Any word on what events will be / are likely to be using an e-ticket? I am wondering of Gate 10 might begin using them.
Extra points for everyone who knows what the original E ticket was!
Last year, I think they were only used for True Dungeon, and maybe a few other events. Hopefully, this year, they expand to a bunch more. What would be best is if you could return them on the website, without going to the CS line.
Not sure if Gate 10 would use them, they'd have to have a bunch of scanners around, and would slow down getting into the lots in the morning. Easier just to have the slip of paper under the windshield, would be my guess.
Original E-Ticket? Disneyland, I'm guessing.
The really good rides at Disneyland, like the Matterhorn. Except the Nautilus ride; that was an E Ticket and not worth it. Should have been a D at best.
Even as time goes on, there will always be paper tickets. There is no guarantee that every GM will have internet access. For now, I would expect only the largest and most organized events will use e-tickets (T-Dungeon, NASCRAG, Baldman, etc).
My hope is that they continue a controlled rollout of the program. There are more players in 1 starting block of the RPG games then in all of TD. it would be horrible to have e-tickets fail when scaling up and having a few hundred players/dms
From what I understand, Gen Con already has an app for Android & iPhone to do the scanning, that does not require you have Internet access at the time you scan. I'm guessing it allows you to download your list of attendees prior to the event, when you do have a connection, and then allows you to upload later, again when you're connected.
I'd love to see e-tickets roll out to more events. If I decide to attend an event while I'm at the Con (or anytime after mid-June), chances are I have to go to Will Call to pick up the paper ticket. E-tickets would eliminate that.
As for Gate 10, I am not suggesting they don't scan every time. Scan once to get the paper ticket for the window.
Question: Would it be possible to request that e-tickets be used for particular events? Last year I ran the math (board game) trade. We had 177 individual attendees and 10 tag-a-longs. I know this because we have a sign in sheet so folks could see if you were already there. I'm looking at it on my desk as I type this...
Normally, every attendee would have to buy tickets and the event holder would have to turn in the tickets with their paperwork. GenCon uses the ticketing system to verify that events DO get the attendees they claim but I could give you that assurance with our list and a few photos of the crowd.
In my case, the event is free, the crowd is numerous and we sign in attendees. I'd love to just have everyone sign in and not have to turn in a ticket. The e-ticket would also assure our folks that they aren't double booking their event times.
Thoughts?
If you are the organizer I don't see why you couldn't request it. An e-ticket is the same as a paper ticket so I don't see any difference from your stand point. You will still ask the people to sign in.
It might be a little easier. For those with e-tickets, you may be able to get the same information you ask for on the sign-in sheet from GenCon and thus don't need them to sign-in. I am not sure how much information GenCon would share with you.
At the very least, it is worth the question(s).
Just to clarify a few things:
I'm almost certain that e ticket use will expand this year, and, as it has done in the past, be offered to specific groups that are interested in participating. I honestly don't know what percentage of events will have e tickets this year; it will be more than 0% and less than 100%.
What I can say however, is that using E tickets does not relieve the requirement that GMs collect the tickets. Instead of collecting paper tickets, you scan the person's badge to "collect" their ticket. We always want to know who showed for the event, so, even for free events, we need a count of tickets collected. This allows us to know the event went on, how popular it was, and allows us to plan for future increases or decreases in space allocation to that event.
Marian McBrine Event Manager Gen Con LLC
As an admitted die hard for paper and who was justifiably paranoid last year (TD player) I'd love to see Gen Con copy/buy the system Game Hole Con is using. GHC went digital and made it so easy to look up and buy tickets without dealing with will call at all during con. I got paper as it was offered with prereg but i used digital all con up at GHC.
It was very nice when i had time/urge to do something. One look up events on the phone, see what was open and where and buy ticket from phone. Player goes to table/event area and shows GM/DM barcode of phone for verification. The system just worked and worked beautifully all weekend from my standpoint as an attendee. I bought far more (non TD) event tickets than i ever have at con because of ease of taking my money and putting my butt in a seat for games.
keep in mind that gencon is about 10-12 times the size of GHC. That makes a big difference when dealing with systems. I've worked with plenty of business systems that worked great under smaller test loads but failed to be able to scale up.
GHC has what 4k-5k attendees and something around 1k events. Gencon hosts 60k+ and in excess of 14k events.
I'm not saying that the system GHC uses might be able to work I'm just saying its not unusual for systems to be refactored as they scale. I remember when a new paper ticket system was introduced for Gencon, it was not a pleasant experience. I'm happy they are rolling it out slowly to make sure that those who do use it don't leave with a bad taste in their mouth.
Developers can stress test their code but until its put in the hands of a user, they won't really know for sure if the system is idiot proof.
I'd be fine with the math (board game) trade using the e-tickets. I'll have someone helping me at the door this year so he could scan badges then direct the folks to the sign in sheet. Anything that helps herd cats / gamers is greatly appreciated.