• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 09:57
CEST 15:57
KST 22:57
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
RSL Season 1 - Final Week6[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall12HomeStory Cup 27 - Info & Preview18Classic wins Code S Season 2 (2025)16Code S RO4 & Finals Preview: herO, Rogue, Classic, GuMiho0
Community News
Firefly given lifetime ban by ESIC following match-fixing investigation17$25,000 Streamerzone StarCraft Pro Series announced7Weekly Cups (June 30 - July 6): Classic Doubles7[BSL20] Non-Korean Championship 4x BSL + 4x China10Flash Announces Hiatus From ASL81
StarCraft 2
General
The GOAT ranking of GOAT rankings RSL Revival patreon money discussion thread Weekly Cups (June 30 - July 6): Classic Doubles Server Blocker RSL Season 1 - Final Week
Tourneys
RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event $5,100+ SEL Season 2 Championship (SC: Evo) $25,000 Streamerzone StarCraft Pro Series announced
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 481 Fear and Lava Mutation # 480 Moths to the Flame Mutation # 479 Worn Out Welcome Mutation # 478 Instant Karma
Brood War
General
Flash Announces Hiatus From ASL [ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion A cwal.gg Extension - Easily keep track of anyone
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues 2025 ACS Season 2 Qualifier Small VOD Thread 2.0 Last Minute Live-Report Thread Resource!
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers I am doing this better than progamers do.
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile CCLP - Command & Conquer League Project The PlayStation 5 Nintendo Switch Thread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine The Accidental Video Game Porn Archive Stop Killing Games - European Citizens Initiative
Fan Clubs
SKT1 Classic Fan Club! Maru Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion NBA General Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NHL Playoffs 2024
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Men Take Risks, Women Win Ga…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Trip to the Zoo
micronesia
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 719 users

N3D @ PAX Prime 2014, Pt. 1

Blogs > AsmodeusXI
Post a Reply
AsmodeusXI
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United States15536 Posts
September 11 2014 00:37 GMT
#1
Here at the N3rd Dimension, it is a truth universally acknowledged that very few things are better than playing games, reading comics, or watching TV and movies. In spite of this, we occasionally leave the dice rolling, shelf browsing, and button clicking behind to spend the weekend enjoying one of the few activities more fun than our typical hobbies: attending a convention. After all, there are no better places to discuss, discover, and recklessly indulge our favorite habits. After visiting my first gaming convention last year, I knew 2014 wouldn’t be complete without heading to PAX. Since I missed PAX East, I flew out for PAX Prime in Seattle instead.

At PAX, I spent four awesome days attending panels, strolling the show floors, and meeting a small fraction of those who share my beloved hobbies. I expected a marvelous weekend full of exciting games and amazing entertainment and that’s exactly what I got.

Spoiler alert: WALL OF TEXT AHEAD.

Friday: For the Alliance!

Even when I spend most of my time inside, the weather at a convention substantially effects my mood. Luckily, the sublimely-mild Seattle weather was optimal for a crowded con. The mornings were as gray and sporadically rainy as one might expect of the city, but the clouds often broke in the afternoon and the temperature remained pleasantly cool throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed the 20 minute walks from my friend’s apartment to the convention center because I wasn’t sweat-covered or frost-bitten by the time I arrived.


[image loading]
Nice day, nice Convention Center.


I spent the majority of Friday wandering the halls by myself (my hosts and friends weren’t able to attend until the weekend). I arrived just in time for a panel entitled “Women Surviving and Thriving in Games Media,” which featured several prominent female game developers and journalists. After the pre-PAX week of horrifying misogyny and unbelievable harassment perpetrated by gamers who are almost certainly more like me than I’d ever like to admit, seeing the number of allies (of all genders) in attendance provided a small glimmer of hope for the future of “gamers.” Much of the information presented at the panel I’d heard before, but there were still plenty of revelations that provided insight into the daily experiences of women in the industry.

Afterwards I wandered the expo halls for a few hours. Unlike PAX East 2013, where the hall was one giant floor, PAX Prime’s expo hall was split into three smaller rooms spread across several stories. I started at the hall on the top floor, where a bevy of indie games and smaller publishers were located. Because it was still the work week, the lines were short enough for me to play a few demos. My favorite was Tinertia, a challenging platformer which required clever use of rocket jumping and momentum. Despite my quickly-evident lack of skill, I found the demo very satisfying and decided to make it my first purchase of the convention. For those who are interested: play this with a controller. The mouse controls are not as intuitive.





Next, I visited the booth of Greater Than Gaming, a St. Louis-based studio that created my favorite card game, Sentinels of the Multiverse. To my absolute delight, they demoed the Sentinels iPad game that I’ve wanted ever since I learned of its creation. The app was still unpolished (slow animations, occasional glitches), but when those are cleaned up it will be perfect. Playing it even got me an exclusive promo card, so it was a big win. I also played my first game of Sentinels Tactics at their demo tables. Getting someone to show me the rules (rather than reading them) was wonderful and the game soon became rather fun. After our team earned a victory, I grabbed more promo cards, messed around with a few more games in the hall, then headed to my next destination.

Since the release of the D&D Fifth Edition Player’s Handbook, my desire to play more tabletop adventure games increased incredibly. That growing enthusiasm impelled me to attend the Queer Visibility in Tabletop Games panel. As a straight, white, cisgendered man, D&D (as well as most nerdy media) is tailored to me, so I wanted to learn about ways to include perspectives other than my own in the games I play and GM. The panel provided valuable perspectives about the inclusion of diverse genders and sexualities in games without defaulting to “token” characters. On the other hand, the panelists also counseled against diving into the nuances of those topics in your games unless your players are comfortable doing so (after all, games are meant to be fun). I was also quite curious about the games mentioned at the panel (Pathfinder, Kagematsu, Monster Hearts, Silver and White), and when I left I really wanted to play a few. I spent the final few hours of my first day admiring video game banners and observing tabletop demos before finally heading home.

Saturday: Game Masters

On Saturday, my companions and I slowly roused ourselves and meandered towards the convention center (shout outs to Uptown Expresso for their motivational coffee and chocolate croissants). Because my friends were showing up at the con for the first time, I spent some time retreading the areas I visited on Friday. We took more time to look around than I had before, so even I saw a few new things, such as the Pokemon Gym Badge pins that I had to have. Unfortunately, buying all of the regions’ badges would’ve been extraordinarily expensive and common sense deterred me from that path (barely). I eventually chose the Kanto set in a sudden fit of nostalgia.

Near the badge booth was the League of Legends tournament stage and the Strife open beta area. With the NA LCS Summer Finals in full swing, the League hall was stuffed with cheering (and groaning) fans. I never joined the LoL crowds because I wanted to see the rest of the con (and there are always VODs), but their enthusiasm was palpable every time I walked near the theater. League’s upcoming competitor, Strife, was stationed just outside the tournament hall to promote their own polished and cartoony MOBA. As a huge fan of the genre, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check it out. Even though I knew little about the game, it was quite fun, and it included a few simple ideas that improved upon some of the genre’s typical problems (such as team-based last-hitting). I’m not sure whether or not I’d play it regularly (I’m still a LoL addict), but it’s definitely a game to check out if you are looking for a new MOBA.





They also had a bucking mechanical dragon, so that was pretty cool.

* Good luck.


[image loading]
This dragon is actually far LESS friendly than the one in game.


The first panel we attended was a post-mortem on the “cultural phenomena” known as TwitchPlaysPokemon. After I got over my initial disappointment that the stream’s creator was not in attendance, I was very impressed with the presenter, who compiled a lot of great data about those two incredible weeks for Twitch, Pokemon, and meme-lovers everywhere. The researcher and grad student presented his data perfectly to the PAX audience: the panel was both relentlessly informative and interspersed with goofiness that prevented the talk from becoming a lecture. A few fun facts: we wasted over one billion minutes with TPP, the channel had over nine million unique views during the Pokemon Red playthrough, and the favorite mode of play (“effectiveness” notwithstanding) was anarchy. The presenter’s hypotheses about the influence TPP might have on the future of games were particularly exciting. I love the idea of a game with integrated audience participation, such as Upsilon Circuit. Also, the panel began with the entire audience singing the Pokemon theme song, so really, there was no way for this panel not to be good.

I left my friends halfway through the day to attend a panel called “Art of the DM.” It occurred to me as I lined up for this panel that my PAX was becoming less and less about video games (though I still looked at a ton of those) and more about tabletops in general. Apparently, many others shared my interest because I only barely made it into the panel, even though I arrived a good deal ahead of time. However, I’m glad I made it in because it contained a lot of great DMing advice. All of the panel’s members were part of the Wizards of the Coast D&D 5E team, so they all had a ton of experience at the table as both players and dungeon masters. My favorite piece of basic advice was to never save your ideas. If something’s going to be cool, do it as soon as possible. Don’t wait for a higher level or a different campaign, just go with it. There were also some great suggestions for what to do when your own adventuring party dies and how to get feedback about your GMing skills.

Shortly after the crowded panel concluded, we returned home. However, our PAX day was not yet complete. After a delicious Thai food dinner, we tuned into the awesome live stream of the bi-annual (PAX-annual?) Acquisitions Inc. D&D campaign. It featured a lively crew of famous players, including both of the Penny Arcade creators and Patrick Rothfuss, the author of the spectacular Kingkiller Chronicles. It was a ton of fun to watch them play the game, even thought the action was all dice and player imagination (well, that and some very expensive-looking sets/models). Their adventure was so much fun that I might have to go back and watch the rest of Acquisitions, Inc.’s (mis)adventures. They kept me enthralled for about two and a half hours that night, and I bet they could do so for way more.



Stay tuned for Part 2, coming soon…


You can read this overly-detailed-yet-still-incomplete account and some other decent schlock at the N3rd Dimension.

*
WriterTL > RL. BNet: Asmodeus#1187 - LoL: DJForeclosure - Steam: asmodeusxi | www.n3rddimension.com
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 3m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Hui .181
Vindicta 92
StarCraft: Brood War
Hyuk 12729
firebathero 1189
EffOrt 1074
Larva 588
BeSt 552
Mini 334
Nal_rA 299
Leta 190
ToSsGirL 81
Sharp 62
[ Show more ]
Sea.KH 61
Barracks 53
Shinee 35
Movie 33
yabsab 33
Aegong 26
GoRush 25
Hm[arnc] 23
IntoTheRainbow 10
Terrorterran 10
SilentControl 9
Dota 2
Gorgc9320
qojqva1829
XcaliburYe296
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor470
Liquid`Hasu36
Other Games
tarik_tv35517
gofns19104
FrodaN6466
B2W.Neo2410
singsing2204
DeMusliM658
shahzam519
crisheroes448
KnowMe347
XaKoH 207
Pyrionflax136
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 78
• Adnapsc2 16
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Michael_bg 3
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• Ler109
League of Legends
• Nemesis5038
Upcoming Events
FEL
1h 3m
Elazer vs Spirit
Gerald vs MaNa
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
4h 3m
Bonyth vs Dewalt
QiaoGege vs Dewalt
Hawk vs Bonyth
Sziky vs Fengzi
Mihu vs Zhanhun
QiaoGege vs Zhanhun
Fengzi vs Mihu
Wardi Open
21h 3m
Replay Cast
1d 20h
WardiTV European League
2 days
PiGosaur Monday
2 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
The PondCast
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
[ Show More ]
Epic.LAN
4 days
CranKy Ducklings
5 days
Epic.LAN
5 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
6 days
Bonyth vs Sziky
Dewalt vs Hawk
Hawk vs QiaoGege
Sziky vs Dewalt
Mihu vs Bonyth
Zhanhun vs QiaoGege
QiaoGege vs Fengzi
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 2
HSC XXVII
NC Random Cup

Ongoing

JPL Season 2
BSL 2v2 Season 3
Acropolis #3
CSL 17: 2025 SUMMER
Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
2025 ACS Season 2: Qualifier
BSL20 Non-Korean Championship
CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
Championship of Russia 2025
Murky Cup #2
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25
BLAST Rivals Spring 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters

Upcoming

CSL Xiamen Invitational
CSL Xiamen Invitational: ShowMatche
2025 ACS Season 2
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
K-Championship
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
SEL Season 2 Championship
FEL Cracov 2025
Esports World Cup 2025
Underdog Cup #2
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.