Totally miffed about GenCon event registration [RANT]

[Alzrius]

Wow, all this ranting here makes me glad I don't preregister for stuff online.

I usually just buy some generic tickets and sit at events I cant get tickets to that I want to play in, and about a third of the time, there's an empty chair available, despite someone now showing up.

Of course, for me, gaming at these cons is only a small portion of what I do. I like seeing the other events, impulse buying (love the impulse buying), talking to the various people in the dealer area, playing the games there, getting freebies...actual gaming is a small part of it.

 

[Holy Bovine]

[SEMI-RANT]


All in all, I end up spending about $30 for 1 day. I have to hang around for 30 min to a few hours before the game starts. Then when it is over, it is too late to do something. I could have saved that $30 and played the same game (or a better one) with my friends.

These are the things that really bother me at conventions - late start times and games going over their allotted time.

When I was an RPGA member and GM those were the two things I tried to stick to as closely as possible (that and making sure everyone had a good time of course!). Unless the table voted unanimously to continue a game beyond its allotted slot I would endeavour to bring it to a satisfing conclusion. I would usually ask when there was about a 1/2 to 1 hour to go if anyone was willing to play longer - if not I moved the story along to its conclusion (if we weren't there already).

As for starting late this is something everyone has to work at. Show up on time or a few minutes early to your event. The GM should have all the character sheets and any background info ready for the player as they sit down at the table. This is just common courtesy as I know I am loathe to start a game without all the players there since they have paid for the slot but at the same time it is not fair to the other players who have shown up on time and are ready to game. Its a fine line between those two.

As to your rant QB I don't really have an opinion as I have never used online registration (anytime I've gone to conventions it has been as a GM or I just sign up to games I find interesting when I get there - only been burned once but that was by some Games Workshop hating guys who owned just about every GW miniature in exsistance! ). From the sounds of things I'll keep registering as I always have.

 

[Quickbeam]

ashockney:
Good to hear from you! Don't worry about playing devil's advocate -- I'm well aware that my ranting and rage are essentially ignoring the whole picture. Your points about cost make perfect sense in general, but in this particular instance I think some of the problems experienced by me (and others) could have been avoided without additional expense.
Clearly the GenCon organizers are paying someone to handle the online registration. They are also fully in control of when said online registration is made available to the public. If they did not have all the games/events ready to post with their maximum participant limits; if they did not have the system coordinated to accept payment only for open events; if they knew the first week was going to be chock full of hiccups and glitches...they should have postponed opening event sign up. That's just my opinion.
All of that said, I do think they will bend over backwards to help correct my registration problems, and I still fully support their organization. I had a bad experience -- nothing more, nothing less. It happens. My view of GenCon overall isn't tainted (despite my ranting), I'm just irritated by what transpired. I still plan on having plenty of fun come July, but needed to vent amongst my friends here at EN World .

Cedric/Alzrius:
I would have gone strictly with open gaming and loads of browsing/shopping in the vendor area, had I been hitting GenCon alone. But there's a group of four from our gaming circle making the trek, and we wanted to register for one event together. Add my desire to guaranty spots in one or two other games, and leaving things solely to chance didn't seem to be the best option.
As I noted above -- I plan on joining some open games/events on the spur of the moments, and I'll certainly spend plenty of time just taking in the experience of genCon itself. I just felt like grumbling aloud with regards to my registration woes.

Holy Bovine:
I've tried to anticipate some late starts and overruns when putting my schedule together. As it stands, there are only two games which even come close to one another time-wise, and I'll just deal with any unexpected schedule conflicts as they occur. Nonetheless, I agree that common courtesy would suggest that GM's have any PC info ready to hand out as games begin, and that the participants show up a bit early and ready to play. Since many of the event descriptions provide a storyline and mention who will provide characters, I'd like to think these occurences will diminish over time.
Have fun, and perhaps I'll see you in Indy!

 

[Sniktch]

Oh man, I just registered for the events I'm going to play in, and ran a search to see if the games I was running were listed... They're not I should be DMing an Oathbound session 7/26 and 7/27 from 8 AM- 12 PM, but I can't find them listed anywhere. Am I just running my searches wrong; can anyone else find these events? I hope its just another glitch and that the sessions are still on the schedule...

--Bummed Out Sniktch

 

[Quickbeam]

Sorry Sniktch. I found only two Oathbound games total listed for Saturday/Sunday. Both are scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. on 7/26.