Dispel Illusion! OR- The Truth about Gary Con XIII Badge Check-in
Greetings Fellow Gamers,
Earlier today while I was at work for my day job, someone posted about Gary Con vetting people by video chat to ensure there is a safe space. As many of you know that launched a discussion that was speculative and went far afield from what was intended. Soon people were talking about how staff was going to interview people and screen them to make sure that they were allowed to play games at the con. Unfortunately I wasn’t available to comment before things got to a point where the moderator closed comments as tempers flared. I want to take the opportunity to address concerns and provide a better understanding. I assure you no one on the Gary Con staff wants to interview or screen your views on politics, religion or even what edition you prefer! OK, I threw in a little levity, but I thought it was important enough to have an open video conference call about it earlier tonight, That video should be available in the FB Group now.
Gary Con XIII is an ethereal convention as we all know. This is our second year and we are making some improvements. We decided that having a badge check-in, just like we do at a physical convention would be a good idea for a couple reasons. One of the issues we faced last year was helping players and GMs find one another in this new (to many) virtual gaming space. The help desk team are heroes and they work hard to take care of attendees. One of the problems we had was linking GC Badges to Discord IDs as they are rarely the same. So you will be able to check-in on the GC Discord server, identify yourself using webcam or audio only if preferred, and get your badge. At that time your badge will be connected to your Discord name so we can rapidly contact you, easily find your game and generally be helpful. A secondary benefit is helping us deter and dissuade bad actors, and if we do have any we can ban them from future events to help maintain a better environment for all attendees. Both of these are similar to processes we use in a physical convention, badge check-in, and noting the name and badge number of those that violate Gary Con policies. We don’t want jerks at Gary Con- whether Ethereal or Material. That sums it up and I hope that puts the concerns to rest for most if not all.
Here is the email about badge check-in if you’d to see it: https://tabletop.events/conventions/gary-con-xiii/update/ethereal-gary-con-2021-online-check-in-update
But since I have your attention, let me mention a couple positive and exciting developments! First off we partnered with Fantasy Grounds VTT to give EVERYONE attending Gary Con XIII THREE months of Fantasy Grounds FREE! Plus a copy of The Trouble at Loch Jineeva (by Jeff Talanian and me) converted for use on FG. In addition, Tabletopia board game VTT will give ALL attendees 7 days of their top level access to their service. Thats over 1500 board games to play with friends across the globe.
And we are adding some excitement to the rest of your March too. We are having the “March to Gary Con” every Saturday leading up to GC on Twitvh.tv/Gaxmoor . We will have epic adventures with GMs and players like Jason Charles Miller. JCM is DMing a special three part campaign with a great cast of players. We have a ton of great events streaming this year from Jason Bulmahn to B Dave Walters. I am looking forward to gaming and celebrating with everyone. If you haven’t gotten your badge yet go to http://play.garycon.com and get one.
Cheers,
Luke Gygax