Snipe and Wib queue for EM-Con 2014
65We were going to do a video for this con much like our Alcon video but as fate would have it, that didn't happen.
The event was a complete mess, there were literally thousands of pre-paid ticket holders, far more than the small venue could ever hope to accommodate (not counting plenty who turned up hoping to buy a ticket on the day) leading to queues that could last up to 4 hours. A problem exacerbated by an unclear queue system that left many confused as to where the Hell they should be. A lot of people (possibly far saner than us) asked for refunds once it became apparent the situation wasn't going to get any better, this caused another queue to form for refunds (since they ran out of money to give them) which in itself could be over an hour long.
This not only meant that lots of people missed the Q&A panels they wished to see but meant if you actually got into the small venue it was so full of people it was just unpleasant. The stalls were pretty decent (we got some free pin badges from the Forge World/Black Library stall, which was nice) but if you went in there without the desire to spend a ton on money there wasn't really much to do, especially if the queues had caused to miss the panels you'd been interested in.
Apparently the management think the event was 'an outstanding success', which while I guess is true, I doubt makes anyone who stood outside for hours on end, tickets in hand, feel much better (in fairness they have acknowledged the problems and claim will try to solve them for next year).
Yes, the first EM-Con was ruined for many by overselling of tickets, whether this happened because of greed, inexperience or just simple incompetence is up to us to guess. I hope it's a mixture of the last two, I really do.
Hopefully we managed to somehow make a very tedious experience into a remotely entertaining video. It was all we could do to entertain ourselves whilst we waited.
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Outro music: 'Lobsters' by Fighting Evil is Cool!
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-cup-of-tea-e.p./id601569211
Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)