That's a really good idea wraith! It would allow people to keep within the spirit of why people don't like some of the previously suggested options (inabilities to gift & things change being 2 big ones) while still controlling some of the unwanted behaviors.wraith wrote:
That, I'd say, would be an issue (like scalping) that would be resolved by simply making tickets 100% non-transferable except signficantly below face value, albeit resold at face value through STEP. Shit happens, I know, but at the same time there are enough people dedicated to wanting to go who can't get tickets right now that hoarding and scalping both are something we should consider unacceptable behavior.
I was honestly a little surprised at the problems I had trying to get rid of my extra ticket last year (STEP was already closed) because of the paranoia and eroded trust. Fake tickets, over face value tickets and money exchange without any real tickets are all real issues that come up when trying to find/get rid of tickets. This is known on some level because info is published by the org about how to spot a real ticket, lists of cancelled tickets and advice on how to exchange money safely & not to pay over face value, but even with fairly close connections people are having to question these things now. Maybe this is a desired behavior/the org wants to be out of it as much as possible. I don't know.
I do think there could still be potential for people to "fake" having a ticket and selling it below face value (what a deal! $300 for you!), but maybe this is the random selling to people you have no connection to (outside of STEP) might need to be cut out.
Tying IDs or ID-like information (I think someone suggested a photo or something like that that you provide that helps someone identify you & is a unique set of info... ) to tickets sucks on some levels, but it would help with some problems with trust & it has been done before. I'm not sure what can be done about trying to handle as much of this as possible before getting to the event to keep the inflow moving, but it's something to keep in mind.
Supply is less than demand as 2011 first showed us, but some of this extra crap going on distorts the picture on how much less the supply really is than demand. I'm pretty sure we know people over-register for the sale/over purchase based on the types of stories that end up coming out. There are people that don't get to go each year that would otherwise be able to go if they had a ticket. How many is that? Are we 5% under desired capacity? 20%? 100%? Does anyone have any real idea?