Not sure if todays email should be read that interest in e-tickets is expected to increase drastically or if its a hint that everything will be e-ticketed next year. Sadly, if its the latter my GMing days are likely done, luddite that I am.
They plan to move more events to e-tickets every year, but I think it will be at least a few years before they phase out paper tickets entirely, especially for the individual GMs.
Curious - Why would you be done with e-tickets?
Wouldn’t that just make things easier?
G
Sadly, if its the latter my GMing days are likely done, luddite that I am.
according to the emails I’ve received from gencon it’s a little more time consuming and complicated than just the paper tickets.
It’s a bit more work for the Event Host, but it’s much better for the attendees. No more bits of paper to keep track of, and almost eliminates the need for generics. Most importantly it will allow us to return the tickets at any time, so we no longer have the 6 week “dead zone” between shipping and the Con.
So far e-tickets have been a pain for some of us who organize groups for stuff like True Dungeon. I'm still needing to find a way to transfer all 10 tickets from one badge to another. Friending folks is not a valid solution (my groups roster can and does change up til the time of the run unfortunately). I like e tickets just long as I as a attendee have a way to print an offline code as shareable backup.
To avoid scalping and secondary market issues, functions that make is easy for people to grab up tickets to events they aren't going to attend, and transfer them to people who aren't their "friends" or family, won't be an option.
Again, you can still get all the tickets available for the TD run, you don't have to transfer the tickets to your friends badges in order for them to participate.
Jeannette LeGault Sr. Director of Event Programming Gen Con LLC
I really do wonder how the phase-out will go. For as much as I personally am all-in with the paperless office, so to speak, I imagine they know they would immediately and permanently lose hundreds of older gamemasters by totally removing paper tickets.
As the EO for True Dungeon, we were a "test" last year, and I can tell you that e-ticketing was AMAZING and saved me TONS of time counting tickets and labeling/organizing envelopes. I understand that for some it's an unknown situation, but it worked really well for us, so my suggestion is to give it a try and know that THIS change has been a VERY GOOD ONE!
Be prepared for hiccups (that's just the way it goes with anything new, right?), and be patient. We had a fairly smooth transition into e-ticketing, and if we can do it, I'm sure you all will be fine!
Good luck!
Lori
Lori Martin True Dungeon Executive Director
Not so hypothetical example, tickets are under a relative's account who will not be playing. Is there a way I can have TD folks just run the name and look up the run? I get and appreciate the doing stuff to avoid scalping but this is frustrating. Tickets were bought under my brother's badge as he had better time on event day and can't make the 2 runs booked under the badge. Would love to just be able to do a print out showing i've got the ru and tuck it in my badge holder for the 2 times it matters to show TD and have them check me and my group in.
Wouldn't your brother have you as a friend in the system and he could just buy you your ticket and have it appear in your account?
I mean, I guess there's a loss in some flexibility here, but the benefits they're reaping from making the tickets electronic are probably going to heavily outweigh those edge conditions that can't be satisfied by the mechanisms that are available to attendees.
I honestly can't wait until everything goes e-tickets. Super easy for an attendee's perspective. No paper to ever worry about or lose. Sounds great.
If you can't receive the ticket because you've booked an overlapping event that he'll be using... then I think your only option is to swap badges for that hour.
Wouldn't your brother have you as a friend in the system and he could just buy you your ticket and have it appear in your account? I mean, I guess there's a loss in some flexibility here, but the benefits they're reaping from making the tickets electronic are probably going to heavily outweigh those edge conditions that can't be satisfied by the mechanisms that are available to attendees.