The Beginning of the Game Expo: "Bump In"

Friday, March 10, 2023

• Lots of communication through the staff discord server

• Bump in and the orientation were both optional for volunteers, however there was a high turnout of those volunteering

• Lots of passionate individuals - many have already volunteered previously at other game conventions. This was the first time that "The Game Expo" was running

• Range of ages amongst volunteers (18-50+). Different cultural backgrounds and ethnicities too. However, it was definitely more male dominated, (80/20 ratio amongst men and women volunteering)

• "Bump in" (setting up of the event) was when attendees also came the day before to collect their passes if they didn't want to wait on the day. This was an opportunity to interact with attendees before the convention had started as this was the area I predominantly helped out in for the day. I arrived around 3:30pm and helped until 9pm.

-> Received volunteer badge/lanyard, and volunteer t-shirt

• Also helped with setting up chairs, tables, PC monitors.

• Orientation was at 7pm

-> Staff/Organizers gave us a rundown of the event, expected attendee numbers, etc

-> Sense of a team

-> Team leads: all men, over the age of 25 and all have previous volunteering experience

-> No more than 10 women volunteering that I could tell of during the orientation (excluding staff)

-> Tour of the convention, the areas, etc

-> Highly introverted group. Some volunteers were loud, but most were quiet.

-> Peculiar smell in the room, staff asked volunteers to shower and use deodorant .. lol

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I had arrived at the venue at around 3:30pm - The Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre. I've been to a few conventions before, however, I've never been 'behind the scenes', let alone as a volunteer. I didn't know what to expect. I've been to comic con and PAX however this was a new convention - I had no expectations for how it was going to turn out to be like. The expo itself was to begin the day after, on Saturday the 11th of March. This was a day purely for setup of stalls, and areas of play within the convention.

When I arrived at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, I was slightly confused on where to go, mainly because I had not been here many times before, besides PAX in October last year. This is when I headed over to pass collection, where many attendees were going to collect their own weekend or day passes for the convention. I was then explaining that I was a volunteer, and those behind the bench gave me my volunteer pass, and a Hi-Vis vest. However, I was not told what to do or where to go. So, I went up to another worker who I had seen (another volunteer), and they then directed me to Vot - the brains behind the convention. She then gave me a rundown of everything after showing me where the Volunteer headquarters were, and then asked for me to help at pass collection.

This is when I realized that I am actually quite a shy person. Vot gave me another run down on how to scan QR codes with their POS-like system, and then until 7pm I was scanning QR codes and handing out passes to those coming to the convention in the coming days. For the first few hours, it was quite low and not busy at all at pass collection, while, most of the other volunteers were busy with heavy lifting, moving tables and chairs inside of the expo hall. Shortly after, I noticed a friend of mine had arrived, who also happened to be volunteering at the games expo this weekend. I scanned his QR code, gave him his lanyard, or 'badge' and a Hi-Vis vest, and then messaged Vot to let her know that another Volunteer had arrived so she could collect him and give them a rundown of everything like she had done for me.

Apart of helping out at the front desk for visitors collection passes was the familiarisation of the pass types, and what comes with each pass. It reminded me of my old customer service job in hospitality. It was quite repetitive too. Creators, Media, and VIPs all had blue colour coded passes. Regular attendees, had Green, Red and Yellow. Which, I noticed that all the colours are connected to the conventions colours. Volunteer passes were black - this was the same as for exhibitors.

TGX Pass Types

As it started to get busier at the front desk/information centre with guests collecting their passes, it was time to head over to the volunteer orientation. I was met with a diverse group of people. All of different ages, cultural backgrounds, and genders. One thing that I had noticed, however, was how the group consisted of men, mainly. The split between women who were volunteering, and men, was extremely noticeable. This then made me reflect on gender diversity and equality within the games industry and community. Within games, women are commonly the side characters amongst a group of males. There is a long history with the representation and inclusion of women within video games and in the community, which could explain why the male to women ratio within the volunteers was so different. This can be gone on and on about, with the Bryter's Female Gamers Report for 2022. Which reported that within 2022, their study had recorded the highest levels of toxicity towards females in gaming recorded yet, with 72% of female gamers having experienced negative, toxic experiences when playing video games.

I could go on and on about this, but let's continue. The orientation was an opportunity for all volunteers to meet - or, at least those that attended the orientation as it was not compulsory (although highly recommended). Everyone was extremely laid back and friendly. I sat at the back of the room with my friend, amongst other volunteers. One thing that I couldn't help but notice was the culture that was extremely noticeable within the room. It was like you took a game chat and moved it in person. I had never seen it before. It really felt like a gaming community truly thriving in this environment. The coordinators spoke about the expectations of the event, and how they themselves weren't even sure of how it will turn out as it was the first time this convention was ever running. I won't ever forget what one of the staff had said. It was along the lines of this: "I know a lot of you may have volunteered at PAX, and many other conventions, but we want to let you know that we don't want to be like PAX. We want to create our own event, which is going to be a lot smaller, but for a community to thrive." This made me reflect on other game conventions, and how due to their size, yes, there was a sense of community, but it wasn't tight.

Another noticeable thing from the orientation was a comment made by one of the staff, which, I thought was quite funny. They said, "Please shower and use deodorant." When we were given a tour of the convention hall after it was all finished being set up, I knew why they said that. The smell was horrible. It was like an opened, rotten can of fish, as if a group of people hadn't showered in years - despite the ventilation of the venue on its highest capacity.

Shortly after this, I went home at around 9:15pm to get ready for my afternoon shift, the next day.

Bryter, Female gamer study - toxicity report (2022), Female Gamer Study - Toxicity Report (2022). Available at: https://pages.bryter-research.co.uk/download-fgs-toxicity-report?hsCtaTracking=61a5cfc0-4524-4029-bbc8-ca43b4699749%7C7956b0e8-8b83-418f-944f-fb3a85a26429 (Accessed: March 13, 2023).