Messages from the Far Havens

 As our sensors acknowledge that North Star has successfully jumped for another online year, my thoughts have turned to my experiences of running an online tabletop RPG convention. I thought I’d share some of those thoughts here.

Creating virtual spaces for gamers to enjoy the hobby is incredibly rewarding. The events generate such fun and warmth that you feel like the efforts are worthwhile. All the more true at a time when we haven’t been able to game face to face for such a long time. And they have been difficult times for so many of us, so that an escape into the ether, via the collective inventiveness of the GMs and the imaginative power of players, is a great tonic and recharge, a moment of community and play.

Safe to say that I’m still learning how best to organise such events. Mostly, I think we get it about right, but here are some reflections on how to make them better:

• Dropouts
  The free and online nature of the events inevitably means that individuals feel more able to ‘come and go’ throughout the weekend. We haven’t paid money for travel, or a hotel room, and we are still in our home situe with the other valid distractions to our time. Losing 20-25% of people who have signed up is about the norm, and we have become used to it. Participating for just part of the weekend is also something of a norm, though the event is there for those that feel like the full weekend experience.

  We thought about charging something for the event, with it being refunded if you participate and honour the slots that you sign up for, however many that is. Probably not a good idea. The events are viable, and once you get used to the dropout numbers it’s fine.

• Communication 
  We run events in a loosely federated manner, with communication hub points spread across the Gaming Tavern Forum, Facebook, the Tavern Discord, and Mailchimp powered direct email messages. It’s  a lot of work to keep the wheels on, especially as we try to fit the people into the schedule with our pre-selection and randomiser. I’m pretty much convinced that the Seven Hills team have got it right with a dedicated Discord Server for the core of the convention communication. This immediately keeps everything together in a place and the cross messaging between attendees can happen without much intervention from the organisers.

  The hybrid model of keeping communication in Discord but reaching out via Mail Chimp and signposting in other forum feels like a more ‘together’ experience. I’ll feel more contactable during the convention too, for any help required. I’ve been skirting around ‘convention software’ as this comes with a cost and for the size of what we are doing it almost certainly isn’t worth it. Discord is free and effective.

• Organisation
  The Google Form for sign up, and the use of Google Sheets for scheduling works OK at the scale we are at. The magic of the Elaine/Dom randomiser gives people a fair shout at preferred choices. Backing this up with the more insular Discord communications should keep the aforementioned wheels in motion as we head up to actual play.

  Keeping GMs to offering a maximum of two games, continues to feel like the right call. Rewarding those GMs with a first round selection of games is also a tried and tested reward for their heroic efforts. I’d keep the maximum that a game can be booked before the general player round as half capacity (possibly round down).

  Generous and flexible slot sizes over the weekend opens up possibilities for long games, whilst having set break points so that the schedule can work in the next games consistently all seems to work well.

  Formal post-con feedback via a Google Form is something I might do for next time – (see below about ‘next time…’)

• Safety
  We have a conduct policy and we make this clear in our communication, requiring that attendees confirm their acceptance of it on the sign up form for the convention. We encourage at least some form of #tags in game descriptions to give players an idea about the tone and content of the games. For a convention with federated control, that places responsibility down to the GM for successful and safe games I wonder if we should go further, mandating the use of safety tools for every game. I would expect these to include ‘X-card’ or some other interrupt system, an ‘Open Door Policy’ so that players should feel free to walk away if they start to feel uncomfortable, and a discussion on ‘Lines and Veils’ to explicitly back up the #tags.

  There are a number of people combinations that don’t work. It might be worth us keeping a list of them, though I’m all for redemption and not assuming.

• Games
  Not much to add here, as we have good GMs who offer fun game experiences. Devolving the responsibility to GMs for the successful running of their event on whatever platform they care to choose feels about right.

  It’s great to see international attendance. This is a huuge plus and one of the fantastic dimensions to online gaming. My regular D&D4e game has similarly benefited with a player from the Seattle area.