Hello -- I'm an independent GM that just likes to run a few RPGs during GenCon. My wife will help me set up, but I don't have any other assistants...but I'm only running a single game with at most 8 people. I have both a late model Android phone and a laptop with a barcode reader (perks of being in an IT shop). Do you have any recommendations on the paper vs electronic ticket choice? I think I'm set up to do electronic tickets, but I wasn't sure if the intent was to just have larger groups use electronic tickets, and still run smaller shops and independent GMs with paper?
Cross-posted here: https://www.gencon.com/forums/9-event-organizers-gms/topics/15941-paper-vs-electronic-ticket-recommendation
I think anyone who wants to try electronic tickets this year is free to do so. You don’t have to be a gaming group or be offering a certain number of seats. Just select the electronic ticket option when you are creating your event and do the verification step that shows you have the tech to handle it.
If eTickets work well again this year, we'll probably take Nascrag down this road in 2021. I worry this could be a choke point if we're trying to process 90+ players at a time. We'd need to have multiple phones set up to do this
Mike Boozer Customer Service & Event Team Manger Gen Con LLC
My phone likely would be able to, but last year I had such problems with both battery life due to it trying to connect to a tower and sucking the battery dry as well as internet connection.
For smaller group GMs like me, down the road, will we keep the paper ticket system? Or come up with something that would work for those who the E-system doesn't work for. Else you're looking at forcing some GMs out.
We are definitely moving in the direction of making E-ticketing the way we handle tickets. Still working on how that ramps up over the years.
Mike Boozer Customer Service & Event Team Manager Gen Con LLC
Mike: don't forget GMs coming in from overseas, for whom data connection has a noticeable cost (if it's possible at all). We may not be a large group but we do exist.
The solution would be wifi, right? Routers with an EO-only password. I know that's what we'd need in Union Station (I've been discussing in another thread) where there's no cell signal for anyone.
Does anyone know how well the Wifi works in Lucas Oil?
With the delay in event registration it would be good to make all tickets electronic tickets. This would avoid having a potentail crunch of printing out hardcopy tickets to mail with badges.
Hopefully being online speeds up use of electronic tickets in the future.