Category Archives: General

Updated Mysterium Policies

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Shorah Friends,

We’re still working away on nailing down the details of our hotel. More on that in a few weeks.

Today, I wanted to let you know about some changes to our harassment policies. Over the past few months, we’ve been working with the wonderful folks over at the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center to make sure we have a comprehensive set of policies and procedures for handling any future harassment. And we’re pretty happy with the end result.

First is our policies page, available from the top bar, or directly here. The main change is in the harassment section. We took a cue from New York Comic Con’s policy and simplified ours. Now it is easy to read and very clear that we have zero tolerance for harassment.

Second is the new incident report page. This can be reached from the harassment section on the policies page, or directly here. This was adapted from procedures put in place by the Firefly Arts Collective. It lays out who can report a problem (anyone), when a problem can be reported (anytime), and what will happen if you or someone else does report something to us. In addition, this page has a web-form for submitting a report, if doing so in person is not possible or not desired. We want to make sure that everyone and anyone can feel safe reporting any sort of harassment that occurs at Mysterium, regardless of who did it or what it was.

Now, just to be clear, this isn’t because we expect to have to enforce the policy. Mysterium is generally attended by wonderful people who would never harass other attendees. However, as we try to reach out and grow our awesome little convention (and particularly for large years like 2014), we felt it was important to be prepared.

As with anything, if you have any comments or suggestions about these changes, please feel free to drop us a line.

-Taniith

Mysterium 2015 Kickoff & Logo Contest

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Shorah Friends!

Well, we’ve been radio silent for a couple months, but we definitely haven’t been twiddling our thumbs!

For those who don’t know me, my name is Taniith, and I’ll be heading up the Mysterium committee for 2015. We have some fun new things in the works, and I think you’re all really going to enjoy them. And of course, Mysterium 2015 will be just a few months before Obduction’s planned launch, so we’ll do our best to get a sneak peak out of Cyan.*

Date & Location

As was announced this summer, Mysterium 2015 will take place from August 7-9th in Boston, Massachusetts. As a reminder, Mysterium always takes place on the first full weekend of August.

The last time we were in Boston was 2011, and we have the whole 2011 band back together (along with some new faces and old favorites). We’re currently in the process of scouting hotels, and we expect to have more about that in a couple months. If all goes according to plan, pre-registration should re-open before the year is out.

Theme Announcement

The theme for this year’s Mysterium will be the age of Todelmer! An age built to study the heavens. And glorious heavens you’ll find at Mysterium, if we have anything to say about it.**

Logo Contest

Finally, today we are kicking off our annual logo contest! Submissions are due by December 29th, 2014. You can submit either a front design, a back design, or both. More information about the design requirements and where to submit your entries is available at the logo contest page.

Even if you are not an artist yourself, please pass the contest details along to anyone who might be interested. We look forward to seeing what people come up with!

That’s all we have for now. But stay tuned for more in the near future.

To the honor of our Tubers,

-Taniith, Mysterium 2015 Chair

*we’ve got connections… and if that fails we’ll bake Bribe Donuts.
**yes, you can expect more Esher quotes in future blog poasts. Con-chair’s prerogative.

Cyan Travel Directions

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For those of you who will be driving to Cyan on Saturday, here are some directions on how to get to their office:

From the hotel:

  • Exit the hotel parking lot onto 3rd Ave.
  • Go under the interstate and then turn left onto S Perry St.
  • Turn left onto 2nd Ave, then take an immediate right onto the ramp to Hamilton St.
  • Continue north on Hamilton St. for 7.1 miles (it will turn into Nevada St along the way).
  • Turn right onto N Newport Hwy/U.S. 2
  • Continue north for 3.3 miles.
  • Cyan Headquarters is on your left, at the “Branches” sign. You will pass an Arby’s on your right just before the turn-in. If you pass Subway on your right, you have gone too far.

The address is 14617 N Newport Hwy, Mead WA 99021

As a reminder, doors open at Cyan at 9:30 AM on Saturday. To accommodate our bus transportation, please park in the inner lot (closest to the buildings) so that the busses can turn around in the outer lot.

Color Communications Badges

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Color Communications Badges

We want everyone to have a good time at Mysterium, but we also know that large crowds can be a little overwhelming to some people. To help attendees who may wish to express their communication preferences quickly and non-verbally, we’ve followed BronyCon‘s lead and partnered with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) to make their color-coded badges available to any attendee who wants one. Use these badges to indicate to others whether you want to be approached for interactions or not.

Briefly, here’s what the colors mean:

cc squares green

“Come Talk To Me!” A person wearing a green badge is actively seeking interaction. They may have trouble initating conversations, but it’s okay to come up and start a conversation with them.

cc squares yellow

“Do I Know You?” A yellow badge means its wearer only wants to talk to people they recognize. Unless you’ve met this person face-to-face before, don’t start a conversation with them. If they start talking to you, you’re welcome to talk back.

cc squares red

“Not Right Now.” If a person has a red badge showing, they do not want anyone to talk to them. They may approach you to talk, in which case it’s okay to respond. But unless you’ve been told you’re on someone’s “red list”, don’t start interacting with them.

If you see someone wearing a yellow or red badge, please respect their wishes. If you are wearing a yellow or red badge and someone is harassing you by not respecting your preference, find the nearest Mysterium staff member immediately.

Again, these badges will be available at the registration desk to anyone who wants one. You will receive a pin-on badge holder with two cards: a green/yellow double-sided card, and a red card. We will also have signs throughout the convention spaces at the hotel and at Cyan explaining these badges.

If you are interested in using these badges at your own event, you can download BronyCon’s template here: http://bit.ly/CommunicationBadges

Cyan’s Kickstarter: Obduction

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Obduction Concept Art

Greetings, Myst fans!

Have you been longing for a new game from Cyan? Well, now is your chance to help make it happen! Cyan is currently about half-way through the fundraising time on their Kickstarter campaign to develop Obduction, a new realtime adventure game that will be built using the cutting-edge Unreal 4 graphics engine. They’re trying to raise at least $1.1 million, and still have about $350,000 to go as of this writing. If you haven’t pledged yet, get to it! If you already have, please spread the word! With Mysterium coming back to Spokane next year, we’d love it if Cyan had something new to show off when we visit their offices, and we’re sure you would too :).

Click here to check out the Kickstarter!