So listening to all the E3 casts and Jeff repeatedly mentioned snatching credentials and kicking people out of E3, and i'm just wondering why the resentment towards excited game fans attending the show. I understand its an industry show and technically people not in the industry shouldn't be attending, but just because some guy wants some free stuff does that really make him "that asshole"? Media gets appointment time with the devs, private hands on time, exclusive looks that arent shown on the floor, and in general much more than your average attendee. The free stuff, all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the show, as well as the multiple shows within a show would lead me to believe that this isn't that unusual, and almost encouraged.  I'm just an average joe, but I wanna discuss games with the people that make them and have hands on time with the games before they are released. is it really that wrong for someone who is enthusiastic about gaming to find a way to attend?

Being enthusiastic about stuff isn't cool, man

Jeff is a twat

Being enthusiastic about stuff isn't cool, man

They're jaded mother fuckers!  It's a job not a hobby anymore.  

Because for the press, E3 can be a very stressful time, so they need some one to relieve stress upon. And seeing a bunch of guys clamoring to get free shit just to pawn on eBay is depressing.

Those kinds of people shouldn't be there.

Edit: Also, they host Pax for those people. E3 isn't Pax.

I think their view is probably that it's supposed to be for press, and that stuff like PAX is where all the enthusiasts should be going. Too many people there make the lines long and prevent the 'important people' (who need to report on this shit, it's their job) from playing all the games and getting the time they need for interviews.

They've become so jaded about the constant stream of free stuff and exclusive access being mailed to them from publishers that they can't understand why people get so excited over a shirt or poster or keychain. They don't realize that what has long since become trash in their eyes (Jeff and Ryan especially) is a priceless keepsake to people who PR reps have never heard of and aren't fawning over to cover their game.

I've seen people that basically come for the free stuff. I think that is dumb.

I'd be pretty angry if I had to sit through that Microsoft conference too.

Think about the hours that they are working during that week. They have shit lined up for all hours of the day and they get very little sleep. I wouldn't be very happy about having to do that no matter what it was that I was doing.

@Shadow said:

They've become so jaded about the constant stream of free stuff and exclusive access being mailed to them from publishers that they can't understand why people get so excited over a shirt or poster or keychain. They don't realize that what has long since become trash in their eyes (Jeff and Ryan especially) is a priceless keepsake to people who PR reps have never heard of and aren't fawning over to cover their game.

Anyone who gets excited over a free keychain or poster is someone to be avoided.

Because they're not there to have fun and they have to wait in the same game line as some dope who has no real business there in the fight to be one of the first to post impressions.

There are a bunch of shows, such as PAX, that have an enormous bunch of developers there showing off unreleased games. The difference is, you don't need to "find a way in" to these type of things, since they are designed for you. The very nature of "finding a way in" shows that you realise you're not supposed to be there, but you want to break the rules anyway.

I don't think any of us know actually how stressful it is to work E3, but the simple fact that they were livestreaming until 2am and they were up by 8am means there's barely any sleep. That would piss me off a ton. It's meeting after meeting after getting a taxi to the next meeting after another. Just going to E3, chilling with some developers is not what goes on there.

@Shadow said:

They've become so jaded about the constant stream of free stuff and exclusive access being mailed to them from publishers that they can't understand why people get so excited over a shirt or poster or keychain. They don't realize that what has long since become trash in their eyes (Jeff and Ryan especially) is a priceless keepsake to people who PR reps have never heard of and aren't fawning over to cover their game.

Anyone who gets excited over a free keychain or poster is someone to be avoided.

@SuperSambo said:

@Shadow said:

They've become so jaded about the constant stream of free stuff and exclusive access being mailed to them from publishers that they can't understand why people get so excited over a shirt or poster or keychain. They don't realize that what has long since become trash in their eyes (Jeff and Ryan especially) is a priceless keepsake to people who PR reps have never heard of and aren't fawning over to cover their game.

Anyone who gets excited over a free keychain or poster is someone to be avoided.

And their apathy is contagious. Something I forgot to mention before is that many of these people can only afford to go to one show every few years. They don't get all expenses paid trips or time off from work for a week to attend all of them. Unlike the GB crew who are more or less obliged to cover all 5+ big shows per year, this is the first and quite possibly only large video game event that many of these people will ever go to and something people like Jeff who never missed a show often forgets is that the first time you go to one of these things, the experience is downright fucking magical.

Ask yourself these questions:

Have you ever had a job?

What are the challenges you face during everyday work?

Would your job be dramatically easier solving easy problems?

The crew is there to work, but Joe gets in their way by doing nothing but taking up space.

They got a lot of professional shit to do and they have to deal with crowds of unwashed masses at the same time. 
I'd be pretty pissed off too.

Definitely agree. I'll happily put my hand up and say I'd be one of those jerks getting free crap and running around like a loon because it's probably something I'd only experience once in a lifetime. For them, it's an annual thing; I imagine seeing people who clearly blagged their way in doing their best to get a free badge just looks idiotic. I think generally there's a big dichotomy between journalists and average people that's becoming more and more apparent. I'm still one of those people who thinks paying full price for a 'short' game like Child of Eden is pointless, in spite of the quality, because it's just too damn brief, while journalists are more likely to just enjoy the experience and rate the game on that. But that's a whole other matter. Fact is, when you see people acting crazy and greedy in a place that you're non-plussed by, you get easily annoyed by them.

Extra work is fun, right? 
 
As for those people who take all the free stuff, I'd hate some freeloaders getting in the way of my job too.

Trade Shows. Not for people who aren't in the trade.

Trade Shows. Not for people who aren't in the trade.

@paradox121 said:

Definitely agree. I'll happily put my hand up and say I'd be one of those jerks getting free crap and running around like a loon because it's probably something I'd only experience once in a lifetime. For them, it's an annual thing; I imagine seeing people who clearly blagged their way in doing their best to get a free badge just looks idiotic. I think generally there's a big dichotomy between journalists and average people that's becoming more and more apparent. I'm still one of those people who thinks paying full price for a 'short' game like Child of Eden is pointless, in spite of the quality, because it's just too damn brief, while journalists are more likely to just enjoy the experience and rate the game on that. But that's a whole other matter. Fact is, when you see people acting crazy and greedy in a place that you're non-plussed by, you get easily annoyed by them.

nicely said  love the avatar pic.  tasteful choice.

I don't think they were that angry.  Just really exhausted.  People act and say things when they're really tired that they wouldn't otherwise.  Besides, driving from LA to SF is a chore and I'm sure none of them were looking forward to that hassle at the end of the show.

@pigmartyr said:

I'm just an average joe, but I wanna discuss games with the people that make them and have hands on time with the games before they are released. is it really that wrong for someone who is enthusiastic about gaming to find a way to attend?

You can easily go to PAX for that. I talked to Greg Kasavin when I went.

The claim that the average person gets in the way of their work there is not really valid--the media has access to developers in a way other people don't.  It's not like they have to wait in a line of regular duders for the chance to interview Ken Levine, and they can often skip lines to see games because they have appointments.
 
If E3 is an industry-only show, it makes no sense for them to allow tens of thousands of people to attend, with numbers rivaling PAX.  Are there really tens of thousands of gaming journalists?  Come on now.

@Shadow said:

@SuperSambo said:

@Shadow said:

They've become so jaded about the constant stream of free stuff and exclusive access being mailed to them from publishers that they can't understand why people get so excited over a shirt or poster or keychain. They don't realize that what has long since become trash in their eyes (Jeff and Ryan especially) is a priceless keepsake to people who PR reps have never heard of and aren't fawning over to cover their game.

Anyone who gets excited over a free keychain or poster is someone to be avoided.

And their apathy is contagious. Something I forgot to mention before is that many of these people can only afford to go to one show every few years. They don't get all expenses paid trips or time off from work for a week to attend all of them. Unlike the GB crew who are more or less obliged to cover all 5+ big shows per year, this is the first and quite possibly only large video game event that many of these people will ever go to and something people like Jeff who never missed a show often forgets is that the first time you go to one of these things, the experience is downright fucking magical.

Thats what PAX Prime and PAX East are for. E3 is not the place for those people.

I'd be pretty angry if I had to sit through that Microsoft conference too.

Ask yourself these questions:

Have you ever had a job?

What are the challenges you face during everyday work?

Would your job be dramatically easier solving easy problems?

The crew is there to work, but Joe gets in their way by doing nothing but taking up space.

Think about the hours that they are working during that week. They have shit lined up for all hours of the day and they get very little sleep. I wouldn't be very happy about having to do that no matter what it was that I was doing.

Maybe I misunderstood things, but the impression that I got was that Jeff was mad at JOURNALISTS who wanted free crap, not fans.  Some dumbass runs a gaming blog where he rates everything between a 7.5 and a 9.9, he's supposed to have some integrity, and spends more time at E3 collecting free shit than looking at games.  
 
It's the "enthusiast press" that I believe Jeff has issues with, not so much a random fan who happens to get tickets to what is, primarily, a trade show. 

@Twazuk said:

E3 isn't Pax.

@Shadow said:

@SuperSambo said:

@Shadow said:

They've become so jaded about the constant stream of free stuff and exclusive access being mailed to them from publishers that they can't understand why people get so excited over a shirt or poster or keychain. They don't realize that what has long since become trash in their eyes (Jeff and Ryan especially) is a priceless keepsake to people who PR reps have never heard of and aren't fawning over to cover their game.

Anyone who gets excited over a free keychain or poster is someone to be avoided.

And their apathy is contagious. Something I forgot to mention before is that many of these people can only afford to go to one show every few years. They don't get all expenses paid trips or time off from work for a week to attend all of them. Unlike the GB crew who are more or less obliged to cover all 5+ big shows per year, this is the first and quite possibly only large video game event that many of these people will ever go to and something people like Jeff who never missed a show often forgets is that the first time you go to one of these things, the experience is downright fucking magical.

Thats what PAX Prime and PAX East are for. E3 is not the place for those people.

The crew wasn't bagging on all regular folks, only the aggressively annoying ones that are there clearly just for free shit. It's hard to describe it in text, but you know the difference between the average person going to PAX and the kind of person I'm talking about (and the kind of person Jeff and Ryan were not fans of). It's the same kind of person that tries to sprint in 15 before the show closes without a pass. Just annoying.

So I think this is parallel to the annoyance that celebrities face going out in public. i've met my share of famous folks and I'm always very grateful for the work they do that I'm a fan of, but im not a blubbering idiot about it. Dude is out with his family having lunch i dont just pull up a chair at his table and act like we are best friends. I'll wait for an opportune moment to say hi, what you do is awesome and go on about my business. No pictures, no autograph, no nothing. 
 
The difference is that when you goto a book signing, or a venue for that type of behavior and those celebs get annoyed. It's that tone that I feel from the crew in this one. I mean i think alot of poster have hit it on the head. Its a "magical" experience the first time you go. You arent likely to ever go again. They make it a huge spectacle for a reason. All I'm saying is don't hate on the average joe who may be having the time of his life at an event that you'd rather not be at, just because you are over E3. 
 
I plan on going to future PAX  and Cali Exterme events and attending the panels/get togethers and so on and its stuff like in the podcasts that makes me not want to, or think twice about interacting with the GB crew. 
 
Maybe its just me reading too much into it.

 God help them if a few people make the lines longer to play Battlefield 3 at E3.  I mean, these guys "report" on fucking video games for a living  -they all know they're living a dream job.  Just pure snobbiness on their part, IMO.

@Shadow said:

@Manhattan_Project said:

@Shadow said:

@SuperSambo said:

@Shadow said:

They've become so jaded about the constant stream of free stuff and exclusive access being mailed to them from publishers that they can't understand why people get so excited over a shirt or poster or keychain. They don't realize that what has long since become trash in their eyes (Jeff and Ryan especially) is a priceless keepsake to people who PR reps have never heard of and aren't fawning over to cover their game.

Anyone who gets excited over a free keychain or poster is someone to be avoided.

And their apathy is contagious. Something I forgot to mention before is that many of these people can only afford to go to one show every few years. They don't get all expenses paid trips or time off from work for a week to attend all of them. Unlike the GB crew who are more or less obliged to cover all 5+ big shows per year, this is the first and quite possibly only large video game event that many of these people will ever go to and something people like Jeff who never missed a show often forgets is that the first time you go to one of these things, the experience is downright fucking magical.

Thats what PAX Prime and PAX East are for. E3 is not the place for those people.

So E3 should be an elitist club where only those lucky enough to be paid to cover video games are allowed to go?

Elitist? WTF? ITS THEIR JOB!

@Shadow said:

@Manhattan_Project said:

@Shadow said:

@SuperSambo said:

@Shadow said:

They've become so jaded about the constant stream of free stuff and exclusive access being mailed to them from publishers that they can't understand why people get so excited over a shirt or poster or keychain. They don't realize that what has long since become trash in their eyes (Jeff and Ryan especially) is a priceless keepsake to people who PR reps have never heard of and aren't fawning over to cover their game.

Anyone who gets excited over a free keychain or poster is someone to be avoided.

And their apathy is contagious. Something I forgot to mention before is that many of these people can only afford to go to one show every few years. They don't get all expenses paid trips or time off from work for a week to attend all of them. Unlike the GB crew who are more or less obliged to cover all 5+ big shows per year, this is the first and quite possibly only large video game event that many of these people will ever go to and something people like Jeff who never missed a show often forgets is that the first time you go to one of these things, the experience is downright fucking magical.

Thats what PAX Prime and PAX East are for. E3 is not the place for those people.

So E3 should be an elitist club where only those lucky enough to be paid to cover video games are allowed to go?

Elitist? WTF? ITS THEIR JOB!

E3 is a trade show, which means that it's to be attended by people who work in that specific trade.  That is the intent of the organizers who run the show.  It's no more elitist than you not being allowed in the walmart break room.

@Skytylz said:

They're jaded mother fuckers! It's a job not a hobby anymore.

I'm sad to say, but i truly belive in this now :S

They're just bitching about their job as any other human being frequently does.

They clearly hate fun.

@Shadow said:

So E3 should be an elitist club where only those lucky enough to be paid to cover video games are allowed to go?

Yes. Some buttmonkey manning the register at Gamestop or some dude running some fanboy blog fawning over whatever gets released (Especially if he scores a wicked keychain) shouldn't be their and disrupt one iota of the time the people who the show is SPECIFICALLY made for. Whether that's investors, journos or real managers at stores chains.

That's what PAX is for.

Oh yeah, fuck STephen Spielberg, JJ Abrams and that dude from Chuck for being there as well unless they were to be involved with any games or having any meetings.

Spielberg especially, bringing his fucking brat along.