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Timing at Origins
https://forums.paradigmconcepts.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1862		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  SamhainIA [ Wed Jun 10, 2015 3:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Timing at Origins
Drawing this to another thread to not derail the judge rewards thread

val Holryn wrote:
on the issue of getting more GMs ... I'm all for it.

But I would note that several times I have volunteered to run at Origins and not had a table of players. This includes the first BI at Jappa (Where is your God Now), a slot last year, and both of my Friday slots for this years Hard Point 8 this year. So it seems to me that either I'm just unlucky. Or there is a surplus of judges at Origins - my guess. (Or maybe the slot marshals don't think I'm a good judge...hopefully not, but you never know).

Ultimately I think the issue of rewards is a very minor component of finding or encouraging judges either at big cons or closer to home.


As the person that muster all of the afternoon and evening slots, this probably has more to do with how player timing fluctuates from year to year, where there was one slot that I released two judges (you and another) there were multiple other slots were I was scrounging up judges past the number of tickets sold. (and Thanks go out to Matt Flinn and Tony N for the couple of extra slots I know about)

James Z is already figuring out how to shift slots around a little bit for Origins next year to make the slots and judges match a bit more, I'm sure he will probably throw some other wrench in things so that its not as simple as moving X number of slots around.

However it may just be me, but its seems like there are more and more people that are not getting real tickets and instead just showing up with generics, and I fear that it might not be possible to accommodate them as easily in coming years as it has been in the past. I would point to that as a large cause of strain from the judge pool because some of our judges (bless them) will stand up to volunteer nearly anytime.
Author:  Eric Hughes [ Wed Jun 10, 2015 9:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Timing at Origins
As one of the guys that keeps showing up with generics at muster time, I'd like to address the point of why that is happening.....at least for me.

When I registered my search for "Arcanis" has not found the Hardpoint or Soft Point slots for any of the events. This year I was pleased that it did locate the BI and LARP for me this year. Further complicating things is that after three years of trying Origin's has still not allowed me to reopen a badge and add events after I registered for a badge. Apparently this has to do with those of us using military badges.

I would also state that I'd rather get bumped out of a slot and into the dealer's hall, than stand in line for a real ticket on site, as that line can get very long.

I understand that PCI can not fix the issue with military badges. But it seams that the search for "Arcanis" would be fixable.
Author:  wilcoxon [ Wed Jun 10, 2015 10:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Timing at Origins
Eric Hughes wrote:
I understand that PCI can not fix the issue with military badges. But it seams that the search for "Arcanis" would be fixable.


If you can't find it in the online system, download the Excel event grid and search that. The event grid will always be released 1 week before event registration (so you can plan out your schedule). I've never had any problem finding Arcanis in the event grid (at least not as long as I've been looking (2013 onwards)).
Author:  FGJustice [ Thu Jun 11, 2015 6:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timing at Origins
You can also try looking for the adventure codes, or even the names if you have them. A lot of times, the event will be listed as "HP9-34: Onara Blows Up" and Arcanis only appears in the description if at all. So if you search for HP9-34, you'll find what you want.
Author:  acurrier [ Thu Jun 11, 2015 7:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timing at Origins
The modules this year were listed by arc and adventure number (ie A2SP9) and the module name.
Author:  SamhainIA [ Thu Jun 11, 2015 8:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timing at Origins
I always have a schedule that uses origins adventure codes to look up events ready before registration opens and i register asap so i can keep my schedule (usually as soon as reg opens).

that being said Folks at the gathering cant really change the search engine for origins events :( you might try searching on the event names rather than "arcanis"
Author:  wilcoxon [ Thu Jun 11, 2015 9:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timing at Origins
SamhainIA wrote:
I always have a schedule that uses origins adventure codes to look up events ready before registration opens and i register asap so i can keep my schedule (usually as soon as reg opens).


I do the same - I have my planned out schedule done and list the codes in the order I think they will sell out (or how important getting into the game is to me) then search by event number (which seems to be the fastest and most accurate search). The one caveat is that you must select the correct game type even though the event numbers are globally unique (which I've complained to them about many times (but gave up as they seem to be unwilling to fix it)).
Author:  Harliquinn [ Thu Jun 11, 2015 10:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timing at Origins
I thought this year the default was 'All Events'? At least it seemed to be for me when searching.

John
Author:  Njal Val'Assante [ Thu Jun 11, 2015 7:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Timing at Origins
Eric Hughes wrote:
When I registered my search for "Arcanis" has not found the Hardpoint or Soft Point slots for any of the events. This year I was pleased that it did locate the BI and LARP for me this year. ... But it seams that the search for "Arcanis" would be fixable.


It is something that is fixable, and we'll keep it in mind when preparing to register events in the future.
Author:  james.zwiers [ Sat Jun 13, 2015 6:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Timing at Origins
The judge vs quantity of players is something I do keep an eye on. Certainly, next year, the table slots are going to shuffled around a bit (to accommodate some special plans Henry and I are cooking up).

I don't particularly like asking people to prepare an adventure, offer their time, and then get released. But, I also really dislike the alternative which is having no-one to run a table for ticketed players.

The final part of the puzzle (and this is rare, but does occur) is sometimes we have volunteers back out at last minute. It happened this year due to illness of a volunteer. Having enough people signed up before hand makes it possible to absorb that type of 'hit'. (Enough being one judge per table per slot... not extra per-se).


With respect to finding the Arcanis events... the absolute best way (and has been for all the years I've been attending Origins) is to find the event in the published event grid, and use the event code to search in the ticketing system. Of note: The arcanis events are always listed as having 'Paradigm Concepts, Inc.' as the publisher, so filtering on publisher in the grid will get you all of the PCI events. Note, online pre-reg closes only days before Origins now, so you should normally have a bit of time to get this done.

Why is that important? Well..

If I have 3 scheduled tables, and I get 3 tables of ticketed players that show up... those players are being seated first. ONLY if there is space are players with generics seated. So spending the little bit of time before the show to get a real ticket to the events you want to play is your guarantee of being able to play.

Now, we do make every effort to seat every player who shows up; but if I can't, then I must turn away those with generics.
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