what the heck
Posted by neil1969 jackogk

jackogk wrote:
neil1969 wrote:I received only 3 out of the 8 that I submitted on the wish list. THEN those 3 disappeared from my wishlist leaving only the 5 that I didn't get. 

Just out of curiosity, what's your My Transactions screen show?

I know what you mean, and thanks for asking. My initial reaction was “cool, they have my card details they charged me already and I’ll have these sessions”…. Sadly…. No such silver lining. 

Posted by cnjones kgbuller

kgbuller wrote:
Gen Con would like to say they have 20,000+ events, but nobody really wants to learn how to make a medieval basket, or listen to a seminar on how to make a plastic bead necklace. They were only 5500 role-playing events on the catalog and I'm sure that attendance was greater than 25,000. Do the math. Myself and 3 friends smashed the button right. at. 12. Three landed in the 3000s, while I was rewarded with almost 17k. I decided to go make breakfast. It was still processing after I had finished eating eggs and potatoes. Of our group, no one got anything even close to what they wanted. I didn’t do it, of course, but I think I understand why people rage quit GenCon. It’s gotten too big, and there’s not enough games.

This, I think, is the crux.

The past two years my group has signed up for multiple events per day throughout the day and received maybe 1 or 2 events out of probably 20 put in for.  I don't know what the issue is...is it the games we're putting in for are just that popular that everyone is know playing them, thus increasing demand but not the supply?  Is the number of games offered lower, thus decreasing the supply?  Is both happening?  We put in for a lot of Pathfinder events, and thought since Paizo increased their ticket prices that could slightly increase supply, plus Paizo is making a larger play again again finally.  However, Paizo also doesn't do any Pathfinder events Friday evening, so that knocks out a huge percentage of games for Pathfinder, and thus decreasing the supply.

So we decided to ditch so many Paizo events and instead go for other RPG events.  We got none of them as a group (we signed up for 2 per day of many other RPGs).

It is very frustrating and I don't know what to do about it.  We usually spend several hours putting together a coherent schedule, and the past two years the time taken to put one together and add to our wishlist was nullified.  We aren't sure we'll do it again next year, we are really wondering if it's worth the effort to go to GenCon and spend the money again if we don't get anything we would like to do.  I hope GenCon can figure out some incentive to increase the supply of games being run.

@jigreen, 1 ticket availability doesn't help with people who go to GenCon and want to game there with a couple of other friends in the same group.

@smithrj, the last 2 years 2 of us has been turned down with generics at RPGs such as Call of Cthuhulu, Shadowrun, and Pathfinder.

All I'm saying is when people who've gone to GenCon for years and spend a lot of time playing games and making the schedule, buy the badge before knowing if they get tix...this wears on people, you know?

Posted by bori

@cnjones - that is a fair point about trying to get into a game as a group.  All it takes is one other group in queue in front of you (or multiple singles) and now there aren't enough tickets left for your group.  I have had the same issue in the past.  And yes, it is disappointing to not get your 1st choice, or even 2nd or 3rd or 4th.  

Even with that though, there are still a lot of games available.  For example, it looks like there are still about 1000 RPGs requiring no prior experience that could accommodate a group of 3.  When trying to fill out your schedule as a group, I recommend downloading the spreadsheet file as it is easier to filter out events with fewer tickets remaining than will fit your group, as well as any other search criteria you have.

Because I didn't get all of my wish list items, I have gotten to play some really good games that I would have otherwise never tried.  Some I enjoyed well enough to buy the book and run at my local cons back home.  

Posted by kevinrg

There are things that can be done to enhance the user experience with the event queue, but I'm guessing many of the things that I have in my head either wouldn't be pursued because I'm not sure Gencon has a vested interest in revamping the technical side of the event assignment OR I'm guessing many things people wouldn't want for fear of someone 'gaming the system' in some way.

If I was king of the event queue ...

1.  Move escape rooms to their own category (given this was shot down as not technically feasible, guessing alot of my suggestions wouldn't fly)
2.  Show a counter with # of people with the event on the wish list.  (not dynamic, update x1 a day).  I see an event with 200 people with it in their wish list, I automatically plan on looking somewhere else
3.  Limit # of events on the 1st go around to X number of events and cycle the user wish lists a few times.
4.  If not # 3, allow people choice of being in the hotel lottery queue or event queue.  (I know I'd take a chance at a downtown hotel and be frozen out of event signups for 24 hours)
5.  If getting in the event queue is truly fastest to hit the servers, try to remove that and have more randomized like housing
6.  Allow events to have an initial block of tickets that need to be purchased as one to allow larger groups to play as one

Granted.. I would expect none of these to be implemented, but I think even #2 would help temper people's thoughts going into event signup.

 

Posted by njseahawksfan cnjones

=inheritThis, I think, is the crux.The past two years my group has signed up for multiple events per day throughout the day and received maybe 1 or 2 events out of probably 20 put in for. =inherit@smithrj, the last 2 years 2 of us has been turned down with generics at RPGs such as Call of Cthuhulu, Shadowrun, and Pathfinder.

Those are three *very* popular RPG's.  That for sure is part of the issue.  

How many people are in your group?  The more people, the less likely to get an event all together.  If it's more than 4, even with a company with a huge presence like Paizo, you would have to get pretty lucky to land a session for the whole group.

Also, are you trying to play during peak hours on peak days (like when the dealer hall is open on Friday and Saturday?).  

All of these things can contribute to it being very hard to get into events.

I only got half of the events that I put on my wishlist, but I also have come to accept that's just part of GenCon, and while I don't particularly like it, I feel it's far, far better to know in advance rather than stand in a line for hours to not get into the event I wanted during the con (looking at you PAX).  

Anyhow, I know this doesn't lessen the sting, but I hope you go and find some really cool games and meet some nice folks and have a great time.

And if you try again next year, shoot for sessions during the less busy times (mornings and evenings), on the least busy days (Thursday and Sunday), check to see how many of the events are being run and avoid the ones with only a few instances and hopefully you and your group will get a few of your events!

Posted by pezkat kevinrg

kevinrg wrote:
I was around 12K after submitting, but given the hotel gods have been generous to me, I have no complaints.  Had a 500 error, but my payment went through and the items are in the transaction section so, no idea what that was about.
Doesn't help right now, but plenty of events are added between now and day 1 of Gen con.  People drop things, things will drop from peoples carts today and get re-added.   I've completely forgotten to submit my list until 24 hours later before and I've always found things to do.

Check your credit card to make sure you weren't double-charged; my husband and I both were after getting that error when checking out!

Posted by mikeboozer pezkat

pezkat wrote:
kevinrg wrote:
I was around 12K after submitting, but given the hotel gods have been generous to me, I have no complaints.  Had a 500 error, but my payment went through and the items are in the transaction section so, no idea what that was about.
Doesn't help right now, but plenty of events are added between now and day 1 of Gen con.  People drop things, things will drop from peoples carts today and get re-added.   I've completely forgotten to submit my list until 24 hours later before and I've always found things to do.

Check your credit card to make sure you weren't double-charged; my husband and I both were after getting that error when checking out!

Double charge error is being worked on and refund is going out.

Mike

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