San Diego Con (4-day badges sell out in < 4hrs)

[BobBretall]

On the other hand, TicketLeap does seem to have managed to sell *all* of the tickets already. All of the 4 day and all of the single day tickets are listed as sold out. So while it wasn't a painless process, it does seem to have done the job.

Sure as long as you don't worry about things like customer satisfaction.

I can attest to it being a VERY painful & frustrating process, but since it was the only method available you had to put up with it. When you have a monopoly little things like customer services don't seem to matter that much (Diamond is another example of this in the comics world).

I'll be wearing my "FailFrog" pin at con this year.

[atomic99]

@Atomic99... I don't consider myself being troll-like or doing a 'drive-by' in my description of my experience with obtaining tickets. (I'll restrain myself from future posts.)

My apologies if my comment offended you. I don't think I was directing it so much toward your post but just reacting to the groups in general out there who dog on Comic-Con and the experience once you are there without having ever gone.

[atomic99]

On the other hand, TicketLeap does seem to have managed to sell *all* of the tickets already. All of the 4 day and all of the single day tickets are listed as sold out. So while it wasn't a painless process, it does seem to have done the job.

Certainly the process for getting tickets sucked. And if you were trying for 5 hours, nothing worse than being denied tickets. But if the overall goal was to move the tickets, the job was done. And on that level, that is why I can't be calling this an "Epic Fail". (But since I wasn't one of the folks trying for tickets, people are more than welcome to chalk it up to me just talking out of my arse again).


What if the process was quick and painless? You would probably only get half the complaints of the 250+ I read on their Facebook page (yes, I sat there and read them all). Those complaining about the process, got a beef. But the truth of the matter is you got more people than tickets so many of those folks are going to be pissed off anyways.

Comic-Con has been in this upward spiral where they have to continue to grow in order to pay the bills. With the number capped, the bills still go up. I wonder if it is possible for them to decrease the numbers, keep the same place, and still pay the bills? Certainly, a return to focusing on comics and eliminating any Hollywood panels not associated with comics might reduce the numbers.

[GABE!]

I'm still trying to figure out why in the world this year's con is so popular. The instant sell out is astounding to me. This will be my ninth year in a row that I've gone and there has never been a problem getting tickets before. I remember being able to go to the convention center the day of the show, wait in line and be able to get a 4 day pass. Last year I waited till the end of october to buy my passes, and at that time the tickets where already being sold for months.

Here's some of the ideas people from the comic shop had mentioned to me.

Was it all the talk about Comic-con uprooting from San Diego? I doubt it, since San Diego has been able to commit SDCC for many the next 5 years.

Is it the anticipated movie and t.v announcements? There has been no mention of what, if any Avengers or other comic related panels will be there.

So I'm still unable to wrap my mind around this surge of popularity for SDCC. Like I said before, if this hassle becomes the norm I'm out of SDCC and will travel for a more well put together con, where I don't have to wait in hour long lines for just tickets.

[BobBretall]

What if the process was quick and painless? You would probably only get half the complaints of the 250+ I read on their Facebook page (yes, I sat there and read them all). Those complaining about the process, got a beef. But the truth of the matter is you got more people than tickets so many of those folks are going to be pissed off anyways.

I spent 3 hours trying to get a ticket. It was NOT fun.

Did the job get done? Sure. As long as you only consider the end goal and not the inconvenience to ~100,000 people, sure it was all peachy keen.

And if you were not sitting there for 3 hrs hitting "screen refresh" while the TicketLeap site failed to perform, I can see how you can have a really philosophical opinion about it.

My point is that there ARE ticket sellers who have demonstrated competence in selling mass quantities of tickets. Con KNEW they would have massive demand after the past 2 failures and STILL chose to go with a vendor that had zero demonstrated ability to perform under the conditions they knew would happen.

So, Con made a choice that inconvenienced a VAST number of people, cost tens of thousands of wasted hours for loyal fans. THAT, in my opinion, cannot be considered a triumph, whether the tickets ended up selling or not.

It was an EPIC FAIL in them giving a s**t about their fans and respecting their time, if nothing else.

[BobBretall]

So I'm still unable to wrap my mind around this surge of popularity for SDCC. Like I said before, if this hassle becomes the norm I'm out of SDCC and will travel for a more well put together con, where I don't have to wait in hour long lines for just tickets.

And every comic fan like Gabe that leaves SDCC in disgust to attend some other comic con will be replaced by someone who wants to attend to see the Hollywood stuff.

THAT is what bothers me most.

I've been going for 20 years, but maybe it's time to rename the thing "Media Con International" since Comics get less and less emphasis every year.

[atomic99]

Sure, the Hitler thing has been overdone but I thought this was cute...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AatE2Iklw3g

[JohnMayo]

I spent 3 hours trying to get a ticket. It was NOT fun.

Did the job get done? Sure. As long as you only consider the end goal and not the inconvenience to ~100,000 people, sure it was all peachy keen.

And if you were not sitting there for 3 hrs hitting "screen refresh" while the TicketLeap site failed to perform, I can see how you can have a really philosophical opinion about it.

My point is that there ARE ticket sellers who have demonstrated competence in selling mass quantities of tickets. Con KNEW they would have massive demand after the past 2 failures and STILL chose to go with a vendor that had zero demonstrated ability to perform under the conditions they knew would happen.

So, Con made a choice that inconvenienced a VAST number of people, cost tens of thousands of wasted hours for loyal fans. THAT, in my opinion, cannot be considered a triumph, whether the tickets ended up selling or not.

It was an EPIC FAIL in them giving a s**t about their fans and respecting their time, if nothing else.

Nobody is claiming the experience was fun or any sort of triumph. Or that is wasn't a insanely painful experience. Or that Comic-Con should not have picked a vendor that is geared more towards small events. I posted a number of things from the TicketLeap website that would made me seriously question them as a viable vendor.

All we are saying is that they did manage to sell the tickets which is far better than having had the entire system completely collapse and no tickets sold at all. The bottom line is that you do have a ticket for Comic-Con.

I think we are all in agreement that the system could have and should have worked better. Much, much better. I completely agree that the situation was completely predictable and a vendor that could easily handle a high traffic load during a very short window of time should have been chosen.

[GABE!]

So I'm still unable to wrap my mind around this surge of popularity for SDCC. Like I said before, if this hassle becomes the norm I'm out of SDCC and will travel for a more well put together con, where I don't have to wait in hour long lines for just tickets.

And every comic fan like Gabe that leaves SDCC in disgust to attend some other comic con will be replaced by someone who wants to attend to see the Hollywood stuff.

THAT is what bothers me most.

I've been going for 20 years, but maybe it's time to rename the thing "Media Con International" since Comics get less and less emphasis every year.

The big Hollywood stuff never bothers me. There are tons of comic related stuff there, and it's easy to avoid the media blitz. I try to spend most of my time in artist alley or at the vendors area ( which are on completely opposite ends of the huge con) mainly so I can avoid the video game and hollywood booths. But those who are there just for the movie stuff are the reason the con is so crowded. When a big hollywood panel starts the hall becomes less shoulder to shoulder. But I'm not going to be happy if I have to waste my convention time to stand in line for hours for tickets, and I may never get the tickets. The unprepared organizers of this show is what will squeeze people like me away. Cause if I can't get next year's tickets at the show, I will not spend my day playing the refresh game.

[atomic99]

This was posted on the Cosplay.com site. I don't know how accurate it is but that is a lot of traffic although I've read many a story of people using multiple computers yesterday....

"It was released that Ticketleap had over 33 million hits, most in a 6 hour period. Even if only 5% of that was unique visitors, that's over 1.65 million people trying for 130,000 spots (probably less due to onsite pre-regs). Less than 1 in 10 people will get a ticket. Even if the system worked flawlessly, that would've meant everything would've been sold out in probably less than 30 minutes and you would still have 1.42 million angry/disappointed/wtfitsoldoutfast! people."

[Trev]

@Atomic99... I don't consider myself being troll-like or doing a 'drive-by' in my description of my experience with obtaining tickets. (I'll restrain myself from future posts.)

My apologies if my comment offended you. I don't think I was directing it so much toward your post but just reacting to the groups in general out there who dog on Comic-Con and the experience once you are there without having ever gone.

There are *a lot* of people who hate on comic-con and have never been. This doesn't help that, but I know what atomic99 means.

[atomic99]

Cause if I can't get next year's tickets at the show, I will not spend my day playing the refresh game.

As much as it seems like I'm defending Comic-Con in this thread, I'm probably in the same boat. I always have fun at Comic-Con but the experience with the crowds and lines has made this much less enjoyable than 10 years ago. Although it might push me to do more art and get on the Pro list since that seems to be the path of least resistance lately.

[Trev]

Comic-Con has been in this upward spiral where they have to continue to grow in order to pay the bills. With the number capped, the bills still go up. I wonder if it is possible for them to decrease the numbers, keep the same place, and still pay the bills? Certainly, a return to focusing on comics and eliminating any Hollywood panels not associated with comics might reduce the numbers.

Only if you double the price and piss off 2x as many folks. I think the SDCC folks are steadfast in their belief that SDCC should be for as many people as want to go, and would like to keep it as affordable as possible.

The only way they discourage that is to separate what has become the industry/media convention from the comic collector/fan convention. And that would mean 2 different cons -- one with like a $400 price tag and the other with like a $75 price tag.

That seems like a loss for everybody though.

[BobBretall]

"It was released that Ticketleap had over 33 million hits, most in a 6 hour period. Even if only 5% of that was unique visitors, that's over 1.65 million people trying for 130,000 spots (probably less due to onsite pre-regs).

I'm guessing that 5% as "unique visitors" is being really generous. I generated 100s of hits just by myself trying to get in.

Still I think it's fair to say 50% of the people trying didn't get a ticket, and that does not even count all the people who were not so "on the ball" with the process to be going at the site in the small window when the tickets were available.

[LA Rabbit]

I thought it was an extremely painful process as well. I got to a confirmation screen but I am still not entirely confident that I will have tickets. I ended up with just getting Saturday and Sunday tickets for 2 people because it kept showing 4 day passes sold out and I didn't want to risk not buying them and missing out.

I agree that they should have just used ticketmaster and I am not a big fan. Except for those people that live in San Diego, going to the con costs some money so an extra $20 or so in fees is worth it.

I should have went last year but I was trying a new system of every other year but now I guess you have to buy them at the con which means going every year. Of course with my first day being Saturday, I hope they are NOT sold out by then but I am worried.

The whole thing has really changed and unfortunately they are not adapting quickly. If you want a laugh go to the
http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_hotel.php
Where they announce that they will have travel and hotel information for 2011 soon. I hate to break it to you but good luck finding a hotel room near the con at this point. It is getting so you have to book your hotel a year in advance as well. Admittedly my wife only wants to stay at the Grand Hyatt so our options are more limited than most. I am curious to see what hotels they are going to post?

I always have fun at SDCC but I just wish it wasn't such a future committment. I wonder if they could do some special exclusive Hollywood 1 day thing the week before that would drain off all the movie stuff. Make it very expensive and that way only the company people would go. I don't know. Still excited that I am going, I just wish I had done better advance planning. Luck favors the prepared.