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There are a myriad of PFS mustering websites out there. Warhorn, Meetup, Google & Yahoo Groups, Obsidian Portal, all the custom regional sites, convention sites, etc. There are probably more that I haven’t even seen yet. I don’t think that this is a problem, necessarily. Players looking for games generally are finding their way to tables. But for event organizers, there’s some double-duty occurring. If I want to do my job correctly, when I organize an event I am building it on Paizo’s PFS page then I am promoting and mustering it on a different website (see above). After the event goes off, I am taking my tracking sheets and returning to Paizo’s PFS page and transcribing the information into the reporting system. This can lead to errors due to sloppy handwriting, missing paperwork, etc. Again, YMMV as an organizer.
It finally occurred to me that Paizo’s web monkeys must be so energized and motivated after the last website update, they probably need more projects dumped on them to feel validated and useful ;-)
Mike Brock probably has this on his to-do list already, so I might be re-inventing the wheel here. I am wondering if Paizo would consider adding a game-mustering function to this website. We already see the event details there, but what about breaking down the scenarios by slot and adding detailed sign-up fields. What I mean is something like you see on Warhorn*, but when a player signs up for a scenario there’s also a drop-down list for their character’s name/PFS#/Faction. The event would still have to use a session tracking sheet for walk-ups and character-swapping, but here’s the advantage: When the organizer goes to report the event, they’ll only need to confirm the information the player has already provided, in addition to adding PP earned. That’d be a real time-saver. It would really cut down on mis-reported information due to the above-mentioned reasons.
It's like one-stop shopping. You can search for PFS events in your area, read the event details, see the scenario breakdown by slot, sign up and reserve your seat and save the organizer a lot of keystrokes by entering your PFS membership information yourself.
Additionally, I have hopes that Mike will someday recognize event organizers in the same manner that PFS GMs earn stars for running scenarios. There would be criteria, such as getting your events posted in advance to optimize their visibility. We read those questions all the time about “Will there be PFS at [local convention X]?” Conventions need to be promoted 3 months in advance. Gamedays should be posting their schedules a month in advance. Reporting needs to be done promptly, not 6 months later when the organizer gets around to it. I’m sure the community can add more areas of quality control. Instead of stars next to their names they could earn diamonds, or goblins, or whatever. It's motivation to do the job right and not just play it by ear.
In a way, being an organizer is more difficult than simply being a GM. Good GMs have to do prep work before they run their scenarios, and good organizers are no different. Organizing is not as fun as GMing though. It would be cool to recognize these individuals who are making real sacrifices for the PFS community.
Am I onto something? Have you had similar ideas? Share!
*I love Warhorn and have nothing against the site. Brian Moseley & company have run a great user-supported website service for 10 years now. It’s regrettable that I am undermining Warhorn’s support with this post, but I think I’m onto something and I can’t hold back.
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It finally occurred to me that Paizo’s web monkeys must be so energized and motivated after the last website update, they probably need more projects dumped on them to feel validated and useful ;-)
I wonder how long it'll take before they change your avatar to a pony, or turn your stars into cupcakes for this remark :P
That aside, this is an amazing idea. The only thing that I might add is if Warhorn does such a good job, as you've stated, Paizo could possibly work with them to integrate their site into this one. It might prove to be less difficult to mesh a "Warhorn sign-in scenario tracker" rather than reinvent the wheel (as you already put it).
But yeah, if this gets off the ground it's probably the most exciting thing I've read on these boards since 4.2 came out.
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I do not think this will work in my area for game days... perhaps for conventions?
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Pre-mustering (on websites or anything) is not done here.do you invision making it required?
I'd vote for it not being required, as I'd imagine the pitfall of a pencil and paper game being that it required access to the internet. Yes, you need it for Additional Resources and a copy of the Guide every now and then as a player, but aside from that -- players shouldn't be required to come to these boards, only encouraged.
With the exception of games that have organizers that require online sign up, of course :P
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Seeing nosig's question through Walter's higher-resolution spectacles, I never meant that players would be required to sign up for games using the website. Walk-on players and internet issues are not going to disappear. I only meant that a lot of the busy work could be taken care ahead of time using pre-registration and pre-mustering. You could always just e-mail or post here and say "Yo! Sign me up, please!" The organizer could take it from there.
But again, the way that tables are built in nosig's FLGS preclude this system from working for them. But I think the majority of PFS organizers know in advance what they will be offering and who is going to GM.
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A great idea. Would make it easy for players to muster, as all their characters are already in the paizo database. You could use some kind of drop menu to choose their character to play.
It could just be option when the game coordinator is making the page for that game day. Click this box if you want to use online mustering. Then when a player found your game and clicked on the page it would have the mustering up on that page in addition to the typical info regarding times, dates, and locations.
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It's just adding another option so that GMs and coordinators don't have to jump back and forth between multiple sites. I think it could be implemented in a way that if you want to use some other method of mustering (warhorn, Con site, none at all) you could and those players would never see the mustering piece (it would look exactly like it does now).
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Something else to consider adding would be a notice when a convention requires an attendee to purchase tickets through a different website. Most events are gamedays or smaller local conventions that only charge for admission. But the conventions that sell event tickets create a fly in the ointment. Players signing up for an event on the Paizo Event page would need to click/check/acknowledge a notice reminding them that ticket ownership trumps pre-mustering on Paizo. In order to secure a seat at the table, you must purchase event tickets [insert link to con registration].
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At our FLGS and local conventions we live and die by the Warhorn. That said if Paizo could do something similar - or even better - we'd sign on. As Doug mentioned, some of us are double-entering every event and having it all in one place would be helpful.
That and the Warhorn guys do it out of love - and so updates and improvements are rare and hard won. I think Paizo might just do a better job if they were so inclined - but it would take a concentrated effort on their part not just an 'add on' to existing projects. That takes money and I'm not sure how they'd capitalize back out of the project.
Thankfully that's not my job to figure out. :D
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At our FLGS and local conventions we live and die by the Warhorn. That said if Paizo could do something similar - or even better - we'd sign on. As Doug mentioned, some of us are double-entering every event and having it all in one place would be helpful.
That and the Warhorn guys do it out of love - and so updates and improvements are rare and hard won. I think Paizo might just do a better job if they were so inclined - but it would take a concentrated effort on their part not just an 'add on' to existing projects. That takes money and I'm not sure how they'd capitalize back out of the project.
Thankfully that's not my job to figure out. :D
I am pretty much in the same boat opinion wise as Euan. Although we like Warhorn, we only now use it for special events. For our weekly games and ticketed events, we use Meetup. It not only helps with marketing the group in our area, but we also can take payments for area dues and special events as well. Our area is a little more spread out, so Warhorn lacks the network that Meetup has in getting our group games out there to where everyone can see them and take part. Now if Paizo could do that all for us, it would be even better.. If there was a way to incorporate Warhorn into PFS, that would be great too.
Heck, I wouldn't mind paying for that also, so that way it makes organizing my entire area even better! I can buy adventures, create events, market, RSVP and report all the events in one place? You have no idea how awesome that would be. (Be even better, if players could pay dues from their accounts as well. But we will leave that to area discretion.)
I also want to add a caveat: We in our area, are working on each GM to report our own stuff so the area coordinator (me) doesn't have to report 15 sessions all at once, a week or two later. It would be nice to have the event, and then allow all designated GM's/Coordinators to edit and report as needed. Would be helpful for all the weekly coordinators of areas.
Speaking of updating Paizo info.. Heh. heh.. *goes and updates events on Paizo.com*