MAGFest does not provide press badges or offer press any special privileges. Press in attendance are there because they love coming to MAGFest! As a consequence, we can't build a press list from registrations because we don't know who they are. In the past, we've tried to track down press based on who we think is coming, but found that it cost a enormous amount of volunteer time that needs to be spent elsewhere.
Why No Press?
In past MAGFest has had special "press" credentials, but over the years it was found to be a detriment to the non press attendees. It became increasingly difficult to differentiate between someone with a journalism degree and working for a news organization vs a casual YouTube blogger (and all inbetween); and who would qualify. There was also a separate set of rules that departments, security, and registration had to learn for a few people. The degree of the results from the "press" overall was also questionable, considering the amount of effort to put that system in place.
It's for these reasons, one year MAGFest removed the press credentials system and found it resulted in a better experience for the attendees as a whole.
The same people who stand behind this decision (many in the MAGFest board) are also the same people who highly encouraged us to go forward with providing indies with free space and later to also include up to x2 free badges. We stand behind this and believe it is the right decision. We also recognize that exposure, post MAGFest, can help the indies, and so we've been trying different initiatives to all promoting of showcase games via MAGFest resources. (e.g. Our experiment from last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDRQ0I94kUw&list=PLpUuHdI3YdmBzxmvbIzKrG5fk0zakyGFq )
If you or other indies, have ideas in how MAGFest can better promote your game before, at, and after MAGFest, we'd love to hear your suggestions.
MAGFest does not distinguish between press and other attendees, but press are welcome to purchase an attendee badge and MIVS will help facilitate interviews and playthroughs with the indies.
We can't answer that on an individual basis. While we don't have many dropouts, it does happen. This is one of the many reasons why we created Quickplay, which is still available as an option for you to display your game to an audience.
Unfortunately submissions for this year's upcoming MAGFest are closed, but there is still a way to demo a game. It's called Quickplay where you can signup for slots of time during MAGFest to display your game. You can find our FAQ and more information at https://super.magfest.org/mivs
Hi all MIVS Alumni, I hope all your projects are going well. As submissions are now open for MIVS, we're looking for help to judge this year's entries. If you're not submitting this year, please consider helping by becoming a judge. You'll be responsible judging around 13 games and we'll be giving you a pass to MAGFest in exchange for your time.
If you're interested, please email me off-list
subject: MIVS - Following up about your judge status
Ahoy x,
I wanted to follow up with you about your judging status for MIVS this year. If you don't have the time for this year, or wish to be removed, you can set that in your judging status.