Author Topic: SDCC@HOME general Chat, Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?  (Read 20091 times)

Offline perc2100

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SDCC@HOME general Chat, Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« on: April 14, 2020, 01:36:32 PM »
In a recent SD Union Tribune article there is a brief mention that CCI is exploring the idea of "virtual Comic-Con:" an online experience featuring some sort of streaming & social media platforms.  Here's the article: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Here's the specific blurb about online Comic-Con (that may-or-may-not happen):
Quote
Comic-Con said Thursday it is still weighing its options and hopes to make an announcement soon. It is also exploring the possibility of an “online component” should the convention not take place, said spokesman David Glanzer.
I don't want to debate the good & bad: I think at this point we all know Comic-Con isn't going to happen in 2020 AS WE KNOW IT.  I don't want to get into policy since at least as far as we, the general public, know this is little more than "spit-balling" and we have no clue what CCI's policy will be in regards to the cancelation of physical SDCCI 2020, badge returns, etc.

What I _DO_ want to talk about are programming ideas.  I know of several arts & education (by trade as a music educator married to an arts education administrator) conventions that are being canceled in their physical medium and will instead take place online at a substantially cheaper rate (one I know if is typically $1200 and this summer will be $40 for an online version).

Instead of debating what we don't know about yet, or getting too depressed about the 'Promised Land' being canceled in the from we know it, let's have fun talking about what _COULD_ actually happen for us just 3+ months from today!

So what do you a) think is do-able & possible programming-wise b) what would you like to see?

* Autographs?!  Why not!  Obviously they'd be pre-signed and could still be 'raffled off' either for charity or via the good ol' online portal
* Panles?! Seems easy enough given how much the world will have been familiarized w/Zoom and other live-streaming services.  Some artists & companies can pre-record "panels" with pre-determined questions from a moderator of some sort.  Footage can be shown via encryption or whatnot: heck, nowadays many companies release footage immediately following the panel anyway so that might not even be an issue.  Fans could live-tweet questions, or maybe even use some other sort of live-meeting streaming app to ask a question from talent.
* Meet & Greets? Why not?!  Using Zoom or something organizers could set up something were online portal winners can win a pre-signed poster or something and get 15 or 20 seconds to say hi and get a personal chat with talent.  Would this take work, planning, etc?  Yes: a lot.  Can it be done? I think so
* Exclusives? Again, why not?!  Funco sold their WonderCon exclusives online last week to anyone there's no reason why other companies already planning (and potentially manufacturing) exclusives couldn't go about their business and do online sales: even keep it w/in the online portal to keep it truly exclusive to SDCCI badge-holders
* Artist Alley?  YES!  Artists could still sell their stuff, take sketch commissions, etc. online.  It would be more cumbersome, of course, and if you wanted, say, Marv Wolfman's signature you'd have to "settle" maybe for a poster of his choosing vs your Crisis On Infinite Earths #1 (which he signed for me at WonderCon 2019) but it's still something!
* Masquerade Ball? I think this could be done virtually.

What else am I missing as far as programming-wise?  Again, all of this would take meticulous planning, cooperation from all talent & companies involved, etc. but I think this could work pretty awesome.  Not 100% ideal, but maybe 100% ideal in the times of a lethal pandemic.  I've maintained for the last month and a half that as a local San Diego resident I'm going to feel like I NEED a celebration & release come late July.  This can be just as awesome, and not risk any lives!  There are going to be a plethora of changes when we come out of our social-distancing into a New World, and I think the sooner we realize things are going to be radically different (even if just for the next year & change until there's a vaccine), the better our piece-of-mind.

So: what would you like to see in a virtual Comic-Con?!


admin Aly: changed title to reflect the changing nature of this thread.
« Last Edit: July 20, 2020, 09:29:41 AM by alyssa »

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2020, 01:53:48 PM »
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* Autographs?!  Why not!  Obviously they'd be pre-signed and could still be 'raffled off' either for charity or via the good ol' online portal
* Panles?! Seems easy enough given how much the world will have been familiarized w/Zoom and other live-streaming services.  Some artists & companies can pre-record "panels" with pre-determined questions from a moderator of some sort.  Footage can be shown via encryption or whatnot: heck, nowadays many companies release footage immediately following the panel anyway so that might not even be an issue.  Fans could live-tweet questions, or maybe even use some other sort of live-meeting streaming app to ask a question from talent.
* Meet & Greets? Why not?!  Using Zoom or something organizers could set up something were online portal winners can win a pre-signed poster or something and get 15 or 20 seconds to say hi and get a personal chat with talent.  Would this take work, planning, etc?  Yes: a lot.  Can it be done? I think so
* Exclusives? Again, why not?!  Funco sold their WonderCon exclusives online last week to anyone there's no reason why other companies already planning (and potentially manufacturing) exclusives couldn't go about their business and do online sales: even keep it w/in the online portal to keep it truly exclusive to SDCCI badge-holders
* Artist Alley?  YES!  Artists could still sell their stuff, take sketch commissions, etc. online.  It would be more cumbersome, of course, and if you wanted, say, Marv Wolfman's signature you'd have to "settle" maybe for a poster of his choosing vs your Crisis On Infinite Earths #1 (which he signed for me at WonderCon 2019) but it's still something!
* Masquerade Ball? I think this could be done virtually.

Many of these things have happened at virtual cons that have already occurred due to covid.  The autographs don't have to be pre-signed.  You do a video chat with the celeb and they sign it during the video chat.  Then they mail it to you.  That video chat is the meet and greet.

There has already been a VR offsite at comic-con.  It happened a few years ago.  It was basically a VR mini-con.  They had panels, they had celebs to chat with, they had all that con stuff.

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Re: SDCC@HOME general Chat, Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #2 on: Today at 11:22:07 AM »

Offline perc2100

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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2020, 01:58:37 PM »
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Many of these things have happened at virtual cons that have already occurred due to covid.  The autographs don't have to be pre-signed.  You do a video chat with the celeb and they sign it during the video chat.  Then they mail it to you.  That video chat is the meet and greet.

There has already been a VR offsite at comic-con.  It happened a few years ago.  It was basically a VR mini-con.  They had panels, they had celebs to chat with, they had all that con stuff.
Very cool!  Didn't know that; thanks!

Offline marcia29

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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2020, 02:42:35 PM »
Virtual Hall H, and more with no lines.  24/7 exhibit hall and artist alley. The ability to be chosen to ask live questions and such. I would definitely be interested, and pay.
It is 2024, and I am still asking...where's my flyin' car??!! @fannishmarcia

Offline puppy

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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2020, 03:58:46 PM »
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Virtual Hall H, and more with no lines.  24/7 exhibit hall and artist alley. The ability to be chosen to ask live questions and such. I would definitely be interested, and pay.

There is no way I'd go if it were virtual. That would be the end of SDCC for me.

Offline marcia29

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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #5 on: April 14, 2020, 05:25:14 PM »
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There is no way I'd go if it were virtual. That would be the end of SDCC for me.

I would go do a virtual if that was the ONLY choice for this year, but, of course would prefer in person-- as always. 
It is 2024, and I am still asking...where's my flyin' car??!! @fannishmarcia

Offline hikanteki

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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #6 on: April 14, 2020, 06:14:16 PM »
Not my first choice, but probably better than nothing. I'd check it out. I might pay money for it (but not anything close to $300) if it helps keeps things running. I'm more likely to pay if they mail a badge and program book...including a swag bag would be nice too. In 2015 I couldn't go but I bought those things from eBay.
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Offline accelerate

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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2020, 06:37:46 PM »
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Not my first choice, but probably better than nothing. I'd check it out. I might pay money for it (but not anything close to $300) if it helps keeps things running. I'm more likely to pay if they mail a badge and program book...including a swag bag would be nice too. In 2015 I couldn't go but I bought those things from eBay.
Yeah, I’d pay too if I got some of those items as well. I’m a runner, and quite a few cancelled races offered virtual races. You run on your own (can even be an at-home treadmill), send in your time, and they’ll mail you a swag bag with tshirt / medal / other goodies. Yup, you’re basically paying for the swag. It’d be similar here where I might check out a few virtual panels, but I would be more or less paying for the novelty badge / bag / whatever other items.

Offline omraged9

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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2020, 07:25:57 PM »
I think half or more of the things listed would work out fine for a virtual con. The easiest is exclusives. I never understood the point of waiting hours in lines to buy products that could be easily shipped to people instead. I understand why for buyers who really want these products but I never understood the point of it for the sellers since it seems like an inefficient way to sell your product. With the artist gallery, it might be harder for artists to sell their items but it can still be done.

With the other half, the panels, autographs and meet & greets, I think the meet & greets and autographs part could work. Mailing autographs to fans is easy to do. I think trying to efficiently run the Zoom meet & greets would mean less fans talking to the celebs but maybe the conversations could be longer and that would be cooler that way. 15-20 second chats would be too short, each fan could probably chat for 3-5 minutes instead which actually would make the virtual con experience possibly better than the actual CCI experience since the CCI m&gs tend to be the 15-20 sec type.

I think panels are the part that seem the least worthwhile of a virtual con. At least to me, anyway. The main appeal of comic con panels is seeing the celebs in person. When celebs promote their projects, they do interviews and participate in general panels all the time and we can watch these interviews and panels online easily. There's really nothing special about a virtual con panel compared to these typical interviews and panels.

Offline TardisMom

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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2020, 07:40:23 PM »
I think a virtual con is a fantastic way for SDCC to provide content to fans while they're unable to provide the in-person convention.  I can't even imagine the amount of pressure they're under now, with the con being such a big part of so many businesses' and individual's livelihood.  I'll appreciate whatever they can do to help the vendors, etc., while providing all of us with at least a bit of programming while we make our way through this tough time.

I know CCI isn't perfect, and we all hate the hotel sale and having feedback ignored at the talkback session, but they're clearly in uncharted waters and doing the best they can.  And I can't imagine they won't either refund or rollover badges in addition to whatever they do virtually.  And I'd be happy to pay a fee to participate in a virtual con.  Not $300, but if I can provide some funding to assist in their efforts, and to help them return in future years, I'm good with that.

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #10 on: April 14, 2020, 07:41:43 PM »
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I think panels are the part that seem the least worthwhile of a virtual con. At least to me, anyway. The main appeal of comic con panels is seeing the celebs in person. When celebs promote their projects, they do interviews and participate in general panels all the time and we can watch these interviews and panels online easily. There's really nothing special about a virtual con panel compared to these typical interviews and panels.

I agree about seeing celebs in person.  That's why I loved Conival so much.  The celebs were living room close.

At comic-con though, in a big room seeing them as more than a blurry smudge off in the distance is only for people in the first few rows.  Especially in Hall H.  Most people in Hall H watch the panel on one of the screens.  I find it particularly funny that people take selfies of themselves with the screen in the background.  No offense to anyone here that does that. ;)

So how is watching the panels virtually that much different from watching it on a screen in a big hall?  They could set up something in VR where you are watching the panel on a big VR screen surrounded by other people watching it in VR.  People watch movies in VR like that already.  The effect is convincing including shushing people.  You can also mute them but that takes away from the group experience.

Personally, since I'm at the offsites all day, I watch a lot of the panels after the fact at home anyways.

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And I'd be happy to pay a fee to participate in a virtual con.  Not $300, but if I can provide some funding to assist in their efforts, and to help them return in future years, I'm good with that.

If they charge for it, I very much doubt it will cost close to $300.  $30 would be on the high side.  The cost to do all this would be much lower.  At the same time, the audience can be much bigger than the 100,000 people that can go to San Diego for comic-con.  Lower fixed cost spread over a larger audience.

I'm glad people are coming around.  When I brought up virtual comic-con a few weeks ago, people were not enthusiastic.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2020, 07:51:53 PM by chocolateshake »

Offline TardisMom

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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #11 on: April 14, 2020, 07:53:31 PM »
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I'm glad people are coming around.  When I brought up virtual comic-con a few weeks ago, people were not enthusiastic.

We're slowly adapting to our new reality  :)

Offline hikanteki

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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #12 on: April 14, 2020, 08:18:09 PM »
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So how is watching the panels virtually that much different from watching it on a screen in a big hall? 

It’s a world of difference. Watching panels in a room full of hundreds-to-thousands of fans and feeling the excitement in the room, actually being in the same room with the guests and hearing their voice in person even if you’re not in the first few rows (not every room is Hall H...and even B20 near the back isn’t bad) and in many cases seeing first to fans footage or episodes on a much bigger screen, or on multiple much bigger screens like they have in most of the big rooms. Of course, if they can set something up in actual VR that will get closer to this than just streaming.
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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2020, 09:03:26 PM »
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So how is watching the panels virtually that much different from watching it on a screen in a big hall?  They could set up something in VR where you are watching the panel on a big VR screen surrounded by other people watching it in VR.  People watch movies in VR like that already.  The effect is convincing including shushing people.  You can also mute them but that takes away from the group experience.


It is night and day. I come for the whole experience: the hotel, the waiting in Hall H line, the food, the cosplay, the people, the jostling to get a better seat. Seeing a panel is but one tiny part of everything.

Offline frgx

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Re: Virtual SD Comic-Con Programming?
« Reply #14 on: April 15, 2020, 01:35:29 AM »
It'll be interesting to see how this works out--

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