[Deptheads] Demographics

[Ryan McMullan]

>From a RPG/LARP perspective we need data to tell us two things, each with
two details (game system and GM -- some players pick a game based on the
game system and some do it based on the particular GM):
1) What games (system or GM) were scheduled but did not get enough players
to "go off" (and thus we need less of, if space is a constraint)
2) What games (system or GM) were full, but more players wanted to get in
(and thus we need more of)

There's three places we could collect this data:
1) *Online Event Pre-reg*:  Right now, if a game is full, players have no
way of indicating "would have signed up for it", which would tell us the
second piece.  To do this, we could either change the event pre-reg system
to either ask them their first preferences without indicating which games
are full, then tell them sorry for the games that are full (or put them on
an infinitely long alternate list) -- this would be annoying but would get
us the cleanest data.  The other option is put an additional option during
sign up to allow them to click on a full game to indicate "Want more of
this".  Alternative would be to split "Want more of this GM" and "Want more
of this game system".
2) *On-site Event Sign-ups*:  If a game is full, we have two alternate slots
and everyone else who is interested skips it and goes somewhere else
(sometimes enterprising players write in additional alternate slots, but
this is rare and not consistent).  We could add additional space that people
could write in their badge number to indicate "Want more of this" (splitting
GM and game system here might get personal since it's a publicly viewable
format).
3) *On-site Post-Event Records*:  This is the only one that we're currently
collecting that gives us the answer to goal 1 above.  I'm not sure what the
collection rate on these is.  Perhaps some prize drawing for GMs that turn
in some sheets would help.  We could add a count of how many players
attempted to "beg on" to the game without signing up (though that would
require GMs self-reporting which is a conflict of interest).

These three options would give us enough data to determine who are our star
GMs and most-wanted game systems (and which are the second- and third-choice
ones or which are over-exposed) so we could make more quantitative decisions
about which events to approve and pass on.  It would also give us some
backing when we do reject games so it's clear that it's nothing personal
(e.g. "I'm sorry, but based on our data from the last several cons, we
already have too many GURPS games..." or the unspoken "I'm sorry but the
games you scheduled at the last three cons never got enough players so we're
not going to give you a badge any more").

My two cents,
Ryan

On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 6:18 AM, Tim Keennon <Tim at stugiii.com> wrote:

> **
> Too bad we can't go the bar code route...
>
>
> On 9/20/2011 10:23 AM, Dean Taylor wrote:
>
> Tanya:
>
> We had these in the Board Game Room at Gateway, and did our best to make
> sure the GM's filled them out properly.  These sheets made it to Ken, who as
> grumpy about having to process them.
>
> I'd be happy to contribute some of my time to the project, if you wish.
> I'm not local to LA, though, so I can't help with entering the data.  I can
> help calculate and tabulate, though.
>
> -Dean
>
> 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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