"Cold Wars GM Registration Problems" Topic

Does anyone know how to register for Cold Wars if you're a
GM who should be getting free registration? It's trying to charge me $20 USD, and I can't for the life of me figure this insane website out. Unless I missed it, there are no instructions on the GM page.

Help!

It doesn't show me as a Gm and I am with you and don't see anything specific for GMs. (and yes I am logged in and have an active membership)

You're too late for the free GM date. Once again, disappointing no one from the BOD or con staff is here to tell you that. The treasurer came on TMP and insulted everyone, refused to give any updates, then disappeared. The CW staff apparently does not choose to post here either. Very disappointing.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one Moe.

Historygamer; I didn't mean to run a game, but rather to register for the con and sign up for games. For those GMs that register their games early enough, we're supposed to get free entry to the Con. Meanwhile, as people register and game availability continues to dwindle, here I flounder waiting…

They are running a special one day only sale right now. Sign-in, register, pay the $20.00 USD and you get in for free.

Now you're talking. Sounds like a super deal!

From what I've been told, The Gm Info hasn't been entered into the system.

Once again I've given up putting on games at HMGS conventions. Each year I try to put in games but it won't let me get in because I can't put in the correct account info but I don't have an account. I keep trying and asking on the site for help but I never get it.

HMGS is not a gamer-friendly organization.

Please keep in mind that Moe might very well be correct….
It normally works very smoothly if everyone does their part.

If you submitted an event before PEL closed, are a current member and your event meets the required 4 players for 4 hours or any combo that works out to get 16 hours to your event.. you should.. optimal word… *SHOULD*.. as soon as prereg opens…. log in to youtr account and register for events and buy merchandise or whatever…

This hinges upon the you meeting the above criteria and the events manager getting things together for the reg manager to check that the above is true… then the registrar then goes in and set you up as a GM and thus you wil not be charged.

Be very careful though…. do NOT click the payment, pay the money and expect to get it back later… that makes waaay too much trouble for everyone.

If you have an issue, please contact the YM manager via the reg link.. follow th einstructions, they are really very simple and step by step. I refuse to believe any emails sent to the YM manager have gone unanswered… however, emails to other folks might go unanswered. Follow the instructions on the website. It works, it really does folks.

I know it worked for Otto as he has run games at F-I! and had no issues in the YM before for Fall-In!. Twice he has had to cancel said events, but they were in the system and PEL.

Otto, I don't knwo what yoru issues is now, but if I can help I will. Especially if you are having an account issues. The best way to do this is start with a PW recovery.

And w eiwll have to agree to disagree about HMGS being not very firendly to gamers, lol! :)

The key to it is that there is a lot of work and if someoen gets sick or quits or drops the ball or has an issue.. it can greatly affect the whole process…. in other words one person can spoil the hard works of many others.

I will see what I can dredge up. The reg should have had enough time scheduled to review all GM's submitted to see if they meet the requirements for the free GM badge and then entered them into the system.

My guess – Otto is not a member for CY 2015 as no one is yet. You need to renew your membership first, then go and register to run a game. Works at FI for him as he is a member by then.

My guess.

Dan,

Thanks for the reply.

FYI, it looks like the GM badges are not yet in the system. I just checked. That is why it tries to charge GMs the $20 USD admission fee, even if you sent in a game which appears in the PEL. BTW, the game hours requirement for free admission to Cold Wars is 12 hours, not 16 as you mentioned above.

On behalf of all the GMs (like me) who are trying to pre-register for other games (and flea market tables, etc.), you might want to let the Cold Wars Registrar know that the sooner they input the GM badges, the sooner they will get some cash flow to HMGS.

Some of us know that this has happened before. Even so, pre-registration has been open for three days already. This should have been done by now.

Hope to see you there.

Thanks.

Well, I finally emailed Frank Preziosa, and told him about my predicament. He was kind enough to get me registered for the con and told me I was good to sign up for games…but I'm not sure that solves the problem or informs others how to successfully navigate through the site.

Oh, and when I tried to sign up for two games and to reserve a table at the flea market, I got an "error" page. Ruh roh!

I got an email yesterday from "database" thanking me for registering for Cold Wars. Since I did not register myself and I am a GM I take this as an indication that GM registrations are in process.

Duncan

[In the decrepit old MS Access system we used to paste the GMs in. It took about a minute and was done a few days after the PEL deadline. Such is progress.]

Yes… getitng that email would indicate that your GM info is in.

Also… if th eteam is crack, there is about a week or two for the event manager and registrar to get the work done so that all valid GM's are in the system and any wiht issues have been contacted so that they can fix their issues.. be it and expired membership, game wiht short hours, etc….

Dear History Gamer

Guess again --I've been a life member since the 90's. Put on many, many games before about two years ago and never had a problem. This is recent.

Dear Poniatowski

Too late now, missed the PEL. That means the oblivion of open gaming. I'll try again for Historicon.

NO, you are wrong. Tried for Fall-In! Last year 2014 and H-Con that year as well. Got the same thing. Didn't go to H-Con because there was no game to put on and for Fall-In! just went for the day and spent the rest of the time in the countryside and shops of the Amish Persuasion., And the Winery.

Dear History Gamer

Here you go, copied from a former thread by "Capncarp."

OSchmidt:
The site works from your email; if you put your email address in the "Forgot my password" field, it will send you an updated password and tell you what your username for the account is.

Otto, this is what shows in the HMGS member list for your name:
Last updated: 7/5/2014
Otto Schmidt
Lifetime Member -- Members: HMGS Members

Tried it, didn't work.

Have you tried the "Contact Us" email link at the top of the page?
link

Let the HMGS folks know that your membership is floating in Limbo and unreachable currently. They should be able to get you onboard fairly quickly.

Dear Capncarp

Every time. Wrote a contact note, never got an answer.

Anyway, schedules made, No game, I'll be doing a day trip. Maybe Historicon.

FYI, GMs can still send in games until January 30th. Those games will be in the convention program but not the PEL. They will not qualify for free admission.

Duncan, many of us wish you were still working the conventions. If so, we would have fewer issues like this one. (To date, not all the GM badges have been put into the system.) But you have earned your "retirement." Enjoy it.

However, I hope you kept the floor plans of your last layout of Valley Forge. In my opinion, HMGS is one more cold shower, blackout or hallway leak away from leaving the Host.

We'll see.

Wait a min Otto… I will check for fall-in events. I am certain you submitted events both times and had to cancel them for whatever reasons.. the latest one was because you were nto going to be coming or something like that or it was turning into a day trip.

I have been event manager and worked very closely with the events manager fo rthe last 5 years for Fall-In!… I have all of the emails backed up.

If the reason was because the registrar was not getitng back to you or there was an issue with yout membership, I wish I would have known. All of the shows run together so if I am mistaken, I apologize, but I was pretty certain when I saw you at Fall-In! this year the subject came up about why you dropped your game.. or was the possibly 2 F-I!'s ago?

Either way, I woud try to make sure your issues were resolved. I apologize that this wa snto the case.

OTTO…
OK.. I found the event list for 10, 11 & 12… you had games in all of those. I was positive you submitted for 13 & 14 too, but cancelled out lats minute for some reason.

I will check my master list at home & emails for 13 & 14, but in case I am wrong….

I apologize once again.

It just sucks to see folks have issues and stop running because they cannot get their issues resolved. That comes down to the reg man or woman.

Don't worry about it Dan. That's just the way things are. Nothing for you to apologize for. The 10,11, my mother in law had health issues and in 12 it was my psychotic boss going on a rampage and not allowing the vacation. happily he died in 2013 and all is well.

I don't have any issues. It is what it is and we'll try for Historicon. Maybe then. Don't sweat it.

OK I logged in to get a new password. Said it would send me a message.

Otto

I've learned that the GM info is being entered still in the system and that they expect them all to be entered by Monday.

I believe it's being done alphabetically. So I will be towards the end.

(If I'm wrong, someone correct me)

I will be highly ed if I can't get a Flea Market table for Saturday because of this delay.

I know it is not related to GM's but has anyone heard if we will receive a mailing for Cold Wars or will there be someplace on the HMGS site to print off a pre-reg form and what will the t-shirt look like?

I've received my flyer/registration already.

Glad to hear that. Mine has not arrived yet.

There is no problem for those that would like to run a game or two at Little Wars in April.

If is is being done alphabetically they either skipped B or started at Z. I am still coming up as having to pay.

Dear Dan and Cap n'Carp

Went on the HMGS website, said I forgot my password, said it would respond to me, gave me an incident number, which said it would reply through my e-mail So far 24 hours later have heard nothing. Will check again tomorrow.

So no change.

Toldtyaso

You probably know this already, but check your spam..

That's where mine went when I asked for a reset.

I will send an email to the YM admin this morning.
Usually this is handled vbery effeciently.

Please do check your spam folder though…. my HMGS "groups" emails is still going there.

Checked the spam folder, nothing there, nothing that looks like it's from HMGS and no persons I know. Opened most of them- it's spam. Nothing from HMGS groups.

Same as before.

I got a reset password email within 5 minutes.

Lucky you.

Luckily your boss died?

Ouch. Rough room. :D

Hopefully they aren't still updating the PEL from events prior to the deadline.

I think some work could be done on collating the data in a better format as well. That type of thing is easy.

For example, kid friendly games, a listing of games by era/genre, etc.

I might have some time come fall in – I guess I should put my money where my mouth is. :D

Well, 48 hours, no note, no communication.

I wonder

Over 72 hours and no response to request for new password,.

got a response from Heather asking if my credentials are valid. They are, as have been attested here. She said I should try the "Contact Us" button on the HMGS website. Did that several times, no response.

I will try it again and with my best Karnak sense, I guess the answer will be no response.

I no longer wonder.

Here is the note I sent to "Contact US" at the Cold Wars site on the Contact US tab, on the advice from Heather Blush.

Dear Sir or Madam

Been trying to register games for Cold Wars for over a month or two. No response. Won't let me in, says I don't have a password. I hit the
"forgot password" several times and it gives me an incident number. No reply, no new password ever. It doesn't go to m spam folder and I never get a response. I'm a life member and have been putting on games for years. I am responding from a note by Heather Blush, which I do not think is an official note, that if I come on here you will clear it up. Tried this route several times before. Now the registration date is almost past, but It might be good to clear this up before Historicon registration.

No response now after 72 hours of the issuance of the incident report.

Otto

How many other GMs are still waiting for their badges to be entered into the system?

You can be sure this issue will come up at the membership meeting.

Nine days and still waiting. No excuse.

This is no way to treat the GMs. Perhaps if we start cancelling games that will get their attention?

We'll see.

Dear Mr. O-
Thank you for your kind words. We appreciate that you appreciate the work we are doing. Without ourselves, we would not be able to accomplish what we set forth to do.

Allow us to address your problems in order:

#1 – "Been trying to register games for Cold Wars for over a month or two." This statement itself may be the answer to the problem that you are causing. We are unable to accommodate games that are as long as "over a month or two." Is it possible to shorten these games to fit into a 4, 6 or even 8 hour time window?

#2 – "No response. Won't let me in, says I don't have a password." Again, the problem you are causing is that you are trying to access a restricted area. No one is allowed access to the member's only area.

#3 – "Now the registration date is almost past,…" The up side of this additional problem that you are causing is that you are way out ahead for registrations for 2016 or even 2017. We will certainly be able to hopefully have the glitches maybe worked out by possibly then.

Thank you again for your kind words of praise and we look forward to your trying to put on games at our con. Please feel free to continue attempting to use or registration system. Once you have successfully registered, please call us and tell us how the heck you did it.

Yours truly,
The Bored of Dewreckedors

Disclaimer:
Satire! – not affiliated with any convention anywhere on any planet.

I still can't register without paying. Not sure what is going on.

Dear Zone of Control.

You are good! Really good! I was on sentence two before I realized it was satire.

Otto

Dear List

Well, through the efforts of Heather Blush I seem to have gotten my password and seem to have been able to register my game for Cold Wars. So it looks like all is solved. I will check to see if the game takes.

Thank You Heather.

For those interested, the game will be

Battle of the Weldwood.

It is the War of the Floridanican Succession and it was fought in The Land O' Goshen, between Saxe-Burlap und Schleswig Beerstein, and the Grand Duchy of the Grand Duke of Gorgonzola and some Ikean Allies. (It's Imagi-Nations, it's complicated) While the Campaign is complicated, the battle is not. It's an easy to learn "Old School" style of game made frantic and frenetic by the Event Deck and sense of humor.

The game will feature two of my Imagi-Nation Armies in a slightly complex river crossing. Lots of 30mm troops from the 18th Century, including Militia, Bennenjerries (Jannisaries), Mackattack Indians (Mohawks,) and the assorted other madness.

So thank you again Heather for helping with the problem.

Otto

Same here.. I still can not registered without paying..

This is really getting frustrating. I was told that all would be done today..

So much for that.

"Dear List: Well, through the efforts of Heather Blush I seem to have gotten my password and seem to have been able to register my game for Cold Wars. So it looks like all is solved. I will check to see if the game takes. Thank You Heather."

Yay, Otto! Yay, Heather!
Now let's hope all the others can get onboard!

Well, that's good for those of you who needed a password reset. I don't have that issue. My account has been working fine, it's just that it still shows I need to pay to register for the con. (Even thou I'm a GM)

@#&*$^*@#&^@(8!

Happy to hear that your situation was resolved, Otto.

Are other GMs still waiting for their badges?

Paul Trani HMGS's IT Director is asking anyone still having registration issues to contact them at the website.
link