Rogue Archetype
Moderator <br> Contest Host
I'm sorry all.
I'm just starting to see the issue get clouded by a lot of selfishness.
STICK TO THE ISSUES and let's not just RANT...
1. Gathering Grounds - They did a GREAT job of having everything available. I was impressed with the layout of cards by set. I did not, however, like the attitude of the lady cashier. She was dry, cold, and dismissive; it was a huge downer to any sort of excitement the kids had going into the store. I mean, I saw little kids hopping up to the register with piggy-bank change in hand SMILING ear-to-ear because they have that plush and cardbox and the lady is like "$25 .. next...*straight face*" I mean..AT LEAST make an effort... :/ As far as prices go, I really didn't see any shockers other than the Baltoy. EVERYTHING was a eBay prices and the BOX prices were hottness... If you buy boxes, you were excited about those for real. I do agree at least ONE other dealer would've kept things exciting and interesting.
On a POSITIVE note, the two men that were the "gophers" at Gathering Ground were COOL with everybody. They're not getting their credit where it is due. The smiled and joked around with everyone throughout the entire event. The lady and the bald guy (probably the owners) were more suited for a non-child-related function... i'll just let that one breathe...
2. St.Louis - DO NOT blame others for your failures. If you had done a walk aroud the block, you would've found the St. Louis Bread Co., a bunch of private owned resturants, TGI Fridays, and Hardee's. Those of you who DROVE should have gone to "THE HILL" for a variety of AUTHENTIC resturants that offers up the best local-owned Italian food resturants in U.S.
For $5, you could've hopped the train to the park and checked out the Zoo and all of the museums.
Do your homework BEFORE you complain and blame others that for which you know not.
St. Louis was good.
3. "Non-Pokemon gaming" - REALLY? We're going to discuss this as a "con." At POKEMON Nationals, we're going to REALLY compliain that PUI didn't try to offer NON-Pokemon event availability? Really ... ? How about we just drop that argument and demote it from "an issue" to "not relevant" ok ? ... *psss*
4. DATE - I do agree that some consideration should be given to making sure Nats and Worlds do not conflict with Con and GenCon. We shouldn't punish Pokemon patrons/players with making such a sacrificial decisioin (i.e. "us or them!"). There are many cross-over gamers coming into Pokemon from other games and making considerations to include them would certainly be consistent with the fun-for-all nature of our game.
5. It's POKEMON NATS. That's what you go for. Pokemon is a family-game and there are many older people who say/do inappropriate things at Pokemon events who are either oblivious or careless about the meaning/nature of "FAMILY EVENTS." I think having ONLY Pokemon available in the venue purified the atmosphere and made it more appropriate for Pokemon players and their families.
6. ROTATING THE VENUE - This is a TALL ORDER. If you suggest doing this, you must not understand logistics and event planning .. .at all. You see, the event needs time to germinate into a well-oiled machine. From an organization/management perspective, rotating annually would lead to attrition of logistical solidarity. That is, you would NEVER be familiar with the venue and, therefore, would NOT have the opportunity to work out the kincs. Having an event re-occur in the same venue for (at least 3 years) would lead to improvments and enhancements.
Example: Many of you have just discovered where you will eat 'next time." You'll have to rediscover all of the 'hot-spots' of a new location.
7. POKEMON NATS EVENT(s) - Truly Amazing. Given the fact that it was a "new situation" having moved to a new venue and location after all of these years, the event was managed EXTREMEMLY WELL. Anyone who says different probably has NEVER been in charge of running an event of any scale. It was VERY wall managed. The volunteer staff was awesome, the judges did their thing, and the decor and atmosphere of that hall were SO GOOD.
8. Logistical Concerns - Side Event staff may need to meet and coordinate much more BEFORE the events occur. There needs to be assignements made for who runs what and how long. There was entirely too much logistical confusion in the 8-man events. League Play was very popular and the small staff prizing that out were SO good. I would suggest doubling-up so the line can say small and more people can play without sacrificing 30 mins of their time just waiting in line waiting for their prizes. The prizes were GREAT btw... I'm very appreciative for the offerings of league-play and side-events, however, I think that the factor of planning and staffing for these things have been greatly underappreciated and underestimated.
STANDINGS should be PROJECTED !!! Simply get 3 HUGE SCREENS (venue probably has them!), hang 'em high, and scroll the standings. Then anyone can see their table/matchups/roster from anywhere in the playing area. You can do the paper-posting for side-events. Projecting main event standings would make it seem more like "a main event" / big deal
You can scroll other information on those screens as well which would cut down on all of those DISTRACTING announcements throughout the TCG main event! I'm surprised I top-cut as much as I forgot my move everytime I heard "ATTENTION: TCG POKEMON PLAYERS .. .ATTENTION: POKEMON TRADING CARD GAME PLAYERS... " There's nothing wrong with announcements, but they were just way too frequent.
I'm just starting to see the issue get clouded by a lot of selfishness.
STICK TO THE ISSUES and let's not just RANT...
1. Gathering Grounds - They did a GREAT job of having everything available. I was impressed with the layout of cards by set. I did not, however, like the attitude of the lady cashier. She was dry, cold, and dismissive; it was a huge downer to any sort of excitement the kids had going into the store. I mean, I saw little kids hopping up to the register with piggy-bank change in hand SMILING ear-to-ear because they have that plush and cardbox and the lady is like "$25 .. next...*straight face*" I mean..AT LEAST make an effort... :/ As far as prices go, I really didn't see any shockers other than the Baltoy. EVERYTHING was a eBay prices and the BOX prices were hottness... If you buy boxes, you were excited about those for real. I do agree at least ONE other dealer would've kept things exciting and interesting.
On a POSITIVE note, the two men that were the "gophers" at Gathering Ground were COOL with everybody. They're not getting their credit where it is due. The smiled and joked around with everyone throughout the entire event. The lady and the bald guy (probably the owners) were more suited for a non-child-related function... i'll just let that one breathe...
2. St.Louis - DO NOT blame others for your failures. If you had done a walk aroud the block, you would've found the St. Louis Bread Co., a bunch of private owned resturants, TGI Fridays, and Hardee's. Those of you who DROVE should have gone to "THE HILL" for a variety of AUTHENTIC resturants that offers up the best local-owned Italian food resturants in U.S.
For $5, you could've hopped the train to the park and checked out the Zoo and all of the museums.
Do your homework BEFORE you complain and blame others that for which you know not.
St. Louis was good.
3. "Non-Pokemon gaming" - REALLY? We're going to discuss this as a "con." At POKEMON Nationals, we're going to REALLY compliain that PUI didn't try to offer NON-Pokemon event availability? Really ... ? How about we just drop that argument and demote it from "an issue" to "not relevant" ok ? ... *psss*
4. DATE - I do agree that some consideration should be given to making sure Nats and Worlds do not conflict with Con and GenCon. We shouldn't punish Pokemon patrons/players with making such a sacrificial decisioin (i.e. "us or them!"). There are many cross-over gamers coming into Pokemon from other games and making considerations to include them would certainly be consistent with the fun-for-all nature of our game.
5. It's POKEMON NATS. That's what you go for. Pokemon is a family-game and there are many older people who say/do inappropriate things at Pokemon events who are either oblivious or careless about the meaning/nature of "FAMILY EVENTS." I think having ONLY Pokemon available in the venue purified the atmosphere and made it more appropriate for Pokemon players and their families.
6. ROTATING THE VENUE - This is a TALL ORDER. If you suggest doing this, you must not understand logistics and event planning .. .at all. You see, the event needs time to germinate into a well-oiled machine. From an organization/management perspective, rotating annually would lead to attrition of logistical solidarity. That is, you would NEVER be familiar with the venue and, therefore, would NOT have the opportunity to work out the kincs. Having an event re-occur in the same venue for (at least 3 years) would lead to improvments and enhancements.
Example: Many of you have just discovered where you will eat 'next time." You'll have to rediscover all of the 'hot-spots' of a new location.
7. POKEMON NATS EVENT(s) - Truly Amazing. Given the fact that it was a "new situation" having moved to a new venue and location after all of these years, the event was managed EXTREMEMLY WELL. Anyone who says different probably has NEVER been in charge of running an event of any scale. It was VERY wall managed. The volunteer staff was awesome, the judges did their thing, and the decor and atmosphere of that hall were SO GOOD.
8. Logistical Concerns - Side Event staff may need to meet and coordinate much more BEFORE the events occur. There needs to be assignements made for who runs what and how long. There was entirely too much logistical confusion in the 8-man events. League Play was very popular and the small staff prizing that out were SO good. I would suggest doubling-up so the line can say small and more people can play without sacrificing 30 mins of their time just waiting in line waiting for their prizes. The prizes were GREAT btw... I'm very appreciative for the offerings of league-play and side-events, however, I think that the factor of planning and staffing for these things have been greatly underappreciated and underestimated.
STANDINGS should be PROJECTED !!! Simply get 3 HUGE SCREENS (venue probably has them!), hang 'em high, and scroll the standings. Then anyone can see their table/matchups/roster from anywhere in the playing area. You can do the paper-posting for side-events. Projecting main event standings would make it seem more like "a main event" / big deal
You can scroll other information on those screens as well which would cut down on all of those DISTRACTING announcements throughout the TCG main event! I'm surprised I top-cut as much as I forgot my move everytime I heard "ATTENTION: TCG POKEMON PLAYERS .. .ATTENTION: POKEMON TRADING CARD GAME PLAYERS... " There's nothing wrong with announcements, but they were just way too frequent.
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