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Updated 14.55
ANGRY SCENES ARE being seen at a gaming event in Dublin this afternoon, with thousands of people stuck in queues having been made to wait since early this morning.
GamerCon, which had billed itself as ‘Ireland’s biggest ever gaming event’, has had a great deal of trouble processing the queues seen outside the Convention Centre in Dublin’s Docklands.
Management have reportedly been turning away some of those with tickets saying that the venue is filled beyond capacity.
25,000 people were expected to attend the event over the course of today and tomorrow.
The delays being seen have led to outcries on social media, with parents venting angrily at the situation they have found themselves in with their children. A suggestion that the event was oversubscribed beyond the Convention Centre’s legal capacity has likewise gained much traction on social media.
Mark O'Connor / TwitterWaiting 2 hrs in line got nowhere told be another 2 hrs waiting and it pissing rain. Terribly organised #gamerconDublin #GamerCon #shitcon
— Mark O'Connor 🇮🇪🔴 (@markoconnor47) March 18, 2017
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Rohn McDonnell, from Clonsilla in west Dublin, was stuck in the VIP queue for the event with his family from 11am until just before 2pm.
The event officially opened at 9.30am and will close its doors for the day this evening at 6.30pm.
“Management were saying that they’re only allowed to hold 7,000 in the venue,” Rohn told TheJournal.ie. “Some of these people have been stranded in the other queue since 10.30am this morning, they’ve come from across the country with their kids.”
About an hour ago they walked down the queue to tell people to leave.
Rohn, whose VIP family ticket cost €120 with an additional €32 spent on accessing a meet-and-greet session with well-known YouTubers at the event, added that it might be the case that the event organisers had expected the crowd to “rotate in and out”.
“But that was never going to happen with kids,” he said.
Anita McGuinness, from County Clare, meanwhile told TheJournal.ie that a security representative had told her by phone “that the event was oversold by 4,000 tickets”.
“We expected to have to wait to get in but two hours later we were still standing in the rain with no idea as to why,” she said.
I now have two heartbroken children in my arms and nothing is worse when you’re a mother. It is meant to be on again tomorrow and I fear that more children will be in the same boat then.
GamerCon has now committed to providing ticket refunds to unhappy customers “once the event has been completed next week”.
“GamerCon sincerely apologises for the significant delays that our attendees experienced this morning,” event founder Ferdi Roberts said in a statement.
As a first time event we underestimated the traffic flow that we forecast for the event and have very strict health and safety related capacities which we must adhere to.
That temporarily impacted our ability to process the queue which resulted in a longer than expected wait time for our attendees. We are managing this proactively and expect the situation to ease as the day progresses.
We have offered full refunds to those affected and have communicated this to attendees via mobile app and all social media channels.
Roberts subsequently issued an updated statement, with just the final sentence differing from that which was initially released:
“We have offered full refunds to those who decide not to attend and have communicated this to attendees via mobile app and all social media channels,” that sentence now reads.
A term and condition on the GamerCon website, which is printed in a different font to the other terms and conditions, says that “access (to the event) is not guaranteed” as the organisers “are required to maintain a safe environment for our attendees at all times and as such are subject to the capacities of the venue and the rooms/halls therein”.
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They are truely a beautiful people, with a beautiful culture. Far superior by all standards.
Gawd I have to agree with u there. They astonish me. Such commitment to culture. Its wonderful.
Eh? Aren’t you forgetting a few things? Such as the Rape of Nanking etc. etc.
Picked up a book by Arthur Golden “memoirs of a geisha” and have been fascinated by their culture ever since. Some excellent books out there about Japanese culture, they are so proud of everything and have never let anything like war take away their core values and beliefs.
Tell that to the POW soldiers from World War Two how nice they were to them. Sweeping statement from you Sir, judge people as individuals rather than a group.
Eh…. no!
Well the actions in China and agsonst POWs should not reflect on country or people. The Germans done horrible things in killing millions of Jews. Tge British firebombed dresden for revenge with no military importance. The Americans dropped two A bombs horrifically burning tens of thousands
War is hell
So back to Japanese culture. It really looks so amazing :) I love all things Japanese
Rísteard I completely disagree. Yes elements of their culture are to be admired but their society is full of inequality, they have a high suicide rate (top 10), they can be xenophobic and lets not forget their shameful recent history.
Don’t get me wrong I love Japan and it’s culture but knowing my freedoms here I would not like to be Japanese at all.
What about the hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans that were sent to internment camps in the USA during ww2 not much difference to what the Germans did … Yep that’s a story that you don’t really hear about
“They are truely a beautiful people, with a beautiful culture. Far superior by all standards.”
There’s nothing beautiful about those three faces. If you want to know about their culture, look up ‘Nanking’ and their use of vivisection (operating on someone who is awake without anaesthesia) on the Chinese, which has conveniently been left out of Japanese history books. Beautiful.
They have an issue now with young people living at home and never getting married (hikikomori), you can buy used schoolgirls’ knickers in vending machines and they have porn that involves an octopus. They also kill thousands of whales for ‘research’ and in general their culture of pride is known to be rather overbearing.
BUT. They make nice cars and I love my twin exhaust, 20 valve Toyota.
It was the US that forced the Japanese to declare war and also the American government allowed the attack on Pearl Harbor on purpose and didnt inform their troops even tough they knew it would happen so theyd get a reason for their aggression
http://rationalrevolution.net/war/fdr_provoked_the_japanese_attack.htm
and
http://rationalrevolution.net/war/fdr_provoked_the_japanese_attack.htm
GO READ SOMETHING BEFORE TALKING OUT OF YOUR ASS
WRONG LINK ON THE SECOND WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THIS
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100622094119AAECxVI
He looks like a Japanese Damian from the Omen
Well he was born on the 06/09/06 so could be something to that ;)
wimmin as emperors? down with that sort of thing!
Monarchy is wrong on so many levels. What has that child achieved to be held in such esteem? Absolutely nothing.
Monarchy is not just undemocratic, it is antidemocratic. It relies on the reduced rights of Subjects to maintain its position
He looks like the fella out of The Goonies
I feel sorry for royals, particularly within a monarchy with such strict, ritualized codes of behavior. There is beauty in the rituals but to live your whole life that way means you have no personal freedom. That boy has only one life and he won’t ever get to decide what to do with it.
These bus drivers are getting younger every year ! ! !
Do Japanese monarchs marry there cousins too? with all the inbreeding its a wonder they can function at all really!
we can say the same about the brits lol
He has his fathers eyes.
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