GamerCon Con

Organisers of the GamerCon gaming event at the National Convention Centre have apologised to people who have had to queue for hours to get into the event.

24,000 tickets were sold for the GamerCon convention.

Many of the tickets were bought by families and many young children were in attendance.

Some had to queue outside for three hours to get into the Convention Centre and were told they could get in only when others left, as the building was full.
GamerCon founder and event organiser Ferdi Roberts apologised saying they had miscalculated the traffic flow for the event.

He said people were not expected to spend all day at the event and that it is not unusual to sell more tickets than a venue can hold.

http://www.rte.ie/news/technology/2017/0318/860761-gamercon-dublin-lines/

Not expected to spend all day at the event? For a GamerCon? What did he think would happen?

If I had come up from the country with my kids, stayed over in a hotel and queued for 3 hours to be met with even more queues when I got inside, I'd be off to the small claims court

http://www.courts.ie/Courts.ie/library3.nsf/pagecurrent/781D7D5227918A618025715C004CAEF3?opendocument

Pure greed.

MilesMorales1

GamerCon Con?

DontThankMe

I'll be ringing Joe first thing Monday morning.

Bleedin disgrace Joe!!!!

Falthyron

Dysfunctional? Mismanaged? Over-subscribed? Non-adherence to regulations? Sounds like a typical event organised in Ireland. Garth Brooks at Croke Park comes to mind.

super_furry

Dublin Comic Con in the same venue - which is run by entirely different people and was a great event - had a limit of 8,000 tickets a day and at times felt very crowded. No idea how they thought they'd get away with selling 12,000 tickets a day, especially when the centre has an absolute capacity limit of 9,400 people.

MilesMorales1

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

GamerCon Con?

I'm an aspiring tabloid headline writer

me_irl

super_furry wrote: »

Dublin Comic Con in the same venue - which is run by entirely different people and was a great event - had a limit of 8,000 tickets a day and at times felt very crowded. No idea how they thought they'd get away with selling 12,000 tickets a day, especially when the centre has an absolute capacity limit of 9,400 people.

Especially when you see this tweet from the organiser...

Expecting 20,000+ people? In a venue that can only hold less than half of that. Ridiculous planning, even if he was thinking of foot turnover. Surely you should only sell enough tickets for the max capacity or is this "the done thing" with conventions?

https://twitter.com/ferdi_roberts/status/820403773281566720

I have a feeling that it was just a case of pure greed in getting the punters to pay up!

Pete Moss

I'm sure there'll be plenty of Fallout from the Mass Effect this poorly organised event will have on people.

Barry Badrinath

Nerds!

me_irl

Pete Moss wrote: »

I'm sure there'll be plenty of Fallout from the Mass Effect this poorly organised event will have on people.

I'm sure Fifa will be done about it.

The_Valeyard

This was just greed. Feel sorry for families out in the rain for hours only to be told to go home.


Demand a refund and compensation.

NUTZZ

The_Valeyard wrote: »

This was just greed. Feel sorry for families out in the rain for hours only to be told to go home.


Demand a refund and compensation.

https://twitter.com/GamerCon_Europe/status/843096288799457282

George White

Falthyron wrote: »

Dysfunctional? Mismanaged? Over-subscribed? Non-adherence to regulations? Sounds like a typical event organised in Ireland. Garth Brooks at Croke Park comes to mind.

It seems to have been a sham from even before that.
I was suspicious when there were no games designers, or games developers as guests. Games fans like me expect people like Rhianna Pratchett, John Romero, etc. who have been guests at Irish conventions, Romero lives here, but I asked them this, and they said words to the effect of "maybe next year, but this year, we're focusing on more mainstream audience"
And I was like - huh? What's more mainstream than the people behind best-selling cultural behemoths? Rather than some people who review them.
It's like having Barry Norman as sole guest at the Dublin Film Festival...

super_furry

Good point. Romero was at and involved in the Comic Con - I got to play a Doom deathmatch against him

NUTZZ

https://twitter.com/CraigOHoon/status/843087221926313989?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

DrGreenthumb

The gamers got played

George White

super_furry wrote: »

Good point. Romero was at and involved in the Comic Con - I got to play a Doom deathmatch against him

Yeah, great guy.
But it seems to be something put together by someone with not much knowledge of the scene, trying to be there with guys, Nozin' Aroun' style.
The guy in charge, "Ferdi" Roberts looks like a smug tosser anyway. http://irishtechnews.ie/ferdi-roberts-interviewed-founder-of-gamercon-coming-to-ireland-march-18th-19th-2017/

MilesMorales1

Probably should have got a bigger venue at least. How many does Eirtakon get?

George White

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Probably should have got a bigger venue at least. How many does Eirtakon get?

The convention centre is itself a sham. Its food facilities are dire.

Sephiroth_dude

Senor Fancy Pants wrote: »

Nerds!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRsPheErBj8

me_irl

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRsPheErBj8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xECUrlnXCqk

MilesMorales1

George White wrote: »

The convention centre is itself a sham. Its food facilities are dire.

What was on offer, out of interest?

MilesMorales1

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

What was on offer, out of interest?

Game

George White

Deleted User wrote: »

Game

They do everything in-house, from when I've been there. All very basic barbeque quality hot dogs and burgers, a limited menu - different areas serving the same stuff.

Clandestine

The organiser was threatening lawsuits against people for calling the event a scam before it started. I think lawsuits will be going the other way now.

You guys should read the posts from people who were at the event on the event's facebook page, heartbreaking stuff.

me_irl

Clandestine wrote: »

The organiser was threatening lawsuits against people for calling the event a scam before it started. I think lawsuits will be going the other way now.

You guys should read the posts from people who were at the event on the event's facebook page, heartbreaking stuff.

As well as the #gamercondublin on Twitter.

120e on a family ticket PLUS paying to see some eejit YouTube celebrities on top of that?!

George White

Yes, not even as I said, relatively minor figures in gaming.
There's a few Irish indies, but an event like this needs some major international clout.
Roberts has screwed the thing up. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.

MilesMorales1

If they were so oversubscribed, why were they advertising attendance so heavily even still today and yesterday? Why no guests? Why weren't people warned via social media about overattendance before they wasted their time showing up?

George White

George White wrote: »

Yes, not even as I said, relatively minor figures in gaming.
There's a few Irish indies, but an event like this needs some major international clout.
Roberts has screwed the thing up. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.

The only way to save it is if 5-6K people decide to just apply for a refund now- at least that might mean that those going tomorrow won't be put out like what happened today.

Rumpy Pumpy

Rumours of a large group of neckbeards gone on the rampage in Dublin city centre after not getting in to this. Currently looting a vape shop.

me_irl

Rumpy Pumpy wrote: »

Rumours of a large group of neckbeards gone on the rampage in Dublin city centre after not getting in to this. Currently looting a vape shop.

G'wan back under your bridge there love.

omerin

I travelled from Cork with a teenager, left @ 7am, arrived to the centre around 10.30am and was inside around 11.20ish. To say that this was run in an amateurish way is being generous. Walking down the quay saw a large q and was peed off, only to discover that was not 25% of the q and had to walk further down passed the centre and around the block. Only 1 side entrance used for entry - such stupidity
Escalators broke down but to be fair were fixed after about 5 mins. Even when working they became a bottleneck as for some reason they decided to stop people using the stairs. As mentioned above the food is basic, overpriced and crap and you will have to q for the privilege.
As for the offerings - Christ where do I start. Overpriced merchandise - €20 for a t-shirt, some farmer's market type stalls and someone scoured the storage shelves at gamestop - you'd be better off going into the shop - less hassle. I think they were putting a nice profit margin on their offerings - a GOT board game €60, no thanks - but they have a captive audience and it's like shooting fish in a barrel. As a PC gamer the only keyboard I could see to buy was €200!
A lot of kids were playing FPS games, some if not all are most likely over 18s, in some cases unsupervised in most cases, not. I have to hold my hands up and say I have been guilty of it myself, but never in public and not with children who were so young. I couldn't believe that they were selling Pornhub Tshirts - nothing graphical, just the name, but you know kids and curiosity ..... and everyone has access to a smartphone these days. I saw an adult deliberately take a picture of it - couldn't miss it, it was hanging up front and centre and maybe on Monday this will be mentioned on Joe D.
Also they had some You tubers have a sit down, Q&A session in front of an audience of a few thousand, mostly kids. I didn't know these people but they showed a vid and there was some bad language. Again I am guilty of this particularly playing games, but they should know their audience and tailor their routine. Mostly kids were asking the questions and imo they were a bit dismissive of the kids.

There was nothing there to make someone excited about being there, at least me and probably the majority of people that have or will attend. When you break it down what it is (not including the negatives mentioned above as I'm not repeating them and my fingers hurt )

a few Youtubers
one room to play a few games - long waiting times
mediocre merchandise that you can buy there as opposed to ordering on line (at probably a cheaper price )

I expected to see some big hardware manufacturers and some of the big game developers, but there was no one. Remember that sponsors like these contribute to the running costs (and profit) of events and this extra revenue could have resulted in better amenities and a better customer experience for all. Instead they didn't appear and to an extent this is a worry - maybe they knew what the audience would be - mainly console users or they were presented with what the event would be like.... and ran a mile. My money is on the latter.

We left after 2 hours as both of us were bored. When you consider it was a 6 hour round trip, that'll give you some perspective as to how peed off I am.

Unless you have your travel paid for or cannot disappoint kids, I would give this a miss and get a refund. If it is a surprise for them and they don't know about it - DON'T GO.

Gamercon site apparently taken down

newbie2

https://gamer-con.com/

website fooked too. Can't claim refunds




*gets popcorn

me_irl

Deleted User wrote: »

Gamercon site apparently taken down

Saw that people were getting an "account suspended" message, but now it's completely down.

Dick move if this was purposefully done to stop the refund process.

lightspeed

Would there not be grounds here for some sort of class action lawsuit?

Id imagine if this happened in the States that's what would happen. from listening to adverts on tv when i was last in the States, they love a good class action lawsuit.

MilesMorales1

Damn. I hope it works out for everyone who got ****ed over, thats a ****ty day.

George White

Now, they are saying the mornings are for kids/families only.

omerin

omerin wrote: »

I travelled from Cork with a teenager, left @ 7am, arrived to the centre around 10.30am ......

Unless you have your travel paid for or cannot disappoint kids, I would give this a miss and get a refund. If it is a surprise for them and they don't know about it - DON'T GO.

Well done for posting that and sorry you had such a terrible day after being so thoughtful doing that journey for your child.

mikeym

What a disaster.

I presume tomorrow will be another unorganised mess.

323

Deleted User wrote: »

Organisers of the GamerCon gaming event at the National Convention Centre have apologised to people who have had to queue for hours to get into the event.

24,000 tickets were sold for the GamerCon convention.

Many of the tickets were bought by families and many young children were in attendance.

Some had to queue outside for three hours to get into the Convention Centre and were told they could get in only when others left, as the building was full.
GamerCon founder and event organiser Ferdi Roberts apologised saying they had miscalculated the traffic flow for the event.

He said people were not expected to spend all day at the event and that it is not unusual to sell more tickets than a venue can hold.

http://www.rte.ie/news/technology/2017/0318/860761-gamercon-dublin-lines/

Not expected to spend all day at the event? For a GamerCon? What did he think would happen?

If I had come up from the country with my kids, stayed over in a hotel and queued for 3 hours to be met with even more queues when I got inside, I'd be off to the small claims court

http://www.courts.ie/Courts.ie/library3.nsf/pagecurrent/781D7D5227918A618025715C004CAEF3?opendocument

Pure greed.

No way anyone could have stayed there for more than a couple of hours.

3 hour drive from Donegal, as couldn't find a hotel room in Dublin this weekend for less than €380/night.
About 20 mins queuing and luckily got in there just before the stopped letting folks in around 11:00.
Inside, no organisation whatsoever and very little there. Kids not too impressed.
Home again by 18:00. A day out with the kids but a poor enough one.

Rip off Ireland is alive and well.

Agricola

I don't know who in their right minds would go to these "Cons" in places where they are relatively well run, let alone attend an amateur hour one in Ireland like this.
Hordes of people, mass queuing to go in, mass queuing to get out, queues for bad food, queues for toilets, ridiculous queues to see/do the thing you paid good money to come for in the first place. Sounds like hell.

MilesMorales1

Agricola wrote: »

I don't know who in their right minds would go to these "Cons" in places where they are relatively well run, let alone attend an amateur hour one in Ireland like this.
Hordes of people, mass queuing to go in, mass queuing to get out, queues for bad food, queues for toilets, ridiculous queues to see/do the thing you paid good money to come for in the first place. Sounds like hell.

They aren't always as bad as they sound here. Can be good craic. I've been to quite a few of them, and they're not my cup of tea, but still.

super_furry

Yeah Dublin comic con is in the same venue and always a great event.

highgiant1985

Agricola wrote: »

I don't know who in their right minds would go to these "Cons" in places where they are relatively well run, let alone attend an amateur hour one in Ireland like this.
Hordes of people, mass queuing to go in, mass queuing to get out, queues for bad food, queues for toilets, ridiculous queues to see/do the thing you paid good money to come for in the first place. Sounds like hell.

Don't be so quick to judge cons just because they're not your cup of tea... Look at what you described...

"Hordes of people, mass queuing to go in, mass queuing to get out, queues for bad food, queues for toilets, ridiculous queues to see/do the thing you paid good money to come for in the first place"

You could pretty much use the same description to describe music festivals, sporting events. etc...

I love cons myself, I went to san diego comic con last year, 150k+ people attend each year. Yes the really popular attractions require a lot of time queuing but its run really well and a chance to meet people with similar interests and have some really awesome experiences. e.g. I got to be in the crowd for a Conan show, see a live performance of Archer on a yacht and I got a GoT poster signed by all the GoT cast who were there. It's no different than getting an autograph of your favourite musician or footballer.

wyrn

I'll be quite disappointed if Joe Duffy doesn't cover this on Monday. It has all the marks of being a good and lively Liveline. If the Facebook comments are anything to go by, there'll be lots of stories of people travelling from afar (Cork) with their kids who got tickets for Christmas and spent hours in the rain, only to be turned away. Not to forget those who made it in but there was no food left and there was Pornhub t-shorts for sale... it'll be great.

That said, I feel fierce sorry for those who did wait in line with kids.

Sunny Dayz

We must have been one of the lucky ones yesterday. We got there at 10:50 and to the entrance at 11:15.
The merchandise floor was fairly packed with people. But the stands were disappointing, we thought there was a poor selection and you could hardly get near them anyway. Why was there a guy doing spray painting - that wasn't safe with fumes and the crowds. There were queues all over the place and no organisation of them.
We did enjoy the gaming section to the right but some people took ages.
We went up to the next floor and it was full of gaming but to be honest there was no signage that we could understand we didn't know what was what. We went up further floors but all was saw were queues we didn't know what for no signage and the app was no help.
We left at 2pm after tea and a muffin.
The young fella thought it was "ok". He was happpy enough he got to play some mine craft and forza, funny enough he could have done that at home in comfort!!

Richard Hillman

It seems to be every one of these "Con" events are poorly managed, subscribed to as close as health & safety will allow and the content underwhelming.

It is amazing that people think that "this will be different".



Also, I despise greatly people who describe themselves as Geeks or Nerds. I think they are vile and need to be eradicated from society. That's not really the point of the thread but needs to be highlighted. Scum.

Eh. Why do you hate geeks and nerds so much? I'm a nerd.

MilesMorales1

Deleted User wrote: »

Eh. Why do you hate geeks and nerds so much? I'm a nerd.

Let the troll have his little moment.

Richard Hillman

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Eh. Why do you hate geeks and nerds so much? I'm a nerd.

People who call themselves "geeks"/"nerds" because they like extremely popular and mainstream Comic Book Movies or play extremely popular and mainstream computer games. These people are not geeks/nerds. They are just bellends who have watched the Big Bang Theory too many times.