This will be my first year running a gaming event at GenCon and I got the GM e-mail with all the May 6 dates.  I am confused about what the GM badges are and whether I need them or not.

My event will include some amount of teaching and I expect to have two to three additional people from my group with me to help teach players the game.  We had all intended on purchasing attendee badges.

Do I still need them to get attendee badges or do I submit the GM badge request form on their behalf?  Do I have to request a GM badge for myself if I am listed as the GM on the event dashboard?  How do I know the set limit for GM badges I can request?

Thanks for your help and guidance!

You'll want to check the Host page and Event Host Policy for full details on GM badges.

In short, gaming groups and companies are eligible for 1 complimentary GM badge for every 70 player-hours of events they run. You can request an allocation of badges, and once we set that up you can assign badges to your GMs, just like any other badge type.

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Derek Guder
Event Manager
Gen Con LLC

Thank you for your help!

It is also worth mentioning that a GM badge is not required to run events. Any attendee badge and an approved event allows you to run a game. The first year I ran events I did so with my four day badge and got a refund later (as I ended up with over 72 player-hours). Happy GMing!

Super quick question as I am also a noob GM:  Just got my GM Badge, but I had purchased a 4-day pass.  Are those refunded automatically since it is before the ship date or do I need to send something in?

If you receive both badges before the "ship to me" deadline, you'll get a refund on your badge pre show.  It's not automatic, but we have someone do a duplicate badge search periodically and refund duplicates, so you don't have to request that specifically.

If you are assigned a GM badge post the "ship to me deadline" (and certainly if it's within a week or so, double check this as well), you'll still have two badges. What you'll do then is pick up your regular attendee badge, and your GM badge, and then turn in your regular attendee badge to GM HQ BEFORE 5pm Thursday, so we can process a refund post show.

Hope that clarifies things.

Marian McBrine
Event Coordinator
Gen Con LLC
 

Approximately when do GM Badges get allocated? I need to get my people their badges for event reg.

Cheers!
Seth
DrunkAssGames

Hi all,

As a GM badge allocation update, I'm current on all GM badge allocation requests submitted as of 11 am this morning.  Everyone that submitted before that time either has their allocation, and I emailed them telling them that, or, has an email from me requesting information, or, has most of their events not yet active.

If you think you should have an allocation, and did not get an email from me, and you do not have most of your events still in submitted for review or accepted for consideration status, you can email events@gencon.com to have us look into it. Remember that the badge allocation form is on the "Host" page, and you must submit that form for us to create your badge allocation that you then assign to your GMs.

Hey Seth, you submitted your request at 1pm today.  I will do my best to get to it tomorrow morning. :)

Marian McBrine
Event Coordinator
Gen Con LLC

Two of our judges (a mother and a daughter) bought their initial badges (for housing and other event tickets) under a single account (the mother's).  Will we have any issues with reimbursement since they both use the same email?

Badges are refunded to the account that paid for them, to their original form of payment.  So a refund should not be an issue, though it will make it harder for the person doing the refund.

Marian McBrine
Event Coordinator
Gen Con LLC

Just throwing this out there but according to the Event Host Policy seems to indicate something slightly different.
Page 19  "If a GM already has an attendee badge, that badge will automatically be refunded before fulfillment begins. Refer to the Reimbursements section for more details."

Page 21   "If you received a GM badge and already purchased an attendee badge, your attendee badge will automatically be refunded before fulfillment begins.
If for any reason your badge was not automatically refunded, you must bring your physical attendee badge to GM HQ by Thursday at the convention to request a refund. This will be processed once we return to the office after the convention.
Only paid, attendee badges (4-day, one day, VIG, VIG companion, etc.) are eligible for reimbursement. VIG and VIG companions are entitled to system credit only. Complimentary badges (such as from a promo pass or Trade Day package) or badges that provide special access (such as exhibitor or press) are not eligible for reimbursement.
Reimbursements are issued to whatever payment method was used to originally buy the badge. System credit will be returned to the appropriate account and any credit card purchased will be credited appropriately"

So I am not sure if "before fulfillment" is what you mean by Before & After the "Ship to Me" Phase.

If the policy isn't correct, maybe it can be updated for next year to reflect what you indicated here.
 

We can clarify that, but fulfillment begins pretty much right when Ship to Me ends, so it's two ways to look at/label the same deadline.

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Derek Guder
Event Manager
Gen Con LLC

If you already have an attendee badge, then get a GM badge, are your electronic tickets transferred over?

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Derek Guder
Event Manager
Gen Con LLC

To get an email confirmation, an account needs to have an email address associated with it, which would mean it's not a "dummy" account. There is a reason I tell event organizers to only use email addresses to assign GM badges, not names.

The event organizer can confirm what badges have been assigned to whom. Ask them to confirm, or contact us if there is an issue.

(and make sure that everyone has a full account with an email address that they can sign into easily - if anyone has more than one account, contact customerservice@gencon.com to have multiple accounts merged)

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Derek Guder
Event Manager
Gen Con LLC

Hi all,

I am a Designer wanting to purchase a GM badge and get into the FEPH. From what I gather, I do not need to also buy a physical attendee badge to get into GenCon itself. The GM badge will get me in and works as just the same as a 4-day badge. Is that correct?