Gencon Follies: My boiling point (rant/question)

[Hypersmurf]

I am, I'm not even going to the site for a few days...

Seems sensible. I couldn't help thinking, reading your earlier posts, "Doctor, Doctor, it hurts when I do this!"

-Hyp.

 

[Lanefan]

I'm surprised they're even bothering to attempt anything constructive for GenCon at this point, given as they've got SW Celebration coming up in LA in 3 weeks which in theory *should* be taking up all their time...unless, of course, they plan to screw that up too.

Still, the one GenCon I did manage to make it to (2003) went perfectly smoothly for me (ignoring the sleep deficit, but that's my own fault), though from what I heard afterwards I must have been quite lucky.

Lanefan

 

[DonTadow]

Seems sensible. I couldn't help thinking, reading your earlier posts, "Doctor, Doctor, it hurts when I do this!"

-Hyp.

If someone doesnt say anything, it won't be said. People are acting like this shoddy crap is alright. I know I"m the lone man with the picketsign and cardboard cut out protesting the Vietnam war, but it needed to be done. I just can't stand the " i love gencon, i must accept their crappy business ethics" attitude. That dinner with pete last year was nothing but a smoke screen to I"m not doing anything about the problems with this company.

I dont know, I guess the people who raised these same complaints last year don't even go to that board anymore. They've given up on gencon running anything close to a business. Me, I guess I"m still hoping for pipe dreams. Five days before event reg and their is not an event catalog that a reasonable planner can work off of.

 

[Dragon Snack]

If this year wasn't the 40th, I wouldn't be planning on attending. It will probably be my last one.

That said, I always register late and don't sign up for anything. That manages to avoid (most of) their snafu's...

 

[HiLiphNY]

Exactly. . . I couldn't agree more.

If someone doesnt say anything, it won't be said. People are acting like this shoddy crap is alright. I know I"m the lone man with the picketsign and cardboard cut out protesting the Vietnam war, but it needed to be done. I just can't stand the " i love gencon, i must accept their crappy business ethics" attitude. That dinner with pete last year was nothing but a smoke screen to I"m not doing anything about the problems with this company.

I dont know, I guess the people who raised these same complaints last year don't even go to that board anymore. They've given up on gencon running anything close to a business. Me, I guess I"m still hoping for pipe dreams. Five days before event reg and their is not an event catalog that a reasonable planner can work off of.

 

[Dirt]

I dont know, I guess the people who raised these same complaints last year don't even go to that board anymore.

Nah...I'm still on the boards. For a long time, I was very active in posting my criticisms and suggestions. I'm just not vocal about it anymore. I can post advice until I'm blue in the face...but if noone is listening, it doesn't help much.

I COULD be proven wrong, and they have fixed everything after last year's blow up (and subsequent apology dinner)...but I'm not counting on it.

That being said...

DonTadow, I think you're blowing the event excel spreadsheet thing WAY out of proportion. They had stated that it would be out around May 1st, and it was. Now, the issue with the "200", you may have a case there...I don't know, because I didn't pay attention to it (since I wasn't affected by it).

I have attended GenCon for 15 years. I remember just faxing in my event list (along with alternates) and just praying that I'd get events I wanted and a decent schedule. It has come a long way since then. As an event dedicated to gaming, GenCon really can't be beat. It is the one MUST DO convention for any devoted gamer. It doesn't excuse the issues that they've had, and I agree that many of their problems have been HIGHLY frustrating...I just don't think that the event reg excel spreadsheet not coming out on April 30th is an issue.

 

[DonTadow]

Nah...I'm still on the boards. For a long time, I was very active in posting my criticisms and suggestions. I'm just not vocal about it anymore. I can post advice until I'm blue in the face...but if noone is listening, it doesn't help much.

I COULD be proven wrong, and they have fixed everything after last year's blow up (and subsequent apology dinner)...but I'm not counting on it.

That being said...

DonTadow, I think you're blowing the event excel spreadsheet thing WAY out of proportion. They had stated that it would be out around May 1st, and it was. Now, the issue with the "200", you may have a case there...I don't know, because I didn't pay attention to it (since I wasn't affected by it).

I have attended GenCon for 15 years. I remember just faxing in my event list (along with alternates) and just praying that I'd get events I wanted and a decent schedule. It has come a long way since then. As an event dedicated to gaming, GenCon really can't be beat. It is the one MUST DO convention for any devoted gamer. It doesn't excuse the issues that they've had, and I agree that many of their problems have been HIGHLY frustrating...I just don't think that the event reg excel spreadsheet not coming out on April 30th is an issue.

Yeah you'r right, it is being blown way out of proportion. I think it's just the accumulation of last year's frustrations, the April 30th email, the 200, and the vague disclaimer on the event download. Last year, I said my peace on the board and just stopped going when I realized that other people had been ignored for years. This year, i dont know, i'm having a falling down moment. I just want something t ogo as planned with this registration process. Normally its just the event thing that irks me, but we havn't even gotten to the event thing and there's already been crazy stuff.

I dont think it was last year, but the year before last they kept moving the event registration date because of some of the biggest stuff. It sucked cuase i took the day off of work to register and had to register at work a few days later. I got a feeling that that will happen this year.

 

[Dirt]

Yeah you'r right, it is being blown way out of proportion. I think it's just the accumulation of last year's frustrations, the April 30th email, the 200, and the vague disclaimer on the event download. Last year, I said my peace on the board and just stopped going when I realized that other people had been ignored for years. This year, i dont know, i'm having a falling down moment. I just want something t ogo as planned with this registration process. Normally its just the event thing that irks me, but we havn't even gotten to the event thing and there's already been crazy stuff.

I dont think it was last year, but the year before last they kept moving the event registration date because of some of the biggest stuff. It sucked cuase i took the day off of work to register and had to register at work a few days later. I got a feeling that that will happen this year.

I understand your frustrations, because for years, I railed against GenCon for their IT problems and inability to resolve them. I realized that I was beating a dead horse. I might as well accept that there will be problems, and try not to get frustrated over them. I know it sucks...especially when we're taking a day off for event reg.

I know that there are other ways to think of this (such as, GenCon is a business and should pacify its' customers), but I didn't feel like getting upset over something that I had no control over.

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

I haven't noticed a whole lot of the problems that others have been mentioning... although I did hear about the 200 thing this year, secondhand. (I live in Indy so registering for a hotel didn't effect me, and honestly, I wouldn't want one right downtown, anyway.)

I wasn't able to go last year, and haven't registered yet this year (just bought a house, so a little short on cash), but I do recall the year before the registration consisted of an excel spreadsheet you downloaded, and then you hoped you could get the events and spots you wanted. What's up with that? I mean, really...

I went to a smaller con that same year (I think it was U-Con) that had live registration - pull up the event, and you saw how many tickets were available for each slot and could buy them right then, changing the numbers on the fly. If they can do it, why not GenCon? Sure, GenCon has many more events, but presumably more money and time, too.

I could program a better system then GenCon has right now, and I'm sure that GenCon LLC can afford a better web developer than me to do so... although judging by the tech they have now, I'm waivering between "they don't care" and "they can't afford it".

 

[S'mon]

So, I turn to the reliable free speech Enworld to post my rant...

Umm... Great as EN 'Eric's Granma' World is, I have *never* heard it called *that* before!