Mittens 2009: Have You Paid THE MASTER METER?

[Disco]

I have to agree that neither a hotel nor a cruise ship would make a better Mittens. Similar problems to what we had at Camping Raco will probably result, as in we can sleep there but we can't really do anything else.

Common areas aside from bars and restaurants are essential, and in hotels the whole experience could be hampered by quiet hours and the possibility of a buzzkill showing up at any moment.

Additionally, it is not just the privacy a separate chateau/cabin/mansion provides, but also the character and history of a place. Imagine renting a whole floor at some global hotel chain like Marriott. Our rooms would all be indentical, and with some exception, would look kind of like the ones in Vancouver, which look kind of like the ones in Bangkok, which look kind of like the ones on Johannesburg. Not that this is a real problem, I believe most of us would agree that distinct places we can admire and call our own for a week are much more appealing and lend easily to a lot of core Mittens activities.

That said, I am sort of open to some kind of backpackers cruise or other no frills type of thing if it can be done right. For instance, this company operates out of Turkey, and has several yachts for rental. If at sea for 5 days in the 20-person ship in September, it would be nearly â,¬300 a person and includes everything but drinks. There are other destinations to rent a boat as a group semi-cheaply, and I think this would be a good option instead of the floating casinos.


Hmm...also from Turkey are Alaturka Cruises and Big Backpackers. Alaturka offers private charters at the nearly â,¬300 weekly rate/person I mentioned before, but both of these companies offer 4 day cruises at about â,¬160 each before group discounts. Alaturka's largest ship, the Kaptan Acar, holds 21 people and during the month of June can be rented for â,¬42/day each if we have the full 21.

If we did one of these 4 day cruises with a couple nights at either end, could be a cool and different traveling Mittens experience. Still looking at other budget options at other destinations. Thoughts?

[Layabout]

I am in agreeance with Becky and Disco about renting a hotel floor. A twin room would be somewhere in the range of eur80+ per night. For a room with a TV and 2 single beds. All food would have to be bought at restaurants/cafes, all communal gatherings would have to take place in bars (which not all mitteneers would enjoy) or a common area shared with other guests. This is an unacceptable option in comparison to the freedom of having a house, chateau or a castle.

As for a cruise ship, it sounds like a bit of fun, but what about those who suffer from seasickness or want to have a holiday where they get to explore cities and towns. If there were going to be a cruise, I wouldn't think it would work as a place to be for the entire duration of Mittens.

As for the location of next years Mittens, which I'd like to attend if I have the funds, I would much prefer a place like Italy over Holland. Personally I feel that some mitteneers would be inclined to explore the seedier side of Amsterdam or whatever, leading to a group that is constantly split. From what I've heard, it seems it wasn't a universal decision to hold mittens in holland. I believe fruitree has been trying to plan a Dutch style mittens event with little success.

Realistically as well, alot of the usual Mittens crew were unable to attend this years event, so it seems somewhat unfair on them not being able to have a vote in where the event is held in 2010.

I would prefer it if someone made a list on suitable location choices for mittens and hold a vote.

My 2p. :p

[Snarky]

20+ people might be able to completely rent out a small hotel or B&B, if that helps.

Sorry to bring this back, but I think I am lost of translation... I think Darth made a simple and innocent joke saying "where was Snarky? Was he there?" and Disco replied "Well... I was with Gunnar, but I was not aware till now that Gunnar=Snarky". I am wrong? (I repeat, I might be missunderstanding something).

If my interpretation of what Darth and Disco said was correct, then, I think nobody was offensive and no one must feel offended... Snarky, we are constantly doing jokes like that in mittens... I think that there's nothing wrong in being the target of jokes... actually, you should be worry if you were not! Now, you are just one more of the group.

No worries. Disco just mistyped the caption for the group photo, Darth pointed it out, and the rest was just joking about who should be offended.

And talking just for me, I dunno the other people' s opinion, but I did not like some of the thinks I saw about "Snarky, the AGS forums poster", but I really liked "Gunnar, the guy I meet at mittens". As a consequence, now I respect "Snarky the forums poster".

Cheers, mate. As for yourself, it's much harder to get upset with such a constantly cheerful and likable guy.

In the terrible ideas department, it might be amusing, or at least extremely embarrassing, to do a live reading of past forum fights with the actual participants. "Say that to my face!"-kind of thing.

[Becky]

On Miami-Mittens related discussion, here are the three brief videos I have!

Adamski discovers what a Warhead is.

We witness a storm

More storm

[Nacho]

In the terrible ideas department, it might be amusing, or at least extremely embarrassing, to do a live reading of past forum fights with the actual participants. "Say that to my face!"-kind of thing.

I wouldn't participate on that! 

[Adamski]

Rorschach's Journal, 12 July 2009

Welp, I'm back in my flat now having departed from Becky's house this afternoon, so I guess Mittens is finally over for me. Boo!

It's going to be hard going back to work after the sheer wonder and whimsy of the week we spent hanging out in Miami, making ridiculous fight scenes for films, tourturing each other with candy, swimming in the pool at night, playing hide and seek in the spooky mansion ("Jess: What was that noise?!" "Me: ...my stomach."), playing videos games, placing balls in Mills' hand, rekindling an obsession with water balloons, playing with fireworks, burning the queen, and most enjoyably of all, just talking and laughing with folks you'd never normally get to talk and laugh with face to face. There was just so much going on it felt like the week went by much too quickly, and I'm greatly missing the atmosphere and company... even nearly one week after it's formal ending.

So to all of you there I'd like to re-iterate that you're all awesome people and it was a pleasure to spend time with you all. I hope to see every last one of you at Mittens 2010!

(Which should be in Italy!)

[Darth Mandarb]

I'm sick as a dog ...   But I wanted to get my photos up for reminiscing

Darth's Mittens 2009 Photos

I took about 300 photos total, but I preened them a bit to select the ones I thought most worth sharing.  I hope you enjoy them!

[Miez]

I'm sick as a dog ...   But I wanted to get my photos up for reminiscing

Darth's Mittens 2009 Photos

I took about 300 photos total, but I preened them a bit to select the ones I thought most worth sharing.  I hope you enjoy them!

Could just be me, but I get a "failed to connect" page when clicking the link, Darth.

[Nacho]

Me too, but yesterday it worked... It might be a problem with the server.

[Darth Mandarb]

My hosting company has gone straight down the tubes ... sad.  They used to be so reliable and now all my sites spend more time offline than on.  I'm transferring them to a new company soon.  It should be working now!

[DutchMarco]

Post-Mittens report from the one who didn't get back on his plane right after Mittens

Guess who else came to town? (the Baltimore Hostel) Some real-life AGS'es (American Girl Scouts). Just wanted to let you know of this strange coincidence, not to gloat on my chances of hunting chicks or whatever (they're way too young - I know at Mittens, it was suggested that " if they bleed, they're old enough" - welll, the authorities may not agree with you on that, and besides, I do not intend to poke knives into them to see if they're old enough...

[AGA]

We saw a load of girl scouts in our hostel in Washington, D.C. on the pre Mittens roadtrip too. We thought about getting a photo, but that probably would have been weird/illegal.

[Pesty]

Hahaha, oh you creepy bastards and your girl scout obsession. Won't you ever learn!

[Pumaman]

I thought I'd prove just how few photos I took at Mittens this year by posting them all:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/mittens2009/
I was even too lazy to caption them!

Also there are a few from our roadtrip here:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/roadtrip/

[Finkenstein]

I third the talk about hotel rooms being bad. I like the houses we have rented I think they work perfectly! We paid for a whole week what would have cost 2 days at a hotel.                       
If anything, in Mittens to come we should take better account of the available beds so everyone has a place to sleep!

Disco's idea of renting a yacht is really interesting, it would definitely be an adventure!

Wherever we go next year, I am a fan of warmth. It doesn't have to be blisteringly hot but warm enough to swim and a place to swim seems to be a proven mittens success.

Italy has some nice beaches I hear! But Holland looks nice too! We should put it to a vote.

[AGA]

Quotes are up.

[Grundislav]

Hooray, here is our Mittens movie.  At least, what we managed to film.

[Scummbuddy]

EPIC! I loved the cameos of people just enjoying the Mansion as all of this murdering is going on, such as me playing Space Quest when "Beverage" aka Nacho is getting smacked across the face.

[Miez]

Whoooo! Too bad there was no time to do more... next Mittens "the lost reels"?
Also - is there some way to download the movie, for posterity?

Also - pretty snazzy work on the "Wembley emerges from the pool" scene!

[Scummbuddy]

It looks like if you join with the site, you can download the file. Bottom-right corner of the videos page.