TOPIC: Electronic Tickets @ Gen Con

Jeff Martin wrote:

Mike Steele wrote:
Really curious how this will work, especially with 1 person buying out a run of 10.

Correct! Basically the buyer has to hang out at the ticket reg desk as his other 9 players show up in groups of 2-4 people (or whatever) and the buyer (and other players) havw their badges scanned. The buyer will need to have their badge scanned each time a group of their players show up. These players can go ahead into the Coaching Room while the buyer hangs out until all the players they bought tickets for show up.

I really wonder about this as well. I wonder if the person that bought all 10 tickets will have all 10 coded to their badge.

Thanks, Jeff! I see this as a positive, as I'm on all of my groups runs. No more worries about losing tickets.

Brad Mortensen wrote: Here is my use case:

I have a ticket to a run tomorrow. I find out I have to leave town tonight. I have a friend who wants to go instead.

The old system - I hand her my paper ticket; she hands me some cash. Done.

The new system - ?

Any solution that involves me having to be in town tomorrow, or paying the Con a change fee, or tossing the ticket into RUBI, are alll no-go IMO. Standing in line for someone to transfer my eTicket is tolerable but a huge PITA.

If that issue is resolved then I’ll feel a little better.

Perhaps GenCon can do what Ticketmaster and sporting teams do:

You go into your account and email-transfer your ticket(s) to another person(s). Simple. In this case the GenCon system would have to be set up to verify the person(s) getting emailed the ticket(s) has a valid GenCon Badge.

Echoing Brad as another IT (network) tech I fully understand anything can and will break at some point. With something as well oiled as TD usually works this is unnerving.

Another point is usually there are tickets swaps and trades on the forums and between groups. How do we do that? Not unknown for a run organizer/buyer to not go on a run and instead hand off tickets to another person while they themselves on another run/event.

As someone who often runs back to back runs due to volunteering/other schedule conflicts this can be a pain.

Overall I like the idea of electronic ticketing and like to see us going forward, just like to see majority of use cases covered.

It seems like for this first year they should default to electronic tickets, but offer an option that if you stop by a registration desk you can still get your tickets printed (to accommodate those situations described in some of the posts). That will allow them to identify all the different use cases that come up during the con and better plan for next year. I'm not a tech developer, but I'm a PM for many tech projects and you can plan and test for every scenario you can think of, but when you go live customers will always come up with new situations you never thought could happen. Making people stand in line to get their tickets printed will be a pain, but you don't want it to be an easy option.

Dave wrote: It seems like for this first year they should default to electronic tickets, but offer an option that if you stop by a registration desk you can still get your tickets printed (to accommodate those situations described in some of the posts).

That would work, as would Ro-gan’s suggestion.

Making people stand in line to get their tickets printed will be a pain, but you don't want it to be an easy option.

Why not? I do want it an easy option. I’m all for giving customers choices, and letting them choose what’s best for their situation, versus tormenting them because they don’t want to do it our way - unless there’s a legitimate reason, of course.

What I’m hearing is GenCon is doing this for our convenience. If true, they should let customers decide whether it’s convenient or not, and let people opt out easily. We all know TD is unlike any other event, and we have a community that has different needs of the ticketing system.

But if they’re doing it for THEIR convenience, to eliminate expense and customer service volunteers, and they think their desires trump ours, then sure, torment away. Just be honest about it.

Dave wrote: It seems like for this first year they should default to electronic tickets, but offer an option that if you stop by a registration desk you can still get your tickets printed (to accommodate those situations described in some of the posts). That will allow them to identify all the different use cases that come up during the con and better plan for next year. I'm not a tech developer, but I'm a PM for many tech projects and you can plan and test for every scenario you can think of, but when you go live customers will always come up with new situations you never thought could happen. Making people stand in line to get their tickets printed will be a pain, but you don't want it to be an easy option.

I agree. Just don't attach event tickets to attendee badges - period.

Keep the same system as before - unique bar code or QR code for each event ticket. Gen Con can still deliver codes/tickets electronically but attendees can print them out themselves.

As far as the IT side of things, we'll see what the Indy Convention Center is made of. They're ultimately the techs that would be troubleshooting network issues.

I'm curious to know if Gen Con partners with a contractor to handle ticketing, and whether or not that has changed this year with the e-ticketing implementation.

todate Gen Con has handled all ticketing and badges in house.

On the Gen Con forums Roderick (an official moderator) said Mike (an official Gen Con CS Manager) has indicated electronic tickets will be electronically transferable, however the details of how this will work mechanically were not discussed.

www.gencon.com/forums/32-events-2018/topics/13476-question-about-e-tickets#45874

Matthew Hayward wrote: On the Gen Con forums Roderick (an official moderator) said Mike (an official Gen Con CS Manager) has indicated electronic tickets will be electronically transferable, however the details of how this will work mechanically were not discussed.

www.gencon.com/forums/32-events-2018/topics/13476-question-about-e-tickets#45874

It’s not a big deal for any other event. For us, it’s vital.

We’ll see how it shakes out.

The past few years I am the guy who bought the tickets for our group. Usually we were 3 or 5 people. Last year I bought out 2 runs, but had to sell 2 tickets to one run and one ticket to the other run.

This year we have 10 very solid in attendance for GenCon. Is there a way OTHER than one person buying all 10 tickets, to get everybody in the same run?

I mean, there is a theoretical possibility that I get a partial run and the rest of the tickets are purchased by a person who frequently reads the forums and we can set up a swap or something . . . but that is far from guaranteed.

I presume they will have a way to transfer tickets electronically, and I don't really mind having to stand at the gate swiping everybody in myself, so I'm not super worried. But I've been wondering, how do groups of 10 do runs without one person buying the whole run?

Bhorg wrote: The past few years I am the guy who bought the tickets for our group. Usually we were 3 or 5 people. Last year I bought out 2 runs, but had to sell 2 tickets to one run and one ticket to the other run.

This year we have 10 very solid in attendance for GenCon. Is there a way OTHER than one person buying all 10 tickets, to get everybody in the same run?

I mean, there is a theoretical possibility that I get a partial run and the rest of the tickets are purchased by a person who frequently reads the forums and we can set up a swap or something . . . but that is far from guaranteed.

I presume they will have a way to transfer tickets electronically, and I don't really mind having to stand at the gate swiping everybody in myself, so I'm not super worried. But I've been wondering, how do groups of 10 do runs without one person buying the whole run?

I think the odds of getting all 10 tickets in a run at GENCON are very slim if you don't have one person buying all 10 tickets. We always try to have one of us buy all 10 tickets (usually me, but I do have a couple of friends that help on event day).

Bhorg wrote: But I've been wondering, how do groups of 10 do runs without one person buying the whole run?

Short answer- they don’t.