On No-Shows in RPGs
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Posted by nscott
#101

Is there a mechanism to return a seat to the pool at the ICC if you don't want a refund?  I returned a ticket Wednesday for a Sunday event to make it available to someone else, not because I wanted $1.90 in system credit. The wait in even a short line at Customer service took 25 minutes. I'd have been happy to drop it in a slot and just let someone process the ticket to free up the seat later. Making the dollar value a donation to the charity of the year would be even better.

Posted by matthias9 watchdog
#102

watchdog wrote:
I wonder how many Event tickets are being used that way, though. 
This is anecdotal evidence, so take it with a grain of salt. But in 19 years of running events at Gen Con, our group has had one player use an event ticket this way. It's still a pretty well kept secret as policies go. I'd wager at least half the GMs and most attendees don't even know it's an option.

I guess I'd have to agree with this since I've been going to Gen Con for 32 years and didn't even know this was a thing you could do.  I probably wouldn't do it anyway, since I'd rather return the ticket so hopefully someone else can take the spot.

One thing I've wondered about is what percentage of event ticket sales are pre-sold (versus sold at the Con)?  What I'm getting at --- if you preregister for an event ticket and then return it at the Con, how likely is it that they will find a buyer for it?  Personally, I make a schedule during wishlist time, but seldom try to track down additional events once I am at Gen Con.

Posted by garhkal derekguder
#103

derekguder wrote:
rilandon wrote:
An easy way for Gen Con to reduce player no shows is to stop allowing event tickets to be used as generics. If someone buys an event ticket they are taking away the chance for someone else to use that slot. And there is the risk that the GM does not get credit for the seat / hours.. 
 So if you reserve a seat at a game, you are on the hook for that.. allow it to be returned , yes, but not used somewhere else..

We've discussed that in the past and it will not be changing in the near term.Not only is it questionable whether it actually will reduce player no-shows, it is clear that it would result in huge headaches for many gaming groups and companies that run multiple sessions of the same event and often have players drift from one slot to another.
Being stricter with tickets will result in fewer people sitting down and playing games and is counter productive.
-
Derek Guder
Event Manager
Gen Con LLC

Strange.  Our group does that the majority of the con, running 3-5 tables each slot, and we've never had an issue with someone not being able to play cause most players either buy a ticket, OR Come in with generics.. 

 

Posted by grtbrt
#104

Our group runs a good amount of games(mostly miniatures and board games ) and no shows are a definite problem.  Cost does not seem to be a factor .
Most of our games are sold out within the 1st hour or so or going live > and stay sold out . right up until less than the ticketed numbers show up .
example :
Game of thrones -3d - all sessions sold out in about 15 minutes . yet 7 of 10 sessions had at least 1 no show -tickets were $10.00 :some we were able to fill by generics - yes we waited for the players to show up -and mostly people with generics didn't want to wait the 10 minutes or so to see if there would be space -They preferred to go elsewhere .
Most people not attending a game do not turn in their tickets prior to the game -so they continue to show as sold out online .

We do get players using tickets from other events -but it is minimal (I think this year about 8 tickets  4 of which  were from our games which were cancelled due to no-shows )

unfortunately as a gaming group we are judged by the tickets turned in by us -not by the tickets sold and not exchanged - So there is the very real possibility of loosing premier status and location because of the no show situations. The majority of which are outside our control .

 
 

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