Paperwork is being shuffled about meaningfully and people are looking concerned and serious at your numbers, Jon. Top men are looking into this. Top. Men. I don't have an ETA, but I know HQ is requesting numbers from me soon.
I honestly am not part of that process short of supplying HQ with raw data. I suspect that this week may be part of the process of reconnecting with our spouses, confirming to them that we are, in fact, alive. So, perhaps sometime after that.
GM record sheets that everyone turned in are being shipped from WI to me in CA for tallying up. I'll supply that data to Thomas to issue the credits, and we'll post when that happens.
It's awesome that it's being based upon that and yet no expectation set about the need to turn them in or where to turn them in.
I believe once they verify you GMd 16+ hours of games, you'll get a credit for the cost of your badge. Currently, AFAIK, it's based on the honor system. So, hopefully, no one is abusing the convention's trust by turning in sheets for games they didn't actually run for whatever reason. Perhaps next year, make it a requirement that players sign off one the sheet that they attended. It's not perfect, but apart from collecting tickets, it's better than just a checkbox. I'd like to think we could all be trusted not to game the system to get a free badge when we didn't actually put in the required hours. Some things should get some leeway (like if your 4 hour event is a little short because of clever players breaking the adventure's flow). I did appreciate the GMs who wrapped things up 15 minutes early to give time to clear the table so the next GM could get set up.
Yeah, I turned all of mine in. I didn't have them sign in, prolly shoulda. It was new this year so I think things will go smoother next year.
I asked attendees to check by a name. Most did. Some did not. It was a bit of an inconvenience to return to registration to turn the form in afterwards. Recommend letting attendees know that ending sessions at least 15 minites early to do cleanup and paperwork is required. Any paperwork burden pushed onto GMs will cause games to end earlier. More of a burden will cause more time to be cropped from the back end of the session. In games I played some GMs used the form and others did not.
This bit of paperwork wasn't a hassle for me. I was typically walking by the HQ at least once a day. I think reminding GMs to reserve about 15 minutes at the end of session to wrap things up and to allow players time to get to their next event is not a bad thing. Just more of the education and reminder thing. I think we need another year of this system to really see how good or bad it is. I didn't find it particularly onerous.
I submitted and ran 16 hours of games, filled out the sheets at the beginning of each slot, crossed off the names of those who did not show and wrote in the name of those who took those seats (and others that were added), turned in the sheets to HQ right after (in one case during a break) of each slot, and have photographs of the games being played and the players who played in them.
I explained to the staff exactly what happened at two of my games...they had absolutely no problem crediting me for the planned games that nobody showed up for.
I was referring more to a hypothetical GM who was too hungover to show up for an 8am game than someone who had a full table of no-shows. GMs shouldn't get penalized if no players show up to games they planned & prepped for.
I received an email a week or two before the con started that was directed at all of the GMs with instructions on what to do with the forms.
I didn't mind filling out the sheets as a GM- if it helps record keeping & accountability, I'm all for it.
You know, I checked my email and I did receive the same. That's on me for not paying complete attention to all of the aspects of said email. Having said that, something of a note in the envelope or a header on the forms acting as a reminder would have been great and gone a long way.