4-Day Badges Sold Out, Limited Single-Day Badges Remain: "Due to these expected sellouts, Gen Con will not offer on-site badge sales at Gen Con 50. Any remaining badges will be available for sale at gencon.com with will call pick-up."

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Alec Usticke, Unofficial Gen Con Indy Facebook Discussion Group

Actually, GEN CON has stated they will not be closing public areas or hallways in the ICC to non-non-attenddes. So, by GEN CON's own statement, if you are not a GEN CON attendee, you can be in the ICC public areas and hallways.

I've taken non-badged folks through the halls to show them around. I even asked security once if that was ok and he said sure, the public areas are open.

I'm not sure what you were seeing, Alec; maybe she was spotted earlier moving out of a public area or maybe the security was a bit overzealous, but GEN CON has made it clear that you can be in the public areas whether you have a badge or not.

Unless they consider cosplaying part of GEN CON and thus for attendees only, which I suppose could be the case. In that case, you'd need to really be a ghost: not look like a gamer or be in costume. :-)

It's posted in the unofficial GEN CON Facebook group. Someone asked about ghosting and such and they responded that their policy for this has not changed as described above. Click on Alec's link in his signature above and you can find the screen shot in a few places. (Alec is King of the group ;-))

Gen Con has stated that you need a badge to be in Gen Con venues.

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Alec Usticke, Unofficial Gen Con Indy Facebook Discussion Group

Here is a link to Gen Con's response about being in the public hallways during the show: Official Response So no, security whether it is ICC or Gen Con will not be asking anyone to leave for not wearing a badge. With that in mind, the term Ghosting really isn't about people wandering about the halls but people who attempt to get into the non-public areas. So we got a bit off track. Definitely not a fan of that. 

Shows what I know. This seems to conflict with their stated policy and what they've said in the past. Thanks for sharing, nialith.

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Alec Usticke, Unofficial Gen Con Indy Facebook Discussion Group

I'm guessing Gen Con would rather have that policy in there and choose not to enforce it until absolutely needed. Conflicting policies aside, it does seem to give them the right to remove people if needed. Let's just hope it never gets to that point. 

So I asked a Gen Con contact for clarification:

“I think the issues of whether the ICC is being locked down to private access only, versus the issue of whether one can attend the convention without a badge, are being incorrectly conflated here. [Customer service] simply said that we would continue with how we have operated in the past. Access points to the ICC are not being limited, and badges are not being checked at the door to the ICC, as has been the case for most years. People must get to Will Call, and I don't think Gen Con has any interest in curtailing people that walk through the ICC, while going from one place to another in the downtown area.

“But the policy also continues to be that one must have a badge to attend the convention, and the policy will remain that people who are loitering are likely to be asked to present their badge, escorted to Will Call to pick up their badge, or asked to leave.

“Continuing with our policy to not generally restrict access to the hallways does not in any way state that people attempting to attend the con without a badge will be allowed to do so with impunity.”

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Alec Usticke, Unofficial Gen Con Indy Facebook Discussion Group

Yea, on the interactive map the public places are in light tan, everywhere else requires a badge.

Basically, what it boils down to, is: GenCon is not going to actively police the public walkways for badges, just like they never have in the past.  But, also just like in the past, they will reserve the right to kick people out who do not have a badge.  

So basically, standard operating procedures. 

Ah, there you go. My "showing someone around" through the public area was ok because we were just moving through, not trying to get into any events, not cosplaying, etc. Someone coming in costume and ha going around for an hour would likely be asked to leave. As stated, pretty much standard procedure but I did wonder a bit. This would mean "ghosting" is not allowed unless your ghosting is just passing through the halls to get somewhere else from time to time.

I imagine it will end up being enforced only to remove people who are drawing too much attention to themselves, either by cosplaying without a badge or by wandering around stopping traffic to take photos of people cosplaying :)

Speaking as someone who used to work downtown with access to the parking garage that connects to the convention center, I was never removed from ICC (during Gen Con or any other convention) for passing through as part of using the skyways to get from that parking garage to the mall. 

I'd imagine that those in charge of tracking the population density in the convention center (probably at the gates where they use those 'clickers' or whatever to count the number of entrants) will have instructions to start coming down heavy on folks who aren't displaying badges once a certain threshold is reached.

I've been badge-checked more than once -- my badge usually hangs below table-level so the various employees can't always see it.  Also, I typically toss it around my back if it's getting in the way of a game.  I have no issues at all with showing it when asked to do so.  Takes about 2 seconds. :)

I actually saw a GM ejected from his game because he left his badge in his room.   Gencon staff stopped the game and sent him to get it.  No one at that table was happy.  Especially the GM.
 

Commenting on the cosplayers/badges issue...My daughter cosplays and I teach several cosplay fabrication workshops at Gen Con (Grognard Studio).  Every cosplayer I have met at Gen Con has had a badge.  It would be pretty rare for someone to travel all the way to Gen Con to cosplay and not bother buying a badge.  I suppose you could get the occasional local who might do it, but even the local Indy people I know all buy badges.

The reason you don't see their badges when they are in the common areas is because of photographs.  My daughter will often get 50-100 photo requests in an afternoon and badges look really out of place in a picture.  That means cosplayers are constantly having to shift their badge out of sight, or hand it to a friend to hold, while the picture is being taken.  When in the common areas, it is far easier to stick the badge out of sight and then put it back on when you need it to get into an exhibit hall.