I’m only about eight months late but I’ll still give my feedback. I notice it is too late for ESA 2019 but maybe it can flow into the ideas of ESA 2020. As all who follow ESA’s Twitter account know, I am one of the few people who attended all seven (summer) ESA’s to date which may bias my experience and feedback with regard to previous iterations.

– Why did wristbands get removed in ‘favour’ of badges?

Wristbands are great because they are small, not in the way and cannot be taken off. My badge, on the other hand, is literally always in the way due to its large size, is particularly annoying playing mafia and I can take it off and forget it somewhere. (Yes, this happened; I had it off during mafia, walked back to the main area after the game but got held up by Trollbear half way there.)

Some may argue that badges are easier to spot for security from far away but I will argue that checking a wristband at one of the only two entry points of the marathon (stairs and elevator) explicitly (like festivals do it) works just as well.

If badges are really here to stay (oh no D=) then I would suggest making them much smaller; so that they could be pinned to a T-shirt rather than having to be worn with an annoying lanyard around the neck or somewhere like that.

– Food options

Now to be fair, ESA16/7 were ‘in the middle of nowhere’, i.e. on the outskirts of a not-so-large town with very few food options as a consequence. ESA17 was a little better than ESA16 due to the regular Burger King delivery service. In my opinion, ESA18 was a (small) step down from this low level, though.

The fast food option was a McDonalds which closed at night, the pizza option was further away and much, much worse than shady Växjö pizza guy (I had forgotten how bad Domino’s can be in countries where they haven’t bought Joey’s), the all-through-the-night baguette option was a bit too bland for its price (ESA17’s hot dogs were much better) and Max was at the far end of the mall. The mall did have some great options but so did the mall in Växjö; the only significant difference being a Vapiano near the mall’s entrance.

Finally, I didn’t know where to get my kanelbullar except buying them at the supermarkets on the far side of the mall.

– I didn’t find the after-event party. I guess one happened, because I saw photos and I guess it was for the better since I had an intercontinental flight on Sunday early afternoon but it still kinda bugged me.

– The layout of the conference floor, number and sizes of rooms was pretty much amazing. The best thing about it was probably a separate Mafia room, but also all the other small rooms served their purpose well as did the chill-out corner and the arcades. While I am a little bit anxious that there will likely be no space for Weeb Corner to be restarted (it was called off last year because most of us weren’t there and some only for a short time) that’s more of a minor setback than a major one. If required, we could probably move to a hotel room.

– The location, especially for international travellers

Now it’s the first time I actually needed it but it’s great to just have to fly to a big, international airport, hop on a train for a few minutes and get off. It makes it a lot easier for people from far away (like I was) to join – although to be fair, getting to Växjö wouldn’t be that much harder, only longer.

– The arcade expansion. Boy, those games were fun. Except Quick n Crash at which I’m just terrible xD

These points aren’t exactly for better or for worse, as in some will definitely prefer it the new way while some will prefer it the old way. I don’t think I can confidently say one side is objectively better than the other.

– A hotel as a location.

A hotel clearly comes with a number of differences compared to a big hall. Obviously, the ceiling height is lower and there are no ‘grandstands’. Also, everyone has a room on site should they so desire. The hotel room comes with a number of neat features like the stream being fed to the hotel’s info channel on TV, a real bed and a private shower. However, I also felt like the hotel room made it more likely for me to just disappear into it and single myself away from the party. So overall, the experience was closer (great layout) but also more distant (own room) to everything that happened … does that make sense?

The hotel also has free breakfast but as bizarre as it may sound that is also a two-ways point for me. I want my breakfast when I get up which basically means my sleep schedule was required to be a ‘normal’ one so there would actually be a breakfast. Because I was only at ESA for a few days it didn’t matter much but I can see me disliking it if I stay longer this year.

– The end of mass housing

I strongly assume that mass housing is gone forever. Which I find is an incredible shame; it ties in a lot to the previous point. When the only sleeping place is a mass housing hall, you can’t just linger there so I spend more time at the actual event. It’s also a lot cheaper than a hotel room which is not only a bonus for cheapskeets like me but also half a life-saver for those who have less means than I do.

On the other hand, the organisers dropped in the Discord channel how much of an organisational nightmare mass housing was and after hearing that I can only assume they are very relieved to finally see it go. I don’t want to place an undue burden on the organising team so I am fine accepting the current state of things.

A few things that I really disliked but that really didn’t affect my preference for either side. Ice cream only available at certain hours. Popcorn was salty! Hotel was cash-free, even in the bar. ESA’s not yet big enough to fill the entire hotel.

Out of these, only the salty pop­corn really needs to be fixed ;)

After ample deliberation, to me ESA15 still stands unreached as the best ESA thanks mostly to the great opportunities Skövde as a city offered and the way the House of Culture was laid out with the long walk to mass housing being meh (but considering it was cheapskeet sleeping: fine). I’m not sure if ESA18 or even already ESA17 would have outgrown the House of Culture already so I guess I’ll file it under great, happy memories.

And I’ll give you that the Kingdom of the Netherlands is also split into its four entries. On the other hand, the French overseas departements are also listed separately although they have practically the same status as all the other French departements only having gotten some powers that regions in metropolitan France have. Of course, French overseas collectivities are also listed, I don’t think they have much power at all … Hell, you can even select the Christmas Island which is basically just part of Australia, administered by the government and voting in national elections as if they were in the Northern Territory.

Tl;dr: the system is still skewed and inconsistent.

Abstract (Check below for the long rambling)

Bad: – Me getting a lanyard – No security checks whatsoever (while I was there) – Serious lack of kanelbullar – Quality of the T-shirt print – Me being flagged as German rather than Bavarian.

Nitpicking: ~ Not hearing tech do a soundcheck with the runner as a host during setup would be great ~ No food options between ~ 2 and 11 a.m. ~ No spare tables for weeb corner (where did last year’s swamp get theirs? ô.o) ~ Host camera and TV positioning ~ Host schedule having weird day breaks

Good:

• Organisation of hosting for stream 1
• Layout of the area, including use of hall B
• Burger King delivery and longer Kiosk hours
• Enough chairs.

The rambling

Lanyard. I think I made it pretty clear multiple times to all staff that I did not want a lanyard. I thought my hint of leaving a space in the name field rather than adding a nick was clear enough. Then the sign-in desk wanted to give me one. I left it with them. I hope this serves as a hint. A wristband is used for identification afaik; as long as it is a lanyard is not needed and I do not want to get one (that I would have to throw away).

Security. Despite the attendee info saying there would be checking of the wristbands performed not a single one was done the entire time I was there. I’m wearing two purple ESA wristbands and it would at least take a second glance to make sure this year’s was among them yet that never happened. Please, with an event this size checking at the door must happen. Peculiar trench coat guy case (which I did not witness personally and only saw discussed on Discord after I left) would have taken a different path altogether.

Kanelbullar. The kiosk needs to sell them. This is Sweden. Over and out. Additionally, the kiosk selling tea (or hot water) in addition to coffee would be great. I did have tea on-site, but the kiosk was much closer to mafia.

T-Shirt Print. In my opinion, the design of the print was hm or meh but not actually bad. However, the quality is bad. It seems to me like I could just pull the entire print off the shirt. Every single GDQ shirt I bought so far and every ESA shirt of the previous years (official or not) did not have that issue. I’m somewhat scared of washing that shirt because it might only survive one or two washing machine runthroughs. Please go back to a quality last year’s or the year before’s shirt had.

Wrong Flags with Names. As much as I like the idea of flagging by origin next to a runner or host, the flag displayed next to my name was still wrong (Germany) rather than correct (Bavaria). Yes, this is important to me.

Audio in Host Headphones. While it was generally great to hear tech and runner through our headsets during runs, it was a bit off-putting to hear tech in-between runs while hosts were attempting to concentrate on keeping the stream and chat amused. The signal for ‘tech is ready’ was communicated to us as being tech people waving which catches the eye and does not require us hearing. In one case, where the runner of the next game was not to be found it was helpful to hear from tech, but I feel tech pressing a button or flipping a switch to talk to hosts between runs would be a much better solution.

Food Options Timeframe. Max closed at midnight, the kiosk at 2 (technically, if the card reader wasn’t broken) and Burger King at something like 11. Burger King reopened around ten and the kiosk at 12 iirc. However, this was a marathon and my sleep schedule was pretty much fucked up from the moment I arrived. So I would find myself waking up at 6 pm, having breakfast and then immediately having to think about dinner so that I would not be left hungry. I understand that 24/7 is not really an option but maybe the two services could be coordinated so that they better spread around into the graveyard hours. Last year’s hot dogs were available around the clock.

Tables for Weeb Corner. Thanks to the swamp relocating, the weebs decided to occupy where the swamp was last year. Unfortunately, there were no tables we could use. It was fine for our anime nights when we just cuddled onto a blanked with a daki but sitting required laptops on the laps. (Rockband didn’t need the entire room and was hardly used anyway.) If a few tables could materialise there, it would be great.

Host Camera and TV positioning. In general, the setup of the hosting area was great (see below). However, it was slightly hard to look down at the camera while you want to watch yourself in the TV. I’m not sure how this situation can be resolved but I also feel there must be a better solution out there.

Host Schedule. It took me three times to realise on which day my first hosting shift was and then I still got it wrong. If the label at the top of the column says Tuesday but one third of the column is already Wednesday (namely the bit between midnight and whenever the pull over to the next day was) it is not easy to get the date right at a glance. Thankfully, only one of my hosting shifts was in that timeframe of terror.

Hosting Stream 1. (Note: I didn’t do anything at stream 2 so I don’t really know about it) This was very. Well. Done! The organising team did a good job at organising, scheduling, rescheduling and the setup of the hosting station was equally great. We could have gotten a little introduction to the button thing in the host briefing pre-event so that I didn’t look like a total idiot selecting an StC ad but that’s something minor. It was also very nice to both see the stream ahead of us and tech to our left.

Layout. I already talked about the hosting station above but the layout of the entire event deserves another round of applause mention. I liked that hall B was used (which stood empty last year until the LAN party started) and I liked the way runners, audience, hosts and tech was grouped. A minor nitpick would be to say that PC runners were very hidden in the corner but at the same time that is somewhat the fate of PC gamers (not usually playing on couches). Please keep up the good layouting work!

Kiosk Opening Hours and Burger King Delivery. This was so good to have despite my nitpick above. Please keep them!

Enough Chairs. Nuff said.

Other Rambling. The weather was much more agreable for cold-loving creatures like me this year. In fact, I did feel that the temperature in mass housing was cooler this year than it was last year (and I have evidence to prove that). This again confirms that there cannot have been such a thing as air conditioning in there and that those who complained about the cold last year either had bad spots or can’t take average temperatures. Remember that this is a sports hall with poorly insulated walls and ceiling so it will pretty much pick up the temperature from outside. Not as much as sleeping in a tent but way more than a bed in a proper house designed for living in. So if you came to mass housing thinking it would be the same general temperature as in a hotel room, you were mistaken from the start (and it never was advertised as something like that). Expect it to be cooler at night and warmer at day, less than outside and maybe draughty at times.

This is the first ESA that something was stolen from me. It was not labelled and I lost something like €15 or €20 to it, so I don’t really care. Just saying. Maybe someone borrowed it but did not give it back in time. Whatever. Just putting this here for randomness.

Hand sanitisers placed everywhere will not prevent the spreading of germs any more than regular hand washing (with soap and water in a sink). Hand sanitisers and using them too much will, however, wreck the flora of your skin, harm your skin in general and make you more likely to get an infection if you stop using them. There is even some evidence that a healthy skin flora helps prevent infections. The best way to prevent catching colds is what our teachers, parents and grandparents taught us in kindergarden age: wash your hands after going to the toilet and before eating.

Shoutouts to weeb corner, Team Animu @ Bowling, animu nights and all your weebiness.

Shoutouts to Curseddolls for organising bowling again and for being the great person you are.

Shoutouts to Acid, DhrGR, Moro, Milk and the Dutchies on my final night barbecue and drinking. Milk: let somebody else do the barbecue next year; preferably an Aussie. DhrGR: don’t eat the chicken if it’s not done D=. Acid: thanks for letting me get my ‘revenge’ 8D

Shoutouts to team Mafia and team Hanabi. Great stuffs right there. Especially to those people who thought up roles when they had none and to Mash and Tyr for claiming cop in practically every game.

Shoutouts to Maral and Ladaur for making hosting great! Do continue that way next year!

Shoutouts to all hosts, tech and runners who kept the stream going. There’s got to be a reason other than mafia and drinking why I go to Växjö, right?

Shoutouts to the bad movies team. Was great fun as always!

Shoutouts to all the people I’ll miss from the other side of the world :'(

Shoutouts to all the people that deserve mentions but who I forgot here.

Sounds fun but I’m not sure I’ll have wireless data. Actually, I’m pretty sure I won’t. So it’s wifi only for me, sadly ..

Naturally, there is no way you’re going to hook them to the ground but considering you’ll have stuff inside and they’re indoors, they’re not going to go flying anywhere. So it should be fine, I guess?

Disclaimer: I run old games and I typically don’t care much for new games.

I’m totally fine with people submitting runs for games that haven’t been released yet. There are five months from submission to the actual marathon for a reason. I don’t see much of a difference between submitting a new game that’s bound to be out soon, that will attract thousands of gamers and hundreds of competitive runners and whose route is bound to materialise and get set in stone within a month after release or submitting an old obscure game where you’re the only runner and have to do all the optimisation for yourself. My submissions are always basically to throw out a half-arsed run, see if it gets in and then practise the hell out of it; the new game situation is the same imho.

I see no reason whatsoever to believe that the game selection and scheduling committee exercise any less scrutiny when deciding what should stay and what should go just because the title of a game is Zelda/Mario/Metroid/Mega Man/YourBigNameHere™. If anything, these highly competitive games will be measured at a higher standard than obscure Japanese game 5, simply because there are tons of runs out there. I suggest more trust in the scheduling committee.

Disclaimer 2: I know the selection/scheduling people from previous marathons and think that they are cool dudes.

Finally, first round cuts are obviously meaningful even if you discount the meme games. For example if there are multiple games of a series (P4/P5 or all the Zeldas) it gives clarity on what should be practised intensely. And some runs (including mine; for the record: I’m absolutely fine with that) were cut because the committee believes they won’t be up to par by the marathon.

Finally, I request that the BotW/NieR/Yooka-Laylee discussion be closed asap. In my opinion, it’s pointless.

I’m going to request the reason why Threads of Fate was removed.

Haha yeah, but I mean the SR.com and ESA discords ;)

Thanks. Same great job for NES Cheetahmen at AGDQ!

Discord would’ve worked, but I don’t know if you’re on that. I’m not on many social networks as you can see in my profile ^^'

That probably makes sense, considering how different the two Action 52s are. So should I go to Pac and ask for a separate board?

Sorry, I’m not on Twitter :(

So, you may have seen me run Ooze on the Genesis version at ESA 2016 and I’m submitting Cheetahmen Genesis for 2017. Could you please add Genesis as a platform?

And if you’re feeling really generous, Ooze as a category?

Thanks! =)

Let me point out a little incorrectness:

It is not the Schengen member states but the EU member states whose national ID cards suffice to cross the border. So Romanians, Bulgarians, Croatians and Cypriots do not need a passport (UK doesn’t issue ID cards, Ireland only sort-of). If you’re from one of these countries and you don’t get into Sweden with an ID card you won’t get in with a passport either (i.e. there is a serious problem you’re facing).

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identity_cards_in_the_European_Economic_Area

Cheetahmen Genesis. Or anything else from the Genesis Action 52!

(Shameless self-plug, I know)

What Sphere said.

Also, I challenge the assumption of '[w]ith working wifi'. I was basically internetless for something like four days because the Wifi wouldn't let me back in. I was then told that the trick is to be online at midnight and/or when people leave the venue. So I spent an entire night attempting to connect and it worked at like 5 a.m.

I just feel like adding this since I read many people complaining about the mass housing having been too cold.

I cannot follow that complaint. I tried sleeping without a sleeping bag at first, for which it was indeed a tad too cold. But using the sleeping bag as a blanket and randomly sticking out arms, legs or half the body outside of that blanket was warm enough. (Hell I even felt rather sweaty on quite a few mornings which is a sign of a too hot place.) I contest the opinion that there was an air-conditioning in that building. There may have been ventilation, but certainly no active cooling. Disclaimer: From pretty early onwards my sleep schedule was moved by ca. 12 hours.

Good thing I just started the shoutouts thread. I can just carry on xD.

I'm going to skip the runner bit because Ooze was way too easy to run. Remove former runner's cartridge, add mine, change controller, done xD

As an attendee, I think using the Fortnox Arena worked out very well, especially the main hall. I liked the overall design of the place with tech, runners/couch/hosting/restream (i.e. general stream), viewers' couches (wow, so comfy!), with a set of two more huge TVs for everyone to see and then a large casual/practise area just behind that. Plus the arena feeling we had and the opportunity to watch from above (where watermelon gaming was). A suggestion for the future is somehow implementing a big projector like we had in the House of Culture in Skövde. However, I was made aware that the big screen thing above tech is unsuitable because it has a tiny resolution. Don't extend the viewing TVs upwards, though, they were already almost too large to see people well behind them … Also, the showers were great, assuming people didn't just randomly let them lock themselves after they left! >:C I don't know how many times I had to look for the chip at tech because I couldn't get to my towel and nobody was inside … Slightly less perfect was the use of the second hall. Mainly, it was just a huge empty space with Guitar Hero in one corner, a heap of TVs in another (and FFIX <3) and Mafia players in a third. Room for improvement here. The fact that a LAN party would be happening on the final venue could have been communicated better. No offence about the thing in general but I did have a kind of 'okay now what's this?!' feeling when I was surprised by how the hall metamorphosed overday (or -night to me). The venue was slightly lacking chairs in my opinion. Especially finding enough for Mafia was challenging. And sometimes you would find a TV to practise on but no chair in close proximity. Not sure if there is anything that can be done about that, though … I'm not entirely sure on the cleanliness. As always, I didn't notice lots being untidy but I never did in the previous years either. That's probably because Tompa and all the other house-elves did their job so well (and will complain now). The difference between pant-bins and non-pant bins needs to be communicated better. Which none-Swede actually understood Burkar och PET-flaskor? (If that is even spelt correctly …) A sign 'bottles and cans only!' maybe with the addendum 'check for pant!' and the pant symbol would probably go a long way. It was a bit weird that we didn't receive the wristbands until the first day after setup, but I'll buy it since there was lots to do on setup day.

The kitchen/fridges situation was awkward. If I recall correctly, there had been notes beforehand that there are no fridges on-site and no kitchen appliances available. Except we had microwaves and fridges in the watermelon-gaming room that were obviously used (but would in no way have been enough for all people). Clarification on allowed/disallowed would be great.

Next year needs more food deals with surrounding restaurants. I.e. more 10 SEK vouchers for Max and actually a reason to go to the pizza place. But if they are in any way businesspeople, they will notice that themselves ;) The Northern Sky kiosk should not advertise selling Baguettes if they cannot sell them. I had hoped for them. Not sure if the arena kiosk will consider opening for longer next year. I missed out on its kanelbullar, since I was sleeping when it was open. It could be a win-win situation.

Mass housing had the issue of the toilets' lights not being turned on on day 1 and that a far too small area had been supplied with floor mat thingies. I don't know if it's a good idea to just put your air matress on the sprinting ground. On the upside it was nice and close (albeit not as close as in 2012 xp) and nice and dark. (I personally can sleep well in the light, too, but some have issues with it.)

Hosting. The couch idea and runner interview idea was brilliant. The initial lack of mics wasn't but tech had more important stuff to deal with. Not all runners were aware that they were invited to a post-run interview; I think that needed better communication. From what I saw, hosts did a rather good job of trying to keep people as entertained as possible during the longer setup breaks which is definitely a good thing. It's also great that the hosting schedule was a thing and worked more than it didn't. However, for next year seriously consider using time slots rather than game slots — like tech did this year. I don't know if I just missed a general host briefing session at the beginning of the marathon, but all who signed up for hosting and have already arrived should be gathered together before the stream starts so knowledge about how things work can be distributed better.

Växjö was a nice place to be in, all that we needed to buy could be bought at Samarkand not too far away; there were working ATMs there, so generally a nice place. However, we need proper directions to a swimming lake next year for the true ESA feeling ;)

There is no particular order in this thread. If you find one, consider it your treasure under the rainbow ;p

Shoutouts to the mafia team! Naegleria, Tyr, Pac, Dave, Eidgod, Mash (bet moar, pls xp), Don't-toss-a-coin-ever-again Moro, Mafiabelly Spike, Robo, Ladour, Sonicku, CL (gotta get that thesis done!), Shiek, awesome mute godfather Pottoww, Soezee, best shittalker Fingers, Pog, Kazzadan, E-Dragon, Cop-dog-lover Mergy, Kotti, Josh, Tezuro, Freddeh, Mr I'm-the-parity-cop (sorry, don't know your name, but the guy who always came out as him on day 2). And if you played Mafia with me and I forgot you (and I actually remember your name, because I'm bad at that), feel yourself added to the list. Also awesome props for the awesome cards, and Wolver confirmed new best role.

Thanks to all the supporters of the Gem-esis block (ooh, that's a nice pun, innit?): Robo for the Flash, James Pond and hosting (Cursed for helping!), Fingers for thatguy-%, Pog and Fingers for the Ooze couch, Kruskader for bestmusic- and bestdancing-Phantasy Star and everyone who danced for most awesome ESA dancing-%

Shoutouts to Maral for stepping up and taking care of hosting when I had disappeared from the face of the Earth. Shoutouts to my fellow hosters, especially Curseddolls for showing me the beauty of a game I never would have watched. Shoutouts to tech for doing their best to set up games quickly in spite of all the issues with capture, sound and whatnot. And to Twitch chat for #freekarl xD

Shoutouts and big thanks to the main organisers Edenal, Oasiz, Bangerra, flicky, Planks! The event was awesome! You have deserved your holidays! Shoutouts to Northern Sky, even though I would have loved a baguette once or twice … Also shoutouts to the behind-the-scenes organisers, especially game selection crew.

Shoutouts to everybody on site who played FFIX!

Shoutouts and thanks to everybody who joined bumperball and made it such a whooping success! Allez les bleus !

Shoutouts to the Beethoven challenge. Although I failed to collect my cheeseburger. Great speedgame =3 Also shoutouts to F-Zero GX, even though the game was stronger than me (as I expected).

Shoutouts to the Germench on-site crew and all the others who sat around in that area. That includes but is not limited to FPaul, Matse, Aura … and once again my name memory fails me YY You know who you are, right?

Shoutouts to Team Wiiaboo/Bad Idea Saturday Crew, that is Gio (<3), Pink (<3, thanks for the discord invite), Legrand, Chfou (11/10, would share sleeping bag again), AcidWorm (<3), Baffan (totally subsuming you under this just because <3), and again whoever I forgot.

Thanks to all the people who made Friday night drinking so memorable: Adam (geen Heineken!), Bang, Soezee (Flemish for behinners <3), Oasiz, Eidgot, Tezuro & gf, Gio, Robo, and my memory went fuzzy. Double thanks to AcidWorm here btway ;) <3.

Shoutouts to the Swedes of all ESAs: Tompa, Niss3, Crippe.

And finally shoutouts to the random other people that don't fit into these categories. First ones I can think of are Kanjo, S (or did I play mafia with you?) and Dizzy.

(And Tingle, make sure you don't stay away with a lame excuse next year again! D=)

I can't believe this thread hasn't been created yet. I mean, it's been a whole friggin day!

Share your love, your shoutouts and your best wishes to your fellow ESA visitors so that we may remember our fond memories of the awesome week.

(And try to snipe me between writing the opening and writing up my shoutouts xD)