Jeff Martin wrote: The way it was explained to me is we must scan in the buyer's badge AND the other player badge at the same time to properly work the system. I signed a paper saying I would abide by their rules, so I can't allow ghosts according to how it works -- unless that person has 9 other real badges.
Jeff, thank you very much for keeping the player base in the loop about what's going on here.
I know you aren't deliberately trying to make it hard for us - still, this feels like such a punch to the gut when we'd made plans (plans which cost hundreds or thousands of dollars) and then find out things are going to be different than expected.
The scenarios which make me the most worried & frustrated about this new system include:
* What happens if you buy all 10 tickets, and are waiting for a couple of your friends who are late?
You don't want to go return their tickets for system credit 30 mins before the event, because your friends may still show in that window. But let's say they don't ... Now you - as the ticket holder - are out the $156 for those tickets, despite the fact that you're standing there, with the electronic tickets you paid for, right where you need to be.
I know there's the possibility that you might be able to sell them for cash to a couple people in the stand-byline, to recoup your losses, but it grates that the person who owns the tix is right there, and HAS THE TICKETS right there, but GenCon's rules make it impossible to actually turn them in, so their only option is to sell $156 worth of tickets to total strangers and hope for the best.
* What about situations where people are doing a specialty run - like the LASS run, or a "Green with Envy" run, and end up with a spare ticket? Will True Dungeon refuse to accept that ticket (because GenCon's system won't allow them to accept it) and grab someone from the stand-by line? So you end up with a random guy being brought into a run full of women?... or a UR-laden player suddenly overpowering the Uncommon builds which folks were going to use for a challenge?
* What about those people who choose to run with pre-made groups for medical reasons (anxiety around strangers / claustrophobia when packed into tight spaces with other people) or because they want to bring a potentially loud / misbehaving child and not disrupt people (besides their own family)?
I completely understand that GenCon made their ticketing rules for a reason. They don't want to encourage scalpers or resellers, or create loopholes where one person with a badge could potentially bring friends-who-don't-have-badges to an event. But their rules are based on the idea that most games are played sitting around a table, or in an environment where you can easily come & go if you run into problems with grumpy kids or irritating strangers.
True Dungeon puts players into a stressful and often crowded environment, where just stepping out isn't really an option. So people do group ticket buys and (sometimes) pick up extra tickets in order to make the experience more enjoyable. Removing the ability to ghost an extra ticket is a bit like telling someone buying airplane tickets that the XXL passenger isn't allowed to buy a second ticket, and that if he does, they'll just ignore his ticket and assign someone to sit next to him anyways.
Thank you for doing what you can to represent the interests of your player base, Jeff. I'm really,
really, hoping that something can be worked out with GenCon.