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PAX is different than Arisia
Mar. 27th, 2010 03:36 pmI've been to Arisia four times. It is my only SciFi/Fantasy con. I went to DefCon once; the hacker scene is different and counterculture and geeky and fun.
PAX is much more about the show and tell. It has many fewer, but bigger panel-type events. It is much bigger, there are more peolpe here. There's relatively little actual selling going on here. If I came here because I like gamer culture, why can't I buy some? There is selling of actual games and game paraphernalia for all kinds of tabletop games. The video games and game hardware are all set up for demoing, go buy their wares through the usual distribution channels. Shirts and art and kitsch objects are missing. I'm used to Arisia's dealer's row. There's one kinda halfassed shirt dealer here in addition to the official PAX merch. Of course, it's not about the buying things, but the being together, eh?
Probably more thoughts on this later, and the differences between Gamer culture and my preferred forms of geekery.
PAX is much more about the show and tell. It has many fewer, but bigger panel-type events. It is much bigger, there are more peolpe here. There's relatively little actual selling going on here. If I came here because I like gamer culture, why can't I buy some? There is selling of actual games and game paraphernalia for all kinds of tabletop games. The video games and game hardware are all set up for demoing, go buy their wares through the usual distribution channels. Shirts and art and kitsch objects are missing. I'm used to Arisia's dealer's row. There's one kinda halfassed shirt dealer here in addition to the official PAX merch. Of course, it's not about the buying things, but the being together, eh?
Probably more thoughts on this later, and the differences between Gamer culture and my preferred forms of geekery.
