Suggestion: Earlier start of big compo nights
category: parties [glöplog]
My lifestyle has changed significantly over the last 5 years and this has had quite some impact on my enjoyment of demoparties. I've really only been to one party this year (Revision) and found the experience exhausting, which had fall out for like a week after the party.
In such a way that I'm legit doubting if I'm going to Revision 2025, which also makes me kinda sad. cause I love hanging out with all of you people.
Some of the issues are definitely of my own doing (I _really_ need to do my stretches in the morning and work out more) but some or also because of how the party is setup. And I don't really want to change the party and maybe I'm just old/not able to fully participate how I want. But if I find myself looking at my watch at 23:00 wishing I could go to my hotel, that sucks :(
Don't know where I'm going with this, I think I just miss all of you and find demoparties harder to connect with people than before. Maybe I;m just sad cause the world is so on fire.
I really hope I can find a way to go to Revision _and enjoy it_!
In such a way that I'm legit doubting if I'm going to Revision 2025, which also makes me kinda sad. cause I love hanging out with all of you people.
Some of the issues are definitely of my own doing (I _really_ need to do my stretches in the morning and work out more) but some or also because of how the party is setup. And I don't really want to change the party and maybe I'm just old/not able to fully participate how I want. But if I find myself looking at my watch at 23:00 wishing I could go to my hotel, that sucks :(
Don't know where I'm going with this, I think I just miss all of you and find demoparties harder to connect with people than before. Maybe I;m just sad cause the world is so on fire.
I really hope I can find a way to go to Revision _and enjoy it_!
Oh dang, sorry for sniping you QM, go read their post on the last page if you missed it.
Cause in the end it's a demoparty, and while dj sets and gigs are awesome to break up the party a bit and have some nice dancing opportunities. I mean goddamn, Gasman's gig at Evoke 2022 felt like people letting the fuck GO for the first time after pandemic and the energy was amazing! But inherently it's not part of the culture.
Party organizers are of course free to fill out their party to do whatever they want, but it might cause people to choose if they want to go or not. There are no binary solutions to any of this, this is just people talking about experiencing parties.
I find it nice to read how people experience parties, hopefully it gives me some insight on how I can experience parties better in my current state.
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Deadline 2024 had so many requests of people WANTING to do a live set, why cut that short?
Cause in the end it's a demoparty, and while dj sets and gigs are awesome to break up the party a bit and have some nice dancing opportunities. I mean goddamn, Gasman's gig at Evoke 2022 felt like people letting the fuck GO for the first time after pandemic and the energy was amazing! But inherently it's not part of the culture.
Party organizers are of course free to fill out their party to do whatever they want, but it might cause people to choose if they want to go or not. There are no binary solutions to any of this, this is just people talking about experiencing parties.
I find it nice to read how people experience parties, hopefully it gives me some insight on how I can experience parties better in my current state.
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Cause in the end it's a demoparty, and while dj sets and gigs are awesome to break up the party a bit and have some nice dancing opportunities. But inherently it's not part of the culture.
well, it's not like there were 5 dj sets that were holding back the compos. ;)
All this "extra" stuff taking more and more time in the schedule and "less demo more party" is what drove me away from those. Zu viel Milch, zu wenig Kakao.
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Quote:Cause in the end it's a demoparty, and while dj sets and gigs are awesome to break up the party a bit and have some nice dancing opportunities. But inherently it's not part of the culture.
well, it's not like there were 5 dj sets that were holding back the compos. ;)
Yeah, this wasn't necessarily about deadline 2024, but more about the comment that 'so many people want to do a dj set, why deprave them from that!' at a demoparty.
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Only relatively more "extra" stuff. The core demo stuff remained the same in absolute terms.All this "extra" stuff taking more and more time in the schedule and "less demo more party" is what drove me away from those. Zu viel Milch, zu wenig Kakao.
But i can understand that this amount of constanoise can be grating.
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Only relatively more "extra" stuff. The core demo stuff remained the same in absolute terms.
Sure. But the extra stuff appears to become a more and more important aspect - and i am only willing to take so much "dj set" or "concert"...noise indeed (and its not even noise as in volume - i find it almost creepy how silent those parties have become at night for that matter)
well you are welcome to do your puritarian demoscene copyparty without any of the pesky "extra stuff" just like used to be in the good 'ole dayz. But with democonpo at 6 so everyone can get the last bus home.
v3nom: keep in mind that the part of the crowd that does appreciate your efforts is unlikely to comment in a thread like this
havoc: yeah, you're absolutely right of course. Also lot's of people lamenting here probably don't even go to demoparties anyways and just shout at clouds from their sofas. It's frustrating nevertheless.
and also the takeaway message doesn't contain 'without'
Great thread, many insightful points and perspectives.
To me, both compos starting late and being very long are the main issues. I especially (hopefully correctly) remember the evening/night main compo blocks at Revision 2023 and 2024 to be close to painful to follow at times – even without an exhausting day of physical activity prior, and without sitting more-or-less drunk on the sticky floor, gazing at the big screen.
As others have said, such challenging circumstances negatively impact attendance, attention to, appreciation of, voting for, and discussion of the releases. This applies both to being on location as well as at home watching the stream (at least for those in a very similar timezone as the party schedule). A disservice to both creators and the audience. Less content is more here.
I can also understand the (even relatively few?) calls for a bit less action. I fondly remember many DJ sets, both in the early evening and well past midnight. And I continue to enjoy shader battles a lot. However, I wonder where we actually got the time for that, given that especially Revision pretty much always felt like it had a pretty packed schedule with many compos, live acts, seminars and the 5k run. Or rather, I wonder if that path of so many events is still the way to go. It's not like most sceners can't enjoy themselves somehow for a few hours at a gathering of sceners and their hardware.
Anyway. Looking forward to any quality of life changes this whole discussion will bring.
To me, both compos starting late and being very long are the main issues. I especially (hopefully correctly) remember the evening/night main compo blocks at Revision 2023 and 2024 to be close to painful to follow at times – even without an exhausting day of physical activity prior, and without sitting more-or-less drunk on the sticky floor, gazing at the big screen.
As others have said, such challenging circumstances negatively impact attendance, attention to, appreciation of, voting for, and discussion of the releases. This applies both to being on location as well as at home watching the stream (at least for those in a very similar timezone as the party schedule). A disservice to both creators and the audience. Less content is more here.
I can also understand the (even relatively few?) calls for a bit less action. I fondly remember many DJ sets, both in the early evening and well past midnight. And I continue to enjoy shader battles a lot. However, I wonder where we actually got the time for that, given that especially Revision pretty much always felt like it had a pretty packed schedule with many compos, live acts, seminars and the 5k run. Or rather, I wonder if that path of so many events is still the way to go. It's not like most sceners can't enjoy themselves somehow for a few hours at a gathering of sceners and their hardware.
Anyway. Looking forward to any quality of life changes this whole discussion will bring.
Also shout-out to groepaz. Those early Revisions with you were fun :)
I think some of the issues with late-running compo blocks, extra events such as DJ sets etc, are less appreciated from a sofa -scener pov.
Sofa-Sceners may be stuck in the 'normal' world and not working with a post-midnight 'party timescale'. So more likely to switch off if running much later than scheduled.
Also a DJ set would be more intensely enjoyed in a live party setting, rather than through a small screen and speakers at home.
Sofa-Sceners may be stuck in the 'normal' world and not working with a post-midnight 'party timescale'. So more likely to switch off if running much later than scheduled.
Also a DJ set would be more intensely enjoyed in a live party setting, rather than through a small screen and speakers at home.
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havoc: yeah, you're absolutely right of course. Also lot's of people lamenting here probably don't even go to demoparties anyways and just shout at clouds from their sofas. It's frustrating nevertheless.
What a weird takeaway from this thread. There are quite some active partygoers in this thread and it feels very dismissive of any opinions given here.
Please keep doing what you do, I only hear positive things about deadline, nobody was shitting on your party.
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I think some of the issues with late-running compo blocks, extra events such as DJ sets etc, are less appreciated from a sofa -scener pov.
Sofa-Sceners may be stuck in the 'normal' world and not working with a post-midnight 'party timescale'. So more likely to switch off if running much later than scheduled.
Also a DJ set would be more intensely enjoyed in a live party setting, rather than through a small screen and speakers at home.
Eh.. tbh a demoparty is for the irl visitors first and the stream second. Call me old-fashioned, but I still find a party stream a luxury :)
Reading this post with a step back, it's a bit funny guys, like we're all getting too old :) But I must say lack of sleep and intense activity is what put me away from demoparties. I remember the latest Breakpoint where it took me almost 1 week to recover from noise/no sleep/ ... and it partly ruined the whole experience/memories.
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Yeah..I know the compo organizers would love to have more time and all… but from a dramaturgical perspective, it makes absolutely no sense to break the crowd-vibe at its peak right before the demo compo starts.
This sounds as if there was serious push back from (Revision) compo organizers about this. From my experience with the PC compos at Revision this is simply not correct. We (PC compo) were usually ready whenever we needed to be ready. Delays were usually not caused by late entries or anything like that, but most of the time by other factors outside our control.
My 50 cent: I personally don't really care much about any live sets and would be happy to have those after the main compo blocks.
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Eh.. tbh a demoparty is for the irl visitors first and the stream second
Not disagreeing with you Okkie. Just identifying another potential source of issues with the late running aspect.
Major problem appears to be with late running from the published schedule, then cumulative delays pushing later events, concerts compo blocks further and further back.
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Also a DJ set would be more intensely enjoyed in a live party setting, rather than through a small screen and speakers at home.
Not really, as you can't turn down the volume or mute it at the party.
Just as an example for how quickly delays can creep in, taking this year's Revision Sunday and estimating from compos and timelapse on YouTube:
16:00: 2 hour compo block. Actually 3 hours (entries + pee/drink breaks).
18:00: 2 hour compo block. Actual duration roughly 2 hours, too.
20:00: DJ set. Almost 2 hours for concert including buildup and teardown.
22:00: final compo block. A bit over 3 hours. By now it's probably about 2:00.
16:00: 2 hour compo block. Actually 3 hours (entries + pee/drink breaks).
18:00: 2 hour compo block. Actual duration roughly 2 hours, too.
20:00: DJ set. Almost 2 hours for concert including buildup and teardown.
22:00: final compo block. A bit over 3 hours. By now it's probably about 2:00.
If you took the DJ set out that would still be 8 hours of compos. And having them all back to back would feel pretty much crammed, even with the usual breaks.
Revision is exceptional though. No other party gets that many entries.
And personally I'd prefer the 8 hour back to back compo wave over having the DJ set in there and things ending at 2. I love compos!
And personally I'd prefer the 8 hour back to back compo wave over having the DJ set in there and things ending at 2. I love compos!
Yeah, for me as well compos are the thing and everything else is extra. DJ sets in particular I'd like to have after the compos, because it would be both a chance to dance the excitement away and a chance to watch the compos with relatively sober and fresh head and then go sleep the excitement off. It's not fun to nod off during demos I want to see because it's just too long and someone played music that I didn't find that appealing for two hours.
Geriatric nap rooms as a party feature?
Geriatric nap rooms as a party feature?
Too many demo entries are of course a luxury problem for most parties.
Since our small society also has a problem finding new talents, it is of course difficult not to show newcomer contributions.
I remember one Mekka/Symposium where the demo compo was split in two parts: first the better 20 or so demos, then the ‘rest’ afterwards in 2nd block. But that had a strange flavour, too.
Since our small society also has a problem finding new talents, it is of course difficult not to show newcomer contributions.
I remember one Mekka/Symposium where the demo compo was split in two parts: first the better 20 or so demos, then the ‘rest’ afterwards in 2nd block. But that had a strange flavour, too.
