E3 opened its doors to the public for the first time in its 23-year run last week. Gamers who had only dreamed of attending the massive trade show event could finally walk the show floor themselves, be among the first in the world to demo the biggest upcoming games, and maybe even meet a few of their heroes. While there’s no doubt many first-time attendees had fun, a lot of them also had to face some of the Electronic Entertainment Expo’s less glamorous realities: absurdly long lines, overwhelming crowds, overpriced food, the awful heat, the utter lack of places to sit and rest, terrible swag, and this year, something relatively new — the feeling that no one was really prepared for their arrival.
The spike in attendance lead to problems that event organizers were clearly not prepared for.
Game developers, publishers, press, and PR who have to attend E3 as part of their jobs were wary of the problems that an extra 15,000 people could bring to the event, and for the most part, they weren’t wrong. Unlike last year’s crowd of 50,300, E3 2017 welcomed 68,400 people through its doors and the notable spike in attendance was uncomfortably palpable: from the literal stampede of people sprinting onto the show floor the moment it opened on Tuesday to gridlocked walkways that made passing through crowds take three times longer than usual.
I didn’t talk to a single industry person who felt it was fair to turn their frustrations towards first-time attendees, who had traveled all across the world to be there, but the lack of accommodations for the 15,000 newcomers made their presence a notable strain. And that’s a problem event organizers need to solve. If E3 wants to continue welcoming the public, there are a number of things it could benefit from doing next time, to make the event a fun, safe, and comfortable experience for everybody — fans, exhibitors, and press included.
Here are a few.
To alleviate crowds for both press trying to do their jobs and fans who paid good money to travel out to LA and attend, E3 should have at least one industry-only day before opening up to the public. That way industry attendees can get at least a couple big show floor appointments out of the way before the crowds hit, without either group unintentionally getting in each other's way.
It felt strange that for one of E3’s most crowded years and the first time it welcomed this many non-industry attendees at once, it would have such lax security. The crowds going in and out of the show floor made it impossible for convention center employees to check badges. I often got through without so much as an acknowledgement from distracted door “guards,” even though I had my exhibitor badge on me at all times. Sneaking someone in without a badge would not have been hard. Bags were also never checked.
Badges were rarely checked at the doors.
This extreme negligence was in sharp contrast with EA Play’s event about seven miles away, which employed metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs for the far less crowded and laidback outdoor event following its press conference. It was also very unclear who and where attendees could turn to in the case of a medical or security emergency, thanks in part to the large and unmoving crowds. If E3 is to continue welcoming more and more public attendees in coming years, it needs to make greater and more visible efforts at keeping people safe.
When I heard E3 2017 would be open to the public, I worried about the people who were going to dump a ton of money into flying out and attending only to spend five hours a day standing in line to play a 10 minute demo. E3 did very little to actually accommodate the public except for selling 15,000 public passes. The E3 Coliseum at L.A. Live down the street was the closest thing to what future E3s should strive for: a series of fan-facing panels, conversations, and interviews outside of the press conferences and show floor offerings. More to do and see that doesn’t involve standing in a line would make public attendees’ days a lot more exciting, and have the added benefit of thinning out the show floor, since it wouldn’t be the only place with things going on.
Of course, most of the people who go to E3 are going for the games. Booths on the show floor could use more gaming stations to accommodate the larger numbers of people, so that everyone can get a chance to play something. A better system for keeping people in line while maintaining clear walkways would also provide a better (and safer) experience for everyone.
I’m not the kind of person who buys a ton of merchandise when I go to an event, but the game industry is pretty big on it. I imagine the people who flew out to LA last week would have loved to buy something to commemorate their first E3… and this is what they got.
Did you go to E3 for the first time this year? Share your experience with us in the comments!
Chloi Rad is an Associate Editor for IGN. Follow her on Twitter at @_chloi.
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