ePlaya

Just went thru the ticket process with Comic-Con and think BM could learn a lot from them.

Here's a quick summary.

1. You register a member profile prior to sale day and are emailed a URL and code the day before sale. It can only be used in one browser window.
2. You enter the waiting room during a two hour period prior to the sale starting (7am - 9am). Time of entry into the waiting room does not affect whether you get a ticket. You keep the same window open and never refresh.
2. When tickets go on sale (9am), people in the waiting room are organized into a line in random order and regular status updates are provided by the vendor which help to reduce frustration.
3. When buyers graduate to registration, they are able to nominate two other people in the waiting room who they can also purchase tickets for.

Although I did not get tickets this was a really pleasant experience. I could not help but think how much less stress and unhappiness there would be if BM adopted a similar process.

All that stress and unhappiness only makes it that much sweeter when (if) you actually get your BM ticket.


I think that they make it such an agonizing process on purpose. For some reason throughout human history the people in charge of controlling the availability of any resource where there is scarcity, (either real or perceived) love to fuck with the consumers who want said resource. Like diamonds, petroleum and Burning Man tickets. It's just human nature to create panic and gouge the shit out people.

There could be a million solutions to the stress and unhappiness and unfortunately I don't think the Borg would give a damn.

This year was the smoothest ticket sale since demand has surged beyond supply. I think they're pretty much getting it right now - there is always going to be whinging at this point, simply because not everyone can get a ticket anymore, but I don't see why they would change a process that worked smoothly.

Hey guys I have a great idea!

I'll go over to the Comic Con forums, and troll all the frustrated people who did not receive tickets by telling them just how awesome and efficient the Burning Man ticket sale system worked this year for all the people who did receive tickets!

Ticketing was pretty smooth this year. They shouldn't change it.

Bbadger is a genius.

I think that they make it such an agonizing process on purpose. For some reason throughout human history the people in charge of controlling the availability of any resource where there is scarcity, (either real or perceived) love to fuck with the consumers who want said resource. Like diamonds, petroleum and Burning Man tickets. It's just human nature to create panic and gouge the shit out people.

There could be a million solutions to the stress and unhappiness and unfortunately I don't think the Borg would give a damn.

A-RockLeFrench

how VERY french of you....

how very very french....they certainly love their whine.

You'd think someone with the staggering intellect of SOTP would be able to catch the satire in that post... But then again, what do Americans know about satire?

nice try frenchie, but no cigar.

Is this where we reference Jerry Lewis?

yeah.....fuck it....go nuclear.

And they have cleaner porta potties at Comic-Con.

And better Cosplay.

Eric wrote:This year was the smoothest ticket sale since demand has surged beyond supply. I think they're pretty much getting it right now.

Word.

theCryptofishist wrote:And better Cosplay.

Don't like this idea.

I had absolutely no problem this year, and almost everyone that I talked to got a ticket unless they fucked up, except a few special cases I've heard about on here. And even the few people that missed out that were there right when the clock flipped to noon, I'm sure they're assertive enough and self reliant to obtain a ticket between now and August for face value.

So, based on that, why would we go through the hassle of completely changing to a new system when the current one works great.

Meh - Burning Man went the route of a random selection process in 2012. Sure, the mechanics were somewhat different (pre-registered drawing without vs. with virtual waiting room), but the net result was the same - an awful lot of those who registered did not get tickets. I don't think it was the lack of virtual waiting room that people really hated as much as it was the nature of a random drawing.

I think the system used for 2013 and 2014 works well and serves the event. 2013 was frustrating because of some server-related issues, but the ticketing provider we went with in 2014 was able to address and overcome those obstacles.

No thanks. I'll take first come, first served as weas done this year. Went smooth for everyone I know who got on right at noon. Random selection worked out quite poorly last time BM tried it.

I took a screenshot of the ticket discussion forum for posterity. I've never seen it with so few complaint threads since the first sell-out.