Gary Con XII

A forum for discussing tabletop gaming conventions and similar hobby-related gatherings.
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Ancalagon
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Post February 22nd, 2020, 8:58 pm

Borked. Haha! From what I read on the GC forums and from a friend who tried to register today, SHIT SHOW was the term that came to mind! :lol:

TTE has been doing this for several years with no problems until today. I'm thinking that if all tickets were opened up prior to registration then the process should've functioned just like normal. I'm curious as to what caused the problems.
“Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” - Carl Sagan

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Necron 99
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Post February 22nd, 2020, 10:25 pm

Well, apparently they said something about a cache server, which manages all of the logged in user accounts, not being buffed up enough to handle the load of registrants. They did some work, the servers were back up at 1pm CT, then at some point it all went to pot again. This time I don't know what the problem was.

I was logged in to register for Quinn's events. The first go round at 12pm, I got caught in the wrath of the "cache server" like everyone else. When everything was a go again at 1pm, I was able to snag all of the events he wanted, but then had to spend several minutes refreshing my Cart, before the tickets showed up and let me check out. I was able to check out, so I assumed things were fine after the second flood of registration, but then I read on FB later on that they had to shut down registration because something else was wrong. Now it looks like registration will open back up tomorrow evening at 8pm CT.

I got lucky, apparently a lot of other folks either got random tickets but no checkout or didn't get anything. At this point, I really have no idea what solution they could use. The one thing that comes to mind is possibly adding another Tier of badges to break up the registration even more. Maybe add an Electrum Badge in place of the Gold, limited to 200 or 250 or whatever it is, then make Gold 500, then the Silvers for everyone else. Either that or just open up more Gold Badges.

Next year, assuming I attend, I'll just grab a Silver. I'll probably run several sessions and only play in a couple.
“He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams.” - Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien

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Ancalagon
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Post February 22nd, 2020, 10:54 pm

It just sounds like there's no excuse for TTE crapping out like this as long as all tickets were released and they were given an accurate count of folks who could potentially be trying to sign on and get tickets. And I get it that sometimes stuff just breaks at a bad time but day-umn with 1600+/- people with time and $$$ on the line.... this just has to work. Num sayin'? And BTW, I saw they're now referring to it as Standard Registration rather than Silver. Heh.

Todd got into the Thursday night AD&D session, The Land of Ice and Snow, with us and Eric, a guy who played in HackMaster with us 2 years ago, my C&C Harn game last year, and who drove down from Minnesota to participate in the HarnCon in Kansas last July I told you about. Really looking forward to that session.

Todd and Omote got into the Friday morning C&C session, Secrets of the Hidden Temple, with me. This will be the first time I've been a player in a game with Omote. He played well in my C&C game 2 years ago.

I saw Quinn was in the Friday night GURPS game, The Wreck of the Bellerophon, that I'm playing in. Very cool. Was he interested in getting in my Sunday game with you? The GC event schedule shows 1 vacancy for that session but only 3 names, including yours, listed as signed up so I reckon the TTE crap is interfering.
“Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” - Carl Sagan

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Necron 99
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Post February 22nd, 2020, 11:04 pm

Ancalagon wrote: February 22nd, 2020, 10:54 pmWas he interested in getting in my Sunday game with you? The GC event schedule shows 1 vacancy for that session but only 3 names, including yours, listed as signed up so I reckon the TTE crap is interfering.
He had your game as a second choice, if his first choice on Sunday had not worked out. Right now, he has a ticket to his initial event choice so unless something happens, he probably won't be playing in either of your games.

He will be playing GURPS with you, which is cool. He signed up without knowing you were in that one, so you two should have a good time. He's in the Saturday morning AS&SH game with me. Other than those two sessions he'll be off in other events.
“He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams.” - Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien

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Ancalagon
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Post February 23rd, 2020, 12:19 am

Necron 99 wrote: February 22nd, 2020, 11:04 pm
Ancalagon wrote: February 22nd, 2020, 10:54 pmWas he interested in getting in my Sunday game with you? The GC event schedule shows 1 vacancy for that session but only 3 names, including yours, listed as signed up so I reckon the TTE crap is interfering.
He had your game as a second choice, if his first choice on Sunday had not worked out. Right now, he has a ticket to his initial event choice so unless something happens, he probably won't be playing in either of your games.

He will be playing GURPS with you, which is cool. He signed up without knowing you were in that one, so you two should have a good time. He's in the Saturday morning AS&SH game with me. Other than those two sessions he'll be off in other events.
No worries. Be sure to let him know there are no wells in this year's adventure... :lol: :wink:
“Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” - Carl Sagan

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Ancalagon
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Post February 23rd, 2020, 8:00 pm

Ran my last play test today of The Skull of Tamoachan. Thank you, Barons of Bellevue for stepping up to the challenge! I'll make a few minor modifications but overall the event is locked in and ready for GCXII. :shaman:
“Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” - Carl Sagan

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Ancalagon
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Post February 23rd, 2020, 8:01 pm

Ancalagon wrote: February 23rd, 2020, 8:00 pm Ran my last play test today of The Skull of Tamoachan. Thank you, Barons of Bellevue, for stepping up to the challenge! I'll make a few minor modifications but overall the event is locked in and ready for GCXII. :shaman:
“Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” - Carl Sagan

grodog
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Post February 24th, 2020, 9:48 pm

Necron 99 wrote: February 22nd, 2020, 10:25 pmNext year, assuming I attend, I'll just grab a Silver. I'll probably run several sessions and only play in a couple.
A group of us are already starting to plan an alternative "veterans of GaryCon before it jumped the shark" convention....

Allan.
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Ancalagon
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Post February 24th, 2020, 10:47 pm

grodog wrote: February 24th, 2020, 9:48 pm
Necron 99 wrote: February 22nd, 2020, 10:25 pmNext year, assuming I attend, I'll just grab a Silver. I'll probably run several sessions and only play in a couple.
A group of us are already starting to plan an alternative "veterans of GaryCon before it jumped the shark" convention....

Allan.
I know you quoted Necron 99 but that sounds interesting.
“Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” - Carl Sagan

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Necron 99
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Post February 25th, 2020, 7:49 pm

grodog wrote: February 24th, 2020, 9:48 pm
Necron 99 wrote: February 22nd, 2020, 10:25 pmNext year, assuming I attend, I'll just grab a Silver. I'll probably run several sessions and only play in a couple.
A group of us are already starting to plan an alternative "veterans of GaryCon before it jumped the shark" convention....

Allan.
Dude, that sounds like a plan. I mean, I know NTRPG is kind of considered the long distant cousin of GaryCon for oldschool gaming, but with the schedule conflict for me, another convention at a different date would be great. I'm definitely interested in hearing more.
“He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams.” - Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien

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