Volunteer DM's..no incentives? Conventions off our backs?

[Teflon Billy]

It's very similar out here.

I don't actaully bther attending the convention a freind of mine organizes, specifically becasue he charges his GM's admission.

I literally don't know how he manages to do it.

Free labour would be good enough, but getting labour to pay you...?

Baffling.

 

[Greg K]

Our local conventions are great. GMs get in free and, if you GM or volunteer a certain amount of hours, the organizers pay for your room.

 

[devilbat]

This thread reminds me of my last local convention experience.

The "Rpg organizer" of the Con approached me two weeks before the event, and requested that I run a few games. He had been given my name by a mutual acquaintance, and explained that they had very little gaming to offer and wanted to add more. He also requested that I allow the Con participants access to my large collection of pre-written adventures to "fill in the gaps". I reluctantly agreed, and set about putting together three seperate games for my slots. The compensation I was promised was a free pass to the Con.

I ran the games, provided prizes and certificates.

Upon completion of my final event, I decided to partake in some of the more social events (i.e. drinking and carousing). After a half hour of socializing, I was approached by a Con official, who asked to see my badge. He looked at it and announced that I would have to leave because the social events were for paid patrons only. My status as a "Volunteer" disqualified me from everything else. I decided to find the "RPG organizer", who when found said, "Sorry, them's the rules."

Needless to say, the only Con's I attend now are outside my home town.

 

[Scribble]

Hey everyone I'm new here This is my first post. woohoo.
Ok enough of that.

The few times I've run a game at a convention officially, I've always recieved "some" type of compensation... Usually this was free admission on at least the day I ran the game. The first one I did though was free admission on the day plus a dollar per ticket. That was kind of nice.

But I also tend to start random pickup games in lobbies and such.

I can see your point though, even though I enjoy running games and I don't go to the con to specifically make money, if the convention is making money due to my running a game, it's only fair that I'm paid as an employee.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

I actually have rather enjoyed running at gamedays. I think it is mostly because I enjoy GMing more than playing and I get to try out running games I can't get a full group to play around here. So far I've had a blast running All Flesh Must Be Eaten and Star Wars d20.

Of course, I've only done this at gamedays and not conventions, so there is no admission fee to begin with. All I put into it is the gas, time, and maybe some donuts and juice. What I've gotten out of it is a lot of fun and the opportunity to play with different and fun gamers.

So far, I've had no complaints, just a great time doing what I love.

 

[kingamy]

My own experience sort of mirrors Morrus' rant from the other day.

I volunteer DM a lot, and love it.

But the convention/gameday organizers start to expect you to be there, and get indignant when you aren't. Like you owe them your services or something. And then you start to feel guilty, and break your back helping out again for a while, and then when you need a rest they get indignant again.

Anyway, I'm happy to help out whenever and wherever I can. It is actually very rare in my experience for the above to happen, but even one incident can cool my jets for a month or two.

kingamy

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I kind of se what the original point is supposed to be. For me, the great reward is free admission as well as the fun experience of meeting and playing with new people, especially the people who really seem to have a good time with it.

Though, I can't help but like the idea of some extra swag or something.

 

[Nine Hands]

My wife and I run a gaming convention in southern NH and we work our butts off making sure the GMs are happy. Between them and the attendees, they are the only reason we have a convention. Of course we can only do so much, its not like we can pay for dinner or something. Heck we had free soda and coffee (thanks Mark!!!) in Con Ops for the GMs and Con staff. Of course we refunded the admission price for anyone who GMed a couple of slots (I forget how many but it was not much).

Just remember that running a gaming convention is expensive and lots of work.

If you want to come run games at OGC (looks like you are pretty far away), we can show you how appreciated you are

 

[Piratecat]

John's right; I went to OGC, and love the fact that they're nice to their judges. I can't wait to go back next year. The same is true of Southern Exposure (NJ), Anonycon (CT), and ConnCon (CT.) In comparison, I always got treated like crap at Total Confusion (MA & NH), so I'll no longer go there.

The best cons waive judge admission if you run 3+ slots, and have a con suite with drinks and/or food. It's that sort of thing that helps make judges loyal.

 

[HiLiphNY]

I dunno. . .call me selfish, but I have never had enough encouragement (read: compensation) for me to DM at a large event, including GenCon. I think this is more of a result of my desire to play (I always DM at home!) than it is about the money. Wall St. tends to pay my bills, and while I love to DM, my real enjoyment is to play dozens of games at GenCon that one time each year. Priceless, I suppose.