Question about badges

Hi,
I'm a little unclear on what type of badge is required for someone to participate in open gaming. Some parts of the registration suggest that one needs a full registration, others suggest that anyone can do open games. My friends are and I are a mixed group of full registrants, spectators and 'friends who came to LG to visit other friends but aren't particularly interested in the con'. Can I grab a table and play some game with them without upsetting anyone or does everyone need some sort of badge?

Thanks for the clarification and looking forward to the con!

Edit: As a follow up, if a badge is required of everyone playing, does anyone have any suggestions for other options close by? The group is 8-10 and we were hoping to put together a large D&D game, so would need a pretty good sized table. Bonus points if its big enough to accommodate a sprawling Dwarven Forge dungeon tile layout. Thanks!

 

I started to type an answer - but I'm not official.

My suggestion? Buy a day badge for those that don't want to spring for a Silver. Get lots of table-side food service. Support GaryCon so it can continue to flourish as an annual gathering in honor of EGG.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I agree that supporting the con is worthwhile and several of us have already gotten silver badges. The tricky part is the less-passionate folks who are coming from out of state for a day and are really only interested in seeing our group. I've been haranguing them to just pony up and register, but haven't quite convinced everyone. I'm hoping the promise of Dwarven Forge and painted minis on a big table will win them over, since the other option is being crowded around a MegaMap in our hotel room.

 

Thanks for clarifying! I'll pass it along and hopefully get everyone on board!

 

Just to clarify (for Paul and myself), those folks can buy a ($15) spectator badge and play in the open gaming area, correct? Or do they have to buy a silver badge or better? I ask because I have an 8-year old son that I wanted to play a couple of card games with (if the wife goes; still up in the air) in the open gaming area, just so he feels like he's part of the convention.

 

That's great, brendar; I didn't realize that. Note that badges don't currently seem to stay in the cart. I get a notice that I've added a badge, but then if I look in the cart, it is not there. It was working yesterday and I had badges still in my cart this morning, but they've since been removed and cannot be added.

 

I realize that this may not be feasible, but....

Once you have all the events straightened out and everyone's account accurately reflects what they're really going to get tickets for when they arrive....

You might want to announce that, and then wait a day or two before reopening registration. I'm pretty sure that the eight of us on five accounts who are traveling as an adventuring party are going to have a few tickets to return (and we can't decide which until we know for sure what tickets we have), and I would venture to guess that we're not the only people in that situation. It's just a function of registration always being a crapshoot and of we'd rather play our second-choice event, even if we got a ticket to the first-choice, if it means we're playing with buddies rather than on our own.

So if you went with a short delay between "OK, the accounts are rectified" and "Registration is open" you might have more tickets to sell, and people still shopping at that point would have a better view of what was actually still available.

 

I realize that, but up until yesterday, you could add badges to your cart. And I can still add games to my cart. I just can't check out. And now I can't add badges. Just wanted you to know before registration starts and you have a badge issue.

 

Hi Brendar,

So I attempted to purchase a Spectator badge and a Free badge today, but I didn't want to make the same mistake I made with my daughter and purchase them under my account. Because there are no sub-accounts any more, I assume that they only way to get their correct name on the badges is for them to have their own accounts. Before I figure out what mailbox to use to create an account for my 8-year old son, though, I just wanted to ask if my assumptions are correct or if there's maybe a name-the-badge step later in the process that I haven't seen yet.

 

Thank you

 

Is there a way to check/edit your badge info after you've purchased your badge?

I didn't see anything obvious under My Account Info.

 

Hmmm. Just wondering what I set for mine. I guess I can always bring things to hack the badge.

 

Ooooh...a badge-hacking kit....

 

Youth badges are free? AWESOME!!!