Not everyone is cut out for the glamor and magic that PAX Prime embodies and some even have come up with lists why they are glad they didn't have to attend...like Scary Booster. See why Scary feels this way and then leave your thoughts in the comments.

I don’t mind not going to events like PAX. Why would I want to mingle with all those developers and fellow gamers in a hot convention center? Why would I want to take pictures of really cool people dressed up in Halloween costumes when I can just wait until Halloween itself and get free candy? Why would I want bags of swag instead of already chewed Charleston Chews? I know, it doesn’t make any sense to want to go to something like PAX. Thank you, but no thank you!

Read more of Scary Booster's Very Scary: PAX-Less.

This had me laughing so hard.

Because it's true, unless you live near pax or any huge event like this just don't go.

The cost to get those 50 serial key cards/figurines/chocobaloons with real fairy's in them are way more demanind.

I still find crappy anime stickers and toys from previous com con/pax events in the ECS.

I have a problem ok? I hoard swag. I've hoarded it since 1998 and I don't plan to stop...I still have 5 cd's of "Sounds of Slashdot" from ecs 2000.

As a matter of fact... I have a bunch of pre release burning crusade keys if anyone wants them? Lol.

I'd like to go to a major gaming convention primarily because I've never been to a convention before.

The thing that'd really turn me off though would be sexual harassment of other people. :(

If PAX is just about the video games and swag to you, then yeah it's not going to be worth it.

There's a lot more to PAX than just those two things, and you'll never know what they are until you're on the third floor next to the escalator playing cards against humanity with your wife, your two best friends, some random guy, and a Male to Female Tranny.

lol @ the satire. To the person who wrote this article (and MMORPG.com in general), come down to the level of the average gamer. The average person who goes to PAX doesn't get to experience 90% of the crap you listed there. They don't have access to the devs like you do, the devs aren't interested in talking to them and getting to know them and on the rare occasion you get to rub elbows with anyone there's a ~really~ good chance they're pretty low on the totem pole. Contests are like winning the lottery and exclusive information? Not even GW2 info was worth the price I paid on airfare and food while out there, and it would have been more if I didn't get to stay with a friend. But yes, the swag was nice. The shirt materials are cheap as hell but everyone and their mother was giving them out, so I'm still going through them.

I went to PAX, I stayed for my friend; I had a better time hanging out with him than either of us did with anything we did at PAX. Sure, the first day was pretty awe-inspiring, but we were new to the whole convention thing. By day 2 we realized we spent more time walking around and waiting in lines than actually doing anything and the only time we got to talk to anyone, it was because we were getting pitched a product. Not including the Turbine folks trying to get people to care about DDO in their little corner while GW2 was going on 2 feet away (wasn't the best idea on Turbine's part. It was so empty not even the employees stuck around). We ended up giving our weekend passes away and went shopping in Chinatown instead.

I'm coming off as a bit of a party pooper, I know, but the sarcasm dripping from the article does so with drool over an experience those without the backstage passes are very unlikely to have. I'm sure it also does so because conventions in general are shrinking, which means lost revenue, so of course, time to advertise! But in any case, like someone else said, these conventions are a waste of time and money unless you already live near them. Even then, it's debateable. You'd be better off just looking at the cosplayers on Kotaku when the pictures get posted. Those of us who've gotten close enough to get bowled over by the BO know it's the better option (not that you can blame them, the convention center really is hot as balls).