I arrived at roughly 8:10 am on Thursday to attend SDCC. For the uninitiated the San Diego Convention Center is a 615,701 sq. ft. facility in downtown San Diego. To but it bluntly, the place is huge. Ginormous would even be a good word to describe it. So after getting my convention pass I make my way, I thought, to Hall H. I was initially stuck by Room 6A (far southeast) and was told, by a helpful staff member, to go towards the center of the convention to the exhibit level via the stairs there.
I go to said area only to be told by what ended up to be a not-so-helpful staff member that what I really wanted to do was go all the way around the center to get to the exhibit level. This would be fine for any part of the exhibit floor EXCEPT HALL H.
The reasoning of the second staff member sending us around the complex was that the escalator from there only lead outside. This happened to be exactly where we needed to go. So rather than have a minute chance of getting a decent place in line an excruciating 20 minutes was spend in a nerd herd (seen in the pictures below, taken by me) only to find out there was a shorter route.
So after wasting my time there doing this I come to the horrifying realization: I have no ability to actually get into line to see the panel I wanted to go see, Tron Legacy, because everyone is lining up long before I even reached the convention center. And that line was for Megamind, the panel before Tron.
I’m not alone is my anguish here: I had read up on several Comic-con “Survival Guides” prior to attending this year that Hall H is notorious for its line. No other place, from what I understand, has such a long line. Here is a a picture from last year. The most notable difference from then to this year was the addition of tents over the line to block out the sun. Here are some pictures I took from the ground myself this year:
Given this is the worst of the worst is it any wonder why there haven’t be any serious injuries in this line? Oh, wait, that’s right. The whole point of my thoughts here was because that is exactly what happened the Saturday of Comic-con.
Well, let me reference a later article here for a moment. While it is easy to believe the former, where the assailants didn’t know each other, the latter still tells of the tensions that come up at Hall H. If the men involved were friends, or even just a casual acquaintance, as the latter article presents we can still gleam that in the end there is just too little space for far too many people all in one place.
We need to ask ourselves what predicated this violence. It is an addition of several factors together. First Hall H holds 6500 people and has a line at least equal to but most likely higher than that number. Moreover no one is forced out after any panel discussion (this is true for any panel discussion). This leads to both camping in the line and camping out inside, watching several of the panels before you see the one you were actually waiting for. Like my example in my experience above, those that wanted into Tron Legacy were in line long before Megamind started.,
Because of the is the line starts early in the morning, long before the first panel of the day. This has the effect of placing too many people into one cramped space. And I speak of both line and convention hall here as they become inseparable at that point.
Thirdly, though mild this year generally the hot, dry July air drains even the most hardened con-goer. Imagine being baked in a low degree oven for several hours a day and you will start getting the picture. This admittedly was mitigated both by mild weather but also the strategic placement of tents to keel line-waiters in the shade.
Lastly is what I consider the weakest link of all : Comic-con ‘security’ is a volunteer force. I don’t mean to insult those that work SDCC for little or no pay, but you are not professionals whom would be trained to take care of scuffles. Or at the very minimum you are not police officers. You know, like the ones that had to be called in after everything went to hell and someone had a pen stuck in them?
Wrapping this all up into one neat package: It is a wonder why Hall H hasn’t destroyed the SDCC as of yet. Hall H is a nightmare situation. You mix in frustration of a long line in the hot sun, exhaustion of waiting several panel discussions, and general anger of not being able to sit and enjoy what you really came to see. Mix in more frustration as previous attendees are not cleared to make space for those in line. And you dare not leave as losing your spot will force you to wait in another long line. It comes to a point where even giving a friend some breathing room is asking too much.
It comes down to, most of all, crowd control. Like thousands of fans vying to see their favorite rock band. Don’t think this analogy is appropriate? It might be as the whole of concert attendance fixed itself after 11 were trampled to death in a 1979 The Who concert. Festival, or general, seating was listed as a cause in the lawsuits that followed. Cincinnati, host city of the dreaded concert, was the first to ban general (unreserved) seating, and other soon followed. Now it is almost unheard of to NOT have an assigned seat. In summary the issue is a lack of true crowd control, poor security, limited room for attendees, and the lack of a system to flush out campers from the system so other may enjoy the panels. This gives way to rabidness of fans,
especially of the geek type. It ends up being a match tossed into a pile of greasy rags.
If I am going to complain this much about something I feel I should at least try to offer some constructive criticism or more to the point some ideas on how to alleviate this problem.
The hardest thing would to do would be to abandon Hall H alltogether. No more big name, big studio presentations or panels. As great as this sounds for the trouble it would remove it would also remove much of the fun from Comic-con. In other words, bad idea that no one will take me up on. It would be a waste of space as the hall cannot be split up into smaller and more manageable viewing areas.
With that idea in the trash, an idea that would have saved 11 people 31 years ago would be assigned tickets. You would be stuck with whatever you were given, but also you wouldn’t need to wait in line forever and not be able to get in. This would either be purchasable or handed out in a fair lottery. This would also have to go hand in hand with clearing out the hall after every event. Would you stay after the credits in a movie theater to see the next film? No, you don’t have that right. Nor would you have the right, because you were more psychotic and got in line during the wee hours of the morning, to be seated for the next hall presentation. This, in my mind, would only apply to Hall H as the other rooms as of yet do not have the issue of overcrowding.
I use the word yet there because for all the good a ticket system would be it would also create problems. Have you ever seen scalpers for concerts? Imagine the cash a front row seat selected by a lottery would go for, or for that matter the fights over such a coveted ticket. But let us say neither of these ended up being a problem. Where do all those people whom would normally be cooped up in Hall H go? Everywhere else to be frank about it. As it stands you can line up before a panel and be relatively assured a place to sit. If we double or triple the lines, using those displaced in this scenario, we only spread the problem around. The problem of space pushed many major showings (mostly of full length movies/anime) to the adjoining hotels this year. The convention center has run out of space.
Therefore we can come to only one conclusion: The San Diego Convention Center has outlived its usefulness. Just as a child needs new clothes one they grow up so too does Comic-Con need bigger clothes. If we fix one are, Hall H or other, we only push the problem out to outlying areas. As it stands the security detail can’t handle a simple scuffle let along a full fledged assault. Even at over 600k sq. ft. we geeks are bursting out of the place at the seams. Or we get cramped back down into place like a pressure cooker, amplifying frustration until we steam over and have one taken by paramedics, the other by police.
Now you have to wonder where to put all of us if not in San Diego. I think I might have a solution. The Anaheim Convention Center over boasts 800k sq. ft., with several halls that hold capacities double what is in San Diego. And that’s just the main floor, with two higher ones available. That’s an extra level over San Diego. I don’t think Anaheim would even mind me mentioning them, seeing as they have been rumored to be bidding for the move. And this was long before the stabbing that occurred this year.
So if is is true it can’t happen soon enough.
