It's been talked about, mused about, wondered about. We sgould get the forum members together and have some sort of party.

I'm going to try and make it happen. This thread will be for getting ideas. setting things up, making things work, and when and if this goes down in flames, a lesson for the next fool that tries this.

Please read this entire post before you comment, or expecially before you commit to anything. I'm not taking this lightly, and any commitment to help or come shouldn't be made lightly.

Things that need to be figured out to make this work.

To make this party happen, we need the following figured out:

Where?
Honestly, this isprobably going to have to take place someplace in the Northeast US. There are 3 reasons for this:
1 - I could be wrong on this, but most members seem to live in this area.
2 - I live in this area.
3 - Syd lives in this area...and we do want the best possible chance for him to come.

More specifically, what kind of place do we do this? Ideas:

1- Someone could volunteer their home to host us. This would be ideal, since we wouldn't be restricted by time (we're a bunch that stays up late). This poor, brave soul would of course receive help cleaning up, and we'd of course be bringing our own food. I honestly don't expect this, but it would be pretty cool.

2- We could hit a con. There's gaming cons all over the place, including The Big One (GenCon). It might be a good idea to just meet as a group and hit one. That way, if we piss each other off, we still have stuff to do. It's an expensive option, though.

3 - I don't know. Anyone else have ideas?

When?
Summer. Gives plenty of planning time, and school isn't an issue then. I'm thinking August.

What?
It's a friggin' party! Figure it out. Video games are a must, though.

Getting people here, keeping them lodged
This is something to worry about later on, once we get an idea of other stuff, but we need to get people there somehow. Carpools seems like a good idea. Plus, if people can offer their place for the night to one or two others, it would help the cost out.

Money!
This is gonna cost some. Particularly for people who are far away. Plus, admission for where we go, food and drinks, and stuff like that. It may be a good idea to for a "donation pool" to help with these costs or to help with getting some of our far-flung members here (Vald comes to mind immediately).

Sorry, no minors
This is what that poll was about last month. Sorry, if you're under 18 (or whatever the age of majority is in your country, if it's higher), you're quite simply not invited. Nothing against you at all, but when you're under 18, somebody is responsible for you and your actions, and quite simply, I don't want that someone to be me or anyone else here. I suppose you can come if your parents do, but otherwise, I'm sorry.

Also, since there's gonna be a good amount of under-21s (probably), we should seriously consider making it no-alcohol. I'll leave that one up to debate, though.

Other issues
If I forgot anything that's vital, please inform me. I'll add it and we can address it. There are some that will come up, but we don't need to worry until these plans take a solid hold.

What we need to discuss right now

Discuss the following in this thread now:

-What do we do? What are we getting together for?
-Should we rent a hotel room to party in?
-I'm going to need some help with organizing this. PM me if you can make a serious commitment to helping with this, or can volunteer your place (again, I don't expect anyone to do this, but if you do, I promise we'll make it as painless as we can).
-While a quick "I'll come" is fine, let's not make any commitments until we get the time and place set in stone.
-Anything I missed?

Thanks, and hopefully we can make this work. Or kill it brutally and mercilessly. Either way, I tried.

Well, the location isn't set in stone. And I don't mean "Northeast" as in "New York and surrounding states". If it turns out the most central location for everyone is Indiana or something, that's fine too.

Worry about getting people there later, though.

Ermac wrote:

why not just plan on going to some sort of convention like magfest and have everyone met there? It would be more fun that way and less awkward in my opinion

I agree. Expense would be the only real issue here. Cons cost money.

Quote:

This isn't a bad idea, it just seems kind of weird, you know, travelling god know where spending however much money to meet people you met on an internet forum...I can see the results of this potentially hitting being showed on "How To Catch a Predator".

Another reason to exclude minors.

"Why don't you have a seat over there?"

Again, it's not personal.

It's early, but so far, it looks like a con is the preferred thing to do.

Quote:

2. I have a wife and kids, and I don't think my wife would be cool with, "I'm going to go party in another state with some friends from the internet, see ya in a few days!"

I was planning on bringing mine along, actually, but then again, I don't have kids in tow.