European Marathon primary planning thread (opinions on Sweden still wanted) [locked]

Alko

2012-01-12 02:07:35 pm

Caution: This user contains Kana ^_^

Quote from Tigger77:

For the date

Agreed

Quote from Tigger77:

Scheduled

Because some people couldn't hold their tongue xD Otherwise agreed

Quote from Tigger77:

Play Quality

Agreed

Quote from Tigger77:

That brings me also to a suggestion

Hmm. Half the time donations in Dollars, half the time in Euros? Maybe two different charities we're supporting? A transition that could happen more or less any time (OoT started over an hour late, iirc) … not sure bout that one xD Is there anything speaking against the US not having a marathon in Summer? I mean, they have Spring and Autumn left to themselves … Who says, small marathons are bad per se?

Quote from Tigger77:

btw: one thing : this threat is a complete mess there are tons of unnecessary post and it gets like 40 posts a day so if you don't have anything important to say just don't post (would be good a new post with Frezy first post or so)

We're not theatening nobody =O Otherwise seconded with the exception of people still looking into alternate locations to be granted an extra posting right Wink

Quote from Tigger77:

sorry if I sound like a complete Jerk but it has to be said

I don't think so (and I wouldn't have minded) =D

[quote="Tigger77"]
For the date[/quote]
Agreed

[quote="Tigger77"]Scheduled[/quote]
Because some people couldn't hold their tongue xD Otherwise agreed

[quote="Tigger77"]Play Quality[/quote]
Agreed

[quote="Tigger77"]That brings me also to a suggestion[/quote]
Hmm. Half the time donations in Dollars, half the time in Euros? Maybe two different charities we're supporting? A transition that could happen more or less any time (OoT started over an hour late, iirc) … not sure bout that one xD Is there anything speaking against the US [i]not[/i] having a marathon in Summer? I mean, they have Spring and Autumn left to themselves … Who says, small marathons are bad [i]per se[/i]?

[quote="Tigger77"]btw: one thing : this threat is a complete mess there are tons of unnecessary post and it gets like 40 posts a day so if you don't have anything important to say just don't post (would be good a new post with Frezy first post or so)[/quote]
We're not theatening nobody =O Otherwise seconded with the exception of people still looking into alternate locations to be granted an extra posting right ;)

[quote="Tigger77"]sorry if I sound like a complete Jerk but it has to be said[/quote]
I don't think so (and I wouldn't have minded) =D

KennyMan666

2012-01-12 02:15:37 pm

Precursor

I'm not writing a schedule. All I've done is just barely started writing a prospective game list, including things I KNOW will happen - such as the things I'm going to run myself. I'm not going to touch it again before it's time to touch it again. I'm using the same spreadsheet as a list of people who have expressed interest, to get a rough idea on current numbers, so there's that.

Also, no, SGDQ is going to be in May.

Essentia

2012-01-12 02:42:34 pm

Everything's better with Magitek

The date for SGDQ hasn't been determined yet. We'd been thinking about moving to the end of May just so there would be more time in between SGDQ and the European marathon. I hadn't really considered the possibility of combining the two marathons - would that be more headache than it's worth?

KennyMan666

2012-01-12 02:45:33 pm

Precursor

Ah. I thought I remembered you saying it would be May in a way that made me think it had been already decided, but I must have been mistaken then.

I'm probably going to have to go with "more trouble than it's worth" for that.

Tiberius

2012-01-12 02:52:50 pm

Make it so.

I dont know that it would exactly, obviously it would depend on the charity in question but, if both marathons were raising money for the same cause, using the same "chip in" type of thing, different currencies should be no problem at all. For instance, I'm in the UK and could (and did) easily donate in $ for AGDQ.

People potentially wanting to go to both marathons could be a problem however. Especially if some of them have equipment that might be crucial.

By the way, I agree pretty strongly with the idea that posts in this thread should be thought out and purposeful. Nothing to stop people from reporting in or anything but clogging the thread up by discussing games or whatever is not what we want to be doing right now Smiley

So from now on I will try and limit my posts to any news on my possible venue and/or important info/opinions that might be required.

Tigger77

Edit history:

Tigger77: 2012-01-12 02:55:06 pm

2012-01-12 02:53:52 pm

I survived MIKE-Fest 1

Quote:

"more trouble than it's worth"

I don't really see how this is more trouble
The only problem I see is that we have to pick one charity
The chip in is no problem (Japan marathon)

EDIT: Tiberius you Ninja

to the both marathon thing I don't thing that apply to many people

A big benefit would be we had one marathon that could reach AGDQ

RoboSparkle

2012-01-12 03:15:45 pm

Magical. Flying. Bathtub

Yeah I know that one of the major arguments for even having EGDQ was that there were so many Europeans who couldn't make either of the US marathons, besides if the chip in transition will be fine (I donated in $ and paid in £ during AGDQ) then I don't see why we can't have a two part marathon. Although that depends on whethe the SGDQ guys want to have their marathon at the end of August, really.

Alko

2012-01-12 03:21:50 pm

Caution: This user contains Kana ^_^

I know that donating in Euros to the dollarmarathons works, I donated over a hundred of the latter xD I was thinking that a european marathon should maybe track its donations in Euros though, to make a point of being European. Then again, until I get moving, Sweden is our best bet, so Swedish Krones … erm … yeah xD

KenDeep

2012-01-12 03:25:28 pm

Running: RnF,Kof98, ALIEN HOMINID???

Sweden is by no means settled yet, just to make it known. I'm currently all up and down on trying to find a location in germany. I'm having my difficulties, yes, but we aren't even in the second half of the month yet.
So before anybody plans on reserving plane tickets or anything like that: Wait until the deadline. If I find a german location, we can still vote for which country we should take.

GalleonLogic

2012-01-12 07:38:30 pm

Personally I'm very much for the idea of having something combined with the potential second SGDQ. I believe it was mentioned that it could put the size and scope up to that of AGDQ, which when trying to raise the most money for charity is best. The only difficulty would be in co-ordination between the two events (Games, timings and prizes), however most of this could be arranged prior to the marathon and maintained over Skype by a couple of individuals behind the scenes at both locations. Although I very much enjoy watching the marathons, I like that for SDA they are relatively sparse in number, the prospect of having 3 dedicated marathons this year (and possibly in future years), it might take the edge off of each of them (personal opinion).

As a side note, I'm London based and would be really interested in going to a Europe based marathon (I have one runnable game (Super Mario Land 2) - Game I could run up to standard and not incredibly dull). I've not caught the whole thread, but I've seen talk that London is not a good option due to the impending Olympics, which I completely agree with, but could possibly be considered for future years. I'm willing to help out with any of the organisation/ co-ordination/ scheduling if needed.

Personally I'm very much for the idea of having something combined with the potential second SGDQ.  I believe it was mentioned that it could put the size and scope up to that of AGDQ, which when trying to raise the most money for charity is best.  The only difficulty would be in co-ordination between the two events (Games, timings and prizes), however most of this could be arranged prior to the marathon and maintained over Skype by a couple of individuals behind the scenes at both locations.  Although I very much enjoy watching the marathons, I like that for SDA they are relatively sparse in number, the prospect of having 3 dedicated marathons this year (and possibly in future years), it might take the edge off of each of them (personal opinion).

As a side note, I'm London based and would be really interested in going to a Europe based marathon (I have one runnable game (Super Mario Land 2) - Game I could run up to standard and not incredibly dull).  I've not caught the whole thread, but I've seen talk that London is not a good option due to the impending Olympics, which I completely agree with, but could possibly be considered for future years.  I'm willing to help out with any of the organisation/ co-ordination/ scheduling if needed.

Frezy_man

Edit history:

Frezy_man: 2012-01-13 08:27:37 am

2012-01-13 08:25:37 am

bläää

Quote from GalleonLogic:

Personally I'm very much for the idea of having something combined with the potential second SGDQ

I think this sounds as something you can discuss, definitely. But it will probably destroy the idea for some european runners to meet american runners. Because you can not visit both places at the same time. At least that would be troublesome.
I think the idea to organize a very serious european marathon would create oppertunities for american runners to go to europe, if that is the case the quality and status of the european marathon event would be higher, which means that the chances to attract top players from all over europe would be higher too.

Tigger77

2012-01-13 09:23:27 am

I survived MIKE-Fest 1

If this one comes out to be an success we can do the big European marathon next year
we would be better known and the European community would exist then

I see the goals of this marathon as to build up a European community
get a first food into marathon things and IMO SGDQ would help us a lot and SDA too.
Also to meet all the European guys to get them know better and get the word out for future European marathons but the merging can only happen when both sides want that it happens it.

KennyMan666

2012-01-13 09:31:14 am

Precursor

I'm with Frezy here. I don't like the idea in general, either. I'd prefer to keep EGDQ and SGDQ separate.

IrregularJinny

2012-01-13 10:27:38 am

Infinite Combo

WE have to build up our own thing, and make it ours! we are not in to compete or anything with SGDQ but like yeah keeping them separate is the smartest thing if you ask me.

moooh

2012-01-13 11:01:02 am

Exoray

Chances that someone from the west coast US would go to Europe or that someone from Europe would fly to the west coast are so small that having the two marathons together would not be an issue at all. This would in fact be the smartest thing to do, making the two smaller marathons together be one full length marathon.
It would also be a pretty good spread between the two considering the EU marathon would be mostly PC games or games for newer consoles (seriously, if you want to target an international audience, popping in PAL speed older games is not something desirable).
They would work well as two blocks after eachother, and this would also make the entire thing easier to promote.

Alright so this is the current status of the suggestion for running this in Skövde, Sweden:
+ There is a venue available
+ A decent internet connection is available

- Far from a central european location
- 2h+ by bus from the nearest airport
- Sweden is expensive compared to most other places (comparing Sweden to Norway was just silly, considering how Norway has the most ludicrous prices in all of europe)
- Likely no showers available at the venue (An SDA marathon is not your random LAN gathering, this is a big minus)
- Bad sleeping accomodations

In order to attract European runners, this marathon would probably have to happen at some conference center in either Gothenburg or Stockholm if it was going to be hosted in Sweden. A more central european location would still ofc be preferred.

Chances that someone from the west coast US would go to Europe or that someone from Europe would fly to the west coast are so small that having the two marathons together would not be an issue at all. This would in fact be the smartest thing to do, making the two smaller marathons together be one full length marathon.
It would also be a pretty good spread between the two considering the EU marathon would be mostly PC games or games for newer consoles (seriously, if you want to target an international audience, popping in PAL speed older games is not something desirable).
They would work well as two blocks after eachother, and this would also make the entire thing easier to promote.

Alright so this is the current status of the suggestion for running this in Skövde, Sweden:
+ There is a venue available
+ A decent internet connection is available

- Far from a central european location
- 2h+ by bus from the nearest airport
- Sweden is expensive compared to most other places (comparing Sweden to Norway was just silly, considering how Norway has the most ludicrous prices in all of europe) 
- Likely no showers available at the venue (An SDA marathon is not your random LAN gathering, this is a big minus)
- Bad sleeping accomodations

In order to attract European runners, this marathon would probably have to happen at some conference center in either Gothenburg or Stockholm if it was going to be hosted in Sweden. A more central european location would still ofc be preferred.

KenDeep

2012-01-13 11:13:58 am

Running: RnF,Kof98, ALIEN HOMINID???

I believe the Pal-gimmick was just considered for a handful of games. I personally do not want too many PAL-runs to be ran either, since NTSC is the widely accepted standart.

KennyMan666

2012-01-13 11:26:06 am

Precursor

The idea with that was primarily to run some games that were released in Europe, but not in the US.

Trekhaak

2012-01-13 11:29:15 am

Everybody's favorite monster

Do a meet-up first before the actual marathon

Pootrain

2012-01-13 11:56:17 am

train kept rollin

Quote from Trekhaak:

Do a meet-up first before the actual marathon

This

KennyMan666

Edit history:

KennyMan666: 2012-01-13 12:06:31 pm

2012-01-13 11:56:28 am

Precursor

...okay, when trying to delete my last post in the thread, I somehow ended up deleting not only that, but also my first post in the thread. I didn't even VISIT the first page until after I had tried to delete, and Taiga gave me an error popup, and then I reloaded the page, and then I was on the first page with the first post gone.

What the fuck, forum?

Might be time to start a new thread anyway, as this one was just an interest check thread that has now exploded into things.

Frezy_man

2012-01-13 12:09:11 pm

bläää

What would differ that thread from this one?

Quote from moooh:

and this would also make the entire thing easier to promote.

That was some good points you brought there moooh. Specially if a west coast marathon was going on. But I think it could be hard to choose between Washington DC and Sweden if that would be an option. Especially when we have seen many european runners at AGDQ2012. Example of travelling costs from UK to Washington 400 Euro, to Sweden 150 Euro. And Washington choice is probably cheaper because food and travelling is often cheaper in Us

You reach Skövde by train, might have to use bus to the central station in Gothenburg but after that you go by train.
I don´t see shower or sleeping places as a problem. It is rooms on hotels right beside the locale for those who wants to pay. I am not sure about the prices though. But it is a lot of option.

I do not consider Sweden more expensive then any other of the countries that might be organizing this. UK, Germany or France.
Conference center in gothenburg would be great. If someone could fix a place like that.

Another plus with having the event in Skövde would be my experience with videogame asociations and experience from holding event on the place beforehand. That could give a lot of economic oppertunities. I can get a bunch of other non SDA members interested of helping with other things during the planning, which I think might help a lot. We have TVs, Cars, and other contacts that can be of use. We can also borrow expensive HD cameras.
Holding the event in Gothenburg as the main organizer is not an option for me right now for August 2012.

What would differ that thread from this one?

[quote="moooh"] and this would also make the entire thing easier to promote.
[/quote]

That was some good points you brought there moooh. Specially if a west coast marathon was going on. But I think it could be hard to choose between Washington DC and Sweden if that would be an option. Especially when we have seen many european runners at AGDQ2012. Example of travelling costs from UK to Washington 400 Euro, to Sweden 150 Euro. And Washington choice is probably cheaper because food and travelling is often cheaper in Us

You reach Skövde by train, might have to use bus to the central station in Gothenburg but after that you go by train.
I don´t see shower or sleeping places as a problem. It is rooms on hotels right beside the locale for those who wants to pay. I am not sure about the prices though. But it is a lot of option.

I do not consider Sweden more expensive then any other of the countries that might be organizing this. UK, Germany or France.
Conference center in gothenburg would be great. If someone could fix a place like that.

Another plus with having the event in Skövde would be my experience with videogame asociations and experience from holding event on the place beforehand. That could give a lot of economic oppertunities. I can get a bunch of other non SDA members interested of helping with other things during the planning, which I think might help a lot. We have TVs, Cars, and other contacts that can be of use. We can also borrow expensive HD cameras.
Holding the event in Gothenburg as the main organizer is not an option for me right now for August 2012.

KennyMan666

Edit history:

KennyMan666: 2012-01-13 12:32:07 pm

2012-01-13 12:15:34 pm

Precursor

I mean a thread that would be only about finding a location, and no other general chatter about the EU marathon. Collecting information in a not nine page long thread.

I can check for conference centers in Gothenburg, but they're going to be expensive as fuck. A university might be a better idea. I should check with my Chalmers buddies, Chalmers seems like the kind of school that could be interested in this.

Also, Frezy, other places being less expensive than Sweden isn't something you "consider". Germany, for instance, being cheaper in general than Sweden is pretty much a fact. Sweden is one of the most expensive countries in Europe.

Frezy_man

2012-01-13 01:03:21 pm

bläää

I think moooh describe a conferance center whith a good place for hostin the marathon and people. Probably including beds and rooms. Like a hotel. So Chalmer does probably not have beds. Central gothenburg is better then Skövde for international gathering because of the spot. But Skövde would probably means lower rents.

I might be wrong about prices. My experience with travelling in Europe is that the prices for food and hotels is similiare. I know food prices are a little bit cheaper then Sweden but I can´t see it would be more then 10% ? We also have low-cost markets in Sweden nowadays. Taxes for food from grocery stores is only 6% in Sweden. Hotels is 12%, and so is also restaurants nowadays.

I think shopping (fashion) is more expensive here. But that is not what the runners want to do.

puwexil

2012-01-14 12:45:21 pm

Professional Second Banana

A perk to having the European marathon as a separate event from SGDQ could be being able to choose a Europe-based charity for the European marathon, which would be easier for the European marathon coordinators to work with and may be more meaningful to European viewers.

KennyMan666

2012-01-14 12:50:03 pm

Precursor

For the record, combining them isn't happening ever. Especially not after Uyama himself judged it to be a terrible idea.

Also, I've spoken with LLCoolDave about things. More specifically, he spoke about things we (okay, mostly me) have been doing wrong, and I agreed with pretty much all of it. We have to take a few steps back, and change focus, but I think he'll be here with the full rant eventually.