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North American OP Coordinator
By The Ninja Scot (Michael Van Breemen)
 - North American OP Coordinator
 -  
1E World Quarter-Finalist 2023
2E World Champion 2023
Tribbles World Champion 2022
The Traveler
1E North American Continental Champion 2023
2E North American Continental Champion 2023
  Trek Masters 1E Champion 2024
1E American National Champion 2023
1E Canadian National Champion 2023
2E Canadian National Champion 2023
2E  National Runner-Up 2023
2E American National Second Runner-Up 2023
1E The Neutral Zone Regional Champion 2023
2E The Neutral Zone Regional Champion 2023
#331760
Vacation time - Let’s face it: We don’t have a whole lot of vacation time and many of us have kids. What would be an easier selling point: GenCon and Indianapolis or Orlando and its myriad of amusement parks and other assorted activities? Choosing a location that has more to do for not just we as players but for others that may want to come along is a good thing, especially if you’re making a vacation consisting of more than just Trek.

Community - The events will be held at Campus Cards and Games, a store owned by a member of our community. Also, Orlando was the most popular selection on the Period of Review for locations for Worlds and/or Continentals along with GenCon.

On its own - GenCon has way more events than can ever be done in four days which is great… unless you want to have more focus on your game. Continentals should be the biggest event for that continent of the year (except when Worlds is on the continent of course) and it should have as much focus on our game as possible. The easiest way to accomplish this is by having the event away from GenCon where it can be about us.

Cost - Typically speaking, the airfare is cheaper to fly to Orlando (which practically every airline based in North America flies into, thus keeping flight prices low due to competition), the hotels are cheaper than downtown Indianapolis, there’s no badge fee cost among other costs. If our events are less expensive for people to attend then there’s a greater chance that more people will attend.

This was not, however, due to the monetary issues related to last year’s room block.

We will always have a high-level event at GenCon, whether it is Masters, Continentals or Worlds. We’ve gotten years of good will with GenCon and we’re not about to turn our back on that this or any other year. However, this doesn’t mean that North American Continentals *has* to be here. While I know that this decision won’t make everyone happy, I do hope that this helps to at least explain the why’s behind it.

Michael Van Breemen,
North American Organized Play Director
 
By Honest
 - Delta Quadrant
 -  
Continuing Committee Member - Retired
2E Australian Continental Champion 2019
#331761
Playing in an area with an established community at a store run by a member of the community that is cheaper to get to and cheaper to stay at????????

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING????????????????? (jokes)

This has got to be a fantastic move. All the best for both this event and a Gencon TREK Masters

Enjoy

Honest
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Ambassador
By bosskamiura (Thomas Kamiura)
 - Ambassador
 -  
Community Contributor
#331762
i always thought it was dumb to have it at Gencon every year. i always attributed this line of thinking to those same green badges who gave us 257 personas of Kira simply because it was "tradition".

Im sure Hotelgate and things some on Facebook came out with played a part.

im ok with it.

TK
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By Jono (Sean O'Reilly)
 - Delta Quadrant
 -  
Pioneer
1E Cardassia Regional Champion 2023
#331812
Part of the decision also was due to the scheduling conflict this year that existed between Gen Con and the 50th anniversary Star Trek convention in Las Vegas.

The last two years the ST convention and Gen Con were a week a part but this year they are on the same weekend - and it being the 50th anniversary year of Trek in 2016 a number of players are going to Vegas instead of Indy.
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Director of Communications
By OKCoyote (Daniel Matteson)
 - Director of Communications
 -  
1E North American Continental Quarter-Finalist 2023
2E Cardassia Regional Champion 2023
#331813
Whatever the reasons, I hope you'll consider making the trip to Orlando next year. We're all excited about it here and we intend to make sure everyone has a memorable time.
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Director of Organized Play
By LORE (Kris Sonsteby)
 - Director of Organized Play
 -  
Architect
1E Andoria Regional Champion 2023
2E Andoria Regional Champion 2023
W.C.T. Chairman's Trophy winner 2014-2015
#331824
The Ninja Scot wrote:Vacation time - Let’s face it: We don’t have a whole lot of vacation time and many of us have kids. What would be an easier selling point: GenCon and Indianapolis or Orlando and its myriad of amusement parks and other assorted activities? Choosing a location that has more to do for not just we as players but for others that may want to come along is a good thing, especially if you’re making a vacation consisting of more than just Trek.

Community - The events will be held at Campus Cards and Games, a store owned by a member of our community. Also, Orlando was the most popular selection on the Period of Review for locations for Worlds and/or Continentals along with GenCon.

On its own - GenCon has way more events than can ever be done in four days which is great… unless you want to have more focus on your game. Continentals should be the biggest event for that continent of the year (except when Worlds is on the continent of course) and it should have as much focus on our game as possible. The easiest way to accomplish this is by having the event away from GenCon where it can be about us.

Cost - Typically speaking, the airfare is cheaper to fly to Orlando (which practically every airline based in North America flies into, thus keeping flight prices low due to competition), the hotels are cheaper than downtown Indianapolis, there’s no badge fee cost among other costs. If our events are less expensive for people to attend then there’s a greater chance that more people will attend.

This was not, however, due to the monetary issues related to last year’s room block.

We will always have a high-level event at GenCon, whether it is Masters, Continentals or Worlds. We’ve gotten years of good will with GenCon and we’re not about to turn our back on that this or any other year. However, this doesn’t mean that North American Continentals *has* to be here. While I know that this decision won’t make everyone happy, I do hope that this helps to at least explain the why’s behind it.

Michael Van Breemen,
North American Organized Play Director
Nice job moving Continentals out of GenCon. I agree that there should always be a big event there, but as I am not a fan of GenCon I would like to continue to see Continentals / Worlds shift around between the bigger player bases or vacation destination areas than see it reside at GenCon. As mentioned, GenCon is fine for gamers in general but our big event there can just get drowned out by everyone elses big events happening there. Taking it away from there keeps it special. As to the big event happening at GenCon annually, why not make GenCon your destination point for Nationals? That title carries a degree of prestige, without being the absolute pinnacle of the game on a yearly basis. :twocents:
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Ambassador
By bosskamiura (Thomas Kamiura)
 - Ambassador
 -  
Community Contributor
#331904
Naetor wrote:
Bosskamiura wrote:
Naetor wrote:Excellent choice. I'll try and make it this year.
Buy me a ticket too. Thanks.
Trek, TK, and a bottle of wine. My kind of vacation.
Ssshhh. Dont let Corbett know!

tk
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Ambassador
By bosskamiura (Thomas Kamiura)
 - Ambassador
 -  
Community Contributor
#331914
KillerB wrote:
Bosskamiura wrote:
Naetor wrote: Trek, TK, and a bottle of wine. My kind of vacation.
Ssshhh. Dont let Corbett know!

tk
I already heard about you two and a hot tube.
Did you cry?

tk

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