I'm guessing that e-ticketing might expand this year to more events... maybe even the majority of events? That seems to be a likely reason for having its own sub...
Any other thoughts?
E-ticketing will be expanding this year and we want a place to discuss how it works and what it's many benefits are for attendees and EO's alike.
Mike Boozer Customer Service & Event Team Manager Gen Con LLC
Mike,
Is there any reason why ALL events cannot be e-tickets?
As a guess, scaling. This is not a situation where you want to find out that something didn't quite scale up as expected. Selling, generics, redemption, refund, transfers there are a lot of things happening all at one. You want to be sure that the backend is ready to scale to meet demand.
I remember when they went to a computer system the first time, it was a nightmare. I'll take a controlled successful rollout over that anyday.
The benefits for E0-Ticketing are obvious and exciting for everyone concerned. It just needs to be managed correctly.
Glad to hear that e-ticketing will be expanding! Looking forward tp hearing the details...
I'm hoping to see how all of the e-tickets work out. I help run the Math Trade and we get 150 - 180 people. That's a lot of badge scans and running the event is like herding cats! Question/request: Can the developers put in a button to "select a random" player for those events where we give away prizes?
We used the e-ticketing last year. The only issue we had was with one attendee's badge holder not showing the full bar code, so she had to remove it to allow the scan. Nothing wrong with the e-ticket process itself though.
Last year on Saturday morning, a friend of mine wasn't going to use his 9 to 1 RPG session. I was open for that time, so he gave me his paper ticket and I went to the game. It was easy to "transfer" the ticket because it was a paper version. How would this work for an e-ticket?
_____________________________________ Alec Usticke, Fans of Gen Con Facebook Group
It sounds great (and I am looking forward to it) but I have a GM in my crew that has a non-compatible phone which would make things difficult for him. We're going to stick with regular tickets until that gets worked out and then we'll be on board.
You can only transfer a ticket to someone for that event.
So if my friend is going to transfer his ticket to me, but I have a ticket for a different event at the same time, will the transfer work?
(Hint: It should. Please don't make us manage your system for you!)
It may not be productive to start assuming all kinds of flaws and problems for a system you haven't yet seen. There's a reason they started small with it for a limited number of events -- to test and work out these kinds of issues.
In the case of your example, though, you shouldn't have a ticket for the same time. If you do, return that ticket first -- and then you will have no conflict. By the way, this is what you should be doing anyway as it allows another gamer into that event -- and prevents the game organizer from having vacant slots, which may negatively impact that game.
Depending on how your database works, it might be simple to turn on the "allow overlapping events" flag that tournaments, parking, etc. already use.
There are legitimate reasons why someone might miss the beginning of an event or leave early. Their character got killed. They didn't realize they needed to bring a constructed deck. Their kid needed a nap at an inopportune time. The GM overestimated how much time the game would take to complete. Etc.
The policy has been that unused paper tickets become generics. That allows the person who declines to participate in one event to use the same ticket to play something else in the same time slot. Likewise someone who is carrying regular generic tickets can use them after leaving an event early. But that capability will no longer exist when paper generics are replaced by GMs issuing e-tickets at the event itself.
"Clearing ones schedule" become moot since you can still use these generics and other event tickets to attend.
This topic has gotten off track...my fault. If you have questions about e-ticketing and how it works please start a topic about it in the E-Ticketing 2020 forum! We will be happy to answer your questions and take your feedback.
To be clear e-ticketing of events is not happening all at once. That is to say that it will be a gradual process over a few year to make more and more events e-ticketed. The goal is to get the vast majority of events e ticketed. Until then we will still have paper tickets and generic tickets.
Locking this one now.