I've done a run-through of the numbers, and the premier
event groups for 2012 are as follows:

• ...And Sewing Is Half the Battle!'
• Able Kompanie
• Alderac Entertainment Group
• Arc Dream Publishing
• BladeRunner-Press
• Chaos Haunted & Historical Tours
• Christian Gamers Guild
• Cosplay Deviants
• Council of Lorien
• Crafty Games
• Crispy Zombie Productions
• Cubicle 7 Entertainment Limited
• Darkness Remembered
• Days of Wonder
• Evil Fleet Productions
• Fantasy Aspirations
• Galileo Games
• Game Base 7
• Heroes of Rokugan
• Hex Games
• Infinite Imaginations, Inc.
• Iron GM, LLC
• Kettle of Fish productions
• Legends of the Shining Jewel
• Legion of Heroes
• Mind Storm Labs
• Mini Painter, Ink
• MMC
• MU Skulls
• Northern Virginia Gamers (NOVAG)
• Novus Ordo Seclorum
• Orc Stomp
• Ottawa Red Shirts
• Pamean Games
• Party of One
• PHOENIX Interactive
• Pinnacle Entertainment Group
• Plaid Chameleon Games
• Privateer Press
• PST Productions
• Rogue Judges
• Team Hassenplug
• The Damsels of Dorkington
• Thenodrin Presents LLC
• TPK Games
• Twilight Creations
• Windmill Game Co.
• Zombie Buddy Productions
• ZyverdenRay

As a reminder, these are
the criteria for inclusion:

• Turn in Tickets for at least 80% of Events
  
       Groups must maintain a minimum
       of 80% rate of ticket return (i.e. 8 out of 10 events must have some kind
       of ticket data).


• 70% of Actual Attendance vs. Submitted Maximum Number
       of Players
  
       A group's total actual
       attendance (based on tickets turned in) must be at least 70% of the total
       maximum number of players, as submitted with the group's events.


• At Least 60 Total Players
  
       Groups must run events for a total of at least 60 players.


• Discretionary Criteria
  
       In addition, groups that are eligible for the program as a result of their
       tickets must still maintain a good working relationship with Gen Con.
       Specifically, groups must still submit in their events and badge/hotel
       requests on time (and accurately). We reserve the right to refuse
       inclusion of a group for any reason, including too many errors during
       event submission, late requests, excessive complaints, or other
       significant problems and obstacles.

As a reminder, premier event groups are able to take advantage of the following perks and benefits
(all of which are automatic, except for inclusion in the program guide - groups
need to send me the appropriate material to take advantage of that):

• Priority Placement of Events
  
       Qualifying events will be
       placed before other events submitted within the same cycle. They would
       still be subject to the overall cycle format, but would get top priority
       within each cycle.


• Premium Event Chart Listings
  
       Event listings for qualified
       gaming groups would receive the Indy flag icon and release of a separate
       downloadable event chart of just featured groups.


• Inclusion in Two Email Blasts to Attendees
  
       At least a week before event
       registration begins, a list of premier event organizers will be included
       in an email blast to attendees. At least a week before event registration
       closes, a list of events run by premier groups that still have tickets
       available will be sent to attendees.


• Eligibility for Program Book and Web Site Event
       Highlights
  
       Premier event organizers are
       eligible to submit descriptions of their events and their group/company
       for inclusion in the event highlights in the program book and web site
       (formerly these were open to anyone who submitted).

An email will be sent to notify the groups on this list, but please feel free to pass along the good
news (just in case the email I have on file doesn't work or route to the right
person).

As always, if anyone has any questions or concerns, please let me know.

So Exile Games did not make the list this year?

Unfortunately not, though I do want to remind everyone that I basically just do a quick calculation across the baord on events to get these numbers. If someone thinks they should be on the list or just wants to know how they missed the cut, just drop me an email or give me a call and I'll be happy to go through it with them and see if I need to make an adjustment.

BRP, congrats!

Derek, why am I not a Premier Event AGAIN this year.  You promised.

I make no deals, I'm an impartial judge who rules with cold, hard numbers.

But if you drop me a line (call or email), I'll be happy to go over the numbers and let you knwo what's up, and see if I missed something.

Derek Guder:

I'm happy to see that this is something that matters to folks, to be honest.

Aww, no KFG? I'm assuming it's because wednesday events do not count?

Braewe:

Aww, no KFG? I'm assuming it's because wednesday events do not count?

No, not the KFG.  Just ME.  I thought I'd qualify solely under the Discretionary Criteria. 

(Sorry, this was originally a poorly worded play on words as a "premier" can also be a head of state.)

Derek Guder:

I'm happy to see that this is something that matters to folks, to be honest.

It means a great deal to tiny, struggling RPG companies lacking a queue of venture capitalists waiting to give us money with which to advertise.  Thank you, Derek, we at Pamean Games appreciate the honor and fully intend to run a great set of steampunk games at this year's con.

Braewe:

Aww, no KFG? I'm assuming it's because wednesday events do not count?

Actually, I counted everything that was Active and that players could have gotten a ticket to. I didn't filter out stuff like Wednesday events or seminars, but I did filter out later tournament rounds or invite-only events.

True, but many of the wednesday events do not have tickets. Then again, I rather like signups being here on the forums, instead of the other way round, since then you needn't try getting through will-call in time(impossible anyway, since we had 9am games, and doubtful that folks would get theirs in time for the 1am games.) So the tradeoff works.

Indeed, tickets aren't required for those events, but you should still both collect tickets from anyone who has one and you should still be reporting the attendance numbers to us anyway.

Just because it's on Wednesday doesn't mean we don't want to know how many players you had.

And if you have any unticketed players (even if it's not on Wednesday, like for a normal seminar), you are still supposed to report in. Either turn in a ticket envelope with "complimentary players" on it, or just stop by an event HQ and let them know how it worked out.

I do. Even if you don't have tickets, you are still expected to report attendance for anything in the system - I still want to know how well it did.

So if you ran a Wednesday event (or a seminar on Thursday, or an anime event on Friday, or a film on Saturday, or a tournament final round on Sunday) you should still report attendance to us. Turn in whatever ticket you have and including "complimentary players" for anyone that you don't have tickets for.

Basically: if you're running an event in the system, tell us who showed up, whether you have tickets or not.

If it's not in the system, then I don't know about it (data-wise) and it doesn't factor into premier group stuff, for good or ill.

And I just wanted to be clear, because I know that people do take forum sign-ups for Wednesday events that are in the system.

Derek Guder:

I'm happy to see that this is something that matters to folks, to be honest.

It absolutely matters to us Derek and we're humbled every year that you've selected us. We appreciate being recognized and having your trust to provide a great game for the best roleplayers in the world!

On behalf of Windmill Game Co., I wish to express our sincerest thanks on this. This made a wonderful start to our 2012. We are quite lucky to be in such esteemed company.

Thanks again.