"Historicon 2024, very late AAR report by Walt" Topic

So here it is, way late but there was a lot of stuff going on at work and lots of pictures to slog through.

I liked HISTORICON 2024 very much, mostly for the people I meet and play with two or three times a year. This Historicon was a lot of laughs and some great games played.

Thanks for your time, and thanks for your interest. Link below. See you next time

Walt

link to AAR (Long): link

How 'bout the expression on the little boy's face in the above picture.

Jim

"Dad? DAD!? Are you okay, DAD?"

Glad to see these compilation threads and videos on YouTube, sometimes I think I wonder around between games and see everything at least a little bit but find I hardly saw anything. I wish I started going to convention decades ago. Oh well water under the bridge. Can't wait for Fall In

Nicely done, thank you! For the record, ANYTHING requiring me to navigate electronics at a convention to find events is a non-starter. If you want to start charging me for a paper program, charge me for a paper program. Don't tell me "well, it's perfectly clear if you just do three things you have no idea how to do."

If you want to start charging me for a paper program, charge me for a paper program.

And what do you do when its wrong like this past convention? All those missing games and games that were double, triple, or even quadruple booked?

+1 Robert. You correct the mistake for next time or are you saying that double, triple booking happens every year? Also, could that have been caused by the online registration rather than the paper copy?

Are you under the impression TSD101, that making a record digital and transmitting it to a variety of devices somehow reduces the error rate? News for you.

Guidebook is a great tool. Thanks Walt for doing it.

Yes I did find the missing games in the book, looked for a game that seems to have not shown up ( another player was looking for the same game) so knew of a game that couldn't find in the book so went there and played

Are you under the impression TSD101, that making a record digital and transmitting it to a variety of devices somehow reduces the error rate?

It allows people to fix it. Kind of hard to fix a printed book.

"It allows people to fix it. Kind of hard to fix a printed book."

Well, yes, it would--in theory. Assuming I could somehow extract the information from the smartphone, and that it would be legible once I had.

In practice, no one in the digital world will admit to making a mistake between Thursday and Sunday. What they'll do is fix the archive record so later they can pretend they never made a mistake at all. "See? Our records show no such mistake. It must be your memory which at fault!"

Guidebook app is dead simple.

Yes, if you have ever used an app before. Some of us don't use them.

Which is my position. The world is full of organizations saying "use our app!" but there's a distinct shortage of people willing to say "this is what an app is and how you obtain one, and let me show you how to use ours."

In fact, the louder they promote the app, the less likely they are to be helpful. I am willing to learn, but I'm a bit tired of the digital motto "no training is necessary!" Either give me the training, or give me something I know how to use.

And I still do not see how any wonder of modern tech will let me flip through 500 events on a 6"x3" screen looking for anything interesting as conveniently or rapidly as I can with a printed guidebook. If you mean digital tech will let me find all "Bolt Action" games in 28mm faster, I would expect that to be true--but it's not what I use a guidebook for.

Allow me to chime in as best I can here. I did fix errors that were brought to my attention at the convention. I have the ability to fix an error and the next time you access Guidebook, it will download the correction IF you are in a wireless internet zone. I posted the schedule data that I was sent Post-PEL. I have no idea and can't comment on why the reg system reserved multiple slots for events at the past Historicon. I'm not going to point fingers. Things happen. However, the problem didn't arise from Guidebook. Guidebook doesn't keep track of tickets reserved for events. It has that rudimentary ability but that feature is turned off before I import data. Why? Because then you have TWO systems tracking attendance for one event, and that is the path to confusion and madness. Guidebook, the way we implment it, is dirt simple. it doesn't track or print tickets. YIM does that. I'll also add that Historicon was the same weekend as a mass IT outage that DID impact the hotel's internet access, which made it almost impossible to update anything on site. See the link: link

So much of this was unfortunate luck and timing. Just my .02, worth what you paid for it. I'm not going to smugly prosletyze using an app if it isn't your thing. I have always respected that, but it IS "the thing" of many attendees, younger and older. I got involved in volunteering this way 12 years ago because at the time, I thought HMGS needed to leverage technology to make attending covnentions more convenient to the average convention attendee. Note that word: average. That does NOT mean "you HAVE to use a mandated solution". A dozen years later, I STILL believe in leveraging technology to make a convention experience better for the average attendee. I also think that Guidebook makes the prineted books superfluous, but I don't think we should eliminate them entirely, either. People like them.

Walt

Walt, if I still receive a paper program, as far as I'm concerned, your can give the digital crowd whatever toys make them happy. But that was not what your post felt like.

But let me reiterate the earlier point, which you seem to have missed: the principal problem with the "digital transition" is that the programmers work to suit themselves and their friends, who are not a random sample of users. If the digital device let's them find all the Kings of War games and what time the Flames of War tournament starts and registers them for these things, as far as they're concerned, it's perfect.

But if you come to the convention looking to see what might be available in the afternoon--rules you haven't seen played, scenarios based on obscure battles, spectacles like the 54mm Pickett's Charge--you have very different needs. Even if the programmers were interested, they'd be hard-pressed to be competitive with a printed guidebook just because of the limited screen dimensions of a smart phone. But the cold truth is, they're not interested. Not how they do things, and no one else's interests matter.

I've seen the digital age. I've even worked well with it in some contexts. Conveying large amounts of information to be scanned on really tiny screens isn't playing to its strengths.

Robert: you seem to be picking up cudgels for a conflict that doesn't exist. Nobody is taking away the paper method you cherish away from you. You state "I can give the digital crowd whatever toys make them happy, but that was not what your post felt like". Perhaps you're right, I AM missing something. What DID it feel like? Have I been anything less than respectful to the people that wish to continue carrying around printed books? I have my own point of view about how technology can help a convention thrive and be more convenient for attendees in a wide age range. I think many people agree with me, based on the feedback I get. That's all I'm saying. Furthermore, I'm not at all certain HOW exactly, the paper version gives you the nuanced experience you seem to feel is superior. I extract the data from the exact same database that generates the PEL and the printed guidebook. Same data, same text, written by the GMs themselves. How is any of that "wrong" or "new fangled"? Guidebook will help you create a schedule, help you find your table in the room it is in, and give you some help with the surrounding area, depending on the time I have to put into it. It will give you a map of the Exhibitors and store useful information about events schedules, and allow you to create your own personal schedule. That's all I've EVER claimed it could do for a convention attendee. Isn't that enough? If you want to search for something, it can help you do that too.. i even produced some small videos this year to show you how to do just that. Sure, you can call it a toy, but I assure you it took a hell of a lot of work to make that toy happen. Nobody is forcing you to play with the toy here. You are just as valuable an attendee if you chose to use a paper book. Are we clear now?

Fine if it's true. Otherwise, when HMGS goes from "no one's thinking about THAT" to "well, we had to do it to optimize the convention" may you navigate a new location on a map too small to read.

And Walt, I owe you an apology. I don't doubt it was a lot of work, and that some convention attendees benefitted by it. I should always be grateful for that and say so publicly.

Sometimes I let my disappointment in past HMGS decisions get the better of me, and I see plots where I ought to know there isn't sufficient organization for a decent conspiracy. I'll try to do better in the future.

I would have been terribly lost without the books. The last two conventions lost mine and had to get another. I put my game notes on them

As it turns out, the paper book guys have won this "dispute". See my latest post.