My Predictions and Radical Solution

[nocturnal_steve]

My (fallible) predictions and take on this...

1) Many "sold" tickets are in the hands of both heartfelt Burners who had (non-attendee) friends enter the lottery so they could secure their own tickets; and in the hands of scalpers (there are already tickets at inflated prices on E-bay/Stub-hub). Many heartfelt burners who were awarded more tickets than they need might not (in the end) sell their tickets at inflated prices, but recognizing they hold a scarce commodity will vacillate/ hold on to their tickets until late in the game. This will have secondary effect of creating "Survivor Style" alliances, alienating some & pitting Burners against each other.

2) The STEP program will not work; it relies on the inherent goodness of heartfelt Burners with more tickets then they need who will be corrupted by the power they hold and sell their tickets at face value to their "better friends", and or wait until late in the game . Large theme camps will suffer (see #4).

3) Virgins who are were on the fence will give up on the whole idea of going and will give up & drop out in large numbers. Thus we will loose a lot of "new blood" and creative energy. Only well off Burners and not so well off, persistent die hard Burners will be left to vie for the remaining tickets.

4) Large established theme camps, and projects that require months of planning will both suffer.... diminishing the overall quality and feel of the event.

Radical Solution: Shitcan the whole lottery, refund the credit card charges and start again with a system where tickets are sold to individuals who must show ID at the gate, non-transferable.

More Radical Solution: Scalping laws are based on the State where the event is held, not where tickets are sold. Nevada is a state where scalping is legal.
Move the event to a State where scalping is illegal and have the community at large lobby for strict enforcement of the law.

[notthelarryharvey]

love to see people posting solutions....

why not try this first :

Lack of participants = shitty event
First round of tickets only go to approved application for participatory events
theme camps
art installations
art cars
art performances
etc..
you have to apply to participate to get tickets first...simple
after that what difference does it make since the rest will be spectators it won't change the event one way or another

and then whatever is left go to your method next....

easier and ACTUALLY improves the event w/o creating new problems

[vapor]

Here's an idea for those who know early they are fairly certain they'll attend. Have a sale in January which is either a lottery or open sale but lasts for just a day or 2. Sell maybe 20-30K tickets, 1 per person, 1 price. Those tickets are somehow linked to the person who bought them, either through name on the ticket or bar code that is tied to an ID or CC#. Maybe these are all will call, maybe these cost a bit more to support a larger will call area. The tickets can only be transferred through the org (STEP program, whatever) and there are 2 options. You pay a price of $50 to transfer to someone of your choosing or $100 to put the ticket back in the general pool. Announce the details well in advance so large camps can organize finances, get prepaid debit cards for those who don't have plastic, etc. Many of the details are open to change, the main point being have a way for people who need to secure tickets early to do so, while accepting some restrictions and effort to get the tickets. I think the issue with this year was that other than having funds on a credit card it took no effort to have as much chance as anyone. Which is indeed the most strictly fair solution, but doesn't allow for groups to make an extra effort to ensure they get tickets that are needed to achieve their plans. Whether or not the org feels it needs to support large group efforts to get tickets is another discussion.

Then the other tickets are sold as unrestricted, maybe a block in December and then 3 blocks in each of March, April and May. Lottery or open sale, don't know, depends on how the lottery turns out . . . seems to suck now, but it just finished. Try to enforce that all tickets are only sold through a STEP program, don't mail physical tickets until as late as possible.