at.

[quote]
-Also I don't know if this was controllable but the lights in the stream room need to be way brighter. Watching a screen in a dimly lit room is extremely bad for the eyes and I found myself leaving the room every few runs because my eyes were starting to hurt.
[/quote]

You should probably get up every few runs regardless. The lighting was necessary to make the screens viewable, like in a movie theater.

Gwimpage

2015-01-23 10:33:42 pm

I'm not sure if anyone brought it up but was there no way to get your clothes washed? I had asked the front desk for options and they recommended a local dry cleaning (They delivered it to and back which was very nice) and the price to get laundry done was very expensive. I payed almost 40$ for a load of laundry I could have done at a laundromat for like 4$.

Everything I had concerns with has been addressed already, mostly not being able to hear anything that the host was saying. I could tell when the host was talking but not exactly what was being said. Other than that as a first-time attendee I enjoyed the entire marathon and meeting everyone.

Twinge

2015-01-23 10:34:14 pm

I'd like to re-iterate: music during the downtime between games was a huge improvement and should be standard on future marathons. I'd suggest setting up a medium-sized playlist in advance that's been screened to not get VODs muted that the Donation Reader can toggle on and back off as appropriate. I'd be happy to help with the creation of said playlist if necessary. If for some reason this can't be done, at least get rid of the noise gate: pure silence during downtime is far worse than random background noise.

Quote from Raelcun:

This is partially because of another policy where we do not edit comments. A comment that is mostly acceptable but has one problematic portion at the end won’t be read because we don’t want to only read part of the donation.

Relatedly though, I think it should be suggested that Donation Readers don't have to read entire comments 100% all the time. I hosted during SGDQ '14 and I felt it was definitely appropriate to sometimes trim off 'and let's save those animals!' when there were lots of donations to read or I wanted to be quick and give the runner time to speak again. As ButtersBB said, it should also be emphasized that the Reader should look at comments before reading them aloud and use their own discretion (I know there's better info sheets available since SGDQ, but I don't know exactly what they cover so maybe this is already addressed).

Theoretically having the processors editing on a basic level of only 'removing a questionable ending sentence' should work fine and be good, but it could also get messy real quick so I understand simply not allowing editing at all.

Quote from burningsoup:

If you're going to race randomly generated games like Binding of Isaac, at least get the racers to use the same seed. Their explanation that the players might screenwatch each other if they used the same seed seemed kind of flimsy, and it really doesn't provide any indication of skill when one player becomes OP within 10 minutes and the other person goes 10 minutes over estimate simply because of bad luck.

The race was definitely handled poorly - I feel if they were going to have Isaac in a marathon, it needed to be done like an Isaac race not like an AGDQ race. Isaac races in any tournament or league setting are pretty much always best 2 out of 3 to help even out any luck factor. Additionally, because of the nature of the game and the necessary riskier strats if you're behind, once one player has won the race should be declared over - other racers *should not* finish out their runs unless they're super close to finishing generally speaking. Finally, it felt like they weren't resetting nearly as much as they should've been to start - I don't know if this was nerves at the event or if they weren't supposed to reset for a good start, but it definitely hurt the reliability of finishing a run at a reasonable pace.

As for seeding - there are no seeds within the original Binding of Isaac natively. Also, the general community consensus is that seeded races for Isaac are significantly less interesting to watch, and that's the most important reason that it's not commonly done even now with seeds being easy to use. (I personally feel seeds make for a better *race* between the racers, but I do agree it's probably less interesting from a viewer perspective.)

Quote from NiL8r:

Being on host and trying to get tech station to see you was, well, frustrating to put it mildly.

I know literally nothing about what it would take to set this up, but is it possible to set up some kind of closed instant message system solely for use between volunteer stations, or all staff pc's/notebooks? That way, for example, if someone on head donation PC hears about an issue from a mod, they can immediately message tech crew, and let host know at the same time.

This was definitely an issue at SGDQ as well and I suggested the same thing then. Not sure it's the best answer, but I know it isn't terribly hard to set up something like that. There might be more important things to worry about for the time involved, but I hope it's considered. If nothing else, just a generic private chat room where all stations are connected to that'll flash when there's a new message would be very helpful.

Quote from LeonPowPow:

*FrankerFaceZ did a really incredible thing with their addon during the event of having a "Follow Runner" button embedded into the page to correspond with the run and runner(s) currently on camera.

It would be really cool to see a bot set up to automatically put the chat into sub-only mode for ~30 seconds after a run with a link to the runner - a brief window where anyone interested can easily click and check them out, but not long enough that it slows down chat hype.

Quote from Keaur:

-I disliked like the lack of things to do when not watching a speed-run. Of course this is a speed-running event, but one would think there would be something else to stave boredom. This is especially relevant for people who didn't really know other people at the event.

If you're at all interested, check out the boardgaming crowd in the casual rooms. During SGDQ I actually watched *less* speedrunning than I would've at home because I was having so much fun playing tons of The Resistance, Mao, Liar's Dice, etc. =) (And I didn't know anyone beforehand.)

I'd like to re-iterate: music during the downtime between games was a huge improvement and should be standard on future marathons.  I'd suggest setting up a medium-sized playlist in advance that's been screened to not get VODs muted that the Donation Reader can toggle on and back off as appropriate.  I'd be happy to help with the creation of said playlist if necessary.  If for some reason this can't be done, at least get rid of the noise gate: pure silence during downtime is far worse than random background noise.

[quote="Raelcun"]This is partially because of another policy where we do not edit comments. A comment that is mostly acceptable but has one problematic portion at the end won’t be read because we don’t want to only read part of the donation.[/quote]

Relatedly though, I think it should be suggested that Donation Readers don't have to read entire comments 100% all the time.  I hosted during SGDQ '14 and I felt it was definitely appropriate to sometimes trim off 'and let's save those animals!' when there were lots of donations to read or I wanted to be quick and give the runner time to speak again.  As ButtersBB said, it should also be emphasized that the Reader should look at comments before reading them aloud and use their own discretion (I know there's better info sheets available since SGDQ, but I don't know exactly what they cover so maybe this is already addressed).

Theoretically having the processors editing on a basic level of only 'removing a questionable ending sentence' should work fine and be good, but it could also get messy real quick so I understand simply not allowing editing at all.

[quote="burningsoup"]If you're going to race randomly generated games like Binding of Isaac, at least get the racers to use the same seed. Their explanation that the players might screenwatch each other if they used the same seed seemed kind of flimsy, and it really doesn't provide any indication of skill when one player becomes OP within 10 minutes and the other person goes 10 minutes over estimate simply because of bad luck.[/quote]

The race was definitely handled poorly - I feel if they were going to have Isaac in a marathon, it needed to be done like an Isaac race not like an AGDQ race.  Isaac races in any tournament or league setting are pretty much always best 2 out of 3 to help even out any luck factor.  Additionally, because of the nature of the game and the necessary riskier strats if you're behind, once one player has won the race should be declared over - other racers *should not* finish out their runs unless they're super close to finishing generally speaking.  Finally, it felt like they weren't resetting nearly as much as they should've been to start - I don't know if this was nerves at the event or if they weren't supposed to reset for a good start, but it definitely hurt the reliability of finishing a run at a reasonable pace.

As for seeding - there are no seeds within the original Binding of Isaac natively.  Also, the general community consensus is that seeded races for Isaac are significantly less interesting to watch, and that's the most important reason that it's not commonly done even now with seeds being easy to use.  (I personally feel seeds make for a better *race* between the racers, but I do agree it's probably less interesting from a viewer perspective.)

[quote="NiL8r"]Being on host and trying to get tech station to see you was, well, frustrating to put it mildly.

I know literally nothing about what it would take to set this up, but is it possible to set up some kind of closed instant message system solely for use between volunteer stations, or all staff pc's/notebooks?  That way, for example, if someone on head donation PC hears about an issue from a mod, they can immediately message tech crew, and let host know at the same time.[/quote]

This was definitely an issue at SGDQ as well and I suggested the same thing then.  Not sure it's the best answer, but I know it isn't [i]terribly[/i] hard to set up something like that.  There might be more important things to worry about for the time involved, but I hope it's considered.  If nothing else, just a generic private chat room where all stations are connected to that'll flash when there's a new message would be very helpful.

[quote="LeonPowPow"]*FrankerFaceZ did a really incredible thing with their addon during the event of having a "Follow Runner" button embedded into the page to correspond with the run and runner(s) currently on camera.[/quote]

It would be really cool to see a bot set up to automatically put the chat into sub-only mode for ~30 seconds after a run with a link to the runner - a brief window where anyone interested can easily click and check them out, but not long enough that it slows down chat hype.

[quote="Keaur"]-I disliked like the lack of things to do when not watching a speed-run. Of course this is a speed-running event, but one would think there would be something else to stave boredom. This is especially relevant for people who didn't really know other people at the event. [/quote]

If you're at all interested, check out the boardgaming crowd in the casual rooms.  During SGDQ I actually watched *less* speedrunning than I would've at home because I was having so much fun playing tons of The Resistance, Mao, Liar's Dice, etc. =)  (And I didn't know anyone beforehand.)

Stingrayy

Edit history:

Stingrayy: 2015-01-23 10:36:37 pm

Stingrayy: 2015-01-23 10:35:40 pm

2015-01-23 10:35:21 pm

Quote from Cool Matty:

I need to address this again, since it always comes up.

There isn't any way to do what you're asking for a crowd of our size. Here's the options:

1. We orient the couch so the crowd is behind. Then they will be primarily blocked by the projector screens.
2. We try placing said projector screens on the other side of the couch/tech/crew. Now it's blocked by everyone, so no one can see the screens.

That's really all there is for choices. We don't have the space for an EVO-style layout with massive screens on each side. We would need a convention center, not a hotel, and the costs of that are sky high (you don't want to know).

If we ever do get a place with a stage, then we'll do that. But it's just physically impossible to do the layout you guys want with the size we're at.

Can't you just put the projector screens to the sides of the runner? Like the screens go on either side of the TV/Computer that the runner is using.

Quote:

You should probably get up every few runs regardless. The lighting was necessary to make the screens viewable, like in a movie theater.

Well if you want to make it like a movie theater then I suggest making the room completely dark like an actual movie theater. A dim light on a bright screen is worse than no light on a bright screen.

[quote="Cool Matty"]

I need to address this again, since it always comes up.

There isn't any way to do what you're asking for a crowd of our size. Here's the options:

1. We orient the couch so the crowd is behind. Then they will be primarily blocked by the projector screens.
2. We try placing said projector screens on the other side of the couch/tech/crew. Now it's blocked by everyone, so no one can see the screens.

That's really all there is for choices. We don't have the space for an EVO-style layout with massive screens on each side. We would need a convention center, not a hotel, and the costs of that are sky high (you don't want to know).

If we ever do get a place with a stage, then we'll do that. But it's just physically impossible to do the layout you guys want with the size we're at. 
[/quote]
Can't you just put the projector screens to the sides of the runner? Like the screens go on either side of the TV/Computer that the runner is using.

[quote]
You should probably get up every few runs regardless. The lighting was necessary to make the screens viewable, like in a movie theater.[/quote]
Well if you want to make it like a movie theater then I suggest making the room completely dark like an actual movie theater. A dim light on a bright screen is worse than no light on a bright screen.

Cool Matty

2015-01-23 10:38:00 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Quote from Stingrayy:

Can't you just put the projector screens to the sides of the runner? Like the screens go on either side of the TV/Computer that the runner is using.

That's the EVO setup I just mentioned.

Stingrayy

Edit history:

Stingrayy: 2015-01-23 10:41:26 pm

Stingrayy: 2015-01-23 10:40:32 pm

Stingrayy: 2015-01-23 10:40:13 pm

2015-01-23 10:39:30 pm

Edit: Nvm im really dumb