PAX Australia

[nicholasmc1]

So I'm with a good shot to be getting free student tickets and will also be there to represent my Uni's game development degree. Sooooo all things going well I'll be seeing you guys there.

[MattAn]

The problem with LRR going is that only like 1/3 of their fanbase is Australian and of those only like 7/8ths have expressed an interest in them coming down under.

probably not enough interest to make that trip

This is.. Somewhat false.
You realise how many Australians tune into Desert Bus? And how many Escapist Australians there are? Hint; it's quite a lot.

[Metcarfre]

So, like, five?

[Lord Chrusher]

The problem with LRR going is that only like 1/3 of their fanbase is Australian and of those only like 7/8ths have expressed an interest in them coming down under.

probably not enough interest to make that trip

This is.. Somewhat false.
You realise how many Australians tune into Desert Bus? And how many Escapist Australians there are? Hint; it's quite a lot.

Or Lord Hosk is trolling.

[MattAn]

...I'll be out in the car...

[ZePancakes]

The problem is how can they (at least) recoup the expense via selling merch at cons and what have you. Unfortunately, we don't have much (in comparison to other places) on the con front.

If I was to foresee any LRR folks coming down, it would be for their own holiday purposes. They'd might be inclined to do a fan meet-up.

[nicholasmc1]

The problem is how can they (at least) recoup the expense via selling merch at cons and what have you. Unfortunately, we don't have much (in comparison to other places) on the con front.

If I was to foresee any LRR folks coming down, it would be for their own holiday purposes. They'd might be inclined to do a fan meet-up.

I believe there reasons currently are cost and time involved for sure.They know the fan base is defiantly big enough.

[MattAn]

Well, there's also Supanova, which I'm.. Kind of involved with "on the inside". (I regularly volunteer for them and am good friends with some of the lead organizing staff.) I've been working on getting interest going for LRR.

[Jimor]

I believe there reasons currently are cost and time involved for sure.They know the fan base is defiantly big enough.

Sorry, nothing to add, just wanted to bask in the glory of that tyop.

[phlip]

Pretty sure it's accurate as-is... just let anyone try to claim we aren't big enough, and see how hard we defy them.

[nicholasmc1]

I believe there reasons currently are cost and time involved for sure.They know the fan base is defiantly big enough.

Sorry, nothing to add, just wanted to bask in the glory of that tyop.

Shut your face

[JackSlack]

So, right now? I admit, my enthusiasm for PAX Aus is kind of... basement level.

Look at the guest list. Even now, Rooster Teeth are still easily the biggest draw. Rooster Teeth, who I don't really care much about. Oh, Ron Gilbert, sure. But y'know, even Gilbert's hardly a Tim Schafer. Beyond this? MC Frontalot. (Couldn't care less.) A whole bunch of Australian studios and minor rate personalities we'd expect at any con, and hardly seems worth the trouble of bringing in PAX to Aus. The Minibosses. (Never heard of them.)

Where's the Felicia Days? The Wil Wheatons? The JoCos? There's a distinct lack of star quality to the event, and it's really feeling like all the reasons why Australian cons never seem to really work are going to be true again for PAX Australia. Very disappointing.

[Lord Chrusher]

One of the issues is that PAX AUS is the same weekend as the San Diego Comic Con. Through in how bloody far away Australia is and I am not surprised that it is hard for people to come here. I am also under whelmed by what has been announced.

[Yaxley]

I tend to think the whole Pinny Arcade pin trading thing is a pointless money-sink, but damn, that Chandra pin at the Wizards of the Coast booth looks super awesome.

[JackSlack]

One of the issues is that PAX AUS is the same weekend as the San Diego Comic Con. Through in how bloody far away Australia is and I am not surprised that it is hard for people to come here. I am also under whelmed by what has been announced.

Seriously? They booked it at the same time as Comicon?

Good god. That's first thing to fix for next time.

[Lord Chrusher]

I have my PAX AUS badge and the schedule is out. I am still underwhelmed.

I need to meet with nicholasmc1 and drink whisky ... I mean plan the PAX AUS LRR meet up (PAL up).

[phlip]

I have my PAX AUS badge and the schedule is out. I am still underwhelmed.

Ditto on all counts. Between the schedule being announced and being... unexciting... and Mike Krahulik recently reminding everyone on Twitter who may have forgotten that he's actually a terrible person, I'm getting severely unexcited for this weekend. For me, this is going to be more a nice vacation to Melbourne to visit family, meet up with some Runners, and incidentally go to some con thing that happens to be going on. It's going to have to turn out to be super awesome-amazing, for me to even consider trying this out again next year (assuming it even happens again next year... this whole enterprise has the feel of a failed experiment).

[JackSlack]

I have my PAX AUS badge and the schedule is out. I am still underwhelmed.

Ditto on all counts. Between the schedule being announced and being... unexciting... and Mike Krahulik recently reminding everyone on Twitter who may have forgotten that he's actually a terrible person, I'm getting severely unexcited for this weekend. For me, this is going to be more a nice vacation to Melbourne to visit family, meet up with some Runners, and incidentally go to some con thing that happens to be going on. It's going to have to turn out to be super awesome-amazing, for me to even consider trying this out again next year (assuming it even happens again next year... this whole enterprise has the feel of a failed experiment).

Thirded. This whole thing has been shockingly underwhelming. I'm seriously pondering abandoning the money and not going. I'd need to subcontract out the job of getting pins for James though.

[nicholasmc1]

Guys your forgeting what this is all about, a reason for all the runners to get together and get crunk together. THAT my friends is what really matters, I'm going to pax to represent my university thats it, I hope you all come with bright faces to the meet and drink.

[JackSlack]

So, looking at the schedule, I'd have to say Saturday looks strongest for a meetup. Friday's the best day of the con (EASILY) while Sunday's got at least a little going on. Saturday, however, is kind of a wasteland of content, with only the Child's Play panel being remotely interesting.

[Lord Hosk]

Did anyone follow what was going on with the whole Mike twitter pax controversy?

I tried looking back but parts of interactions are missing and its hard to follow someone elses conversation anyways if you dont follow both people.

[King Kool]

I don't wanna totally derail this thread, but...

If I understand it, Mike was uninitiated in the breadth of the gender spectrum (he made a comment like, "So this thing is only for women with vaginas? As opposed to what?"). People pounced on him for it, some of the rightly pointing out his insensitivity and ignorance, some of them going WAY too far with that, calling for boycotts or whateverthehell and a few wishing he was dead. (The one thing every group has in common is that there are a few bad apples who will say terrible vile things about any perceived offense.)

I think this is a FAR more legitimate controversy than the previous one, but it's still gotten out of hand, seemingly by people who aren't putting Mike's comments in the proper context (or by people who don't even KNOW what he really said!). He's made a substantial donation to a charity to make amends, which is cool.

Someone pulled their game from PAX, which to me feels a lot like Jim Carrey pulling from Kick-Ass 2 promotion after Sandy Hook (as in, "THIS is the straw that broke the camel's back? Not the multitude of similar things that preceded this?") They've tried to make PAX a very welcoming experience, and statements like this aren't really in line with this, but I also accept that not everyone in the world isn't fully briefed on the intricacies of the gender spectrum. We can educate people with respect and without invective.

I understand why people are getting bent out of shape about it. It's a tender and emotional issue, and not well understood by a lot of dopes out thwere. But unless there is REAL obvious malice (some people said there was; they are mistaken), then reacting with scorn and admonishment is just going to push people away. Nobody's born knowing everything, and the quickest way to snuff out the desire to learn is to mock someone for their ignorance.

It behooves those who step to the line and wish to be visible and connected members of their color of the gender spectrum to do so with grace, intelligence and tolerance. The eyes of the world will be upon them.

"I’m looking for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back."

[phlip]

Like many dumb things Mike does in this space, the real facepalm moments weren't with the original tweet (which was kinda dumb, but recoverable) but with the intense doubling-down which he did once called out. Just like the Dickwolves of times past, if he'd responded initially with something even remotely thoughtful (not even an apology, at this point - just some kind of acknowledgement that maybe the complaints might have some value)... it probably would have all been fine. Even if he'd just ignored everything entirely, it probably would have blown over.

Instead, he doubled down, moved from his initial tweet (which was in the form of a question, "Can someone explain thing X?") to being much more combative ("Thing X smells like poo!"), instantly dismissed everyone who disagreed ("If you agree with thing X, don't even bother talking to me"), mocked the idea of trans* people (the usual "what if I want to be called Batman" alleged-joke... particularly eyeroll-inducing coming from him, when no-one considers it weird when people refer to him as "Gabe"... so him trying to reductio-ad-absurdum with "what if I want to be named after a comic character" is a bit rich), and generall just kept on digging. Mixed in with the usual not-pologies ("I'm sorry you're so irrationally angry about me speaking the truth!") and "one of my friends is trans!" diversions.

The apology on the PA homepage right now, though, is pretty legit. Still a little questionable in a few places, and I still don't think he actually gets what the problem was with his tweets that started the whole thing, but it reads like a real apology to me. So kudos to him for that.

[Lord Hosk]

I may use the wrong terminology here but I think I am pretty clear, if I am unclear please let me know as a point 11, but what I would really like is if you could please correct what happened at a given point if I am wrong. This isnt a "well they were right and they were wrong" I just want to be sure I am following the issue.

So if I am following this correctly;

1. A game was developed with the goal of "teaching women to masturbate" the game showed labia, a clitoris, and a vagina as the features a woman has to stimulate.

2. The creators of said game were going to appear on a panel at PAX Aus.

3. Some people were upset about the game because it defined "women" by the binary biologic application of gender. Ignoring/Marginalizing women who are not born biologically female but who identify as women.
3a.The outrage was not because some people are born to that binary "female" but are born without, or somehow after birth have those genitalia removed?

4. Mike was legitimately confused by people identifying as women who do not meet the strict biologic binary Male/Female, and commented about it in a insensitive way.

5. the people who were upset already took his ignorant comment as a direct attack and attacked him.

6. He took their attack, and responded with an attack of his own.

7. Shit-Fan convergence.

8. Control gone, spiral downward.

9 Damage is done.

10. Mike realizes his ignorance, feels bad about his initial misunderstanding and starts to apologize for being so hurtful to people whom he did not understand.

Have I followed the steps of this issue correctly?

[Yaxley]

That looks like an accurate reconstruction of the events, yes.