New Burningman Ticket Process - 2012

[sanukphoto]

Another problem is that this creates uncertainty for those of us planning art installations, theme camps, mutant vehicles, etc. I must now ask myself whether or not I should I go ahead with the time-consuming, labor intensive (a labor of love, mind you) plans I have for our theme camp. It would break my heart to put so much into it only to find out in the early summer that all of my work was for nothing because I wasn't selected in the lottery. I'm sure that everyone who starts their builds early in order to bring something wonderful to share is now asking themselves the same question. I worry that the on-playa experience may suffer because people won't start building until they know with certainty that they have a ticket, and thus will have less time to put something truly amazing together.

IT IS SO F....... STUPID - IT WILL DESTRO THE EVENT!

[Nipple]

Tickets went on sale last year in January. Tickets sold out July 29th.

It will be ok. If you want to go, you can organize it. You'll be able to go.

[chris2010]

Lottery sucks big time!

Part of the Burning Man event involves a lot of early scheduling commitments regarding work and family and $$ committed to renting things like RV's as early as mid January. With the lottery system a person does not know if they are going to get a ticket or their camp mates are all going to be able to get tickets.

scenario 1: you sign up for the lottery, give credit card info. Then rent the RV.....oops, sorry no tickets..You are FUCKED for lots of money

scenario 2: you sign up for the lottery, give credit card info. Plan a theme camp with a bunch of people...oops, sorry no tickets..You are FUCKED with a theme camp of one or two.

scenario 3: you sign up for the lottery, give credit card info. Plan a Mutant Vehicle with another person and half way through construction and big $$ spent...oops, sorry no tickets..You are FUCKED with half a MV.

scenario 4: you sign up for the lottery, give credit card info. Plan a big Art Project with another person and half way through construction and big $$ spent...oops, sorry no tickets..You are FUCKED with half an Art Project

If Burning Man was a Rock Concert where there are performers and you purchase SPECTATOR TICKETS, this system might work.
Burning man is a participatory event where the PERFORMERS and ARTISTS are also the ticket buyers, this system will not work.

Why build any art or a theme camp if there is a big chance you will not get a ticket. Those of us that plan and build things buy tickets first.
Those that buy tickets in June or July are likely SPECTATORS only and if they are too late and the event is sold out...well .....

Great scenario!... who wants to wait till summer to find out if they are going or not?!?

[theCryptofishist]

Destro sounds like a villain from a japanese cartoon! Or maybe his horse.

[MyDearFriend]

This is a really terrible idea for a number of reasons.

1. Large camps may end up losing key members due to sheer bad luck.
2. Small camps may end up losing people who are NECESSARY to actually get there (i.e: transportation).
3. Families might end up with one member getting a ticket and another member not, meaning the entire family can't go.
4. Bands (I'm not even talking about the popular ones) might lose a member for no reason.
5. For people with low limits on their credit cards, it means they have to constantly monitor their usage so their card doesn't get declined (instead of having the correct balance ready at the right moment).
6. And yes, it screws with people's cost planning.

People can say this is "whiny entitled bullshit" but really, this event is supposed to be about having fun and a good time. Getting out there is stressful enough, what with all the planning and expenses, and this just adds the stress of uncertainty. Which camp member will end up fucked out of a ticket due to sheer bad luck? Which limited-income person will get placed into the highest tier of tickets due to random chance?

If scalpers are the issue, make the tickets non-transferrable! If someone wants to sell their ticket, have them send it in, destroy it, and issue the new person a new ticket for a nominal fee! That solves so many of the "scarcity" problems out there all by itself, which would be far easier to implement and far more popular to boot.

+1000

Getting to BRC requires a serious investment of time and money. The prospect of investing all that without knowing if I will be allowed to buy a ticket fills me with dismay. Life is fucking RANDOM ENOUGH AS IT IS without this monkey-wrench.

And what about the people, not me thank you but I know several, what about the people who for whatever reason do not have credit cards? Approval by the money mongers should not be a prerequisite for ticket-buying, should it? How is that radically inclusive?

[ladonnamobile]

This is definitely not the best news that I heard today. I echo the comments on how going to a lottery system could really screw up planning for camps, theme camps, art installations, performances, etc. Not to mention, this does nothing to prevent scalpers from reselling tickets - unless ticket scalpers are chronically unlucky and never win lotteries.

Maybe in the event that a person cannot use his or her ticket, it could be returnable to Burning Man, who can then resell the ticket. The person shouldn't get a full refund on the ticket, BM could keep 25% (or something) for the admin costs.

I hope they're still in talks...

[Nipple]

Metal face masks are the new feather head dress.

"I WAITED FOR HOURS IN THE SNO CONE LINE! WHEN I GOT TO THE FRONT, THEY WERE OUT!

[sulli]

Well, the Borg is neo-Soviet in its opacity, so this is no great surprise. But the concerns about scalpers overwhelming the lottery are 100% valid.

I'm with the commenter who said that 2011 (and let's add 2010 and 2009) ticket holders should get first dibs. Those who have participated before should get a break. It makes no sense to add risk (possibly very high risk) to our already stressful planning for the burn.

[FIGJAM]

Lotteries are a gamble!

How much infrastructure and prep for BIG art is anybody going to BET if their not certain of a ticket?

This could seriously deminish the event.

[shilonikelle]

What is the time scale of this lotto? AKA When will people know if they have tickets and can go or not? March? April? May? July?

Planning for the Burn takes months and plenty of money is invested - I am already stockpiling baby wipes but I might not even get to go?!?!?

This seems to be punishing the people who need to plan ahead (ie everyone at the Burn except that guy who "forgot" to bring any food again this year)... what about RV rental deposits? Flights? Budgeting?

Wow I wonder who out of my camp will get screwed and not get a ticket....

[ozalid]

This is all very disapointing... We have reserved our RV and every one has asked for the time off work ahead of time to be sure they get it. Now we have an RV, time off from work, and planning is in the works ....BUT will we have tickets??

What a bummer... its not easy to ruin my Fridays.....

[Joshy Neurotic]

OK firstly, i think this Idea is stupid. Now let me explain why.

Firstly,
The great circle, the fire conclave... i work with a group of performers, as a saftey not a fire spinning hippie , and we are usually in the great circle. save for last year. Now with all the planning, equipment, practicing, video submissions, etc, will be shot if this actually happens. What happens if half your fire troupe cannot attend due to not being picked. fail.

Secondly,
If you look at last year, after the tickets were sold out, how many did you see on ebay going for outlandish prices. What do you think will happen this (2012) year ? u think 3000$ for a ticket was bad. i can foresee a 10,000$ ticket.

Thirdly,
If you are a dumb ass hippie who cant get your shit together then you dont deserve to go.... if you dont fucking bring water ... you should have not came.... if you dont bring your own food... your a god dam idiot... unfortunatly alotta people do, do this.


Now this will be my 4th year. i say it will, because im going one way or another. but this lottery idea isnt the correct way, imo, to go about things. mabe invest in using a larger server... blizzard, sony, apple, all have more then 100,000 people accessing there servers for games, icloud, sharing, etc, on a constant basis and have little issues. Im sure there could be a, "subleted" server system that you could rent ( i use all these terms losely cause i am not a netrunner nore do i play one on tv) for the time of ticket sales. And with this last year as evidence, the servers would not have to be rented for long.

[adonis808]

I hate the idea of a ticket lottery. I don't want to have to be nervous about whether or not I'm going to get my ticket. Never felt nervous in the past, now I do. Awful feeling.

Seems a lottery system as has been described will assure that people who have never had to look to the black market to get their tickets will find themselves faced with that reality when they simply don't get lucky and win the right to buy a ticket.

Bad feelings. Bad idea.

[lemur]

welcome to eplaya newbies!!

[adonis808]

Retract this idea Burning Man!!!

NO LOTTERY!!!

[sulli]

[quote="FIGJAM"]Lotteries are a gamble!

How much infrastructure and prep for BIG art is anybody going to BET if their not certain of a ticket?

This could seriously deminish the event. [/quote]

PRECISELY. Org ppl, if you're reading, please take note!

[mournlight]

I drive for four days to get there, and I have to plan way ahead in order to be able to make that trip. I don't have a lot of extra money but nonetheless, I intentionally have bought in the 3rd tier up each year because I figure I have a little more than most. But that doesn't mean I can charge my card at just anytime - I have to run it when the money is there. So I'm not sure how this is going to work. What if they don't run the card for four weeks? Will I find out soon enough out to do all the necessary planning? I don't want to buy supplies before I know if I have the ticket, and normally I buy supplies a little at a time in the months from January - August. Wow. This sounds scary and it doesn't feel fair already. I hope when they give more info it is re-assuring.

[Vorpal Blade]

Maybe i am reading this wrong, but i am pretty sure this means you only get to register once, and you'll only be able to participate in ONE lottery:

- You'll first register for the ticket lottery during a 2-week open registration period. At that time, you'll declare which of the pricing tiers you'd be willing to pay, and provide a valid credit card number.
- After the registration period, we will run separate lotteries for each ticket tier. If your name is selected, at this point your credit card will be billed, and you'll receive a ticket confirmation.
- There will be several consecutive lottery rounds.
- You will only be able to purchase tickets from one lottery

[aklofas]

I'm STRONGLY against the lottery system. First-come-first-serve rewards those that really want to go and organize. The lottery system is bad because it doesn't penalize those that come late in the game and only half-commit only if it's convenient to go (usually first years). The tickets sold out late in the game last year (a few months before the event), so I don't see it as an issue. Those that really want to go will get their sh**t in gear and purchase tickets early on when they are still available. What's the problem?

Andrew

[M_FULL_OF_GRACE]

welcome to eplaya newbies!!

Thanks Lemur! Pleasure to be here! I think...

[theCryptofishist]

Org ppl, if you're reading, please take note!

They don't usually read. And the one person I know who reads this (apart from our hard working mods, who I don't really consider to be part of the LLC) will go for months without checking in. We are the red-headed step child of the llc. And some of us have odd senses of humor...

[MyDearFriend]

welcome to eplaya newbies!!

Please, lemur, please play nice. The JRS pointed folks here for a reason.

Welcome to eplaya, all you newly joined folks and all the guests and lurkers. Please know that your participation here is welcome.

[Nipple]

Maybe i am reading this wrong, but i am pretty sure this means you only get to register once, and you'll only be able to participate in ONE lottery:

- You will only be able to purchase tickets from one lottery

You can only win one lottery.

[mournlight]

And what about the "separate lotteries?" So they might charge my card 6 wks after I registered? 8 weeks? 16 weeks? This is not sounding good. Maybe we're all worrying too much, but....

[BLFD1]

Almost 12 years supporting the BM experience and working for the event. This is a BAD idea guys & gals.

[junglesmacks]

You're all worrying too much.


- There will be multiple lotteries

- Those who plan.. burn.

- See above. Rinse and repeat.

[Vorpal Blade]

are you sure that someone who indicates that they would be willing to pay at multiple tiers is going to be entered into, say, the first-tier lottery? or are they only going to be entered into the lottery at the highest tier they are willing to pay? it is not entirely clear from the way they worded it.

[Just_Joe]

Lame.
I'll probably get a ticket, I'll probably go solo.
Planning and executing a theme camp this year was challenging (albeit enjoyable) enough without having to wonder whether the group would get in or not.

I hope the rest of you are able to bring some cool stuff for me to enjoy.

[Joshy Neurotic]

who knows... it might go with the theme of next year

[Vorpal Blade]

also, rlly ppl. newbie to the boards does not mean newbie to this process or the burn. some of us just don't speak until there seems to be something worth saying.