I disagree! today's children know nothing of the tribulations of the past boomer generations and it has everything to do with GenCon. Back in my day if I wanted to slay a goblin that had been harassing the local farmers cows I had to calculate the number to hit AC zero on my trusty TI SR-40.  But now... now they have those new fangled Star Trak pocket phone computers and just use simple addition... and I blame GenCon for all of it!

Also, I do not really expect another full health update until late june or early july where a finial decision will be made so people can prepare in which ever way they feel comfortable (I assume some will return tickets and others will look to purchase more).

Likely alot of truth in this statement.

That's been my thought as well. The general consensus seems to be that COVID is always going to be with us and has become more endemic than pandemic. If that's the case (I tend to think so myself) will conditions be demonstrably different next year, or the year after that? Without different conditions will masks be required next year, or the year after that, or the year after that... ad nauseum? 

I really hate to "what if" these kinds of things and am part of the "will grudgingly deal with it" crowd, but you have to wonder. 

Unfortunately this year is proving that might be the case. Their restrictions are stricter so far this year than last when vaccine rates are higher and covid/ hospitalization rates are way way lower. Last year it operated during the worst of delta in Indy, and they ran a safe convention, so why more restrictions? Last years restrictions should have been where they started, it worked just fine. What was unsafe about last year, if it's truly only about safety?  if the vendors are dictating the rules that's a bad business model for Gencon. Gencon needs the attendees more than they need certain vendors. They easily filled the space last year that they wanted to fill.    

This is still not the topic to discuss this on.
We are having a hard enough time trying yo monitor this topic without straying off it.

Mike 

There's maybe 20 people in this thread going back and forth, calling either side a minority vs the tens of thousands of attendees is a stretch.  Reddit and the FB fans page are mostly free of mask arguments which tells me the issues isn't as wide spread as some may think. 

The CDC is, as of May 3rd 2022, recommending masks in "indoor areas of public transportation (such as airplanes, trains, etc.) and transportation hubs" which is a pretty good description of Gen Con.  Masks still serve a purpose and more inconvenience now can eliminate it total later.  

So you want to go back to 'All Mask-No Vax'?  Let me get out of the way before the dog pile starts.

Last year's attendance was way down, the vendor hall has cut way down, there were a lot of empty spaces in the hall, and a lot of duplicate vendors filling space (multiple dice vendors.  MULTIPLE!)  I doubt that was all that Gen Con wanted to fill.  Shall we bring up the smaller event catalog? 

Lack of big names kept a few people I know from going, letting them dictate some terms so they show up is not a bad investment to increase attendance. 

Those are bad places to compare up to, Reddit is highly leftwing you cannot post anything anti any restrictions there without getting deleted by bots or shouted down. And unfortunately the main FB group has not been much better, and have been deleting anti mask/vaccine post. To Gencon's credit they have let us have this discussion here with limited moderating, only when people have gotten out of line. At least in Indiana we have been mask free for a long time close to a year, and only have to put them on at a hospital I rarely see anyone where a mask anymore. Why do you need a mask mandate if the majority of attendees want to wear mask, according to their feedback, because they know thats probably not the case, and the majority of the people would not wear one if their wasn't a mandate.  

 
Their policy was spot on last summer before they had to change it because of delta.  Attendance was way down because they moved the convention to September and you had delta at its height. They also capped vendors and attendees, and it was held during the school year which has never happened before, and only allowed groups to run events. There will always be vendors stepping up to fill the void. Wizards/TSR doesn't even have a booth anymore and they used to be the main booth for attendees for the majority of Gencon's history. Sorry without attendees or dwindling attendance, big vendors will eventually stop attending and Gencon also looses leverage with the ICC and the city. Gencon was growing before covid and it wasn't because of the vendors attending, they are all replaceable.     

1. Wizards left years before Covid. Attendance was higher after they left.

2. Origins once thought as you do. They had to change because without happy vendors there is no convention. Selling generics and events won’t pay for the ICC by itself. 

3. People are going to attend, even if masks or vax are required. 

 

If that's the case why are most larger conventions going with less restrictions? Two much bigger conventions SD Comic-Con and C2E2 have less restrictions then Gencon, and C2E2 is the same weekend. At the end of the day they are businesses, and they need revenue to survive, and the restrictions have kept a portion of their attendees away, that's why you see them moving to less restrictions.   

You made my point when Wizards stoped attending years ago, it did not stop people from coming to Gencon, attendance actually went up. They used to be the center of the show with their castle at one time. Many vendors have come and gone in my 26 years of attending.  

Origins unfortunately is poorly run so I don't even put them in the same conversation as these other cons. They always screw things up. They barely had 10k people attend last year, about 50% of normal attendance. Gencon had almost 4 times that amount in a hard year.

Never said people would not attend, of course they will, and if its like some of the other good size midwest cons they might get 70-75% of normal attendance. Would Gencon be okay financially with that is the question, especially after 2 very bad years of revenue. Long term that's probably not a good path to be on, as their size is whats gives them leverage with the ICC, the hotels and the city.     

As noted, Reddit is just an echo chamber and FB isn't much better.  Most people don't use social media or bother to post in forums.   Most people I know would rather eat their own arm than use forums.

And while we go round and round discussing masks and what GC is doing, there is a subset of people out there that think any of us attending, no matter what protocols are in place, believe everything is too dangerous still and we are all idiots for attending.

 

Indiana is a bad example since it's highly rightwing and was dropping masks before anyone thought it was safe.
Wizards left Gen Con but they still have someone run Magic & D&D at the show.  Paizo runs their own stuff, as does True Dungeon (of course), and countless other smaller companies.  They're replaceable in the dealer hall, but how about in the event catalog? 

If the companies don't feel they can be there safely, they'll pull out taking their events with them, which will drive down attendance, which will attract fewer companies, and so on in a spiral.  But in this example of chicken & the egg, companies not being at the show to run events comes before people not being at the show. 

Sorry Indiana has been just fine with our Covid policies. 

When I started attending Gencon there was no true dungeon, Paizo, TSR did not run events, the RPGA handled D&D, and magic was some new card game that just come out. Companies would step in to fill the void with Paizo like magic and D&D. True dungeon isnt going anywhere, this is their big event for the year. Last year I think had more to do with them not being able to use the Colts stadium than anything covid safety related, and in their cancelation email they said they would be back for 2022 before they even knew what safety precautions were in play. Companies would fill the void to replace these events like whats happening with official D&D and Magic. As long as Gencon sticks to the experience of being the best 4 days of gaming, gaming companies would show up.         

This is demonstrated in polling that suggests that people want a mask mandate in public transportation, and yet the vast majority do not wear them while using public transportation.

If the vendors want to be safe they can wear the m5 mask, vaccination plus that should be at least as safe as it was before covid of catching a virus.

If mask was option I prob still wear mask when the crowd gets to big but I like to be able to decide when that time is and when it feels safe to go without it for a while. 

I have to reply to this as well. Id say Indiana is a good example because as right-wing as we are (and boy are we), we dropped the masks quite awhile ago and are doing just fine.