Mouseferatu said:
Yeah, I purchased online. I didn't realize that they didn't send you anything. I'm used to GenCon, where they send your badge in the mail.
I guess I need to allow time to stand in line, then. It's a pity, since I'm going to miss most of the first day of the con anyway. Bleah.
Thanks for the info, though. I'd have gotten frantic.
Actually, these days GenCon only sends you yoru badge if you ask them to.
Anyway, also unlike GenCon, the management at Origins is absolutely phenomenal. Or at least it was last year. I never saw long lines anywhere, anywhen, except for waiting for the dealer room to open in the morning. I think onsite registration maxed out at a few dozen people (at least, that i saw), and prereg was probably a 5min operation, tops. On Wed evening when we got there, there essentially wasn't a line (i think we waited for one person). And, the prereg, at least, was open considerably later Wed at Origins than at GenCon, so we were able to get our stuff despite getting in fairly late due to traffic and getting slightly lost in Columbus. Plus, the gaming-area staff actually did something. Specifically, they checked in at the beginning of every game to verify that the GMs really were there, and did something about it if they weren't. They also kept track of games with fewer than the max players, and the most common solution was to try and match up the orphaned players with games that they'd enjoy. Also, we had to make some adjustments in who was getting compensated for what (for running games), and it took very little time or effort with the management to get it straightened out. Nothing like the jumping through hoops that even regular reimbursement has sometimes taken with GenCon (admittedly, under previous management). Heck, we got in trouble for inadvertantly breaking a rule at Origins, and even that was handled very well. Not to mention the fact that i doubt there's enough oversight at GenCon to even notice if a rule were being broken in the game rooms--i certainly don't ever remember seeing a staff member in a game room. Oh, and while this probably can't be credited directly to Origins management, the food court
in the convention center had shops open 24hrs for the whole convention. I'm *much* more impressed with Origins management than GenCon, right now. We'll see if this year changes my opinion of either (since i've only experienced one Origins and only one GenCon with Adkison in charge--and that one was a marked improvement over WotC/Andon running things).
Oh, one final note: officially, i think you're supposed to print out the confirmation email and take it with you to pick up your badge. However, i was the only one of the 4 of us that actually did that, and it didn't hold the others up at all.
Here's wishing you a great time at Origins, and come play some of our games if you're looking for a change of pace.
