[Deptheads] Demographics

Tue Sep 20 13:17:23 PDT 2011

Objective: "To determine game demographics"

Suggestions to obtain that goal: Require badge numbers, period.  No badge
number, no play.  This ensure the players are legit players (I saw someone
wandering around Board Games at Gateway that, frankly, gave me the heebie
jeebies.  He wasn't wearing a badge and I saw him the following day trying
to claim a prize from payouts...I don't know what became of it, but he was
definitely....odd); this also ensures that those who signed up are those who
played.  I agree with this.  I also remember playing an RPG where there were
people signed up, but the game went off with only me as one of the signed up
players (and I was almost ousted because there were "too many").

As sucky as it may be, if people want to enter the gaming areas, we should
look for having volunteer security to make sure they have badges.  The
badges are great.  They always look sharp, but if we're not enforcing *
wearing* them, it gets funky.  Since I have plans to bring in celebrities
for photo ops/autographs and game-running, I'm sure they may appreciate a
bit more security (especially if they're gamer girls).  This would also
allow for more volunteers.  9am-Midnight security at the Board Game
room/Collectible Card Room/Video Game Room, 8:30am-8:30pm for the
RPGs/RPGAs, and 12pm-8pm for LARPs/WarHammer/Paint 'n' Take.

Now that I'm *way* off topic... I think collecting data is good.  It lets us
know if there's a cross-section and what that cross-section is (are there
RPGers who also play Board Games?  This is not a given.  Are there CCGers
who are also LARPers? etc).  I think it's a good idea to keep track of what
games are run that are popular, though that does become difficult in the RPG
area.  MAYBE!  Have a questionnaire at the sign-in table for the games being
played.  "Was there a game you wanted to play, but was full?  If so, which
one and what time?"  I know I was hugely disappointed I couldn't get into
the Airship Pirates game as I had actually interviewed the folks who made
it; I was also hugely disappointed to find no Dresden Files games.  I was
frustrated that there were so many GURPs games, though.  That would be
information that would be good to have, I would think.

Okay.  I'm done with my two cents.  I'm not a department HEAD, but I do work
in Marketing! :D

On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 12:42 PM, mike fryer <darkbeerdrinker at gmail.com>wrote:

> This info has no value in regards to the RPG department. Knowing which 6
> people signed up for a game doesn't tell us anything we can use. We have no
> way of determining how many people would have signed up for a game, but
> didn't because it was full.
>
> The most important data for RPG is number of games offered and number of
> games that ran and maybe total number of players by time slot. The thing
> that I have to worry about as I add more events, is whether or not I have
> the players to have games go off.  The answer is yes, the number of games
> that are not getting players is going down as the number of events goes up.
> I will collect number of games offered, games ran, and total players per
> time slot. I will also require badge numbers to be entered on the sign up
> sheet for the sign up to be valid.
>
> Unless pick up game means something other than some people deciding to play
> a game, they are not something we can document, nor should we try to.
>
> I don't see a problem with having a sign in sheet at demos, but are you
> really suggesting asking people this; "whether this was a filler for them
> because nothing of interest was on the schedule for that time" ?
>
> I think that we need to know what we want to learn from this data. What I
> am hearing is "Let's collect a bunch of data and see what we can learn from
> it." and the design of this data collection seems to assume that the entire
> con works like board gaming. A much better way would be to decide what we
> want to find out, then decide what data is required to find out that
> information. If the goal of this data is to be able to better choose the
> games to run in the board game department, then lets design the collection
> effort accordingly. If the goal is something else, we need to define that
> goal first.
>
>
> Mike Fryer
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 12:14 PM, Tanya Aldrich <tmaldrich at comcast.net>wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> We decided after Gamex to gather more data in the hopes of being able to
>> actually produce real game demographics starting Orccon 2012.
>>
>> First, we need signup sheets, with names, badge numbers and a column for
>> checking who actually played. Also, if it's an issue, a note next to who had
>> to be turned away for lack of space.
>>
>> Second, we need the winners sheets or game conclusion sheets (if that
>> makes more sense), if your games don't have winners, we'll work something
>> out, but the standard winners sheet has more info about the game run than
>> just the winners. For those with no winners, keep this sheet in mind for
>> MVP, etc. The point is, we need those questions answered for every game
>> played.
>>
>> We may also want a more general sheet for demos and pick-up games, listing
>> the game, time, duration, the people who played (with badge number) and
>> whether this was a filler for them because nothing of interest was on the
>> schedule for that time.
>>
>> I'd love some comments and suggestions on how to get the most out of this
>> process.
>>
>> We also need volunteers to process a lot of this new data, the payouts
>> crew shouldn't be expected to do it all, they have plenty of work. These
>> volunteers do not have to do it during the con.
>>
>> Tanya
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>
>
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