ePlaya

Hi all,

I have a question about how DGS tickets are allocated.

I'm asking because last year we started a new camp in the 12-18 person category. We had a great time - served 4 pancake breakfasts + bloody marys, etc. Also came out green on the moop map, and filled out the post-playa placement team survey with photos of frontage and events - basically tried the best we could to be an awesome first-time camp. Now we're gearing up for this year and are wondering how DGS tickets get allocated. I know there's not a number we should "expect" to get, but can anyone share some past experience with how many DGS tickets their camp got, especially in a similar size category? Many thanks!

My experience is that camp leaders get allocated DGS invites in the amount that roughly covers 1/3 of the camp population ticket wise. This is past experience and Placement could change things for this year or things might stay the same. Dig out the last placement email you got and read through it. There is a lot of good information in there. Don't worry. It's easy to get nervous about the next thing happening but placement very reliably does their thing and is receptive to meaningful communication.

lymerae wrote:I know there's not a number we should "expect" to get, but can anyone share some past experience with how many DGS tickets their camp got [snip]

There is a number you should expect to get - zero. I'm not being facetious or cruel, the reality is that only Placement & Ticketing know how many a camp will be offered, and if a camp will even be offered any. The good news is that most placed camps in good standing seem to get some, but the quantity can vary vastly, depending, again, on what Placement and Ticketing think a camp needs to ensure it can run properly.

It sounds like you did everything right, and Placement does go around and look at their sectors to see how camps are doing (this is how even some first-time placed camps can end up getting DGS tickets - they made a good impression before going for placement). Cross your fingers, but don't base your plans on DGS until you know for certain you're going to get some, which will only happen once Ticketing sends out the emails.

Thanks for the feedback - we appreciate it.

Yes, I definitely know that there are no guarantees and no camp should count on any particular number of tickets. Part of the reason I was asking is because we had co-led a larger camp in the past (20-30), which always seemed to get just about as many DGS tickets as they had campers, but was wondering if this was an anomaly or not.

We were also wondering if small-ish camps might get a greater proportion of their camp covered through DGS tickets - since a 50-person camp might be able to get running with a core group of 17, but a 12-person camp would probably not be able to function with a core group of 4 (or at least ours wouldn't be able to).

But as you say, all of this is just speculation, and experience probably varies a LOT by year to year as well as by camp to camp. We'll hold tight and see what the future brings!

There aren't any hard and fast rules about how many people are necessary for a camp of a certain size to function. You could have a big camp full of people who just hang out and bring all their own stuff, or you could have a camp where everyone brings critical infrastructure or is needed for setup and teardown. Make good arguments for why you need X number of tickets and what those X will bring to the playa and see what you get.

lymerae wrote:Thanks for the feedback - we appreciate it.

Yes, I definitely know that there are no guarantees and no camp should count on any particular number of tickets. Part of the reason I was asking is because we had co-led a larger camp in the past (20-30), which always seemed to get just about as many DGS tickets as they had campers, but was wondering if this was an anomaly or not.

From what I've seen on ePlaya (and in camps run by my friends), getting as many tickets as you have campers is not typical.

BBadger has good advice--just make the best case you can.

[quote="Savannah"][quote="lymerae"]Thanks for the feedback - we appreciate it.


From what I've seen on ePlaya (and in camps run by my friends), getting as many tickets as you have campers is not typical.

It's not only not typical, no camp gets enough tickets to cover the entire camp. It's a mysterious process, our camp typically has about 70 to 80 campers, last year we got 20 DGS tickets, we also 8 early entry spots.

motskyroonmatick wrote:My experience is that camp leaders get allocated DGS invites in the amount that roughly covers 1/3 of the camp population ticket wise. .

Wow we didnt get that many but we did get double over last year which was greatly appreciated!