Modacon 2010

[klange]

I've taken the time to emphasize some points in this post that you should probably read.


http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/4136/modacon.png

Modacon 2010 - Announcement

Modacon is a planned trade event to be held at a currently undecided venue. Modacon aims to create an E3-like experience for mod teams and presents an opportunity for professionals to get in touch with their future employees. Modacon will be held for one day during the summer of 2010 at a convention center in a major US city. The location will be decided by our planning committee after we have made contact with enough mod teams and processed their input.

The planning committee for Modacon currently includes:
- Myself (Admiral Bacon)
- Rob Oplawar
- BobTheGreatII
- TomClancey
- Siliconmaster482
- MrBig (graphics consultant)

Over the next few months, we will be:
- Contacting mod teams to gather input and raise awareness
- Contacting Mod DB for further support
- Setting up a website with a forum and wiki
- Alerting press outlets when the project reaches a "feasible" status
- Accepting donations via PayPal

Closer to the event, we will be:
- Printing media
- Selling t-shirts with event logos
- Accepting final registrations for booths and event passes

We are looking for:
- Mod teams to purchase booths and print their own media for their mods
- Middleware providers to purchase booths to show off their products
- Game studios to send representatives
- VIP guests
- Entertainment
- Gamers

For Mod Teams
Modacon needs your support. Without donations and booth payments, we will not be able to rent out a convention center or print media for the event. This message is an invitation for your group to host a booth on the floor to show off your mod. We ask that you contact us to pre-register and have an influence on the event planning. We want to be able to host as many mods as possible and to do that we need to know when and where you can be next summer. By hosting a booth at Modacon, your mod will be exposed to hundreds of guests who, at your discretion, will be able to play your mod during the event. If you do plan on hosting a booth, you should be prepared to provide your own gaming rig.

For Middleware Providers
Modacon needs your sponsorship. As a middleware or content creation tool developer, you provide invaluable resources to modders throughout the community. Without your easily accessible products, good mods would be hard to come by. We ask that you purchase a booth to support the event and advertise your product. Middleware booth operators will be advertised in our media before, during, and after the event and will also be recognized during our opening and closing presentations. As with mod teams, we ask that you be prepared to provide a system on which your product can be tested by event guests.

For Game Studios
Without your games, there would be nothing to mod. The Modacon planning committee would be delighted to have a representative from your comapny present at the event. Game studios that send a representative or provide financial support for the event will be recognized in our media. In addition, most modders strive to become professional game developers. As booth registrations fill up, Modacon will be packed with potential hires.

For Modding Communities
As a community or forum for mod development, you provide an invaluable resource to modders by allowing them to get together and create great things. Whether you're looking for new members or want a physical meeting ground for your current ones, a booth at Modacon presents an opportunity to expand and meet. Modding communities that host booths at Modacon will be recognized during our opening and closing presentations and can advertise their forum on our web site before the event and in our media during the event. You may bring a computer system if you wish.

For VIP Guests
While not a large group like those listed above, your presence at Modacon would be greatly appreciated. You have been recognized by our committee for the contributions you have made to modding. As such, if you choose to come, you will be recognized during our opening and closing presentation (unless you ask not to be recognized).

For Event Guests
Modacon is an opportunity to see the next big thing in modding and play through mods for multiple games. As the event draws to a close, we will be hosting a massive LAN party on the convention floor with tournaments in the top mods. Event registration will cost money, but you are investing in the future of Modacon and without your contribution we would not be able to host the event. If you wish to bring a gaming laptop for the LAN party, please feel free, however, event guests are asked not to bring desktops to the event.


Modacon is proud to be sponsored by the following groups:
http://blog.phpwnage.com/%7Eklange/modacon/modacity_small.png (http://modacity.net) http://blog.phpwnage.com/%7Eklange/modacon/phpwnage_small.png (http://phpwnage.com)

[Syuusuke]

east coast! east coast! east coast!

[BobtheGreatII]

I'm here. Posting a comment. Just like you told me to. :downs:

[klange]

east coast! east coast! east coast!
Midwest! Midwest! Midwest! Midwest! (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=ix+center,+cleveland,+ohio&sll=41.479004,-81.674938&sspn=0.101343,0.222988&ie=UTF8&ll=41.406267,-81.848359&spn=0.025364,0.055747&t=h&z=15)

Also, click the sig, follow us on Twitter.

[teh lag]

for real?

ok i guess

it really seems to emphasize the "city" in modacity though

modcon sounds better to me


Twitter

...and you lost me.

Somehow I don't think that mod teams are going to want to pay money to show up... much less send reps and a demo rig across the country.

[Ki11a_FTW]

EAST. COAST.

[klange]

Alright, you east-coasters, if you can find me a venue, we'll host it out there. Just trying to support my home town...

[Ki11a_FTW]

does it have to be indoors?

[klange]

does it have to be indoors?
Um, yeah?

Also, Cleveland is only 500 miles from the "east coast" anyway, it's a 12 hour drive at worst, and you'd be flying. But yeah, it's not my decision. I want this to happen, and if that means hosting in a small coastal city I've never heard of, then so be it.

[teh lag]

does it have to be indoors?

yeah let's have booths full of electronic equipment outside

[Ki11a_FTW]

i was asking because, theres this place in my town, in a park , its hard to explain. It has a roof, but no walls, but its giant :haw:

also f u lag >_>

E: i can get a pic or 2 if your curious, its a pretty nice place

[klange]

ATTN: People I PM'd about this:
I need a response from you guys as soon as possible, and hopefully a positive one.

We will be contacting Mod DB shortly, though the site won't go up until Cerebrum is well into beta.


i was asking because, theres this place in my town, in a park , its hard to explain. It has a roof, but no walls, but its giant :haw:

E: i can get a pic or 2 if your curious, its a pretty nice place

Is it actually a convention center? I'd much prefer a completely indoor environment for this sort of thing, for reasons that should be obvious.

[Inferno]

Wanna buy me a plane ticket?
Heh. I'll go if other people do and if my parents would pay for it. Somehow I think they are going to go :ugh: if I ask them to fly me across the country to some random mod convention.

Also. There must be LAN at the place we meet at.

[sdavis117]

Live coverage of Modacon provided by Podacity.

Give us a media booth Bacon.

Edit: My Father is pretty far up the ladder at Xcel Energy. I can look into getting you guys a deal at the Minneapolis Xcel Energy Center (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xcel_Energy_Center), but that is VERY unlikely. Just throwing that out there though.

[klange]

Wanna buy me a plane ticket?
Heh. I'll go if other people do and if my parents would pay for it. Somehow I think they are going to go :ugh: if I ask them to fly me across the country to some random mod convention.
Actually wanted you to host a booth :v: (For UT3: Combat Evolved)

Also. There must be LAN at the place we meet at.Quite. We'll probably need to set up our own network or get Linksys to sponsor.
It's kind of a requirement for the whole "LAN party in the evening" part.

Live coverage of Modacon provided by Podacity.

Give us a media booth Bacon.
You got $50?

[Ki11a_FTW]

[B]
Is it actually a convention center? I'd much prefer a completely indoor environment for this sort of thing, for reasons that should be obvious.

Yeah, a lot of people do all sort of shit there, but now that i think about it, it wouldent be to smart of an idea.

Let me see if i can find someplace else indoors.

E: and if I could go, to wherever it is, I'd like to have a booth, probably on delta

[Inferno]

Actually wanted you to host a booth :v: (For UT3: Combat Evolved)
Quite. We'll probably need to set up our own network or get Linksys to sponsor.


Will I get famous like MLG pros? I mean I'm not going through THAT much work too show up at a empty convention center. Heh. Although a IRL modacity meet up would be bad ass whether or not its a convention.

I hope none of us are pedo's though. :v:

Oh and I have enough projects to make 5 booths. Yoyov2, IMP, Epsilon, Unreal: Combat Evolved and the new one that's going to get started up in the next few months. :realsmug:

[Gwunty]

san diego convention center~

[Higuy]

Hmmmm
I'd come, and for some reason I think my parent's would take me.
I don't know about buying a booth though, I'd really have to think about that to be honest.

[Ki11a_FTW]

If its somewhere to far away my parents wouldent let me go, simply because one of them has to go somewhere for something I want to do.

[klange]

san diego convention center~
I refuse to host this in California~

Hmmmm
I'd come, and for some reason I think my parent's would take me.
I don't know about buying a booth though, I'd really have to think about that to be honest.
Eh, if you did, we'd be over-saturated with Modacity booths :gonk:

[teh lag]

I refuse to host this in California~

I don't want to make a long trip to my own convention

ah i see

[klange]

ah i see
You got a problem with that :maddowns: ?

Also, too many conventions are hosted in California, and I sympathize with the east coasters.

[Ki11a_FTW]

because the east coast is awesome

[Roostervier]

then why is it going to be in the mid west? :confused:

move it to the east coast then

e: also, not seein how you expect anyone to make a trip that long to show up. a majority of members live on some coast, and therefore have to spend a shit load of money to get there

[klange]

then why is it going to be in the mid west? :confused:

move it to the east coast then
I'm just suggesting a place I know could use the publicity, is easily accessible to anyone, and is close enough that I wouldn't have to pay large sums of money to get all of our media and myself to the event.

East coast is fine, but find me a place :gonk:

also, not seein how you expect anyone to make a trip that long to show up. a majority of members live on some coast, and therefore have to spend a shit load of money to get there
This isn't a Modacity exclusive...

[sdavis117]

I live in the Midwest :P

Also, anyone interested in this would be looking for a job/new employees, and they would be willing to invest time and money to do so.

[Higuy]

verizon center, washington dc
and its only an hour away from me :q:

[Ki11a_FTW]

Atlantic city Convention center, NJ :iamafag:

http://www.atlanticcitynj.com/attachments/ImageLib/accenter_lr.jpg

only a few towns away from ME!
Also hope you got $

[klange]

verizon center, washington dc
and its only an hour away from me :q:
Thank you. It's a basketball court by normal operation, which should be an acceptable size, has no scheduled events for June / July of next year, and is in an "interesting" location.

Atlantic city Convention center, NJ :iamafag:

only a few towns away from ME!
Also hope you got $
This is also good because it's a dedicated convention center, bigger floor sizes, etc.

[sdavis117]

Xcel Energy Convention Center, Minneapolis, MN

http://www.webtixxs.com/tickets/images/Xcel%20Energy%20Center.jpg

[teh lag]

Thank you. It's a basketball court by normal operation, which should be an acceptable size, has no scheduled events for June / July of next year, and is in an "interesting" location.

It also probably costs 20 human souls to rent out for a day.

[Ganon]

this sounds too ambitious :l

[Ki11a_FTW]

this sounds too ambitious :l

No this is serious time.

[sdavis117]

It also probably costs 20 human souls to rent out for a day.

We could always go through the banlist...

[odseraphim]

Are you seriously out of your mind? Like, seriously. I am going to PAX at the beginning of September, and you know how much it's going to cost me?

Almost $900, for hotel for 4 nights, my airfare, my ticket, and a rental car.

So you want us modders to what, pack up our PC's? Like, strip all the components down from our rigs, pack them and pay extra for them in suitcases, and then get strip-searched when security asks us wtf we have "components that look like they could be assembled to make an explosive device". :gonk:

And you want us to pay for a booth? I get the fact that tables are expensive these days, but if you want us there, charge a mf'ing entry fee, don't sap more money of us who already paid nearly $1,000 to get to the freaking convention in the first place.

I don't think moddb is going to support you, they have more important things to do. Halo CE is the only truly active community on our forums, and you assume that is really going to bring a crowd? I've taken dumps that could muster up more common sense than that logic.

I'm sorry, but this idea is really really ignorant and would never EVER ever EVER get off the ground.

[Futzy]

san diego convention center~
The only way I'd be going was if it was here and and right before/after the ESRI international conference, as I go there every year. Though DC may be a possibility.

I hope this event pulls through :neckbeard:

[klange]

Are you seriously out of your mind? Like, seriously. I am going to PAX at the beginning of September, and you know how much it's going to cost me?

Almost $900, for hotel for 4 nights, my airfare, my ticket, and a rental car.

So you want us modders to what, pack up our PC's? Like, strip all the components down from our rigs, pack them and pay extra for them in suitcases, and then get strip-searched when security asks us wtf we have "components that look like they could be assembled to make an explosive device". :gonk:

And you want us to pay for a booth? I get the fact that tables are expensive these days, but if you want us there, charge a mf'ing entry fee, don't sap more money of us who already paid nearly $1,000 to get to the freaking convention in the first place.

I don't think moddb is going to support you, they have more important things to do. Halo CE is the only truly active community on our forums, and you assume that is really going to bring a crowd? I've taken dumps that could muster up more common sense than that logic.

I'm sorry, but this idea is really really ignorant and would never EVER ever EVER get off the ground.
Well, fuck, should not have invited you. We're not made of money, this is the first time for the event, you don't carry you're computer with you - you get it shipped, and yes, I expect you to pay for a booth if you're going to be using a booth. That's how conventions work.

The only way I'd be going was if it was here and and right before/after the ESRI international conference, as I go there every year. Though DC may be a possibility.

I hope this event pulls through :neckbeard:
DC's looking like our best bet at the moment.

[Inferno]

Seraphim is right. If this were to happen we would need to latch onto a bigger event really.

[Ganon]

braintalk

+rep (when i can :]) for having a brain.

as blunt and mean as this may sound, I suggest you give this up now to save embarrassment... however, you could try something on a MUCH smaller scale. this would do nothing but drain pockets and not be cost-effective unless u were bent on meeting people over the internet. sorry bacon but you must literally have some screws loose atm.

[Dwood]

My comp is typing backwards!

I might be able to (actually) go if it's not too far away. I'll provide a getaway plane. :P

If you guys are really srs about this, then I suggest you get a site going up for 'Modacon' before it gets too late. Then you go on dA and get some of the Awesome game/Sci-Fi artists to go.

[Higuy]

Like I said, go over to Game-Artist or BeyondUnreal and say something about this maybe.
That would get Unreal modders attention, maybe.

[sdavis117]

You should pitch this to game developers as a way to show off their mod tools. That would give you better attendance, more funds (devs would be willing to pay for large booths), and more media attention. Just make sure that the gaming studios don't take over the event, and you could be good to go.

Also pitch the Lan Party hard. People love Lan Parties. Plus, when advertising this, make sure to focus on the BIG mods, like the semi-pro UT3 mods, and things like that.

[n00b1n8R]

I had a pretty long-winded post but IE shat all over it and it didn't get posted.

Basically, why would we need it? If dev's want interviews there's instant messaging and VoIP. If they want select people to play their game, they can have closed beta's. If dev's want to get into contact with mods, they almost all have easilly found contact details.

Why would anybody bother spending more time/money than they had to to get their free mod out there???

[Ki11a_FTW]

DC's looking like our best bet at the moment.

Well that screws me over, have fun children!

[klange]

Well that screws me over, have fun children!
heh
You're the one that said "East Coast!"...

[TomClancy]

DC sounds like a good idea. I could even visit some friends in DC if this happens... The Xi center is fine too, just so long as this happens really. Funding is definitely an issue, I hope ModDb replies back with a positive answer. :)

[Jelly]

Modders don't need a conference to show off their stuff. They don't have the PR resources that game companies do either, so organising anything more than a powerpoint/gameplay video would be unlikely.

[jcap]

Modders don't need a conference to show off their stuff. They don't have the PR resources that game companies do either, so organising anything more than a powerpoint/gameplay video would be unlikely.
I think that's the point of it though. Because modders don't have the PR resources, they have the show that they can attend to show off their stuff. I guess there could also be conferences for the "best of," where they would be able to give a full presentation, a live demo, and take questions. Any press that would attend the conference would give HUGE publicity to the mods.

The most important thing here is to get a backing and funding from huge developers of games and software, as well as hardware manufacturers. If Intel were to sponsor the event and use it as a chance to show off the power of their newest line of processors and SSDs, that's great for us and them.

[teh lag]

I think that's the point of it though. Because modders don't have the PR resources, they have the show that they can attend to show off their stuff. I guess there could also be conferences for the "best of," where they would be able to give a full presentation, a live demo, and take questions. Any press that would attend the conference would give HUGE publicity to the mods.

...But how will they get anything worthwhile together without said PR resources is the question....

[Cortexian]

Good luck with this, getting a venue for something like this including power drops and internet connections will most likely force you to pay way more than $50 per booth. You're going to have to charge guests as well.

[TomClancy]

At the Digital-Overload they charge guests $35 for entry. (Can't play Xbox or PC just visiting) and people bringing a console or PC is like $55 I believe.. So it's not entirely unreasonable. Granted, DO does last 2-3 days.

[jcap]

...But how will they get anything worthwhile together without said PR resources is the question....
What's so difficult about making a presentation? The room with a stage and huge screen setup would have to be provided. There would also be set timeslots for the presentations to take place.

All they would have to do is put something together. Watch E3. See how they do it. All you need is a really well detailed PowerPoint presentation about everything this mod is, how you did it, why, and your progress, then do a live demo, and then take questions. It doesn't take a genius to do it.


Good luck with this, getting a venue for something like this including power drops and internet connections will most likely force you to pay way more than $50 per booth. You're going to have to charge guests as well.
You don't need Internet. For press to have access to the Internet on any laptop, that's why we have wireless. Power drops would be the only concern, since running super-long extension cords would be against fire code. UNLESS, since this is a convention center, it SHOULD have power outlets in the floor.

[odseraphim]

Actually, you know what? I just came up with a GREAT idea.
If you were to sell DVDs with Halo CE maps on it on eBay, you would have no trouble helping set up this convention and then some.

I give you written permission to use my maps for the compilation. I expect partial proceeds in the amount of 1% of each sale. Even with that, you should be able to pay for everything, fly everyone out there, and I'll still be as filthy rich as Scrooge McDuck.

It's a win/win situation.

[tj117]

Perhaps a year shouldn't be announced until after it is definite that we can afford the convention center. We could run a fund raiser of donations/selling merchandise/ etc until affording the building is within reasonable terms. All money held on a private Paypal account(or whatever) not used for anything but Modacon. Just a thought.

Also, it would give more time for Modders to hear of it, and get money them selves to actually do this. Along with game devs and what not. Let the word get out a bit more before having the Con.

[Terry]

What do you intend to gain from this convention, really? From my understanding game companies do this purely for advertisement, but "modders" are non-profit (because they're modders). So really, it looks like you're paying alot of money for nothing back.
(And you're essentially advertising the game you're modding). :confused:

I can sort of see what you're trying to do, but I think it's a little silly to expect many people to attend, and for any game professionals to be remotely interested in this unless you can show that this is going to be a real, worthwhile event.

At best, this should be left to a website collaberation or something of the sort. It'll be cheaper out of everyone's pockets.

[Rob Oplawar]

late, but,
http://spacebrick.net/pictures/blog_gallery/nancy.png

[BobtheGreatII]

Actually, you know what? I just came up with a GREAT idea.
If you were to sell DVDs with Halo CE maps on it on eBay, you would have no trouble helping set up this convention and then some.

I give you written permission to use my maps for the compilation. I expect partial proceeds in the amount of 1% of each sale. Even with that, you should be able to pay for everything, fly everyone out there, and I'll still be as filthy rich as Scrooge McDuck.

It's a win/win situation.

Please tell me you're joking... :raise:
Selling maps breaks Eula.

I think everyone is sort of missing the fun factor in this... When Kevin brought it up, I just thought it would be a ton of fun for all of us to get together and hang.

Yes, things do cost money. You can't do everything for free. The prices of everything mainly depend on what gets set up. And guys, hell, this is next year we're talking about, so it's not like we're asking you to fork over cash right away. Everyone has to start somewhere. The idea behind it is to give developers an idea of what the modding community has in store. And maybe even possibly put ourselves out there to get jobs? If I remember right, there was a mod for Half-Life 2, the guy who did it got hired by Valve.

If you're asking what the point of this is then ask yourself, what's the point in modding at all? It's to do something unique, to teach yourself something new and to have fun.

Everyone needs to take it back a notch really quick, take a deep breath and chill out. Saying this isn't possible and that there's no way in hell we're going to get this accomplished... well, I personally have to say that I would like to try before being shut down completely.

[Roostervier]

I think everyone is sort of missing the fun factor in this... When Kevin brought it up, I just thought it would be a ton of fun for all of us to get together and hang.


then just host a lan party, jesus christ

[tj117]

Brilliance.

Thank you. :neckbeard:

[Arteen]

I honestly don't see any indication that you guys will be able to pull this off or get any backing whatsoever. How do you expect to attract mod teams, dev studios, middleware developers, or sponsors? What assurance can you provide that this will be worth their effort, or that anyone will actually show up? You have nothing to show but a logo.



For Mod Teams
Modacon needs your support. Without donations and booth payments.... By hosting a booth at Modacon, your mod will be exposed to hundreds of guests....
What makes Modacon worth the effort? How is a few hundred extra people potentially checking out the mod worth the time, money, and energy? Doesn't the internet provide a signifcantly larger, more accessible audience for a fraction of the cost and effort?


For Middleware Providers
We ask that you purchase a booth to support the event and advertise your product.
First, they're advertising to a very small audience. Second, the audience that would make the effort to travel to the event and would actually be inclined to purchase middleware is probably already aware of their products, so the advertising doesn't accomplish anything.


For Game Studios
As booth registrations fill up, Modacon will be packed with potential hires.
How can you prove to the studios that a significant number of talented modders will even show up? What about Modacon is significantly advantageous over other avenues of networking, recruitment, and hiring?

[BobtheGreatII]

You do realize we just started setting this up day before yesterday right?

[TomClancy]

...
I whole heartily agree.

[Arteen]

You do fucking realize we just started setting this up day before yesterday right?
So you haven't spent time actually thinking this through and planning it out?

[Ganon]

You do realize we just started setting this up day before yesterday right?

And you are already going public with it?

[klange]

So you haven't spent time actually thinking this through and planning it out?
Um, that's what this thread is for. Or did you misunderstand my post?

And you are already going public with it?
How are we supposed to garner support if no one knows about it?

[tj117]

So you haven't spent time actually thinking this through and planning it out?

What? The time to be spent on thinking it through and planning it out is right now. :downs:

[BobtheGreatII]

So you haven't spent time actually thinking this through and planning it out?

What you're stating is that we should have everything set in stone and finalized. And that is quite frankly impossible in a couple of days. Who are you to say we can't do something? No one, that's who.


And you are already going public with it?

Public? Hardly. Modacity is hardly a majority.


You know what? I'll turn this around on Modacity.

What would you like us to do? Close the thread? Leave you in the dark? Have zero discussion? Or even give up entirely?
What could you possibly hope to accomplish by saying we can't do it? You're not helping the cause. And if you're not helping, you're simply in the way.

[Ki11a_FTW]

heh, mod-a-con

hehe, conscars come here..

\sarcasm

[Roostervier]

no hes saying you should plan it out before posting

[klange]

no hes saying you should plan it out before posting
We had it planned out to the point where posting it made sense. We can't determine a location without feedback from the potential guests, and we can't reach mods if there's no public community presence.

[Arteen]

Um, that's what this thread is for. Or did you misunderstand my post?
Maybe if your post said "Hey, here's an idea I'd like to pursue: Modacon!" rather than "Modacon is a planned trade event to be held at a currently undecided venue," I'd have interpreted it differently.

[TomClancy]

Bacon posted this for ideas and what not. This is part of the planning process.

[teh lag]

What you're stating is that we should have everything set in stone and finalized. And that is quite frankly impossible in a couple of days. Who are you to say we can't do something? No one, that's who.

Maybe you should have then waited more than "a couple of days" before posting this and presenting it as something that's got a lot of planning behind it. You posted about it, we're saying what we think. God forbid we should find any flaws in your plan. Who are you to say we can't say that you're overstepping yourselves when you've got a thread open for discussion? No one, that's who.

And this from the guy who said that he didn't like how the community was reacting to feedback. (http://www.modacity.net/forums/showpost.php?p=445228&postcount=157)

[BobtheGreatII]

Maybe you should have then waited more than a couple of days before posting this. You posted about it, we're saying what we think. God forbid we should find any flaws in your plan. Who are you to say we can't give comments when you've got a thread for discussion? No one, that's who.

Go ahead, say what you will, but it's not helping anything. And with your deconstructive posts, you're not helping the process along any better.

[Rob Oplawar]

http://www.milehicon.org/
If the people who made this website can run a successful, 40-year-running convention (which I attended some years back and it was actually really cool), then we can do it.

[klange]

I suggest you people read the emphasized portions of the OP again.

[Roostervier]

telling people not to post isnt helping either, so you should stop

[klange]

telling people not to post isnt helping either, so you should stop

I never told anyone not to post.

[Roostervier]

you locked the thread before i could edit in a quote of bobs post.

[klange]

you locked the thread before i could edit in a quote of bobs post.
And I'm locking it again.

[teh lag]

I never told anyone not to post.


And I'm locking it again.

:ironicat:

[BobtheGreatII]

Look. Fighting on the forums is ridiculous. Sorry for anything we said that may have offended any of you. Starting a fight on Modacity was not the point of Modacon. Furthest thing from it. We wanted people excited and wanting to be a part of it. That was simply not the case. Things got out of hand quickly. After talking to Kevin, I feel that it is slightly immature to lock this thread even after how out of control it was. Which I will full well take the blame for that idea. After all I suggested to Kevin that we lock the thread. After a cool down I would like to apologize to the following:

-Arteen: You're right, we don't have much to show off, and maybe that is a mistake.
In My defense, I feel that opening this up to Modacity was going to provide us some insight in to what the community would want. In no way did I expect the community to not want this at all.

-Teh Lag: You're right, you caught me. I can be hypocritical at times. I'm sorry for that.

-Everyone Else: You should have the right to say what you want. Feel free. As stated by Lag, I did make a post where I went on a rant about how the community was falling apart because of all the fighting over the dumbest things. But I guess that's why we have the freedom of speech.

You can say whatever you want, with little argument I hope. But know this. We will press forward. If few of you don't want to be a part of this, that's fine. It's your choice. But Modacity is only so much. We would love to have your support, but we understand financial difficulties, and frankly the majority of the age groups can't even do things on there own without their parents permission (Myself included until February 2010 lol). We would like to move up, and try to make this a reality. We would very much so also like your input. Ideas of how to pull this off would be the best.

To Modacity, we're sorry, keep it clean, and hopefully we can move past this hiccup in the day.

Thank You,
BobtheGreatII :-3

[klange]

This thread was meant for planning. See the "Modacity" icon under the "Supported by" statement? As members of this forum, you're supposed to be helping. Telling us we're never going to be able to pull this off and blatantly flaming us for considering it is not helping at all. If that's what you're going to do, sure, fine, we won't ask for your input. We'll do it all ourselves. Congratulations, you've turned an open event that could have been molded to your own ideas into a closed affair that you will never have a chance to be part of.

Unlocking this on the request of some of the committee. If I see even one negative post after this, I'm locking it again.

[BobtheGreatII]

Well now you're just asking for it. :ohdear:

[klange]

Well now you're just asking for it. :ohdear:
Locking this thread does not keep positive influences from Modacity out of the project, so I don't see how it matters. Those who have shown an interest will be kept in the loop if this thread gets locked again. I wanted help from Modacity, and if Modacity doesn't want to help then so be it.

[Rob Oplawar]

What we have here is a failure of communication. Both parties are presenting valid points, but they have a tendency to do so in an antagonizing manner.

Abey and company are right in thinking that it is definitely possible to get enough momentum behind this thing to get a workable "convention" going by 2010, but Lag and crowd are absolutely correct that it's not gonna come out of nowhere.


The next step is to prepare a proposal before going to potential sponsors. Somebody or a group of somebodys needs to prepare some sort of document outlining ideas for the event, how it can be advertised, why people will want to come, what potential benefits it has. If you just go straight to potential sponsors and say "Let's do a convention together!" they're likely to pretty much ignore you, I expect.

I've got a tiny bit of experience with writing this sort of document, so I might contribute tomorrow. No promises, though; I may have to work late and then Warehouse 13 is on tomorrow.

[BobtheGreatII]

I've got a tiny bit of experience with writing this sort of document, so I might contribute tomorrow. No promises, though; I may have to work late and then Warehouse 13 is on tomorrow.

You're right. And also, lol, we have time. :realsmug:

[TomClancy]

Argh, must spread rep! :saddowns:
I agree Rob, and I could probably contribute some writing skills for the proposal, if it's needed.

[tj117]

Nice to see a more stable conversation going on. :)

[Cortexian]

If this actually happens I'll donate $100 to you guys if I can afford it at the time. Though in my opinion it's doomed to failure, I doubt many people would be up for shelling out close to a hundred bucks just to check out a few mods. I just spent around $500 going to a 4 day LAN that was only one city away from me, going to an event out of province/state/territory would cost about the same or more even if it was only a day long event.

[n00b1n8R]

I had a pretty long-winded post but IE shat all over it and it didn't get posted.

Basically, why would we need it? If dev's want interviews there's instant messaging and VoIP. If they want select people to play their game, they can have closed beta's. If dev's want to get into contact with mods, they almost all have easilly found contact details.

Why would anybody bother spending more time/money than they had to to get their free mod out there???
This guy raises some valid points.

The thing I hate to see more than anything else is people wasting time out of their lives for something which can only fail. If you want it to be successful, these are all very important questions that need some serious answers. If you can't answer them all well then I don't see the point.

I'd love to see this happen, but as it stands I don't see it ever working.

[Ganon]

what LAN/convention experience do you guys even have? have any of you even volunteered at a LAN or have actually ran one before? are you aware of liabilities? are you aware of the economy and the fact most popular LAN/conventions are decreasing considerably in size because of it, despite immense support and funding? will you know what to do if the time comes that requires you to talk to a woman in real life? is this just a plot to assassinate the president? for these kinds of questions you wish you could dodge but cant and more stay tuned for next weeks episode of dragonball refer to noob's gay pride post above^

[FRain]

Thing is, most of us are under the age of 18, so getting a plane ticket out there would be a bitch, also having computer, xbox and other parts would ALSO be a bitch to get through airport securty, not to mention it would be another bitch to rent a hotel for fucking, what 4, or 5 nights especially if you're underage, and even fucking then the cost of a booth would be a bitch.

E: and you also can't get a job for another year

Lesson being: It's going to be a bitch. I'd love to come out there and spend a few nights showing off my mod to people in real life, but in reality it's not going to happen with most mod teams.

[paladin]

Seraphim is right. If this were to happen we would need to latch onto a bigger event really.

PAX will be in Boston in 2010, along with Seattle of course.... Why not see if you can have a sub conference or a joint one.

[FRain]

Yeah, I'm in the Seattle area(ish(notreally)) and could easily make it to PAX daily, granted I need not have to pay for a booth.

I personally think we should donate to have a convention in a specific area, like, one in seattle, california, texas, NY, and stuff like that, all very small, hosted just by our community so that we can actually meet each other, show our shit off, and just mess around for a day or two.

[Cortexian]

hosted just by our community so that we can actually meet each other, show our shit off, and just mess around for a day or two.
If you wanted to do that, you could just organize getting a bunch of community members together and go to one of the larger events such as PAX, Comicon, etc as a group.

[p0lar_bear]

You guys keep forgetting that this isn't going to be a convention for Modacity. This is a convention backed by Modacity. Your attendance is entirely optional, as they're hoping to draw in more than just our laughably-sized userbase for an audience.

This is still in its planning stages, too. They aren't going to just up and rent a convention center tomorrow, Bacon put a year-long deadline on this. That's more than enough time to scout around, grab supporters, an audience, sponsors, find a center, etc.

[Jelly]

Is this cross-posted anywhere else? I'd like to see how other forums respond to the idea.

[legionaire45]

I'm not against the concept of this - if you guys put enough effort into this, well, anything could happen. Especially if you focus on advertising something locally. However, I think that at this point, you should step back a little bit and analyze what you are trying to do.

From what this sounds like, Modacon will at the very least be partially represented by Modacity. Modacity, with few exceptions, has produced little to no video game content for years. With the exception of CMT and the few poorly managed mapping teams that are still left, nothing comes out of Modacity except off topic banter and dumb-wannabee-4chan-posting. We're all guilty of it and I'm not saying that is bad necessarily. However, if you want to convince people that you are actually serious about modding, you might want to pick a better representative than Modacity.

This site has until very recently given little to no incentive for people to actually open up a copy of Blender or something and churn out a poorly made beginner map. I don't think this is because we are too harsh on rookies or because we're lazy or anything - I think its because Modacity isn't really a modding community anymore. We're a community still, but we're a joke of a modding community.

Add up all of the posts of the sections with games that have editors here and you get about 90,280 posts. Throw the Studio in and you get 105,199. Off-Topic alone accounts for 117,501 posts. This still isn't taking into account any of the posts in the numerous Conspiracy sections or the current Donor's section or all the other OT crap sections that probably existed at some point. Most of the bandwidth that goes through this site is probably spent downloading Jcap and InnerGoat's triple monitor screenshot threads and all of the SOS Brigade spam instead of downloading levels.

People on this site just don't do much modding - certainly not enough to justify a convention that few here will go to.

You could try and team up with someone big like ModDB, although I doubt that they'll even bother looking at a group as small as yours since they are so big. You could try going through all of the smaller modding forums or sites and seeing if any of them are interested in at least throwing their banner on your project. There are a lot of things you can do. Choosing Modacity as a main sponsor or representative of the modding community is probably a bad idea because no one will take us seriously.

Besides that, there is the issue of logistics. You really really really need to get your shit together if you want this done. Everything has to be set in stone months before you are ready. You will have to do rehearsals and will need to deal with things like getting food, tickets, everything that goes into a semi-major public event.

From personal experience, I can tell you that setting up something as small as a small school LAN party is difficult at best and impossible at worst. Each LAN requires weeks or even months of planning beforehand, a good deal of marketing and hours of practice beforehand to get everything running. We had to deal with getting food delivered and keeping it stocked. We had to make sure that everyone actually paid for a ticket and didn't just sneak in. We needed to make sure that people weren't messing with the consoles, which were more or less borrowed from the student population. On top of that, we had to make sure everyone had fun so that they would actually come back next time. We had it easy too; we didn't need to worry about renting out a building or convincing people to fly across the country. And we were only dealing with ~50-100 fairly supportive people.

In my experience, the biggest part of making those successful was getting our target audience figured out. People stopped lugging their computers in after CS:S stopped being popular around 2006 or 2007 at my school. Throughout 11th, the LAN part of the LAN Party was pretty much nothing more than the few Xbox 360s that were networked together. Nobody bothered playing the PC anymore. Instead, what brought people in were the consoles. Stereotypical as it is, we brought in more girls by substituting the PCs for Wii's than in any past year. Guys were far more interested in Halo and COD4 than they were for whatever Source based game was popular at the time. I made the mistake of lobbying for the PCs because I thought that there might be a possibility that people could become interested in them again. Never happened when I was around anyway.

I just don't think it's realistic with what I'm guessing is your level of experience with these types of things. Public events are a bitch. There are so many variables that you have to fill and so many bases you need to cover that its hard for such a small group to get this type of thing done. Maybe a small 50 person LAN is feasable. But nobody is going to cross the country for that. At best you'll have to settle with something local and build up a positive reputation. That could take years.

Bottom line:

You guys have a small but very talented team of people on your hands. You have at least two skilled web programmers, two or three decent artists and a lot of ideas. I think you guys should work with your strengths. I know that you could probably make a fairly decent web service on the scale of Synapse/Cerebrum out if you worked on it for a year. You won't have to worry about renting out a building this way, you won't have to worry about providing food or security. You won't have to deal with tickets and you won't have to deal with people flying in from across the country.

One thing that has bothered me about many modding sites like ModDB is that few of them offer tools that help mod teams manage themselves. There are things like Source Forge, but they will never be as good as something that is actually designed for modders. There's an open niche there. Hint Hint. Anything related to the modding world, you can probably find a niche for.

P.S.: Fuck you time zones in two weeks I'll be waking up now instead of going to sleep :<.

P.P.S.: Too tired to check grammar. Rarrrww.r

[klange]

It seems we're getting the same sorts of responses we got before I locked the thread, and as such, I'm locking it again. Civilized though you may be at this point, I'm not looking for long-winded responses explaining why we shouldn't be trying this. It doesn't help.