Are you losing interest in Burning Man too?

[Elderberry]

First, the burners.meh article is about as accurate as anything you'd see on Fox news. (Just FYI, they were already on probation for a violation in 2013.) Second, the video you posted is great!

[forty_eight]

#9 DJ in the world on the Forbes list

that's evidently a thing, rofl

[darkfred62]

Yes I'm losing interest in Burningman. Why?

because it so hard to get tickets.
2011 First year I went. No problem. Easy pezy. Volunteered a lot. Interacted a lot.
2013 Second year "crap, the lottery" got tickets in STEP. Was able to plan some Gave away one of my two tickets for half price to someone from LA. Was part of an impromptu community
2014Third year no main sale tickets, No STEP, No craigslist, OMG sale got two tickets. Had a week to "get it together" to go after I got back from work. Saw lots of plug and play camps with vendor support. How do they get tickets? They obviously are able to get tickets well in advance so they can plan to "gift " their service to the elite.

This year. NO main sale tickets, No STEP. No craigslist tickets showing up.
If I could get a consistent ticket, Man I would go all out. Need someone showing up to connect power grids? Done! Need someone to plan out and execute a theme camp public works? Done. Need art transported to playa? Done. Need it set up? Done.
But whatever. Cannot get a ticket. Cannot plan to support and volunteer.
Seems like BM is becoming more the all exclusive versus the radical inclusive

looking for another community to become a part of

[digital]

That's kinda sad.

"I can't get tickets so fuck you community!"

So, an inability to understand supply vs demand equates to loss of interest or community?

[darkfred62]

I understand supply and demand very well.

The demand for tickets to BM has pushed out a lot of people. With BM's popularity it will become stagnant with the core group of Directed sales, Plug and play camps, and the rest (yes its the majority) who have the possible privilege to purchase tickets. How many of the rest are newbies?

If your in the last group, have to plan your year in advance, all you get is the possible main sale and STEP tickets. If you don't get tickets then.......well it becomes a "yes I went to burning man once or twice, but its over".

Lets say you put in a bunch of time helping put together a small piece for BM. You want to go. You have the time set aside. You want to share your vision. But no ticket. You get maybe a one in 3 chance of getting a ticket in main sale. Year after year. Would you continue to do that? Or would you redirect your efforts to lets say Juplaya? or Rainbow? or even better, your local community projects?

[mudpuppy000]

your local community projects?

Yes

[MyDearFriend]

It's very easy to get a ticket if you work for it. My tix have been free and guaranteed for the past 4 years, with early entry for me and my driving buddies; vehicle pass included. I pay that forward by sending contributions to playa art projects (big and small) at about twice what the ticket & VP would have cost me.

If you are losing interest then please go away, or search your heart to discover what draws you back here and decide what that is worth to you. Can you give 24 or 36 hours over 12 days? If not then STFU.

[Simon of the Playa]

yes.


because they are just so uninteresting...

[The Hustler]

I always interpreted "Home" as just being more comfortable on the playa than in defaultia.

Yeah, this is how I always interpreted it. For some people it's the only place they can be themselves, at least until they figure out how to incorporate that into their real lives.

+1 to this. I didn't understand why people called it "home" until I finally became comfortable enough to do things like... i don't know... cook bacon naked in the middle of the day with strangers. Then, I started realizing why people call it home, or at least why I would - because it is just as comfortable as home. For the record, it took all of three days into my first burn for this to happen.

Sheeeeit. All this drama over a week camping in the desert?

That what happens when you assign some life changing galactic revelation to a party just cuz you had a great time.

If it is fun no more, drop the dogma and don't go.

Expectations are killing yall.

I act the same on the playa as I do off of it. (Hell, I acted 99% the same in Air Force basic training, but that's another story).
For me, it's sort of the opposite: it's physically challenging and difficult, which I actually like. (Can you imagine Burning Man in a comfortable setting? Oh dear, no!) I love the desert in different ways that I love the New England or Oregon coasts or, say, New York City or Forest Park in Portland.

The art, the dust, the sunsets (One of these years I'll see the actual sunrise), the people from all over the world, the crazy art (good and bad - we need both) ...

I imagine as more people go who see the polished You Tube videos thinking it's pretty 20-something girls and super-click artwork and every day is sunny and maybe it's not that hot, when they realize most of the naked people are older than 50 (like at your typical "nudist" anything) and that sun can be searing in the early afternoon, and the dust EVERYWHERE ... maybe this surge or bubble will slowly fade as the fratboys and party-seeking zillionaires go elsewhere.

Or not. Maybe this is the new normal and it's only getting worse.

Token, I think I agree with what you are saying. Before I ever went, I heard a lot of people go on about Burning Man being this big spiritual event, and some even rolling their eyes at people who talked about BM as if it were "just a party." After going, I realized that it is more party and not so much a spiritual event - it's no solo vision quest. I am sure a person could have a spiritual experience out there, but they could have a spiritual experience just about anywhere, so it's not BM in and of itself that is the source of that. Or at least, it hasn't been that way for me. Yet.

To the OP. I did lose interest in BM around Nov. 2014. I registered for tickets anyway, just in case. I got a little excited when I thought about volunteering. Then I got really excited when I got invited to work on an installation.

[vargaso]

I'm losing interest in losing interest in Burning Man. I haven't been since 2012, thought I was done, but then this year I was suddenly into it again. Lucked out on getting tickets in the main sale. Hooray for me and my wife.

[theCryptofishist]

It's very easy to get a ticket if you work for it. My tix have been free and guaranteed for the past 4 years, with early entry for me and my driving buddies; vehicle pass included.

I think ESD is one of the easier departments to get things like that from. Of course, you have to have specialized training/experience to work for them...

[MyDearFriend]

It's very easy to get a ticket if you work for it. My tix have been free and guaranteed for the past 4 years, with early entry for me and my driving buddies; vehicle pass included.

I think ESD is one of the easier departments to get things like that from. Of course, you have to have specialized training/experience to work for them...

There are non-clinical, no-credential-needed roles at the med stations.

Gate works people half to death but they are very generous with support.

[ygmir]

It's very easy to get a ticket if you work for it. My tix have been free and guaranteed for the past 4 years, with early entry for me and my driving buddies; vehicle pass included.

I think ESD is one of the easier departments to get things like that from. Of course, you have to have specialized training/experience to work for them...

There are non-clinical, no-credential-needed roles at the med stations.

Gate works people half to death but they are very generous with support.

well, some people in PGE just work a lot because its so fun............

[alt12]

I've been going for 12 consecutive years and this year is most likely my last. The reason is not for any of the "burning man has changed" reasons, that's a phase I went through years ago and have already come to acceptance with. Over the year BM shifted, for me, from a year-round project and an identity (age 25-27), later, it was a series of life changing experiences (27-33) and eventually it has turned into very simply, a desert campout with a bunch of my friends for a couple of weeks (age 34-present).

While BM has lost the special and magical place in used to hold in my world, my whole world and all the people in it have become more special and magical to me so I feel no loss in giving up the event. And I'm at a point where BM interferes with other things in my life that are more important to me on many levels.

BM is great. If you love it, keep going. If you don't, stop.


PS - I reserve the right to come back next year