MAGFest 2020 feedback

When I came to MAGFest last year, one of my favorite parts of the event was everywhere I went more often then not people were just playing various video game/anime music in the halls. It was something I was really looking forward to this year, so when I didn't see or hear people playing music much anywhere I was both confused and disappointed.

It took me a good hour or so to find anyone playing music in the halls. When I finally did I was ecstatic and sat down to listen... but not even 10 minutes later a couple of staff members came over and told him to stop because there's apparently been a rule recently that people are only allowed to only allowed to play music at jamspaces or labeled jampod areas.

From what I understand and was told, this rule was put into place because a lot of people in the hotel rooms found it hard to sleep at night. Which I find understandable but the restricting music being played to jampods created more issues then it solved afaik. The areas had a rule  that people were only allowed to take up an area for 20 minutes, then afterwards they were required to give up their spot, a rule that was rarely enforced. Through the 3 days I was at the event there was only one night from what I remember where the jampods near the concert hall were NOT taken up by people blasting mainstream dubstep the entire time. The only other option as far as I saw was the acoustic only jampod in front of the artist alley, where the rock band station right in front of the jampod would drown out the jampod music entirely. My opinion on the music being played aside no one was going to tell them to stop after 20 minutes. Let's face it, we're a giant community of socially awkward people, who for the most part aren't willing to be confrontational. Hell, even ignoring the social awkwardness, no one wants to be “that guy” and force them to stop and ruin all their fun.

I can imagine people would be much more willing to play if they weren't forced to only play in such a forced, restrictive setting. So I personally feel like there needs to be a better compromise. Maybe just have it so music can only be played on areas with carpet on them for example. The jampods were right near those edges anyways so it shouldn't cause an issue with hotel guests being kept awake by the music.

As for the issue people may or may not have with the dubstep music djs and the dancers taking up so much space in the walkways, you could always require djs to only be able to play in certain rooms. Though I feel like a better solution is to encourage them to play in certain areas that better suit their needs. I remember there was that giant Persona RP dance night thing in a big ballroom for example, which would make for a really good space for people to both blast dance music and dance to it to their heart's content.

PS: Bring Squid Sisters + Off the Hook to MAGFest 2021 thanks a bunch