No Show players up this year?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by glamcrist, Mar 3, 2016.

  1. brendar

    brendar Staff Member Staff Member

    Previously we had sub-accounts for managing kids/spouses etc. I'd like to see something like that again. But booking multiple tickets for one event on one account? That would go away.
     
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  2. francisca

    francisca Troubadour

    I'd like to see the sub-accounts come back, too. However, I also think it is reasonable for J. Random Badgeholder to pickup multiple tickets for a single event. Why wouldn't I want to snag 4 tickets for an event for me and my 3 boys in one shot?

    Spitballing along these lines, say I put in for 4 tickets, but only 2 are available. Should I get those two, or should I get none? When selecting multiple tickets for one event, I'd like to indicate what the system should do, allocate to me either the most the system has available, or none if the full number selected isn't available. Perhaps a limit of half the available seats, in any case?
     
  3. brendar

    brendar Staff Member Staff Member

    Sure man, keep adding complexity to the system :p
     
  4. jim skach

    jim skach Troubadour

    Unless the new system allows for sub accounts as the old system(s) did, you must allow for booking multiple tickets for a single event. Or are we saying that my daughter and I can never play in the same game?
     
  5. jim skach

    jim skach Troubadour

    Please please please tell me this won't be complexity for the existing system...
     
  6. francisca

    francisca Troubadour

    I recognize this is a complication, but if you guys want to keep growing into a big-boy con, these are the kind of things your registration system will need.

    Or, you are going to have to have separate accounts for each kid.
     
  7. mordrin

    mordrin Spellbinder Staff Member

    Generally speaking, I agree that growth may require system evolution.

    But, speaking specifically about multi-ticketing - GenCon is as big as it gets, and IIRC, they just have a straight "1 account, 1 ticket, no overlaps" system.
     
  8. jim skach

    jim skach Troubadour

    I'm pretty sure it's actually: one Account, multiple Badges; one Badge, one Ticket. They allow all of those badges to be under one account for billing/accounting purposes, but separate with respect to tickets/events. I know this is how it used to be at GaryCon...that is, one account for billing purposes, separate badges for event purposes.

    It changed this year...and the lack of separability (wow..that's a word!) with respect to events/tickets, and the lack of the quantity field on the lists provided to players, left quite a bit of confusion for me and mine - in a few cases. Fortunately, it did not hinder our enjoyment (once GC gets rolling, very little does) and we have all been assured that this year's system was a once in a lifetime opportunity to practice patience. That being the case, my single greatest request for whatever system comes along is that we go back to badge separability - however that needs to be implemented (one badge one account or sub accounts as it was or whatever).
     
  9. francisca

    francisca Troubadour

    I didn't go last year, and didn't register this year, but for Gencon 2014, I certainly could buy tickets for other people (you had to be "friended" first). I don't know about the overlaps.
     
  10. gizmomathboy

    gizmomathboy Spellbinder

    Yeah, I could buy tickets for other people. I want to say you could get overlaps but I haven't ever tried to do that I think. To be honest I don't think they care too much. You pay money for the ticket. The only folks that are screwed are the folks running the event, but they will take generics for any open spots they might have.
     
  11. Khasimir

    Khasimir Footpad

    LMAO!
     
  12. stahlnee

    stahlnee Spellbinder

    Sounds like the capability to be able to purchase one ticket per event per badge using a single account and a single submission click? Coupled with no overlapping events on a per badge basis.
     
  13. dndgeek

    dndgeek Troubadour

    Tried that and my events never got returned, despite asking at least three times. So, I ended up with 24 tickets, most of them overlapping; tickets that could have gone to other people that pre-reg'd. I'm okay with selling tickets for overlapping times to the same person, but there needs to be an automated way to return tickets that you're not going to use. Last year, it was as simple as clicking the "x" next to the ticket.
     
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  14. dndgeek

    dndgeek Troubadour

    Wil_Upchurch, my deepest apologies to you and the other 7! I had a rough con:

    I drove 21 hours from CT and realized, on Wednesday night, that I forgot two things: a poster tube and a small bag. Unfortunately, the poster tube had all of my maps for two of my games and the bag had my cards for my Dracula game and character sheets for two of the games, including QotDP. I skipped going to Frank Mentzer's party on Wednesday to try to fix these issues. I was able to download and print out the Dracula cards, which was my first event at 10AM on Thursday so that had to be done first. I was exhausted from the drive at that point, though and had to get some sleep.

    The next day I skipped all of the games I registered for, so that I could prepare new maps and character sheets for my game Friday night.

    The next day I skipped most of the games I registered for, so that I could print out the maps I needed for Sunday at OfficeMax and to prepare new character sheets for my Saturday night game, Queen of the Demonweb Pits. Although I got the maps and character sheets printed, OfficeMax took longer than expected, so I was literally running through the hotel with my giant cart to the game and left my schedule in my room. I was thinking that I was in the mini area (because I brought close to a hundred miniatures for QotDP alone) and arrived there about 10 minutes late. I waited around for awhile, but didn't see anyone looking for my game, so I left and went to hang out in the bar. There, someone told me that someone was complaining that I no-showed for my game, so I went to registration to explain what happened and even offered up the prize I had for the MVP of the game, to see if the folks that were registered for the game wanted to dice off for it or something, but the folks at the desk said they had no way to get a hold of you guys. I spent six months preparing for that adventure, so I was just as disappointed as you that I didn't get to run it. All of the issues were my own fault, though, so again, I apologize profusely.

    Sunday, I skipped my gold coin event to make sure that I was ready for the last game I was running.

    I learned a few things this year: make a checklist for your stuff that you need to take before hitting the road, make a checklist for each of your games that you need before leaving the hotel room, leave the hotel room for games you are running at least 1/2 hour early, underbooking is better than overbooking at GaryCon these days, if you bring your family, they will eat up all of your downtime and then some.

    In an effort to make things up to you folks, if some or all of you are returning to GaryCon next year, I will be happy to run QotDP as a pick-up game for just you folks, on whatever day and at whatever time you want (8AM-midnight). If interested, message me and we'll work out the time. Or, if you're not interested in that and just want the prize, send me your address and I will ship it to you. It's this figure, assembled, primed and painted:

    [​IMG]

    -JmC​
     
    Last edited: Mar 15, 2016
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  15. dndgeek

    dndgeek Troubadour

    I asked for my tickets to be returned multiple times and it never happened. I even got mad about it and was told that I wasn't being ignored and that it would be taken care of, but it never was. Not sure what else I could have done.
     
  16. JediSoth

    JediSoth Troubadour

    The checklist is a good idea. I did that for all of my games... and still screwed it up by putting three related items on one line, then checking it off because I had one of them... and TOTALLY forgot the other two items for that entry. They weren't required for the game, but they sure would have made things better.

    Lesson learned for next year.
     
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  17. Scott M.

    Scott M. Footpad

    I was able to jump into two sold-out silver games and one sold-out gold game, and it made my first Gary Con an even more awesome experience! I feel like I would never be able to do that at a Gen Con. I played one game where only 3 of 8 showed up, but it was still fun.

    I empathize with the GM frustration here and am contemplating running a game or two next year. One idea mentioned by someone earlier but maybe not echoed enough was having a semi-formal marshaling area where GM's could draw from a larger pool of walkups 10-15 minutes after the beginning of a slot.

    I agree with most people's comments about tightening registration. (Gen Con allows buying multiple tickets at least under some circumstances but disallows any amount of time overlap for the same player. They are smart in making tournaments an exception to the double booking rule, since players may not advance and don't necessarily want to be precluded from doing other things during later rounds. Actually, if we want to be really smart, we'd make tournament first rounds blocking and later rounds not, though that's another annoying programming wrinkle.)
     
  18. jim skach

    jim skach Troubadour

    Back at The Lodge, there was a semi-official marshaling area in the lobby near the stairs. It basically consisted of a large white board on which you could post unofficial games, games that didn't make the program, changes to games, etc. This worked (as much as any such approach can) in part because The Lodge was much smaller and certainly more compact in terms of play areas. There were only a few places games were being run/played and the path to those brought you near this white board. Even with that, and even after years of attending, I always forgot about that damn white board.

    Compare that to The Grand. The place is enormous (compared to The Lodge) and the game locations were more widely dispersed. One could easily inadvertently miss a marshaling area. Add to that the fact that a GM often does not even know they are short players until the game is about to start. Trying to then get to the marshaling area to find players would only delay things.

    My suggestion? Software, of course. A central repository that takes the place of the white board. Place a couple of large screens in strategic locations (and see if you can tap into some of the electronic boards they already have on site) to project the information. Add to that an App people can use to peruse the information. Finally, provide access that would allow GM's, while sitting at their tables, to post a players wanted/all full to mimic the table flags we have now.

    Of course, this must be done By June 1st 2016....so get working on it, folks.
     
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  19. gizmomathboy

    gizmomathboy Spellbinder

    Jim,

    I think having
    1. marshaling area
    2. by the HQ makes lots of sense
    3. Having some form of display that can be updated via a central location would be great
    4. Having it being interactive would be amazing.
    5. Ready to go by June 2016
    1) I think this is doable. At the least it is printing out human usable event listings. Sorry staff but the printouts that were there this year was unusable. I know that it was decided to get some info out, but that wasn't helpful

    2) This is also doable. Much easier than trying to have stuff near room groupings

    3) Grand Geneva does have an electronic display sort of thing near the lobby, but if I was them I wouldn't let anyone near the damn thing. However, if you could get it by them maybe set up several projectors. Cheaper than paying for their AV fees but need a way to hook into a network. Several DIY crazy things I could think of to do this (some SBC with wifi being a first thought). This doesn't have to be ready by June but maybe. It really just needs to hook into the event db. Biggest cost I think for the projectors is whether to buy replacement bulbs when they burn out after..2,000 hours or whatever their life is. These don't have to be great, just good enough to see in full lighting. The Wirecutter recommends this which is (at the time of this writing) $400. You want a decent screen? That will run about $200, stand not included. Just to have a nice display of events that gonna be say...$800.

    4) This is where it really gets hairy. We've never, ever had access to editing our events once they've been approved. However, we might be talking about just an open event system for folks to put up what they are willing to do in open gaming areas. This could stand outside of Gary Con's stuff entirely. I think I could almost make something using the framework I used to display the event stuff I was screen scraping. I just need to figure out a better user registration system. Being a web app it could just hang out and anyone with a smartphone could put up events and register and such.

    It would be nice to have an on-site system for input. Not everyone has or wants a portable computer in their pocket. I probably have a laptop I could sacrifice to the cause. Have it next to the display system near HQ with a kensington lock to keep you filthy animals honest and it's doable.

    5) AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    I think paper/white board still wins out. Until we have a defined open gaming area that is sizable and there is sufficient demand for it.

    The lure of shiny is great but good ol' printouts are cheap and can be effective if the data is put into a usable form to be information.
     
  20. Scott M.

    Scott M. Footpad

    The idea of an app and/or networked displays is pretty compelling. I'm a software engineer with 10+ years of experience, and I'd be tempted by that project. I have no idea how Luke et. al. do their software development or whether they would need or want help....
     

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