The past two years my group has signed up for multiple events per day throughout the day and received maybe 1 or 2 events out of probably 20 put in for. I don't know what the issue is...is it the games we're putting in for are just that popular that everyone is know playing them, thus increasing demand but not the supply? Is the number of games offered lower, thus decreasing the supply? Is both happening? We put in for a lot of Pathfinder events, and thought since Paizo increased their ticket prices that could slightly increase supply, plus Paizo is making a larger play again again finally. However, Paizo also doesn't do any Pathfinder events Friday evening, so that knocks out a huge percentage of games for Pathfinder, and thus decreasing the supply.
So we decided to ditch so many Paizo events and instead go for other RPG events. We got none of them as a group (we signed up for 2 per day of many other RPGs).
It is very frustrating and I don't know what to do about it. We usually spend several hours putting together a coherent schedule, and the past two years the time taken to put one together and add to our wishlist was nullified. We aren't sure we'll do it again next year, we are really wondering if it's worth the effort to go to GenCon and spend the money again if we don't get anything we would like to do. I hope GenCon can figure out some incentive to increase the supply of games being run.
@jigreen, 1 ticket availability doesn't help with people who go to GenCon and want to game there with a couple of other friends in the same group.
@smithrj, the last 2 years 2 of us has been turned down with generics at RPGs such as Call of Cthuhulu, Shadowrun, and Pathfinder.
All I'm saying is when people who've gone to GenCon for years and spend a lot of time playing games and making the schedule, buy the badge before knowing if they get tix...this wears on people, you know?
@cnjones - that is a fair point about trying to get into a game as a group. All it takes is one other group in queue in front of you (or multiple singles) and now there aren't enough tickets left for your group. I have had the same issue in the past. And yes, it is disappointing to not get your 1st choice, or even 2nd or 3rd or 4th.
Even with that though, there are still a lot of games available. For example, it looks like there are still about 1000 RPGs requiring no prior experience that could accommodate a group of 3. When trying to fill out your schedule as a group, I recommend downloading the spreadsheet file as it is easier to filter out events with fewer tickets remaining than will fit your group, as well as any other search criteria you have.
Because I didn't get all of my wish list items, I have gotten to play some really good games that I would have otherwise never tried. Some I enjoyed well enough to buy the book and run at my local cons back home.
There are things that can be done to enhance the user experience with the event queue, but I'm guessing many of the things that I have in my head either wouldn't be pursued because I'm not sure Gencon has a vested interest in revamping the technical side of the event assignment OR I'm guessing many things people wouldn't want for fear of someone 'gaming the system' in some way.
If I was king of the event queue ...
1. Move escape rooms to their own category (given this was shot down as not technically feasible, guessing alot of my suggestions wouldn't fly) 2. Show a counter with # of people with the event on the wish list. (not dynamic, update x1 a day). I see an event with 200 people with it in their wish list, I automatically plan on looking somewhere else 3. Limit # of events on the 1st go around to X number of events and cycle the user wish lists a few times. 4. If not # 3, allow people choice of being in the hotel lottery queue or event queue. (I know I'd take a chance at a downtown hotel and be frozen out of event signups for 24 hours) 5. If getting in the event queue is truly fastest to hit the servers, try to remove that and have more randomized like housing 6. Allow events to have an initial block of tickets that need to be purchased as one to allow larger groups to play as one
Granted.. I would expect none of these to be implemented, but I think even #2 would help temper people's thoughts going into event signup.
How many people are in your group? The more people, the less likely to get an event all together. If it's more than 4, even with a company with a huge presence like Paizo, you would have to get pretty lucky to land a session for the whole group.
Also, are you trying to play during peak hours on peak days (like when the dealer hall is open on Friday and Saturday?).
All of these things can contribute to it being very hard to get into events.
I only got half of the events that I put on my wishlist, but I also have come to accept that's just part of GenCon, and while I don't particularly like it, I feel it's far, far better to know in advance rather than stand in a line for hours to not get into the event I wanted during the con (looking at you PAX).
Anyhow, I know this doesn't lessen the sting, but I hope you go and find some really cool games and meet some nice folks and have a great time.
And if you try again next year, shoot for sessions during the less busy times (mornings and evenings), on the least busy days (Thursday and Sunday), check to see how many of the events are being run and avoid the ones with only a few instances and hopefully you and your group will get a few of your events!
Mike