The auctions and such are a bit of a symbiotic relationship. By this i mean, well i think it's safe to say that out of the roughly 500 con attendees, maybe 10% were capable of or willing to accept the debt of betting big. these were teh same folks i've recognized from past years betting big and winning.
I know i've went to the auctions all 3 years and am usually amazed that someone is willing to shell out 2400 for a crystal skull or 1200 for a jacket worn by and signed by rda. I'm certainly not saying these folks were wrong, hey, it's their money, they can spend it however they want.
I do know however, that there are a lot of us that didn't bet or spend big. for the most part, all we spent was our ticket price $210. Now take 210 x 500 and you get 105,000. and out of that money has to come the cost of renting the rooms at the best western, i would imagine the av equipment, paying for the guests (yeah, they don't just come out of the goodness of thier hearts, they get paid) paying for the out of town guests' rooms, the meals for the guests while theyre there and tons of other expenses.
i would imagine that doesn't leave a whole heck of a lot as 'profit' to get turned over to make a wish. that's where the auction comes in. (and the pictures with the actors. I got a pic taken with 3 people, that's $36 which had to pay for the photographer's time, film and developing)
Make a wish gets their money from the studio donating auction items, which they auction off and give the 'profit' to the charity. Basically, it's those fifty odd folks that can afford the auction items that makes up a lot of the money donated to make a wish.
but they can't hold a con for only those folks, they hold it for all of us...so we other 90% help pay the way and have the auction for that 10% yet if it wasn't for that 10%, they'd have no reason for the rest of us since even at 210 a piece, we're barely making enough money to pay the bills.
As to a raffle, well, yes, canada is a wee bit strict <G> but also....i've been to raffles where the same person got her name drawn out 5 times and others never even had thiers pulled out. it's all a matter of some being more lucky than others, and the simple fact that those that have more disposable income can buy 100 tickets as opposed to the 10 i could afford. and even while a raffle has stricter rules, it still wouldn't make as much money as an auction does.
and at the end of the day, making money for the charity is what it's all about. I honestly believe if Gatecon was a for profit venture, they'd have nowhere near the support and backing from the studios that they have. Bridge personally supports make a wish (they've granted 2 wishes that i personally know about and i'm sure there are more that i've never heard about) and that's one reason, IMHO, that they support gatecon as generously as they do.
they literally donated thousands of dollars of props to the auction, plus thier time. the sunday tour babysitters....they came in on their own time to babysit us so we could see the studio.
I'll agree with you, personally i think some of the prices paid for the auction items was exhorbitant, but like i said, it ain't my money. it's thiers and thiers to spend however they wish. One nice thing is that a charity benefits.
this year i was hoping to get me a prop, I had a couple of hundreddollars and had budgeted it....then most things went for above that so, i brought my money home with me. cest le vie
I know of at least a couple folks that were planning to donate thier props back to the auction to go again next year.
No matter how you work it, there will always be a person that has more cash or willingness to accept debt than you do and that person is more likely to get something they want. tis the way of life.
(this is just one person's opinion, i'm not affiliated with the con in any way other than going to it the past 3 years)
) 