AGDQ 2017 Feedback Thread

Cool Matty

Edit history:

Cool Matty: 2017-02-12 10:04:48 pm

Cool Matty: 2017-02-12 09:29:56 pm

2017-02-12 09:23:29 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

First off, I want to touch on a topic of discussion that's come up after AGDQ internally (and is partially why this thread is later than usual):

Do we need to continue with feedback threads, and if so, what form?

SDA has generously hosted our forum for a long time, but it's pretty clear that the vast majority of our viewers have no idea it exists. Even if that were to change, I doubt the forums would be able to handle that sort of traffic anyway. We could deploy our own forum on our website, but we'd like to avoid that, as forums in general are... pretty bad. Even maintaining them is a nightmare and if this is the only major use it'd have, I'd rather not go that route.

Another issue is that we tend to receive considerable feedback directly to our email, Twitter or via word of mouth these days, making the forum thread less relevant.

Going forward, I feel that the usefulness of the feedback thread has waned. We can still post information about the events on a blog on the website, keeping everyone informed and letting everyone know about the feedback we've received. I'm not sure yet what route we'll take but I'd rather incorporate all the feedback options instead of singling out just this community.

-----------

AGDQ General Notes:

Prevent Cancer Foundation

We heard a great deal of positive responses from donors, viewers and attendees this year, particularly about the interview. I think this greatly improved everyone's opinion of the charity.

Location

Hotel breakfast I heard was ... not amazing. I've given the hotel our feedback on that. That said, given that it's a freebie (at considerable expense to the hotel) I don't see much improvement happening there.

I heard the food trucks were a mixed bag, but feel free to offer any comments about particular trucks you wouldn't want to see. The hotel itself I felt really stepped up their involvement this year and I didn't hear many complaints about the hotel, outside of short-staffing in the restaurant late at night.

Board game room and private practice were cramped, we'll be keeping that in mind for future events.

Topics we cannot discuss
If it's on this list, staff's either going to ignore it or delete the post to keep the thread on topic.

1. Anything regarding enforcement actions against any specific individual.
2. Specifics on staff budget.

Anticipated Questions:

1. What happened to the audio this event?
Since Power Up Audio is unable to work January events due to their workload at that time of the year, we wanted to look into a new option for the winter. We worked with Twitch to secure an audio team for the winter, with Twitch picking up the tab. We selected this group on their recommendation. Unfortunately as you can tell, the team did not work out well, and we won't be using them again. Our current plan (and this could change before next year) is to instead try to find some audio engineers in our community to volunteer or work at a very reduced rate for the event. Specifically we want people with real mixing (ideally live) experience. We already have our eye on a couple people, but we'll be looking for more going forward.

2. Who did the awesome layouts this year?
Chris Hanel and Alex Van Camp of Support Class. And yes, they knocked it out of the park.

3. I heard mention of RGB? I thought you guys were allergic.
You heard right! Unfortunately, the setup we wanted to use did not work on-site (despite testing prior to the event), but RGB was involved this AGDQ. The idea is to use RGB -> HDMI as a means of reducing our reliance on older/buggy capture cards such as Micomsoft's or Avermedia's. The quality difference was small but once we are able to fully convert over, it should (cross your fingers) stop the blue screens we occasionally get. We're still working on getting the final setup working, this time for SGDQ.

4. Can you put the WR for a run on the layout?

We purposefully do not do this for multiple reasons:

1. The runs are typically using marathon-safe strats and not comparable to WR/PB times.
2. Runners feel they are pressured into meeting that unrealistic standard on a single, no-reset run.
3. The timing of WR/PBs are often different than what is used at GDQ. For instance, a PC run might ignore load times, but we don't do this.

Budget Summary
~$145k for 31 staff approximately
$52k for Hotel Space (all fees/taxes incl.)
$22k for misc (2x Internet, Power, Insurance, Server Costs, Security, Moving, etc)
$3.5k for Prize shipping/costs
$18k for Arcade, Pinball, World9 (staff + long-distance move), room coverage for said vendors, additional internet/power for these
$12k equipment budget
$6k equipment storage for year
$1200 for cloudflare for 6 months

Business tax not yet finalized.

Amount of budget paid by PCF: $208,240. Note that PCF budget does not cover everything above, but focuses on staff and conference space. We do not put charity money towards things like the arcade or our equipment.

Reminder that PCF will receive 100% of January GDQ Twitch channel subscription revenue, and GDQ's cut of Twitch sub revenue from August-December 2016. We will not have final amounts until mid-march at the earliest.

Other Twitch revenue goes to GDQ as usual.

All non-Twitch sponsors either donated directly to PCF, provided prizes for the event, or were providing services at the event (like MAGFest). GDQ does not receive money from any sponsor besides Twitch.

In closing:

I sincerely believe that overall this was one of the best events we've had in a long time. There's things we'll improve on, but I believe we've conquered the major missteps we had last year. I hope that $2 million becomes our new milestone from here on out!

Thread title:

First off, I want to touch on a topic of discussion that's come up after AGDQ internally (and is partially why this thread is later than usual):

[b]Do we need to continue with feedback threads, and if so, what form?[/b]

SDA has generously hosted our forum for a long time, but it's pretty clear that the vast majority of our viewers have no idea it exists. Even if that were to change, I doubt the forums would be able to handle that sort of traffic anyway. We could deploy our own forum on our website, but we'd like to avoid that, as forums in general are... pretty bad. Even maintaining them is a nightmare and if this is the only major use it'd have, I'd rather not go that route.

Another issue is that we tend to receive considerable feedback directly to our email, Twitter or via word of mouth these days, making the forum thread less relevant.

Going forward, I feel that the usefulness of the feedback thread has waned. We can still post information about the events on a blog on the website, keeping everyone informed and letting everyone know about the feedback we've received. I'm not sure yet what route we'll take but I'd rather incorporate all the feedback options instead of singling out just this community.

-----------

AGDQ General Notes:

[b]Prevent Cancer Foundation[/b]

We heard a great deal of positive responses from donors, viewers and attendees this year, particularly about the interview. I think this greatly improved everyone's opinion of the charity.

[b]Location[/b]

Hotel breakfast I heard was ... not amazing. I've given the hotel our feedback on that. That said, given that it's a freebie (at considerable expense to the hotel) I don't see much improvement happening there.

I heard the food trucks were a mixed bag, but feel free to offer any comments about particular trucks you wouldn't want to see. The hotel itself I felt really stepped up their involvement this year and I didn't hear many complaints about the hotel, outside of short-staffing in the restaurant late at night.

Board game room and private practice were cramped, we'll be keeping that in mind for future events.

[b]Topics we cannot discuss[/b]
If it's on this list, staff's either going to ignore it or delete the post to keep the thread on topic.

1. Anything regarding enforcement actions against any specific individual. 
2. Specifics on staff budget.

[b]Anticipated Questions:[/b]

1. What happened to the audio this event?
Since Power Up Audio is unable to work January events due to their workload at that time of the year, we wanted to look into a new option for the winter. We worked with Twitch to secure an audio team for the winter, with Twitch picking up the tab. We selected this group on their recommendation. Unfortunately as you can tell, the team did not work out well, and we won't be using them again. Our current plan (and this could change before next year) is to instead try to find some audio engineers in our community to volunteer or work at a very reduced rate for the event. Specifically we want people with real mixing (ideally live) experience. We already have our eye on a couple people, but we'll be looking for more going forward.

2. Who did the awesome layouts this year?
Chris Hanel and Alex Van Camp of Support Class. And yes, they knocked it out of the park.

3. I heard mention of RGB? I thought you guys were allergic.
You heard right! Unfortunately, the setup we wanted to use did not work on-site (despite testing prior to the event), but RGB was involved this AGDQ. The idea is to use RGB -> HDMI as a means of reducing our reliance on older/buggy capture cards such as Micomsoft's or Avermedia's. The quality difference was small but once we are able to fully convert over, it should (cross your fingers) stop the blue screens we occasionally get. We're still working on getting the final setup working, this time for SGDQ.

4. Can you put the WR for a run on the layout?

We purposefully do not do this for multiple reasons:

1. The runs are typically using marathon-safe strats and not comparable to WR/PB times.
2. Runners feel they are pressured into meeting that unrealistic standard on a single, no-reset run.
3. The timing of WR/PBs are often different than what is used at GDQ. For instance, a PC run might ignore load times, but we don't do this.

[b]Budget Summary[/b]
~$145k for 31 staff approximately
$52k for Hotel Space (all fees/taxes incl.)
$22k for misc (2x Internet, Power, Insurance, Server Costs, Security, Moving, etc)
$3.5k for Prize shipping/costs
$18k for Arcade, Pinball, World9 (staff + long-distance move), room coverage for said vendors, additional internet/power for these
$12k equipment budget
$6k equipment storage for year
$1200 for cloudflare for 6 months

Business tax not yet finalized.

Amount of budget paid by PCF: $208,240. Note that PCF budget does not cover everything above, but focuses on staff and conference space. We do not put charity money towards things like the arcade or our equipment.

Reminder that PCF will receive 100% of January GDQ Twitch channel subscription revenue, and GDQ's cut of Twitch sub revenue from August-December 2016. We will not have final amounts until mid-march at the earliest.

Other Twitch revenue goes to GDQ as usual.

All non-Twitch sponsors either donated directly to PCF, provided prizes for the event, or were providing services at the event (like MAGFest). GDQ does not receive money from any sponsor besides Twitch.

[b]In closing:[/b]

I sincerely believe that overall this was one of the best events we've had in a long time. There's things we'll improve on, but I believe we've conquered the major missteps we had last year. I hope that $2 million becomes our new milestone from here on out!

FanaticDreamer

Edit history:

FanaticDreamer: 2017-02-12 09:47:42 pm

2017-02-12 09:46:26 pm

Let's get frisky.

Hey, Cool Matty!

First off I want to thank you and the staff for running the event and I enjoyed this GDQ a lot.

I'm going to quote some things so I can respond to them! Smiley

Quote:

Do we need to continue with feedback threads, and if so, what form?

I feel like the feedback threads are a good thing. Maybe in the future GDQ should be distanced from SDA and get its own website/forum? That would probably be better. But I feel these threads are invaluable because they provide a good place to discuss stuff and help improve the events as well as give people places to find roommates.

Quote:

Prevent Cancer Foundation

We heard a great deal of positive responses from donors, viewers and attendees this year, particularly about the interview. I think this greatly improved everyone's opinion of the charity.

So here's the thing - this GDQ definitely improved my opinion of PCF but my issue with them is the same as like say, Autism Speaks. It's fine to promote awareness/prevention of something but I'd much rather the money go to a charity that does intense research/medical work. I.E. I'd prefer the money going to a Eliminate Cancer Foundation of sorts. Please correct me if I'm wrong but it just seems like PCF is about promoting awareness/prevention rather than having staff who are scientists/doctors who can invest the money in finding a cure. That's my major concern.

Quote:

Hotel breakfast I heard was ... not amazing. I've given the hotel our feedback on that. That said, given that it's a freebie (at considerable expense to the hotel) I don't see much improvement happening there.

This was another issue. I feel like some days the breakfast was REALLY on the mark. Remarkable days include the waffle days, and one other day I can't remember. The breakfast burritos...well, those were a rough spot, IMO. But the eggs were loads better than last year. I feel like this can easily be remedied. I've done food related work in the past (working in a restaurant as well as working for a local community center in my area) and it's not too difficult to acquire food materials if you know where to look. There are probably dozens of places in the local 10 mile radius who would love the tax write off of donating food to charity go-ers. That's just one example. I feel like GDQ could try with that. I've said this before. Otherwise, I know many people loved the bacon/waffles. Those are really cheap to produce. I feel like a pancake breakfast, eggs/toast, etc. would have been much better received. I think it wouldn't hurt GDQ to hire a community outreacher who could help with this.

Edit: especially considering SGDQ is coming up and a free breakfast there would help a LOT of people.

Quote:

I sincerely believe that overall this was one of the best events we've had in a long time. There's things we'll improve on, but I believe we've conquered the major missteps we had last year. I hope that $2 million becomes our new milestone from here on out

Without a doubt this was one of the best GDQs.

My only concern is the size of the hotel and how much GDQ has been growing. I hope that we don't have to leave because this hotel is leagues, IMO, better than the ones for SGDQ have been. They really do go over and above for us (the fruit waters are a nice touch!) and I hope we can stay with them even if our attendance rate goes to 2000~

But yeah thank you and staff for another amazing event. ^.^

Hey, Cool Matty!

First off I want to thank you and the staff for running the event and I enjoyed this GDQ a lot.

I'm going to quote some things so I can respond to them! :)

[quote]Do we need to continue with feedback threads, and if so, what form?
[/quote]

I feel like the feedback threads are a good thing. Maybe in the future GDQ should be distanced from SDA and get its own website/forum? That would probably be better. But I feel these threads are invaluable because they provide a good place to discuss stuff and help improve the events as well as give people places to find roommates.

[quote]Prevent Cancer Foundation

We heard a great deal of positive responses from donors, viewers and attendees this year, particularly about the interview. I think this greatly improved everyone's opinion of the charity.[/quote]

So here's the thing - this GDQ definitely improved my opinion of PCF but my issue with them is the same as like say, Autism Speaks. It's fine to promote awareness/prevention of something but I'd much rather the money go to a charity that does intense research/medical work. I.E. I'd prefer the money going to a Eliminate Cancer Foundation of sorts. Please correct me if I'm wrong but it just seems like PCF is about promoting awareness/prevention rather than having staff who are scientists/doctors who can invest the money in finding a cure. That's my major concern.

[quote]Hotel breakfast I heard was ... not amazing. I've given the hotel our feedback on that. That said, given that it's a freebie (at considerable expense to the hotel) I don't see much improvement happening there.[/quote]

This was another issue. I feel like some days the breakfast was REALLY on the mark. Remarkable days include the waffle days,  and one other day I can't remember. The breakfast burritos...well, those were a rough spot, IMO. But the eggs were loads better than last year. I feel like this can easily be remedied. I've done food related work in the past (working in a restaurant as well as working for a local community center in my area) and it's not too difficult to acquire food materials if you know where to look. There are probably dozens of places in the local 10 mile radius who would love the tax write off of donating food to charity go-ers. That's just one example. I feel like GDQ could try with that. I've said this before. Otherwise, I know many people loved the bacon/waffles. Those are really cheap to produce. I feel like a pancake breakfast, eggs/toast, etc. would have been much better received. I think it wouldn't hurt GDQ to hire a community outreacher who could help with this.

Edit: especially considering SGDQ is coming up and a free breakfast there would help a LOT of people.

[quote]I sincerely believe that overall this was one of the best events we've had in a long time. There's things we'll improve on, but I believe we've conquered the major missteps we had last year. I hope that $2 million becomes our new milestone from here on out[/quote]

Without a doubt this was one of the best GDQs.

My only concern is the size of the hotel and how much GDQ has been growing. I hope that we don't have to leave because this hotel is leagues, IMO, better than the ones for SGDQ have been. They really do go over and above for us (the fruit waters are a nice touch!) and I hope we can stay with them even if our attendance rate goes to 2000~

But yeah thank you and staff for another amazing event. ^.^

Tygor

2017-02-12 10:00:54 pm

Sorry, but I can't really respond to on-site stuff as I haven't yet gone in person. I know from someone who consistently watches the stream (12+ hours per day), one thing I always wished was shown was the current WR if one exists for that run or category. Usually I need to look it up and usually forget towards the end of the run. Is it possible to have that in a box on the screen? The twitch chat usually mentions it, but it speeds by way too fast to really see what people are saying.

Thanks!

Cool Matty

2017-02-12 10:04:07 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Quote from Tygor:

Sorry, but I can't really respond to on-site stuff as I haven't yet gone in person. I know from someone who consistently watches the stream (12+ hours per day), one thing I always wished was shown was the current WR if one exists for that run or category. Usually I need to look it up and usually forget towards the end of the run. Is it possible to have that in a box on the screen? The twitch chat usually mentions it, but it speeds by way too fast to really see what people are saying.

Thanks!

This comes up every event, should have put this at the top:

We purposefully do not do this for multiple reasons:

1. The runs are typically using marathon-safe strats and not comparable to WR/PB times.
2. Runners feel they are pressured into meeting that unrealistic standard on a single, no-reset run.
3. The timing of WR/PBs are often different than what is used at GDQ. For instance, a PC run might ignore load times, but we don't do this.

Grimelios

2017-02-12 10:20:55 pm

Positive thing: having the stream broadcast to TVs in hotel was absolutely incredible. In our room, we turned on the TV when the marathon started and didn't turn it off until after Undertale.

At home, I'd usually just leave the GDQ stream on and watch casually during the whole week. Attending two GDQs last year, though, I effectively missed most runs because staying in the stream room constantly would have gotten dull. Given hotel wifi, it was also tricky to watch using a laptop, and dealing with HDMI cables was annoying. So being able to watch on TV felt like I was better a part of the whole event. It also made hanging out in the room way more fun.

I had heard that this was tried before, but there were issues with the hotel. I obviously don't know the details, but if this could be done at SGDQ, it would be really amazing.

Trysdyn

2017-02-12 10:28:10 pm

First, I feel like this event was one of the best in GDQ history. Everything just felt spot on; even with the technical hiccups and audio quirks. These things happen in a live event and while effort should (and seemingly will) be undertaken to eliminate them, I don’t feel the quirks distracted excessively from the event. From technical, to hosting, to game selection and scheduling I have no real complaints.

The one point I wish to touch on is one that was brought up often in my social circles during the event, so I’m kind of speaking for a lot of people here. I use GDQs as a dual-purpose outreach for both speedrunning and for MSF/PCF. It’s sort of my way to show people the positive, redeeming side of gaming culture. For the most part, the event is run professionally, but not too professionally. The exceptions, when they arise, are quite noteworthy.

I don’t feel calling out specific examples by name is productive here. I will simply ask: how does GDQ convey expectations of decorum to runners and commentators, and does this communication include expectations regarding inclusivity and the handling of matters involving gender identity, sexual orientation, mental health, and political issues? If these are communicated, does the hands-on staff have a way to handle a severe* breach of these expectations?

The point I’m getting at is GDQ had to apologize for the expressions of certain runners and commentators a few times, and while the fault of this partially falls on the individuals, if GDQ is not expressing its expectations on decorum in a direct, understandable, and clear manner, they also shoulder some of the blame.

In general, it’s hard to advocate for GDQ and speedrunning as a whole to a diverse audience if the commentary is not also inclusive. I understand things like suicide, gender and trigger jokes aren’t a big deal to most people, but to some they are and I’m unsure if it’s being expressed properly by GDQ as an entity that these things can harm the professional appearance of the event and its general outreach.

tl;dr: More care should probably be taken when considering who to give a mic, and letting them know what is and is not acceptable and beneficial to GDQ and the charity.

* "Severe" in this case, IMO, has never been seen live on GDQ, but I am concerned should it ever arise.

First, I feel like this event was one of the best in GDQ history. Everything just felt spot on; even with the technical hiccups and audio quirks. These things happen in a live event and while effort should (and seemingly will) be undertaken to eliminate them, I don’t feel the quirks distracted excessively from the event. From technical, to hosting, to game selection and scheduling I have no real complaints.

The one point I wish to touch on is one that was brought up often in my social circles during the event, so I’m kind of speaking for a lot of people here. I use GDQs as a dual-purpose outreach for both speedrunning and for MSF/PCF. It’s sort of my way to show people the positive, redeeming side of gaming culture. For the most part, the event is run professionally, but not too professionally. The exceptions, when they arise, are quite noteworthy.

I don’t feel calling out specific examples by name is productive here. I will simply ask: how does GDQ convey expectations of decorum to runners and commentators, and does this communication include expectations regarding inclusivity and the handling of matters involving gender identity, sexual orientation, mental health, and political issues? If these are communicated, does the hands-on staff have a way to handle a severe* breach of these expectations?

The point I’m getting at is GDQ had to apologize for the expressions of certain runners and commentators a few times, and while the fault of this partially falls on the individuals, if GDQ is not expressing its expectations on decorum in a direct, understandable, and clear manner, they also shoulder some of the blame.

In general, it’s hard to advocate for GDQ and speedrunning as a whole to a diverse audience if the commentary is not also inclusive. I understand things like suicide, gender and trigger jokes aren’t a big deal to most people, but to some they are and I’m unsure if it’s being expressed properly by GDQ as an entity that these things can harm the professional appearance of the event and its general outreach.

tl;dr: More care should probably be taken when considering who to give a mic, and letting them know what is and is not acceptable and beneficial to GDQ and the charity.

* "Severe" in this case, IMO, has never been seen live on GDQ, but I am concerned should it ever arise.

Cool Matty

2017-02-12 11:10:15 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Quote from Trysdyn:

First, I feel like this event was one of the best in GDQ history. Everything just felt spot on; even with the technical hiccups and audio quirks. These things happen in a live event and while effort should (and seemingly will) be undertaken to eliminate them, I don’t feel the quirks distracted excessively from the event. From technical, to hosting, to game selection and scheduling I have no real complaints.

The one point I wish to touch on is one that was brought up often in my social circles during the event, so I’m kind of speaking for a lot of people here. I use GDQs as a dual-purpose outreach for both speedrunning and for MSF/PCF. It’s sort of my way to show people the positive, redeeming side of gaming culture. For the most part, the event is run professionally, but not too professionally. The exceptions, when they arise, are quite noteworthy.

I don’t feel calling out specific examples by name is productive here. I will simply ask: how does GDQ convey expectations of decorum to runners and commentators, and does this communication include expectations regarding inclusivity and the handling of matters involving gender identity, sexual orientation, mental health, and political issues? If these are communicated, does the hands-on staff have a way to handle a severe* breach of these expectations?

The point I’m getting at is GDQ had to apologize for the expressions of certain runners and commentators a few times, and while the fault of this partially falls on the individuals, if GDQ is not expressing its expectations on decorum in a direct, understandable, and clear manner, they also shoulder some of the blame.

In general, it’s hard to advocate for GDQ and speedrunning as a whole to a diverse audience if the commentary is not also inclusive. I understand things like suicide, gender and trigger jokes aren’t a big deal to most people, but to some they are and I’m unsure if it’s being expressed properly by GDQ as an entity that these things can harm the professional appearance of the event and its general outreach.

tl;dr: More care should probably be taken when considering who to give a mic, and letting them know what is and is not acceptable and beneficial to GDQ and the charity.

* "Severe" in this case, IMO, has never been seen live on GDQ, but I am concerned should it ever arise.

Have you taken a look at our rules page? Every attendee signs an agreement that they will read and follow the rules on this page: https://gamesdonequick.com/rules

There is a section on behavior while on stream and harassment. In general, we take breaches of those policies seriously, but each case must be handled individually. Sometimes only a verbal warning is needed (viewers won't notice these). More excessive (intentional and/or repeated) breaches of the policies get progressively higher punishments.

Furthermore, we do screen our runners some during the submission process, as every runner is required to submit a video with their game submission. Now, this isn't foolproof, but it's a non-invasive way of handling it the best we can currently.

[quote="Trysdyn"]First, I feel like this event was one of the best in GDQ history. Everything just felt spot on; even with the technical hiccups and audio quirks. These things happen in a live event and while effort should (and seemingly will) be undertaken to eliminate them, I don’t feel the quirks distracted excessively from the event. From technical, to hosting, to game selection and scheduling I have no real complaints.

The one point I wish to touch on is one that was brought up often in my social circles during the event, so I’m kind of speaking for a lot of people here. I use GDQs as a dual-purpose outreach for both speedrunning and for MSF/PCF. It’s sort of my way to show people the positive, redeeming side of gaming culture. For the most part, the event is run professionally, but not too professionally. The exceptions, when they arise, are quite noteworthy.

I don’t feel calling out specific examples by name is productive here. I will simply ask: how does GDQ convey expectations of decorum to runners and commentators, and does this communication include expectations regarding inclusivity and the handling of matters involving gender identity, sexual orientation, mental health, and political issues? If these are communicated, does the hands-on staff have a way to handle a severe* breach of these expectations?

The point I’m getting at is GDQ had to apologize for the expressions of certain runners and commentators a few times, and while the fault of this partially falls on the individuals, if GDQ is not expressing its expectations on decorum in a direct, understandable, and clear manner, they also shoulder some of the blame.

In general, it’s hard to advocate for GDQ and speedrunning as a whole to a diverse audience if the commentary is not also inclusive. I understand things like suicide, gender and trigger jokes aren’t a big deal to most people, but to some they are and I’m unsure if it’s being expressed properly by GDQ as an entity that these things can harm the professional appearance of the event and its general outreach.

tl;dr: More care should probably be taken when considering who to give a mic, and letting them know what is and is not acceptable and beneficial to GDQ and the charity.

* "Severe" in this case, IMO, has never been seen live on GDQ, but I am concerned should it ever arise.[/quote]

Have you taken a look at our rules page? Every attendee signs an agreement that they will read and follow the rules on this page: https://gamesdonequick.com/rules

There is a section on behavior while on stream and harassment. In general, we take breaches of those policies seriously, but each case must be handled individually. Sometimes only a verbal warning is needed (viewers won't notice these). More excessive (intentional and/or repeated) breaches of the policies get progressively higher punishments.

Furthermore, we do screen our runners some during the submission process, as every runner is required to submit a video with their game submission. Now, this isn't foolproof, but it's a non-invasive way of handling it the best we can currently.

Vandaeron

Edit history:

Vandaeron: 2017-02-12 11:37:04 pm

2017-02-12 11:22:54 pm

The best defense is invincibility.

I'm not convinced that this is up-front enough for people to actually absorb the information of what is and isn't acceptable. People, especially on this level of individuals, would be likely to--at best--skim written agreements and move on, assuming a personal code of conduct would be good enough when it may not actually be.

In my opinion, some sort of direct meeting where these things are discussed at least in brief for upcoming on-mic individuals would be a rather more effective way of ensuring people have a clear concept of what is and isn't acceptable behavior on mic.

Edit: I guess the concise version of my point is "There's a difference between making the information available for people to look at on their own, and actually presenting it to them."

Grygor

2017-02-12 11:22:55 pm

On the topic of breakfast, I'll just say that it varied from day to day - the eggs were really mediocre for example while the bacon was acceptable. Also on the topic of food, the late-night food and drink available in the lobby was very much appreciated.

Also I would like to agree that having the marathon available on the hotel TVs was great.

The board game room was small, but we board gamers managed to find a suitable workaround. However it was nice that the PC room was more conveniently located (and larger) than last year.

But all told, most of the complaints I've had in the past have been addressed, and overall I'm fairly happy with the direction GDQ is going in now.

PvtCb

2017-02-12 11:40:43 pm

This is not the giant

Looks like I can't discuss anything about the 24 hours I was able to properly attend the event then. thumbsup

Suffice it to say I will not be attending another one of these.

Cyberdemon531

2017-02-12 11:46:58 pm

I think there should be more concrete instructions for setting things up in various rooms, whether they be PCs, consoles, etc. Confusion always leads to unfortunate events. Tongue

Progamingwithed

2017-02-13 12:19:00 am

The board game crew would like more space to play board games

Cool Matty

2017-02-13 12:21:24 am

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Quote from Progamingwithed:

The board game crew would like more space to play board games

To elaborate on this from the first post: we already have a plan for this in the future. No worries.

Cantaloupeme

2017-02-13 12:25:15 am

This was my 4 GDQ. Enjoyed it alot. First as a runner as well. The only thing that i felt was lacking compared to past at this hotel is that the restaurant staff seemed very annoyed by us. We dined in the hotel only once and the server was very short with words and rude to us. ( did file a complaint with the hotel) They don't expect to make a lot of money off tips from gamers i guess. But the last two at the hotel, the staff was awesome. Guess thats just hit or miss.

On a positive not, schedule never really fell behind. Was really smooth all around. Will be back next year :-)

flatluigi

2017-02-13 03:41:38 am

From a viewer's perspective, this was a fantastic GDQ. I have very few complaints, thought I do have a few comments:

- What's GDQ's plan if someone running a game is disruptive and/or abuses their place on the stream to do something extremely against the rules? The few times things happened this year I knew they'd be talked to off-stream, but that does result in viewers who don't have that trust thinking that their actions/comments are thought of as fine by GDQ -- especially on runs that still have over an hour left to go before the end. Obviously it'd be a really difficult situation to stop a run completely and just not finish the run, but with what people are already attempting to do it's worth knowing what GDQ would do if it ever gets that bad.
- After the situation during Super Metroid where someone who wasn't running the game or even miced up to be on the couch told the entire audience to kill themselves, there was a lot of confusion about exactly what happened -- I saw people who thought a runner had said it or even the announcer. This is a little rough to comment on since that person wasn't, in fact, anyone running or on the couch; instead, they asked someone on the couch for their mic and said that after getting it. There should probably be more stress on not giving your mics away to people who weren't vetted to be wearing mics on stream, and there probably should've been a clearer response on-stream about the situation instead of just letting it rock for several minutes (with a short comment by the announcer) and then quietly removing that person from the stream.
- It might be worth having a separate audio channel for announcers to talk to the audience without also coming across on stream for things like asking them to quiet down. This is kind of clearly low priority compared to the first two things, but it still came across as kind of awkward and unfortunate to hear it on stream during Super Metroid after the mood was already soured by the person above.
- Extremely minor comment: the music playlist for the marathon was great, but it ended up not really feeling long enough to stretch over the entire marathon. The Robocop theme (which I do enjoy) seemed to be on multiple times a day, particularly. It might be worth opening up a thread with a list of all songs on rotation and let people suggest more tunes for future use.

Again, other than that, I adored this year's marathon and definitely thought it was one of the best I've ever seen. Undertale turned out to be a fantastic choice for final run and overall I felt game choice was very solid and varied. Congratulations on breaking two million!

From a viewer's perspective, this was a fantastic GDQ. I have very few complaints, thought I do have a few comments:

- What's GDQ's plan if someone running a game is disruptive and/or abuses their place on the stream to do something extremely against the rules? The few times things happened this year I knew they'd be talked to off-stream, but that does result in viewers who don't have that trust thinking that their actions/comments are thought of as fine by GDQ -- especially on runs that still have over an hour left to go before the end. Obviously it'd be a [b]really difficult[/b] situation to stop a run completely and just not finish the run, but with what people are already attempting to do it's worth knowing what GDQ would do if it ever gets that bad.
- After the situation during Super Metroid where someone who wasn't running the game or even miced up to be on the couch told the entire audience to kill themselves, there was a lot of confusion about exactly what happened -- I saw people who thought a runner had said it or even the [i]announcer[/i]. This is a little rough to comment on since that person wasn't, in fact, anyone running or on the couch; instead, they asked someone on the couch for their mic and said that after getting it. There should probably be more stress on not giving your mics away to people who weren't vetted to be wearing mics on stream, and there probably should've been a clearer response on-stream about the situation instead of just letting it rock for several minutes (with a short comment by the announcer) and then quietly removing that person from the stream.
- It might be worth having a separate audio channel for announcers to talk to the audience without also coming across on stream for things like asking them to quiet down. This is kind of clearly low priority compared to the first two things, but it still came across as kind of awkward and unfortunate to hear it on stream during Super Metroid after the mood was already soured by the person above.
- Extremely minor comment: the music playlist for the marathon was great, but it ended up not really feeling long enough to stretch over the entire marathon. The Robocop theme (which I do enjoy) seemed to be on multiple times a day, particularly. It might be worth opening up a thread with a list of all songs on rotation and let people suggest more tunes for future use.

Again, other than that, I adored this year's marathon and definitely thought it was one of the best I've ever seen. Undertale turned out to be a [i]fantastic[/i] choice for final run and overall I felt game choice was very solid and varied. Congratulations on breaking two million!

Twinge

2017-02-13 03:49:41 am

This thread is probably not essential, but I think it's probably worthwhile enough to keep doing. Kind of an oldhat-focused feedback where most of the responses are from people that've attended or watched several events.

I understand the Boardgaming Room was shrunk to accommodate for World9, which made sense on short notice; good to hear it's already being looked at for next time. One possibility in the same space would be to designate part of the 3rd floor eating area as boardgaming-specific (say, the far 1/3rd of the multi-tier dining area), so we could store our games there even while breakfast is happening. This is where a lot of the boardgaming ended up happening anyway because of the small room downstairs + not wanting to interrupt Private Practice with loud games.

Other tweaks would likely be fine too, and we'd also be happy to discuss them if e.g. Sent or Church (Or TR, or Raelcun...) consulted with us in advance. I think one core room (or adjacent rooms) where the vast majority of people will be playing is ideal if possible.

It was also a good idea to ditch Narnia, as it costs extra and is too far away from everything else. The 2 board rooms we did have on the 2nd Floor ended up being unusable more than half the event, because they were locked and there wasn't an easy way to get them open again. So consider that both for next event and for potential bargaining since assumedly we paid for them without being able to use them much.

Since I had previously only Hosted way back during SGDQ 2014, unsurprisingly it was leagues better now. Proper orientation, encouragement for new hosts to shadow, good view of the relevant information, etc. - really good stuff. It'd probably be good to have a few more alternate blurbs for some of the sponsors - I tried to mix up my phrasing of the blurbs a little to make it sound slightly different each time, but having all the different options for PinballJoe meant those responses were always going to be much more varied. Seems like the setups & communication for all the volunteer positions has been gradually improving over time and gotten to a really solid spot in general now.

Hotel breakfast was... edible. They certainly seemed to cut corners in order to make the mass production easier. That said I'm still glad it was available and helped make the event more affordable. This is also one possible area money from a theoretical small badge price increase could go to, if appropriate, to improve quality substantially.

Even spending very little time in my room, I still ended up appreciating the direct stream feed on the TV more than I expected - definitely a nice touch.

Opinions of the PCF do seem to be going up as the quality of the organization is also going up. If we go with the PCF again next year, one thing to consider would be encouraging hosts to mention some of the changes they've made, e.g. "Since 2017 the PCF is no longer US only and is providing their services internationally." or things along those lines, to help spread that information, as a lot of people still think it is US only and such. It'd be good to still be open to other charities. One consideration that's probably unfeasible: alternate between the PCF and a research-focused cancer charity, both continuing to support our current partner and addressing community concerns re: research.

Overall - this was my first AGDQ (after 3 previous SGDQs), and it was really well run across the board. Biggest complaint is that the staff had too little time free to play boardgames Grin

This thread is probably not essential, but I think it's probably worthwhile enough to keep doing.  Kind of an oldhat-focused feedback where most of the responses are from people that've attended or watched several events.

I understand the Boardgaming Room was shrunk to accommodate for World9, which made sense on short notice; good to hear it's already being looked at for next time.  One possibility in the same space would be to designate part of the 3rd floor eating area as boardgaming-specific (say, the far 1/3rd of the multi-tier dining area), so we could store our games there even while breakfast is happening.  This is where a lot of the boardgaming ended up happening anyway because of the small room downstairs + not wanting to interrupt Private Practice with loud games.

Other tweaks would likely be fine too, and we'd also be happy to discuss them if e.g. Sent or Church (Or TR, or Raelcun...) consulted with us in advance.  I think one core room (or adjacent rooms) where the vast majority of people will be playing is ideal if possible.

It was also a good idea to ditch Narnia, as it costs extra and is too far away from everything else.  The 2 board rooms we did have on the 2nd Floor ended up being unusable more than half the event, because they were locked and there wasn't an easy way to get them open again.  So consider that both for next event and for potential bargaining since assumedly we paid for them without being able to use them much.

Since I had previously only Hosted way back during SGDQ 2014, unsurprisingly it was leagues better now.  Proper orientation, encouragement for new hosts to shadow, good view of the relevant information, etc. - really good stuff.  It'd probably be good to have a few more alternate blurbs for some of the sponsors - I tried to mix up my phrasing of the blurbs a little to make it sound slightly different each time, but having all the different options for PinballJoe meant those responses were always going to be much more varied.  Seems like the setups & communication for all the volunteer positions has been gradually improving over time and gotten to a really solid spot in general now.

Hotel breakfast was... edible.  They certainly seemed to cut corners in order to make the mass production easier.  That said I'm still glad it was available and helped make the event more affordable.  This is also one possible area money from a theoretical small badge price increase could go to, if appropriate, to improve quality substantially.

Even spending very little time in my room, I still ended up appreciating the direct stream feed on the TV more than I expected - definitely a nice touch.

Opinions of the PCF do seem to be going up as the quality of the organization is also going up.  If we go with the PCF again next year, one thing to consider would be encouraging hosts to mention some of the changes they've made, e.g. "Since 2017 the PCF is no longer US only and is providing their services internationally." or things along those lines, to help spread that information, as a lot of people still think it is US only and such.  It'd be good to still be open to other charities.  One consideration that's probably unfeasible: alternate between the PCF and a research-focused cancer charity, both continuing to support our current partner and addressing community concerns re: research.

Overall - this was my first AGDQ (after 3 previous SGDQs), and it was really well run across the board.  Biggest complaint is that the staff had too little time free to play boardgames ;D

MegaMasterX

Edit history:

MegaMasterX: 2017-02-13 08:53:35 am

MegaMasterX: 2017-02-13 08:53:23 am

2017-02-13 08:49:49 am

N1GP Tournament Organizer

This was my first time attending a live GDQ event and I think several things were absolutely phenomenal this year.

Volunteering Shadowing/Training was stellar. Everyone was extremely knowledgeable and piloting the Stream Station was painless. Incredible job on the layout and tech powering it.

The breakfast was meh, but it was free so my expectations were already abysmally low.

World9 and Tokyo Attack knocked it OUT OF THE PARK. They made my downtime extremely enjoyable.

The hotel's participation in the event blew my mind. Little details like their chaos emerald search and the staff wearing GDQ shirts really drove home that they cared about us and the event. That meant a lot.

Regarding PCF, Prevention is excruciatingly important to fighting cancer as a whole. Multiple members of my family kicked cancer's butt (hue) because of early prevention and I don't think it's really fair for people to downplay the role of prevention versus directly 'fighting' it. If you solve a problem before it becomes unavoidable, it's pretty much the same as solving the entire issue. Prevention matters, and PCF coming to the event meant a lot as well. Their transparency, I feel, has greatly improved perception on their charity and what they do.

Regarding GDQ Forums being hosted on SDA - It's extremely obnoxious to try to drill down to the GDQ Discussion forums. Having them tied to the GDQ website - though a pain - would go a long way to open the community up more. As GDQ continues to grow, I don't think SDA's forums are going to scale well and I feel like GDQ's discussion doesn't...really fit here? I don't know how to better articulate this point, sorry.

Thanks for an amazing event. Can't wait for the next one!

This was my first time attending a live GDQ event and I think several things were absolutely phenomenal this year.

Volunteering Shadowing/Training was stellar. Everyone was extremely knowledgeable and piloting the Stream Station was painless. Incredible job on the layout and tech powering it.

The breakfast was meh, but it was free so my expectations were already abysmally low.

World9 and Tokyo Attack knocked it OUT OF THE PARK. They made my downtime extremely enjoyable.

The hotel's participation in the event blew my mind. Little details like their chaos emerald search and the staff wearing GDQ shirts really drove home that they cared about us and the event. That meant a lot.

Regarding PCF, Prevention is excruciatingly important to fighting cancer as a whole. Multiple members of my family kicked cancer's butt (hue) because of early prevention and I don't think it's really fair for people to downplay the role of prevention versus directly 'fighting' it.  If you solve a problem before it becomes unavoidable, it's pretty much the same as solving the entire issue. Prevention matters, and PCF coming to the event meant a lot as well. Their transparency, I feel, has greatly improved perception on their charity and what they do.

Regarding GDQ Forums being hosted on SDA - It's extremely obnoxious to try to drill down to the GDQ Discussion forums.  Having them tied to the GDQ website - though a pain - would go a long way to open the community up more. As GDQ continues to grow, I don't think SDA's forums are going to scale well and I feel like GDQ's discussion doesn't...really fit here? I don't know how to better articulate this point, sorry.

Thanks for an amazing event. Can't wait for the next one!

kariohki

2017-02-13 10:03:22 am

waifus are laifu

This was my sixth GDQ and organization-wise I'd say it was the best. Definite step up from 2016.

In terms of this thread, well, if it's not kept and more "instant" forms of feedback are used such as reddit or twitter, then there needs to be some rules and regulations around how it's replied to. Especially if people get their personal accounts involved, that makes it difficult. I heard complaints how the responses were also too...businesslike and cold at times? At least when the matters were of personal touchy subjects like LGBTetc things. A couple others in the thread asked the same thing but better.

The hotel restaurant wasn't very good this year, long wait times and felt like tables in the back got ignored, but I only went there twice (I think). Brekkist was...free calories. I don't think there's much ways to fix that.

My biggest complaint is the use of twitter for announcing time-sensitive things, like attendee shirts. I'm sure I'm not the only person who follows over 500 accounts, and doesn't have time to read everything. Stuff like the shirts or social media sign ups should be communicated through the GDQ website on the profile page, or emailed out. There wasn't even a forum post here this year for the shirts.

If forums are to be kept then I really think GDQ needs to get its own set off of SDA. Or have some kind of news blog, -!: this feedback thread can be a form people can fill out.

This was my sixth GDQ and organization-wise I'd say it was the best. Definite step up from 2016.

In terms of this thread, well, if it's not kept and more "instant" forms of feedback are used such as reddit or twitter, then there needs to be some rules and regulations around how it's replied to. Especially if people get their personal accounts involved, that makes it difficult. I heard complaints how the responses were also too...businesslike and cold at times? At least when the matters were of personal touchy subjects like LGBTetc things. A couple others in the thread asked the same thing but better.

The hotel restaurant wasn't very good this year, long wait times and felt like tables in the back got ignored,  but I only went there twice (I think). Brekkist was...free calories. I don't think there's much ways to fix that.

My biggest complaint is the use of twitter for announcing time-sensitive things, like attendee shirts. I'm sure I'm not the only person who follows over 500 accounts, and doesn't have time to read everything. Stuff like the shirts or social media sign ups should be communicated through the GDQ website on the profile page, or emailed out. There wasn't even a forum post here this year for the shirts.

If forums are to be kept then I really think GDQ needs to get its own set off of SDA. Or have some kind of news blog, -!: this feedback thread can be a form people can fill out.

LylatRanbewb

2017-02-13 10:09:18 am

I don't know what you guys are talking about with the breakfast being bad. They had bananas and yogurt, why would you need anything more? Maybe it's a cultural gap, I don't know.

Anyways, the fact that we had an area (in the breakfast room) to just "sit and chill" after breakfast was done was fantastic. That was the biggest thing that I wanted in SGDQ2016, and it was great.

Arcade and practice room were both awesome. Although one of the arcade machines broke halfway through the week and there was no signage to let you know that it was broken (Galaga, I totally didn't break it). The only issue I had with the practice room was overcrowding, but I wasn't a runner, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The staff went above and beyond. Compared to SGDQ2016 where they all seemed like they wanted us to go away, they made the most of the whole event and had fun having us there. I do still feel bad for other guests at the hotel because we were loud at all hours of the night, but that honestly can't be helped that much other than just asking people to correct their behavior (admittedly I was quite loud at 3am at least one night).

For the charity, I can honestly say that I'm not a fan. Reason for that is because, simply put, it's not an international charity. PCF operates in 39 states and 3 provinces in Canada, and while that does a lot of good in those areas, the rest of the world basically gets forgotten in this event. Doctors without Borders, in contrast, helps people all around the world, across Africa and Asia, even helping people in South and North America if needed. I know one opinion isn't enough to sway this, but maybe it's at least worth thinking about. I don't have a suggestion for another charity, however.

Finally, the only other issue I had was with the security. They were generally ineffective, and about 90% of the time, the security outside the stream room was looking at their phones. I get it's a boring job, but these guys are supposed to be protecting your marathon. Also, I don't understand how someone was banned for a MAGA hat but not for wearing a Bernie Sanders shirt, but you said you wouldn't discuss that, so I'll just leave that as "pointing it out".

Overall though, absolutely amazing marathon, had a ton of fun, you did a great job raising so much money and making it a fun and enjoyable event for all attendees, and it was really nice to see Mike there again this year, glad he's doing better. Keep up the great work!

I don't know what you guys are talking about with the breakfast being bad. They had bananas and yogurt, why would you need anything more? Maybe it's a cultural gap, I don't know.

Anyways, the fact that we had an area (in the breakfast room) to just "sit and chill" after breakfast was done was fantastic. That was the biggest thing that I wanted in SGDQ2016, and it was great.

Arcade and practice room were both awesome. Although one of the arcade machines broke halfway through the week and there was no signage to let you know that it was broken (Galaga, I totally didn't break it). The only issue I had with the practice room was overcrowding, but I wasn't a runner, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The staff went above and beyond. Compared to SGDQ2016 where they all seemed like they wanted us to go away, they made the most of the whole event and had fun having us there. I do still feel bad for other guests at the hotel because we were loud at all hours of the night, but that honestly can't be helped that much other than just asking people to correct their behavior (admittedly I was quite loud at 3am at least one night).

For the charity, I can honestly say that I'm not a fan. Reason for that is because, simply put, it's not an international charity. PCF operates in 39 states and 3 provinces in Canada, and while that does a lot of good in those areas, the rest of the world basically gets forgotten in this event. Doctors without Borders, in contrast, helps people all around the world, across Africa and Asia, even helping people in South and North America if needed. I know one opinion isn't enough to sway this, but maybe it's at least worth thinking about. I don't have a suggestion for another charity, however.

Finally, the only other issue I had was with the security. They were generally ineffective, and about 90% of the time, the security outside the stream room was looking at their phones. I get it's a boring job, but these guys are supposed to be protecting your marathon. Also, I don't understand how someone was banned for a MAGA hat but not for wearing a Bernie Sanders shirt, but you said you wouldn't discuss that, so I'll just leave that as "pointing it out".

Overall though, absolutely amazing marathon, had a ton of fun, you did a great job raising so much money and making it a fun and enjoyable event for all attendees, and it was really nice to see Mike there again this year, glad he's doing better. Keep up the great work!

rizu-kun

2017-02-13 10:33:09 am

The best way out is always through!

The good:

-I love that the stream was broadcast on the hotel TV. This was one of the best aspects of the marathon for me and I didn't feel like I was missing out as much if I wasn't in the stream room.

-Kvetching about hotel breakfast quality aside, I can't complain. There were a lot of options available, everything felt reasonably affordable, and I can't think of a time where I was hungry and couldn't go find something to eat.

-The response to AGDFlu. I noticed by the second or third day, you couldn't walk 10 feet without tripping over a hand sanitizer dispenser. I dunno if this actually helped prevent anyone from getting sick, but hotel/staff were obviously quick to respond to a sudden outbreak of plague.

-The interviews were a fantastic way to take up time between runs in a way that kept the excitement going. There felt like there was very little dead air this time around and the focus remained on keeping the viewers excited for the next run. Everyone who conducted the interviews, you get mad kudos from me.

The ugly:

-It's been mentioned before, but the Super Metroid thing I think definitely left a sour taste in a lot of people's mouths. The big takeaway that I got was the audience was getting very obnoxious, and it doesn't seem like there's a good way to tell people to knock it off. Crowd control and de-escalation aren't my specialty, so I can't offer an ideal solution to this. I get that when a bunch of people get in a group, manners often go out the window. I hope that runners are still able to communicate if/when they need quiet from the audience or serious time; I don't recall really hearing many requests for that this time around.

Regardless, the "kill yourself" comment that was made in response to the excessive memeing was way, way out of line, and my concern is that people who are attending for the first time would not feel safe coming back to the event because of such callousness. Again, I don't have an ideal solution for this. But I'd hate to see potential attendees or even those who want to get into speedrunning get turned off the community because of an incident like that.

Overall: would definitely go again!

The good:

-I love that the stream was broadcast on the hotel TV. This was one of the best aspects of the marathon for me and I didn't feel like I was missing out as much if I wasn't in the stream room.

-Kvetching about hotel breakfast quality aside, I can't complain. There were a lot of options available, everything felt reasonably affordable, and I can't think of a time where I was hungry and couldn't go find something to eat.

-The response to AGDFlu. I noticed by the second or third day, you couldn't walk 10 feet without tripping over a hand sanitizer dispenser. I dunno if this actually helped prevent anyone from getting sick, but hotel/staff were obviously quick to respond to a sudden outbreak of plague.

-The interviews were a fantastic way to take up time between runs in a way that kept the excitement going. There felt like there was very little dead air this time around and the focus remained on keeping the viewers excited for the next run. Everyone who conducted the interviews, you get mad kudos from me.

The ugly:

-It's been mentioned before, but the Super Metroid thing I think definitely left a sour taste in a lot of people's mouths. The big takeaway that I got was the audience was getting very obnoxious, and it doesn't seem like there's a good way to tell people to knock it off. Crowd control and de-escalation aren't my specialty, so I can't offer an ideal solution to this. I get that when a bunch of people get in a group, manners often go out the window. I hope that runners are still able to communicate if/when they need quiet from the audience or serious time; I don't recall really hearing many requests for that this time around.

Regardless, the "kill yourself" comment that was made in response to the excessive memeing was way, way out of line, and my concern is that people who are attending for the first time would not feel safe coming back to the event because of such callousness. Again, I don't have an ideal solution for this. But I'd hate to see potential attendees or even those who want to get into speedrunning get turned off the community because of an incident like that.

Overall: would definitely go again!

lildingus

2017-02-13 10:45:08 am

http://www.twitch.tv/lildingus

Im only going to focus on the few negatives.
The practice room has become not the practice room if that makes sense, getting asked to move off a tv is fine however when its by someone without a run just so the group had near on the whole practice room for a race was beyond a joke. iirc Behemoth got asked if he was going to be done soon so they could have his tv.
Does this not negate the casual room?
I know the audience has changed, this was only going to happen when the event got bigger, i heard from some runners and commentators that felt like they really had to police their language for fear of getting a card punch.
The crowd for the sm race....il leave this brief without poking the elephant in the room.
It was hard for me to hear what strae and ovi were saying and they sat no more than 2 feet away from me, the runners couldnt hear certain sound ques either.

WanderingMind

Edit history:

WanderingMind: 2017-02-13 11:23:55 am

2017-02-13 11:23:05 am

Stay chill, be cool.

Second time attending a GDQ, last time was SGDQ 2015, was overall impressed with the organization of the event. First off, I'm glad at how readily available water was so I didn't feel thirsty or even get close to dehydrated. I can't say this enough. I loved the stream being broadcast on the hotel TV soon. Seriously it was so nice when I needed to unwind from the event and be able to chill with the event, whether it be in the dining room or in my own hotel room. Great use of space in between runs by doing interviews! Thank you so much for the food trucks and the catering, it was so nice not to have to search hard for food like the last time I was at a GDQ. I also appreciate the console and PC rooms being right next to each other! It made it easier for me to go back and forth between them. Huge shoutout to World 9 gaming for being cool people.

Now for things that could be improved. I feel like there should be some guidelines or suggestions on how to do commentary so we could avoid the sort of controversies that happened this time and make the event feel more inclusive. The hot breakfast food could have been so much better. The other kinds of breakfast food were good enough, but when I wanted hot breakfast, I was disappointed.

Overall, this event put the Awesome in AGDQ 2017 and would love to go to this sort of event again.

Second time attending a GDQ, last time was SGDQ 2015, was overall impressed with the organization of the event.  First off, I'm glad at how readily available water was so I didn't feel thirsty or even get close to dehydrated.  I can't say this enough.  I loved the stream being broadcast on the hotel TV soon.  Seriously it was so nice when I needed to unwind from the event and be able to chill with the event, whether it be in the dining room or in my own hotel room.  Great use of space in between runs by doing interviews!  Thank you so much for the food trucks and the catering, it was so nice not to have to search hard for food like the last time I was at a GDQ.  I also appreciate the console and PC rooms being right next to each other!  It made it easier for me to go back and forth between them.  Huge shoutout to World 9 gaming for being cool people.

Now for things that could be improved.  I feel like there should be some guidelines or suggestions on how to do commentary so we could avoid the sort of controversies that happened this time and make the event feel more inclusive.  The hot breakfast food could have been so much better.  The other kinds of breakfast food were good enough, but when I wanted hot breakfast, I was disappointed.

Overall, this event put the Awesome in AGDQ 2017 and would love to go to this sort of event again.

Cool Matty

Edit history:

Cool Matty: 2017-02-13 12:36:02 pm

Cool Matty: 2017-02-13 12:35:11 pm

2017-02-13 12:08:20 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Post catch-up time!

General PCF feedback to posts above:

1. PCF, while still a national charity, puts considerable amounts of our funding directly into international projects. They've been doing that for a couple years now (if I remember correctly, it started in 2015) and it will continue going forward. This includes international conferences for doctors (important for education on new information/tech that is discovered), international fellowships, screenings, and more.
2. PCF does fund research, but it's research focused on detection and prevention. They've had success with this funding as well.
3. I want to point out that one of the key reasons many of us on staff liked PCF from the beginning is that it wasn't yet another cancer cure charity. There is an enormous amount of money being thrown at cancer cure charities currently. But prevention and early detection has had much better results in most cases, despite considerably less funding. I think it's important to focus on what does the most good in the area of cancer, and for now that seems to be the area PCF is focusing on.

Quote from LylatRanbewb:

but not for wearing a Bernie Sanders shirt

That never actually happened on camera. The person in question from Twitter was wearing last year's blue AGDQ shirt, not a Bernie shirt.

Inappropriate Commentary:

We will be reacting more quickly in the future to such situations. Staff discussed at the event (and still ongoing) to alter our plan for these situations, so if such a situation happens again, we won't be so slow to react. Also, yes, we do have plans in place if someone truly goes out of control, and we do have tech in place to cut the stream without disrupting the event too much. We hope to never need that option, and we'll continue to work to ensure that is the case.

In terms of runner distractions, this issue was two-fold. One, it wasn't clear to the audience that serious time was necessary until after the incident. Runners (or their commentators) need to call that. We'll look into ways we can re-enforce this option to runners in the guides and communication at future events. Two, the audience was getting out of hand anyway, but while staff was discussing the appropriate response (including just an address to the audience, which we can do if needed), the callout happened. It's a fine line, we want to allow audience participation, but only up to the point where it does not distract the runner from completing their run. This is a good reason why runner and staff communication is critical.

Quote from lildingus:

Im only going to focus on the few negatives.
The practice room has become not the practice room if that makes sense, getting asked to move off a tv is fine however when its by someone without a run just so the group had near on the whole practice room for a race was beyond a joke. iirc Behemoth got asked if he was going to be done soon so they could have his tv.
Does this not negate the casual room?

If I had heard about the latter (bugging runners about getting off TVs), we would have kicked them out to the casual room. We were under the impression that the number of TVs were available and thus we didn't make a big deal of it. But if that is the case, no, it's not acceptable, we have others rooms with plenty of TVs overall.

If a situation like this happens again, absolutely talk to World9 or our staff about it. We'll be keeping a closer eye on this now that the event is considerably larger.

Quote from lildingus:

I know the audience has changed, this was only going to happen when the event got bigger, i heard from some runners and commentators that felt like they really had to police their language for fear of getting a card punch.

The rules regarding general swearing hasn't actually changed since the inception of GDQ. As long as it's accidental, not harassment (racist/sexist/etc) and not repeatedly happening, we're not going to dole out punishments. We get it, sometimes you get frustrated and you might let one slip. Furthermore, we give verbal warnings for that sort of thing first. We've never banned someone solely for swearing at any GDQ.

Commentary
In terms of commentary guidelines, that is covered pretty well on our rules page, but we'll surface this information in the submission guide as well for SGDQ (that guide will go live shortly before submissions open).

The Good Stuff

Glad to hear everyone at least managed to eat the breakfast!

We're aggressively working to make sure the TV broadcast option is available at all future events. It's planned for SGDQ, so failing some unforeseen technical problem, it will return there.

Tokyo Attack, Pinball Joe and World9 being awesome: yes, we agree. Cheesy

MAGFest provides the older machines for AGDQ, and they do tend to break down more often. I did emphasize to them that we wanted solid working machines for the event, but I believe it's simply a matter of manpower. I don't think they had the ability to really repair the units on-site. I will be discussing with them on other ways we can deal with this going forward, since it's clearly not improved over last year.

Misc Stuff

The board rooms: We weren't told they'd be locking themselves, we'll bug the hotel about that next time. Although we'll likely end up just using it for private staff stuff (like the continued adventures of the Timer Box), as that's mostly what they ended up being used for this event anyway. We get them for the low low price of free since we get literally the entire hotel anyway.

We'll put a note about the date shirts will be available when registration goes live, right on the website.

Post catch-up time!

[b]General PCF feedback to posts above:[/b]

1. PCF, while still a national charity, puts considerable amounts of our funding directly into international projects. They've been doing that for a couple years now (if I remember correctly, it started in 2015) and it will continue going forward. This includes international conferences for doctors (important for education on new information/tech that is discovered), international fellowships, screenings, and more.
2. PCF does fund research, but it's research focused on detection and prevention. They've had success with this funding as well.
3. I want to point out that one of the key reasons many of us on staff liked PCF from the beginning is that it wasn't yet another cancer cure charity. There is an enormous amount of money being thrown at cancer cure charities currently. But prevention and early detection has had much better results in most cases, despite considerably less funding. I think it's important to focus on what does the most good in the area of cancer, and for now that seems to be the area PCF is focusing on.

[quote="LylatRanbewb"]but not for wearing a Bernie Sanders shirt[/quote]

That never actually happened on camera. The person in question from Twitter was wearing last year's blue AGDQ shirt, not a Bernie shirt.

[b]Inappropriate Commentary:[/b]

We will be reacting more quickly in the future to such situations. Staff discussed at the event (and still ongoing) to alter our plan for these situations, so if such a situation happens again, we won't be so slow to react. Also, yes, we do have plans in place if someone truly goes out of control, and we do have tech in place to cut the stream without disrupting the event too much. We hope to never need that option, and we'll continue to work to ensure that is the case.

In terms of runner distractions, this issue was two-fold. One, it wasn't clear to the audience that serious time was necessary until after the incident. Runners (or their commentators) need to call that. We'll look into ways we can re-enforce this option to runners in the guides and communication at future events. Two, the audience was getting out of hand anyway, but while staff was discussing the appropriate response (including just an address to the audience, which we can do if needed), the callout happened. It's a fine line, we want to allow audience participation, but only up to the point where it does not distract the runner from completing their run. This is a good reason why runner and staff communication is critical.

[quote="lildingus"]Im only going to focus on the few negatives.
The practice room has become not the practice room if that makes sense, getting asked to move off a tv is fine however when its by someone without a run just so the group had near on the whole practice room for a race was beyond a joke. iirc Behemoth got asked if he was going to be done soon so they could have his tv.
Does this not negate the casual room?[/quote]

If I had heard about the latter (bugging runners about getting off TVs), we would have kicked them out to the casual room. We were under the impression that the number of TVs were available and thus we didn't make a big deal of it. But if that is the case, no, it's not acceptable, we have others rooms with plenty of TVs overall.

If a situation like this happens again, absolutely talk to World9 or our staff about it. We'll be keeping a closer eye on this now that the event is considerably larger.

[quote="lildingus"]
I know the audience has changed, this was only going to happen when the event got bigger, i heard from some runners and commentators that felt like they really had to police their language for fear of getting a card punch.
[/quote]

The rules regarding general swearing hasn't actually changed since the inception of GDQ. As long as it's accidental, not harassment (racist/sexist/etc) and not repeatedly happening, we're not going to dole out punishments. We get it, sometimes you get frustrated and you might let one slip. Furthermore, we give verbal warnings for that sort of thing first. We've never banned someone solely for swearing at any GDQ.

[b]Commentary[/b]
In terms of commentary guidelines, that is covered pretty well on our rules page, but we'll surface this information in the submission guide as well for SGDQ (that guide will go live shortly before submissions open).

[b]The Good Stuff[/b]

Glad to hear everyone at least managed to eat the breakfast!

We're aggressively working to make sure the TV broadcast option is available at all future events. It's planned for SGDQ, so failing some unforeseen technical problem, it will return there.

Tokyo Attack, Pinball Joe and World9 being awesome: yes, we agree. :D MAGFest provides the older machines for AGDQ, and they do tend to break down more often. I did emphasize to them that we wanted solid working machines for the event, but I believe it's simply a matter of manpower. I don't think they had the ability to really repair the units on-site. I will be discussing with them on other ways we can deal with this going forward, since it's clearly not improved over last year.

[b]Misc Stuff[/b]

The board rooms: We weren't told they'd be locking themselves, we'll bug the hotel about that next time. Although we'll likely end up just using it for private staff stuff (like the continued adventures of the Timer Box), as that's mostly what they ended up being used for this event anyway. We get them for the low low price of free since we get literally the entire hotel anyway.

We'll put a note about the date shirts will be available when registration goes live, right on the website.

lildingus

2017-02-13 12:19:03 pm

http://www.twitch.tv/lildingus

I wasnt necessarily saying swearing matty, just things they might be done during a run or said in a way deemed innapropriate. Strikers "get dat booty" from jedi comes to mind and the vader moment.

Zandra

2017-02-13 12:46:36 pm

Quote from lildingus:

I wasnt necessarily saying swearing matty, just things they might be done during a run or said in a way deemed innapropriate. Strikers "get dat booty" from jedi comes to mind and the vader moment.

I didn't see either of the moments you refer to, so please take what I say as a general comment; I hope I'm not misunderstanding what you mean. As someone who has been the target of harassment repeatedly, hearing that some folks are taking steps to police their language seems like a good thing? This recent AGDQ had some runs containing comments that were really hurtful to a lot of runners and community members I know, and I'm hopeful that more folks who have the mic will do their best to use their voice with empathy.