AGDQ 2015 Feedback

2015-01-23 03:14:30 pm

This is my avatar

Quote from Onin:

Quote from Linkinito:

Quote from Cool Matty:

Quote from Linkinito:

(And check on agdq.ma.pe or alligatr.co.uk how the donations slowed down hard after Mega Man X3... Thursday and Friday were abysmal days in terms of donations. Even though some runs were great - look at GTA Vice City, praised by everyone, but very few donations throughout the whole run! And it was in graveyard shift)

I believe the fall of donations happened as soon as the Awful Games Done Quick block happened, which has always been more of an event darling than a, well, good idea. I think AwGDQ has always caused a dip in donations.
The data you were looking at was not updated with the revised tracker donations. Those days were a significant chunk of the $400k that was missing in the tracker.

Alligatr features the revised tracker donations. The missing $400k were spread out all over the marathon, and if we except the bump on prime time Thursday (from Punch-Out to Yoshi's Island), the donations were pretty low between Mega Man X3 and Zelda The Minish Cap. Friday is without a doubt the weakest day, even when counting the missing $400k.

I believe the fall of donations happened as soon as the Awful Games Done Quick block happened, which has always been more of an event darling than a, well, good idea. I think AwGDQ has always caused a dip in donations.

It always did in every edition, however that's quite unusual to have donations that were so low in a day that was supposed to be strong, with Half-Life, Portal, GTA Vice City (adam_ak being one of the most known speedrunners), a very promising PlayStation block, heck, even Werster and Metroid Prime/Zero Mission didn't fare well!

Also remember that the PS4 prize ended right after Mega Man X3... Which was in my opinion a stupid mistake because it was done deliberately. My bet on this.

[quote="Onin"][quote="Linkinito"][quote="Cool Matty"][quote="Linkinito"]
(And check on [url=http://agdq.ma.pe]agdq.ma.pe[/url] or [url=http://alligatr.co.uk]alligatr.co.uk[/url] how the donations slowed down hard after Mega Man X3... Thursday and Friday were abysmal days in terms of donations. Even though some runs were great - look at GTA Vice City, praised by everyone, but very few donations throughout the whole run! And it was in graveyard shift)
[/quote]
I believe the fall of donations happened as soon as the Awful Games Done Quick block happened, which has always been more of an event darling than a, well, good idea. I think AwGDQ has always caused a dip in donations.
The data you were looking at was not updated with the revised tracker donations. Those days were a significant chunk of the $400k that was missing in the tracker.
[/quote]

[url=http://irc.alligatr.co.uk/agdq15/]Alligatr[/url] features the revised tracker donations. The missing $400k were spread out all over the marathon, and if we except the bump on prime time Thursday (from Punch-Out to Yoshi's Island), the donations were pretty low between Mega Man X3 and Zelda The Minish Cap. Friday is without a doubt the weakest day, even when counting the missing $400k.[/quote]

I believe the fall of donations happened as soon as the Awful Games Done Quick block happened, which has always been more of an event darling than a, well, good idea. I think AwGDQ has always caused a dip in donations.[/quote]
It always did in every edition, however that's quite unusual to have donations that were so low in a day that was supposed to be strong, with Half-Life, Portal, GTA Vice City (adam_ak being one of the most known speedrunners), a very promising PlayStation block, heck, even Werster and Metroid Prime/Zero Mission didn't fare well!

Also remember that the PS4 prize ended right after Mega Man X3... Which was in my opinion a stupid mistake because it was done deliberately. My bet on this.

Cool Matty

Edit history:

Cool Matty: 2015-01-23 03:17:24 pm

2015-01-23 03:15:07 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

PJ:

The PC situation was a mess and it mostly boiled down to something that happened before the event. SOMEONE did a god awful job building a couple of the PCs and we spent /hours/ trying to fix them. Others were also messed up in various ways. I don't know who had a hand in it, but that was legitimately the most infuriating thing for me to find out during the event.

As for some of your issues (particularly the slow internet and swapped PCs), please let me know when this stuff happens. If I knew PCs were getting swapped, heads would have rolled. If I knew that the internet was slow, I would have got you a direct 50mb line. Again, this sort of loops back to the first post, that sometimes there are problems we can fix, but we don't find out about them until after the event.

Also, even if it happens during the run, let me know about stuff that went wrong during a run! People seem to just shrug and move on, but if we actually find out about it, we can make sure it's not an issue for future runners at the event.

PJ:

The PC situation was a mess and it mostly boiled down to something that happened before the event. SOMEONE did a god awful job building a couple of the PCs and we spent /hours/ trying to fix them. Others were also messed up in various ways. I don't know who had a hand in it, but that was legitimately the most infuriating thing for me to find out during the event.

As for some of your issues (particularly the slow internet and swapped PCs), please let me know when this stuff happens. If I knew PCs were getting swapped, heads would have rolled. If I knew that the internet was slow, I would have got you a direct 50mb line. Again, this sort of loops back to the first post, that sometimes there are problems we can fix, but we don't find out about them until after the event.

Also, even if it happens during the run, let me know about stuff that went wrong during a run! People seem to just shrug and move on, but if we actually find out about it, we can make sure it's not an issue for future runners at the event.

esi

2015-01-23 03:16:22 pm

Quote from kirbymastah:

Fair enough. I still disagree with the decision but at least I got to hear more specifically what happened, since the people I did ask about that were on site didn't know about it. This would be worth discussing more in detail but I dont know how much you guys discussed it on the fly during the run.

I was personally aware of it and know that it also happened during Metroid Prime during which Miles just paused and read some cool scan lore.

Cool Matty

2015-01-23 03:18:04 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Quote from esi:

I was personally aware of it and know that it also happened during Metroid Prime during which Miles just paused and read some cool scan lore.

The other outage I am aware of is not the same situation. We had an internet outage and we stopped immediately when we found out.

PJ

2015-01-23 03:19:02 pm

Is PJ

Quote from Cool Matty:

PJ:

The PC situation was a mess and it mostly boiled down to something that happened before the event. SOMEONE did a god awful job building a couple of the PCs and we spent /hours/ trying to fix them. Others were also messed up in various ways. I don't know who had a hand in it, but that was legitimately the most infuriating thing for me to find out during the event.

As for some of your issues (particularly the slow internet and swapped PCs), please let me know when this stuff happens. If I knew PCs were getting swapped, heads would have rolled. If I knew that the internet was slow, I would have got you a direct 50mb line. Again, this sort of loops back to the first post, that sometimes there are problems we can fix, but we don't find out about them until after the event.

We did let staff know about the swapped PCs, but it was much easier for Mecha and I to just set everything up again than to try to hunt you down (or UA or someone else) and then pray that nothing breaks while we move the PCs 3 feet. It took us extra time, but at least we knew that the PCs wouldn't be more broken afterwards.

As for the internet connection issue, I didn't even know until the next day. I had asked TeaWrex to install it on a practice PC so I could go sleep, because I had slept a grand total of 3 hours over the first two days (thanks schedule changes!).

[quote="Cool Matty"]PJ:

The PC situation was a mess and it mostly boiled down to something that happened before the event. SOMEONE did a god awful job building a couple of the PCs and we spent /hours/ trying to fix them. Others were also messed up in various ways. I don't know who had a hand in it, but that was legitimately the most infuriating thing for me to find out during the event.

As for some of your issues (particularly the slow internet and swapped PCs), please let me know when this stuff happens. If I knew PCs were getting swapped, heads would have rolled. If I knew that the internet was slow, I would have got you a direct 50mb line. Again, this sort of loops back to the first post, that sometimes there are problems we can fix, but we don't find out about them until after the event.[/quote]

We did let staff know about the swapped PCs, but it was much easier for Mecha and I to just set everything up again than to try to hunt you down (or UA or someone else) and then pray that nothing breaks while we move the PCs 3 feet.  It took us extra time, but at least we knew that the PCs wouldn't be more broken afterwards.

As for the internet connection issue, I didn't even know until the next day.  I had asked TeaWrex to install it on a practice PC so I could go sleep, because I had slept a grand total of 3 hours over the first two days (thanks schedule changes!).

Cool Matty

2015-01-23 03:20:35 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Quote from PJ:

Quote from Cool Matty:

PJ:

The PC situation was a mess and it mostly boiled down to something that happened before the event. SOMEONE did a god awful job building a couple of the PCs and we spent /hours/ trying to fix them. Others were also messed up in various ways. I don't know who had a hand in it, but that was legitimately the most infuriating thing for me to find out during the event.

As for some of your issues (particularly the slow internet and swapped PCs), please let me know when this stuff happens. If I knew PCs were getting swapped, heads would have rolled. If I knew that the internet was slow, I would have got you a direct 50mb line. Again, this sort of loops back to the first post, that sometimes there are problems we can fix, but we don't find out about them until after the event.

We did let staff know about the swapped PCs, but it was much easier for Mecha and I to just set everything up again than to try to hunt you down (or UA or someone else) and then pray that nothing breaks while we move the PCs 3 feet. It took us extra time, but at least we knew that the PCs wouldn't be more broken afterwards.

As for the internet connection issue, I didn't even know until the next day. I had asked TeaWrex to install it on a practice PC so I could go sleep, because I had slept a grand total of 3 hours over the first two days (thanks schedule changes!).

Alright, fair enough. Either way, the SGDQ PCs are already working from last event so those should be fine. We will deal with the AGDQ monsters next event. Even if I have to rebuild them myself.

[quote="PJ"][quote="Cool Matty"]PJ:

The PC situation was a mess and it mostly boiled down to something that happened before the event. SOMEONE did a god awful job building a couple of the PCs and we spent /hours/ trying to fix them. Others were also messed up in various ways. I don't know who had a hand in it, but that was legitimately the most infuriating thing for me to find out during the event.

As for some of your issues (particularly the slow internet and swapped PCs), please let me know when this stuff happens. If I knew PCs were getting swapped, heads would have rolled. If I knew that the internet was slow, I would have got you a direct 50mb line. Again, this sort of loops back to the first post, that sometimes there are problems we can fix, but we don't find out about them until after the event.[/quote]

We did let staff know about the swapped PCs, but it was much easier for Mecha and I to just set everything up again than to try to hunt you down (or UA or someone else) and then pray that nothing breaks while we move the PCs 3 feet.  It took us extra time, but at least we knew that the PCs wouldn't be more broken afterwards.

As for the internet connection issue, I didn't even know until the next day.  I had asked TeaWrex to install it on a practice PC so I could go sleep, because I had slept a grand total of 3 hours over the first two days (thanks schedule changes!).[/quote]

Alright, fair enough. Either way, the SGDQ PCs are already working from last event so those should be fine. We will deal with the AGDQ monsters next event. Even if I have to rebuild them myself.

NachoYacopu

2015-01-23 03:20:55 pm

T r i P T e a M

Quote from Cool Matty:

Quote from NachoYacopu:

Audio balancing issues: now, I don't know what kind of setup you guys had (so I can't tell what caused the issues) but during some games the audio levels were all over the place (when comparing mics and game audio, or just different commentators). I remember distinctly, during the Contra race, I think it was zallard? (I don't remember, I hope I'm right) was handed a mic and he was barely audible, like his mic was off or had no gain or something. I don't mean to be rude but it makes me wonder if there was anyone periodically monitoring (in whatever mixer you guys had, with a pair of headphones) the audio levels that you were ultimately sending out to the stream. All you really need to do is to hook up a pair of headphones, and listen. Also now I remember, stuff like Transistor having no game audio for 15 mins or so. You really need someone monitoring the audio that's being pushed out so mistakes like this can be corrected asap.

I've touched on most of this in my mega-post earlier, but I do want to point out that much of the time, the people monitoring audio are just volunteers with minimal audio experience. The more people who volunteer with audio backgrounds, the better prepared we can be. There was someone on desk who SHOULD have been listening the whole time, but many people who are inexperienced are too afraid to adjust anything, or don't know what to listen for.

I'm sorry, I missed said post where you explained everything, my bad. Thanks for replying to me though.

Just to complement on your reply though, it would definitely help if you instructed people (I don't know if you have a separated volunteer designated to look over wherever the mixer is or if the host is the one in charge) to put on a pair of headphones and check if everything sounds alright, specially before and as every run starts. Then you could either indicate on the mixer what is connected to every channel (using masking tape) (or maybe you do this already, idk) or if the volunteers are too afraid to touch the mixer (understandable) to just point out to someone else nearby that they're not listening to game audio/a runner/a commentator so the issue can be corrected asap. But seriously, get people in the habit of putting those headphones every now and then.

Many times I wish I lived closer so I could drop off and help with audio (I worked in audio for a few yrs). Alas, I live all the way across the globe and I'm poor. Oh well.

[quote="Cool Matty"][quote="NachoYacopu"]
Audio balancing issues: now, I don't know what kind of setup you guys had (so I can't tell what caused the issues) but during some games the audio levels were all over the place (when comparing mics and game audio, or just different commentators). I remember distinctly, during the Contra race, I think it was zallard? (I don't remember, I hope I'm right) was handed a mic and he was barely audible, like his mic was off or had no gain or something. I don't mean to be rude but it makes me wonder if there was anyone periodically monitoring (in whatever mixer you guys had, with a pair of headphones) the audio levels that you were ultimately sending out to the stream. All you really need to do is to hook up a pair of headphones, and listen. Also now I remember, stuff like Transistor having no game audio for 15 mins or so. You really need someone monitoring the audio that's being pushed out so mistakes like this can be corrected asap.
[/quote]

I've touched on most of this in my mega-post earlier, but I do want to point out that much of the time, the people monitoring audio are just volunteers with minimal audio experience. The more people who volunteer with audio backgrounds, the better prepared we can be. There was someone on desk who SHOULD have been listening the whole time, but many people who are inexperienced are too afraid to adjust anything, or don't know what to listen for.[/quote]

I'm sorry, I missed said post where you explained everything, my bad. Thanks for replying to me though.

Just to complement on your reply though, it would definitely help if you instructed people (I don't know if you have a separated volunteer designated to look over wherever the mixer is or if the host is the one in charge) to put on a pair of headphones and check if everything sounds alright, [i]specially[/i] before and as every run starts. Then you could either indicate on the mixer what is connected to every channel (using masking tape) (or maybe you do this already, idk) or if the volunteers are too afraid to touch the mixer (understandable) to just point out to someone else nearby that they're not listening to game audio/a runner/a commentator so the issue can be corrected asap. But seriously, get people in the habit of putting those headphones every now and then.

Many times I wish I lived closer so I could drop off and help with audio (I worked in audio for a few yrs). Alas, I live all the way across the globe and I'm poor. Oh well.

Azurinel

2015-01-23 03:26:31 pm

Have you ever considered having two locations for runs? While one run is going on, setup for the other game can occur. This past marathon you had over 160 runs, looking at the schedule. If this proposed method could save four minutes of setup on average between each run, you'd save over 10 hours. If this is implementable you will have many hours for more games. Obviously overcoming space/budget/distraction/manpower issues would be necessary, however. At the same time, more games = more donations, so it may be that the issue of fitting it into your budget can be removed. As for space, ideally you would have each location just off-screen from each other, so you could simply rotate your camera that shows the runner. Of course, that may cause some distractions for those in the room while the run is going on. And unless you setup the stream layout for each game before the event, layout setup would still occur.

theboyks

2015-01-23 03:34:49 pm

Quote from Onin:

This is still, despite all the work to increase the audience and widen the appeal every year, a speedrunning marathon. I do not understand why things related to speedrunning are being ignored, not just in favour of cancer-related stuff, but just ignored on the off-set.

I don't want to blame whoever ran the tracker during the Transistor run, or whenever else. Because no doubt that person got instructed. And if said instructions even implied, remotely, that cancer is more important than speedrunning, the entire system is fucked up.

I wasn't on donation station during that run, but I did a shift on the station and a hosting bit during the marathon. We did not get any such instruction and it's absurd to think that we would. My mom made a donation while I was hosting and that never got sent up to me as well (I found out hours later when I was able to charge my phone.) Best I can guess is that the person(s) on the donation station at the time didn't know who was making the donation or may have overlooked it.

[quote="Onin"]
This is still, despite all the work to increase the audience and widen the appeal every year, a [b]speedrunning [/b]marathon. I do not understand why things [b]related to speedrunning[/b] are being ignored, not just in favour of cancer-related stuff, [b]but just ignored on the off-set.[/b]

I don't want to blame whoever ran the tracker during the Transistor run, or whenever else. Because no doubt that person got instructed. And if said instructions even [b]implied, remotely,[/b] that cancer is more important than speedrunning, [b]the entire system is fucked up.[/b][/quote]

I wasn't on donation station during that run, but I did a shift on the station and a hosting bit during the marathon. We did not get any such instruction and it's absurd to think that we would. My mom made a donation while I was hosting and that never got sent up to me as well (I found out hours later when I was able to charge my phone.) Best I can guess is that the person(s) on the donation station at the time didn't know who was making the donation or may have overlooked it.

kariohki

Edit history:

kariohki: 2015-01-23 03:37:47 pm

2015-01-23 03:35:39 pm

waifus are laifu

I wrote down things as the week went on, to remember things. Possible repetition but I hope to add in my own opinion-comment-suggesttions alongside.

Quote from KennyMan666:

Not using setup blocks for setup

The big big thing. I know it would hurt to have people donate to get a game added into the schedule in a bonus block, to have it cut because of time. The only method for adding things in should be "is the schedule ahead the same or more time than the next setup block length?"
More setup: In general I think setup times need to be estimated more, especially for races and PC games. It was said here by staff that people will be able list hardware needs at submission in the future, which helps. Having some prepared content to show during setup, ie runner interviews, charity interviews, or a highlight reel of tricks - along with the music put into place later on.

Layout: Never gonna get everyone to like it...I know the sponsors are going to be a staying part but possibly fit them and their URLs into a rotator during setup screens?

Couch, cameras, audience: Was definitely more low key at the start, until later when good crowd playing announcers got on host. Facezoom cam was welcome but overplayed by the end. Though that ties more into setup things...

Runner's donation choice: Started out okay by being asked before but wasn't by the end. EDIT: Seriously didn't finish my sentence here--when the donation incentive list goes up before the thon, runners should be asked for 2 or 3 choices of where to put their money to. Or something.

The following is more on-site things from a volunteer view, things I observed.

Registration/sign-in: This needs to be made a volunteer station option!! There was a day early on where a note was on the table "registration will reopen in the morning", and it was noon and the people who knew how to do registration were nowhere to be seen. By the end it was "find a staff member to register". Yes onsite badge registration buying won't be around next time, but general pickup will still be a thing yes? Walking around to hopefully find a staffer when you technically can't go in the various rooms without a badge is a bit blep...

Rule enforcement: Everyone's least favorite thing. I felt like the enforcement of rules such as "don't stand in the doorways", "no open cups in the marathon room", etc was not being done past day one or two except by Murph and Muffins. Rules need consistent and constant enforcement to work, even if we're trying to keep a casual and friendly atmosphere.
I never was sure what level of authority volunteers had when it came to enforcement, so clarification on that would be good for the future (like, telling people to not crowd up and other simple things).
Consistency...punishment. The hole punching of badges was a good idea, but was there a hard list among staff on who had that done in case they got a second strike? Not that we need to be Big Brother to everyone, but lack of communication can create really sticky situations. Also the myth that certain people can get away with things, while others who are hated get reasons dug up to kick them out (disclaimer I am not accusing anyone of actually doing this)
I heard winds of some people brushing off staff or others when told not to do a thing...not cool. Everyone should respect each other. For things happening not in the jurisdiction of staff...please people, try to be smart. And clean up after each other and yourselves, pleeeease.

Other: Probably a personal feeling, but I felt like the staff was really lopsided...some people were doing a TON, others didn't seem to have been given as much responsibilities. This is not a knock on performance or quality, just an observation. With the amount of people able to work, the same 3 guys shouldn't be up at all hours to take care of things.

I may have more later, and comments if people comment to me, yes. I like adult level discussion.

I wrote down things as the week went on, to remember things. Possible repetition but I hope to add in my own opinion-comment-suggesttions alongside.

[quote="KennyMan666"]
[b]Not using setup blocks for setup[/b][/quote]
The big big thing. I know it would hurt to have people donate to get a game added into the schedule in a bonus block, to have it cut because of time. The only method for adding things in should be "is the schedule ahead the same or more time than the next setup block length?"
[b]More setup:[/b] In general I think setup times need to be estimated more, especially for races and PC games. It was said here by staff that people will be able list hardware needs at submission in the future, which helps. Having some prepared content to show during setup, ie runner interviews, charity interviews, or a highlight reel of tricks - along with the music put into place later on.

[b]Layout:[/b] Never gonna get everyone to like it...I know the sponsors are going to be a staying part but possibly fit them and their URLs into a rotator during setup screens?

[b]Couch, cameras, audience:[/b] Was definitely more low key at the start, until later when good crowd playing announcers got on host. Facezoom cam was welcome but overplayed by the end. Though that ties more into setup things...

[b]Runner's donation choice:[/b] Started out okay by being asked before but wasn't by the end. EDIT: Seriously didn't finish my sentence here--when the donation incentive list goes up before the thon, runners should be asked for 2 or 3 choices of where to put their money to. Or something.

The following is more on-site things from a volunteer view, things I observed.

[b]Registration/sign-in:[/b] This needs to be made a volunteer station option!! There was a day early on where a note was on the table "registration will reopen in the morning", and it was noon and the people who knew how to do registration were nowhere to be seen. By the end it was "find a staff member to register". Yes onsite badge registration buying won't be around next time, but general pickup will still be a thing yes? Walking around to hopefully find a staffer when you technically can't go in the various rooms without a badge is a bit blep...

[b]Rule enforcement:[/b] Everyone's least favorite thing. I felt like the enforcement of rules such as "don't stand in the doorways", "no open cups in the marathon room", etc was not being done past day one or two except by Murph and Muffins. Rules need consistent and constant enforcement to work, even if we're trying to keep a casual and friendly atmosphere.
I never was sure what level of authority volunteers had when it came to enforcement, so clarification on that would be good for the future (like, telling people to not crowd up and other simple things).
Consistency...punishment. The hole punching of badges was a good idea, but was there a hard list among staff on who had that done in case they got a second strike? Not that we need to be Big Brother to everyone, but lack of communication can create really sticky situations. Also the myth that certain people can get away with things, while others who are hated get reasons dug up to kick them out (disclaimer I am not accusing anyone of actually doing this)
I heard winds of some people brushing off staff or others when told not to do a thing...not cool. Everyone should respect each other. For things happening not in the jurisdiction of staff...please people, [b]try to be smart[/b]. And clean up after each other and yourselves, pleeeease.

[b]Other:[/b] Probably a personal feeling, but I felt like the staff was really lopsided...some people were doing a TON, others didn't seem to have been given as much responsibilities. This is not a knock on performance or quality, just an observation. With the amount of people able to work, the same 3 guys shouldn't be up at all hours to take care of things.

I may have more later, and comments if people comment to me, yes. I like adult level discussion.

tekkie

2015-01-23 03:38:47 pm

~

1. actual bathroom doors pls

2. audience area w/projectors is good, but don't have the projectors *separating* the runner from the audience next time.

ewaller

2015-01-23 03:45:28 pm

Could we possibly try to use real category names in the schedule? I told my friend about the punch-out run and I saw it said "vision%". I assumed from past marathons that this would be blindfolded or have something to do with lack of vision, but it was just a normal run. I understand you're trying to be fun with it, but I think it just ends up confusing people who are not in the know.

Thanks Smiley

your_name_here

2015-01-23 03:56:49 pm

A user facing view for the tracker which has the next upcoming bid war at the top of the page would be extremely cool. Just make sure something like that exists when you're redoing the front end of the tracker and I'll be super happy.

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.

The filtering is mostly manual, and as such there are always mistakes. However, there's still things that can be done to reduce the chance of this occurring. Volunteers should be instructed to be more cautious with sending donations to the reader. Nothing should make it to the reader unless the donation station believes it to be 100% appropriate. The printed cheat sheet for donation filtering could stand to have some revisions to make things clearer.
There could be system whereby a donation has to go through two people before it hits the reader. The current system isn't exactly built to handle that, and it would require a lot more people, but, were it done, I think it would eliminate most bad comments that make it to air.
While obviously handing 'to read' donations correctly is the most important, there were also donations which were blocked when they should have been approved, and donations which were only approved when they should have been sent to reader. As we get better at stopping inappropriate comments, we will also get worse in this respect. I'm not sure exactly what can easily be done to address this, but it is definitely going to be an issue.

Concerning the room layout, I feel that the host should probably be nearer to the tech station. They often have to both communicate with donations and tech (especially if there is once again a non-functional cough button), as well as the couch. It also allows the donation station to be in a more "public" area to allow on site donations to be received without people entering the tech area, or by having a person dedicated to the task separate from the other donation station people, with whom he needs to communicate.

A user facing view for the tracker which has the next upcoming bid war at the top of the page would be extremely cool. Just make sure something like that exists when you're redoing the front end of the tracker and I'll be super happy.

[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]

The filtering is mostly manual, and as such there are always mistakes. However, there's still things that can be done to reduce the chance of this occurring. Volunteers should be instructed to be more cautious with sending donations to the reader. Nothing should make it to the reader unless the donation station believes it to be 100% appropriate. The printed cheat sheet for donation filtering could stand to have some revisions to make things clearer.
There could be system whereby a donation has to go through two people before it hits the reader. The current system isn't exactly built to handle that, and it would require a lot more people, but, were it done, I think it would eliminate most bad comments that make it to air.
While obviously handing 'to read' donations correctly is the most important, there were also donations which were blocked when they should have been approved, and donations which were only approved when they should have been sent to reader. As we get better at stopping inappropriate comments, we will also get worse in this respect. I'm not sure exactly what can easily be done to address this, but it is definitely going to be an issue.

Concerning the room layout,  I feel that the host should probably be nearer to the tech station. They often have to both communicate with donations and tech (especially if there is once again a non-functional cough button), as well as the couch. It also allows the donation station to be in a more "public" area to allow on site donations to be received without people entering the tech area, or by having a person dedicated to the task separate from the other donation station people, with whom he needs to communicate.

jarvitz

2015-01-23 04:02:50 pm

I only have 2 issues with this GDQ. First of all being the hotel location. From what I was told this location was chosen partially due to its proximity to the airport. If this is the case, then why does it matter how close to the airport the hotel is if they take shuttles anyway? We need food closer to us, not the airport. My other issue was the bathroom doors were terrible. Our actually shattered and was replaced, but some small shards of glass were never picked up. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B6jdGXaCIAAXDYJ.jpg Other than that I enjoyed everything.

Voltrey

2015-01-23 04:04:19 pm

As a viewer i just want to mention one thing.
First i want to say that i am extremely impressed how good in some runs the balance in commentary and donation reading went compared to the last GDQ's.
However, in some other runs this balance was completely off. I know that the Prevent Cancer Foundation specifically asked you to read out donation comments that were personally affected by cancer to raise awareness and have a bigger impact. This is a great idea but sometimes it went completely overboard and made the run less enjoyable. There was one run in particular where the couch commentary was lacking and the donation reader didn't know what to so he just kept on reading donation and like instructed the ones that mentioned how cancer affected their life and he kept on and on and on. This was extremely depressing and awkward especially since the runner did not hear it or choose to ignore it and that created this dissonance between the runner being unfazed or even cheery while the stream constantly hears these heavy handed comments. I just want to suggest to throw some uplifting/hype generating comments in there. I'm not saying you shouldn't read out these comments, i'm just saying that you should be considerate and find a balance between heavy handed comments and uplifting comments. Sometimes this balance was extremely off and i forgot that this is an event where people generally want to enjoy themselves.

As a viewer i just want to mention one thing.
First i want to say that i am extremely impressed how good in some runs the balance in commentary and donation reading went compared to the last GDQ's.
However, in some other runs this balance was completely off. I know that the Prevent Cancer Foundation specifically asked you to read out donation comments that were personally affected by cancer to raise awareness and have a bigger impact. This is a great idea but sometimes it went completely overboard and made the run less enjoyable. There was one run in particular where the couch commentary was lacking and the donation reader didn't know what to so he just kept on reading donation and like instructed the ones that mentioned how cancer affected their life and he kept on and on and on. This was extremely depressing and awkward especially since the runner did not hear it or choose to ignore it and that created this dissonance between the runner being unfazed or even cheery while the stream constantly hears these heavy handed comments.  I just want to suggest to throw some uplifting/hype generating comments in there. I'm not saying you shouldn't read out these comments, i'm just saying that you should be considerate and find a balance between heavy handed comments and uplifting comments. Sometimes this balance was extremely off and i forgot that this is an event where people generally want to enjoy themselves.

starsarealigned

Edit history:

starsarealigned: 2015-01-23 04:06:40 pm

starsarealigned: 2015-01-23 04:05:32 pm

starsarealigned: 2015-01-23 04:05:24 pm

starsarealigned: 2015-01-23 04:05:02 pm

2015-01-23 04:04:41 pm

The biggest thing I have to say relate directly to volunteers who didn't show up for your shift:
If you volunteer for a shift, show up for it, or make arrangements for someone to cover your shift. Seriously, some of the experienced volunteers were there for FAR longer than they should've had to be without rests because so many people were no-shows for their shifts. If you aren't going to show up for your volunteer shift, don't volunteer.

Now, of course after I talk about the volunteer staff being overworked... the next biggest thing for me was the registration table. I got in at 4:45pm on Tuesday evening and not a soul was manning the registration table (or even around it), and there wasn't even signage beyond the one placard in the first hallway with a hastily-scribbled "registration" down at the bottom for me to be able to FIND it. I saw the white table cloth on the two tables that were outside of the main stream room and assumed (correctly) that it was registration, but there wasn't a stitch of paper or anything indicating it was so. I think I spent the better part of 45 minutes trying to track someone down so I could get registered. If it's not going to be manned all the time, I definitely echo the feeling of having a sign or something saying "find X Person to register!" would be great.

My other feelings echo what others have already said, so I won't repeat that. Overall, I had an unbelievably amazing time and the pros far outweighed the cons.

The biggest thing I have to say relate directly to volunteers who didn't show up for your shift:
[b]If you volunteer for a shift, show up for it, or make arrangements for someone to cover your shift.[/b]  Seriously, some of the experienced volunteers were there for FAR longer than they should've had to be without rests because so many people were no-shows for their shifts.  If you aren't going to show up for your volunteer shift, [i]don't volunteer[/i].

Now, of course after I talk about the volunteer staff being overworked... the next biggest thing for me was the registration table. I got in at 4:45pm on Tuesday evening and not a soul was manning the registration table (or even around it), and there wasn't even signage beyond the one placard in the first hallway with a hastily-scribbled "registration" down at the bottom for me to be able to FIND it.  I saw the white table cloth on the two tables that were outside of the main stream room and assumed (correctly) that it was registration, but there wasn't a stitch of paper or anything indicating it was so.  I think I spent the better part of 45 minutes trying to track someone down so I could get registered.  If it's not going to be manned all the time, I definitely echo the feeling of having a sign or something saying "find X Person to register!" would be great.

My other feelings echo what others have already said, so I won't repeat that.  Overall, I had an unbelievably amazing time and the pros far outweighed the cons.

Untouch

2015-01-23 04:07:11 pm

Setup time was 27% of the marathon.
That's all I need to say.

Note: Not estimates, these numbers were given by SDA.

Shaddex

2015-01-23 04:11:07 pm

As someone who has has high hopes of being accepted to SGDQ, I have some small criticisms and improvements in regards to the Submission Process.

- In my opinion, the Character limit was too low. I struggled with trying to compress my run description into such a small space, and as a result my pitch came in as a shadow of what it should have been. I'd appreciate being able to describe my game in its best light, not in a vastly diminished sense.

- Instead of cluttering up the description with donation incentives and race proposals, it'd be nice to have a separate space designed specifically for these purposes. This could be accomplished through a simple check box indicating willingness to race, and a separate text box for describing donation incentives.

- One small thing I'd also like is a way to indicate past marathon experience. Not only does this demonstrate dedication, it also demonstrates advancements in routing and player skill.

Emptyeye

Edit history:

Emptyeye: 2015-01-23 04:20:47 pm

2015-01-23 04:14:28 pm

Talk to the Hand

Just some thoughts as a volunteer, and I'll try to keep it to "new" stuff:

The First Two Days: For whatever reason, the first two days of every GDQ I've been to except CGDQ are always a little awkward. I don't think that was unique too this year's event, and I'm not sure what can really be done about it (I don't think it's an issue of "NO FUN ALLOWED!!" those first couple days, as much as people trying to get comfortable with one another, their roles, etc.).

Tech Station: I'll readily admit that I'm one of those people CoolMatty mentioned who felt like they didn't have enough control/ability to do things during my shift on tech. I was in there during a PC block, and the senior tech at the time told me, more or less, "This is a PC block, the setup is complicated...so I'll just do everything." Well, that's fine (And is partly on me for not pushing harder to learn said setup), but the only way to increase the knowledge of the volunteers/tech staff is to have them do things. Like it or not, that means making mistakes along the way, but as long as everything is sorted before the run starts, having more people who can actually assist with the complicated stuff is a net positive. In my case above, this would've involved "Hey, this is a PC block, the setup is complicated. Come down here and see what I do for the first couple, then for the third, I'll watch as you try to set it up and correct you if you screw up." I understand that (Not attacking, I think most of them would admit this) the senior techs have an "If you want it done right, do it yourself" mentality, but knowledge transfer is very important, and had more of it happened during the day, we wouldn't have had to reinvent the wheel at night.

EDIT: Reading of Bad Comments: One note here, I was terrible at donation processing, and will admit it. Having said that, if donation processors are the first line of defense against "naughty" comments, the host is, in theory, the second. I think this was actually stated during orientation, but restating it as "Presume Emptyeye was the donation processor, then take a quick scan of anything that comes your way before mindlessly reading it out" couldn't hurt.

Just some thoughts as a volunteer, and I'll try to keep it to "new" stuff:

[b]The First Two Days[/b]: For whatever reason, the first two days of every GDQ I've been to except CGDQ are always a little awkward. I don't think that was unique too this year's event, and I'm not sure what can really be done about it (I don't think it's an issue of "NO FUN ALLOWED!!" those first couple days, as much as people trying to get comfortable with one another, their roles, etc.).

[b]Tech Station[/b]: I'll readily admit that I'm one of those people CoolMatty mentioned who felt like they didn't have enough control/ability to do things during my shift on tech. I was in there during a PC block, and the senior tech at the time told me, more or less, "This is a PC block, the setup is complicated...so I'll just do everything." Well, that's fine (And is partly on me for not pushing harder to learn said setup), but the only way to increase the knowledge of the volunteers/tech staff is to have them [b]do things[/b]. Like it or not, that means making mistakes along the way, but as long as everything is sorted before the run starts, having more people who can actually assist with the complicated stuff is a net positive. In my case above, this would've involved "Hey, this is a PC block, the setup is complicated. Come down here and see what I do for the first couple, then for the third, I'll watch as you try to set it up and correct you if you screw up." I understand that (Not attacking, I think most of them would admit this) the senior techs have an "If you want it done right, do it yourself" mentality, but knowledge transfer is very important, and had more of it happened during the day, we wouldn't have had to reinvent the wheel at night.

[b]EDIT: Reading of Bad Comments[/b]: One note here, I was terrible at donation processing, and will admit it. Having said that, if donation processors are the first line of defense against "naughty" comments, the host is, in theory, the second. I think this was actually stated during orientation, but restating it as "Presume Emptyeye was the donation processor, then take a quick scan of anything that comes your way before mindlessly reading it out" couldn't hurt.

KennyMan666

2015-01-23 04:18:05 pm

Precursor

Some actual positive feedback, while I'm at it:

The stream layout was in general fantastic, one of the best layouts GDQ has had to date. I would suggest that for 4-player races not having it split in the middle, but rather keep the game streams in one block and the couch cam at the side, to make it easier to follow.

The Ninja Gaiden relay race was straight up fantastic, and definitely this year's (of what I saw, at any rate, haven't watched the Mega Man X race yet) version of the incredible Super Metroid race last time. More like that, especially with the dedicated commentary.

UraniumAnchor in general, we need to clone him so there's, like, six of him on site at all times.

For a negative feedback, the Animal Crossing run went on far longer than it should have at a time the schedule was already behind. The explanation and setup of the glitch were cool, but when the following 40 minutes consisted of repeating the exact same procedure a lot of times, it got insanely dull. Should have ended after the first debt was paid off, imo, because there was practically nothing new after that.

Some actual positive feedback, while I'm at it:

The [b]stream layout[/b] was in general fantastic, one of the best layouts GDQ has had to date. I would suggest that for 4-player races not having it split in the middle, but rather keep the game streams in one block and the couch cam at the side, to make it easier to follow.

The [b]Ninja Gaiden relay race[/b] was straight up fantastic, and definitely this year's (of what I saw, at any rate, haven't watched the Mega Man X race yet) version of the incredible Super Metroid race last time. More like that, especially with the dedicated commentary.

[b]UraniumAnchor[/b] in general, we need to clone him so there's, like, six of him on site at all times.

For a negative feedback, the [b]Animal Crossing[/b] run went on far longer than it should have at a time the schedule was already behind. The explanation and setup of the glitch were cool, but when the following 40 minutes consisted of repeating the exact same procedure a lot of times, it got insanely dull. Should have ended after the first debt was paid off, imo, because there was practically nothing new after that.

flatluigi

2015-01-23 04:19:36 pm

Quote from Untouch:

Setup time was 27% of the marathon.
That's all I need to say.

Note: Not estimates, these numbers were given by SDA.

Note that quite a lot of the listed setup times in the schedule include post-run discussion or other incentives that were met (including quite a few that were actual secondary runs). If you just add up the numbers (like you implied you did) you'll get an incredibly inflated result and somehow I doubt anyone has yet bothered to put in the effort of actually adding up purely how much time was spent on setting the next game up.

MrLonghair

2015-01-23 04:22:21 pm

Audio-guy. twitchtv:ohgoddamnit

1) The X32 mixer can perform miracles and I recommend asking around X32 forums and whatnot for how to set it up, people will be happy to sit with mics and help make sure it works right ahead of SGDQ, I know it. Also look into having people on alert for audio imbalances always, tweak volumes when things are off, act quickly when things are busted with audio, it would happen even if everybody on the planet knew how to get one of those earpiece headsets on right by themselves.

2) When it comes to donation reader - runner communication being a disaster again here's something I worked at for last ESA until my budget was murdered and I had to stay home:

Quote:

Donation reader - is outfitted with headphones listening to a split from the mixer, monitoring incoming and outgoing audio including his or her own voice. DR always has to listen in on this.
Donation reader - has a microphone of the toggle-to-talk kind, preferably clearly marked so as to remind everybody to make sure it's on when it should, off when it should.
Donation reader - has a Push to Talk button to hold, enabling audio from the DR mic (to a separate output) to be fed to MonitorX

MonitorX - is a small carefully tuned speaker (or small stage monitor) in front of the couch, preferably just below the TV and angled upwards, powerful enough to deliver voice without getting picked up too well by microphones. This way the runner can be given useful information like times, reached donation goals for the game being run, targeted donations for the runner, etc.

Runner - is always considered a priority voice when explaining game things or answering questions, viewers want to hear them but do feel free to cut them off and ask if it's okay to read donations if they just ramble about nothing, through MonitorX. Stop talking donations when the game changes and the runner has to explain things.

The first two sound like they're being taken care of and with preparation (+game info, when readings are perfectly fine to be done for example) it can go a long way.

3) If you want Setups Done Quick there needs to be more discipline, people actually need to be told to get up and move because they're done, people need to be told it's time and that they're needed for their run. People should be on location and prepared. Unless it's a multiple-hour deal treat runs like they can be over in 10-15 minutes and prepare ahead of time.

4) Loved the layout even though it had peculiarities, was there going to be a donation text ticker on top? Good framework to build upon though it got overwhelming with sponsor logotypes and all the sponsor talk. Did they ask to be mentioned X times over Y time-period or was it voluntary?

5) What others said. An improvement over last years in my opinion.

1) The X32 mixer can perform miracles and I recommend asking around X32 forums and whatnot for how to set it up, people will be happy to sit with mics and help make sure it works right ahead of SGDQ, I know it. Also look into having people on alert for audio imbalances always, tweak volumes when things are off, act quickly when things are busted with audio, it would happen even if everybody on the planet knew how to get one of those earpiece headsets on right by themselves.

2) When it comes to donation reader - runner communication being a disaster again here's something I worked at for last ESA until my budget was murdered and I had to stay home:
[quote]Donation reader - is outfitted with headphones listening to a split from the mixer, monitoring incoming and outgoing audio including his or her own voice. [b]DR always has to listen[/b] in on this.
Donation reader - has a microphone of the toggle-to-talk kind, preferably clearly marked so as to remind everybody to make sure it's on when it should, off when it should.
Donation reader - has a Push to Talk button to hold, enabling audio from the DR mic (to a separate output) to be fed to MonitorX

MonitorX - is a small carefully tuned speaker (or small stage monitor) in front of the couch, preferably just below the TV and angled upwards, powerful enough to deliver voice without getting picked up too well by microphones. T[b]his way the runner can be given useful information[/b] like times, reached donation goals for the game being run, targeted donations for the runner, etc.

[b]Runner - is always considered a priority voice when explaining game things or answering questions, viewers want to hear them[/b] but do feel free to cut them off and ask if it's okay to read donations if they just ramble about nothing, through MonitorX. Stop talking donations when the game changes and the runner has to explain things.[/quote]
The first two sound like they're being taken care of and with preparation (+game info, when readings are perfectly fine to be done for example) it can go a long way.

3) If you want Setups Done Quick there needs to be more discipline, people actually need to be told to get up and move because they're done, people need to be told it's time and that they're needed for their run. People should be on location and prepared. Unless it's a multiple-hour deal treat runs like they can be over in 10-15 minutes and prepare ahead of time.

4) Loved the layout even though it had peculiarities, was there going to be a donation text ticker on top? Good framework to build upon though it got overwhelming with sponsor logotypes and all the sponsor talk. Did they ask to be mentioned X times over Y time-period or was it voluntary?

5) What others said.  An improvement over last years in my opinion.

Onin

2015-01-23 04:26:59 pm

Quote from theboyks:

Quote from Onin:

This is still, despite all the work to increase the audience and widen the appeal every year, a speedrunning marathon. I do not understand why things related to speedrunning are being ignored, not just in favour of cancer-related stuff, but just ignored on the off-set.

I don't want to blame whoever ran the tracker during the Transistor run, or whenever else. Because no doubt that person got instructed. And if said instructions even implied, remotely, that cancer is more important than speedrunning, the entire system is fucked up.

I wasn't on donation station during that run, but I did a shift on the station and a hosting bit during the marathon. We did not get any such instruction and it's absurd to think that we would. My mom made a donation while I was hosting and that never got sent up to me as well (I found out hours later when I was able to charge my phone.) Best I can guess is that the person(s) on the donation station at the time didn't know who was making the donation or may have overlooked it.

If the forwarding of donation comments by the station is really just up to personal judgement, then either some of the people on duty chad the wrong state of mind (which could be influenced by any number of factors, really), or perhaps just weren't up to the task (overwhelmed with the sheer numbers, I could imagine really).
There was mention of some actual training, which may help alleviate this issue. Perhaps some improvements to the system could be looked at as well, to make it easier to keep an overview, or perhaps just allowing more sets of eyes on the same list.

Because I do, in fact, donate to send messages to my speedfriends. That used to be actually possible during GDQs. If it stops being possible, for any reason, I'll likely stop donating, and I'm not going to be the only one.

[quote="theboyks"][quote="Onin"]
This is still, despite all the work to increase the audience and widen the appeal every year, a [b]speedrunning [/b]marathon. I do not understand why things [b]related to speedrunning[/b] are being ignored, not just in favour of cancer-related stuff, [b]but just ignored on the off-set.[/b]

I don't want to blame whoever ran the tracker during the Transistor run, or whenever else. Because no doubt that person got instructed. And if said instructions even [b]implied, remotely,[/b] that cancer is more important than speedrunning, [b]the entire system is fucked up.[/b][/quote]

I wasn't on donation station during that run, but I did a shift on the station and a hosting bit during the marathon. We did not get any such instruction and it's absurd to think that we would. My mom made a donation while I was hosting and that never got sent up to me as well (I found out hours later when I was able to charge my phone.) Best I can guess is that the person(s) on the donation station at the time didn't know who was making the donation or may have overlooked it.
[/quote]
If the forwarding of donation comments by the station is really just up to personal judgement, then either some of the people on duty chad the wrong state of mind (which could be influenced by any number of factors, really), or perhaps just weren't up to the task (overwhelmed with the sheer numbers, I could imagine really).
There was mention of some actual training, which may help alleviate this issue. Perhaps some improvements to the system could be looked at as well, to make it easier to keep an overview, or perhaps just allowing more sets of eyes on the same list.

Because I do, in fact, donate to send messages to my speedfriends. That used to be actually possible during GDQs. If it stops being possible, for any reason, I'll likely stop donating, and I'm not going to be the only one.

EggmaniMN

2015-01-23 04:28:22 pm

The crowd mic was absolutely deafening whenever anyone clapped. I basically either had to turn the volume way down and couldn't hear commentary or turn it up to hear commentary and pray my speakers wouldn't explode from the clapping.

Other than that, sponsors were plugged a bit too much and the big empty space at the top of the screen could have been used to list the sponsors or something instead of the big empty space at the right of the screen that could have been used for something else helpful. I'm sure people who actually do stuff with layouts will expound on that way better than I can.

A lot of people I talked to started having way more fun watching when the camera was moving around and showing the crowd between runs, music was playing, etc. We need to make sure we don't end up making the event look like it takes place in a chapel like SGDQ last year/early AGDQ this year. Whoever started having fun with that stuff did a really good job.

Otherwise I had nothing to complain about really. I was kind of sad that usedpizza and 0x apparently couldn't hear my donation comment but oh well.

The crowd mic was absolutely deafening whenever anyone clapped. I basically either had to turn the volume way down and couldn't hear commentary or turn it up to hear commentary and pray my speakers wouldn't explode from the clapping.

Other than that, sponsors were plugged a bit too much and the big empty space at the top of the screen could have been used to list the sponsors or something instead of the big empty space at the right of the screen that could have been used for something else helpful. I'm sure people who actually do stuff with layouts will expound on that way better than I can.

A lot of people I talked to started having way more fun watching when the camera was moving around and showing the crowd between runs, music was playing, etc. We need to make sure we don't end up making the event look like it takes place in a chapel like SGDQ last year/early AGDQ this year. Whoever started having fun with that stuff did a really good job.

Otherwise I had nothing to complain about really. I was kind of sad that usedpizza and 0x apparently couldn't hear my donation comment but oh well.

hagspam

2015-01-23 04:33:36 pm

New Super Marisa Land had an issue with audio being at a slower speed that was never fixed during the run. Shovel had the same issue but it was fixed quickly. Is there is a reason why this was fixed in one run, and not the other?