2Bits: Keep those E3 doors closed

Sections: Features, Columns, Opinions, Conventions, E3

2Bits: Keep those E3 doors closed

by Jessica Moen on Oct 28, 2008 at 09:01 AM

E3 should not be open to the public. It is a convention for people in the gaming industry. Period.

Though it would be nice to let anyone go to this convention, if they allow that to happen then E3 will basically end up becoming the next Comic-Con which means thousands and thousands of people, crowded around an already cramped convention center (many carrying pointy sticks, mind you).

Not only thousands of people but thousands of people and their little children. Children who clearly don’t want to be there and don’t know how to sit still for three seconds.

People go to E3 to have intelligent conversations with others involved in the industry, whether they be programmers, developers, designers, marketers, or even just someone who sells video games.

They want to talk to people who are in their field because they know the most about games and everything that goes into it. They don’t want to waste their time talking to some 35-year-old WOW enthusiast who spent way too much time in his basement building up his Orc army. With it only being game industry people, they know that whom ever they talk to is fair game.

This is not only for the folks attending but the speakers who come as well. They want to talk to people who will benefit most from what they are offering. This way they can get intelligent, industry related questions from the audience, and they can also speak more technically. They won’t have to worry about some kid standing up to ask them who would win in a fight between the characters from Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX.

Sure, John Q public might care what the speakers have to say but they will eventually find out anyway at a later date when they are suppose to.

So E3 should be left solely for people in the gaming industry and only them. We don’t need huge ridiculous crowds, we also don’t want the quest speakers to feel they are wasting their time talking about their products to people who may not be as interested.

E3 - Open, Closed or Who Really Cares?