Guys,
This is also not the place for general state of the economic, infectious disease, politics, etc. Putting "Gen Con" somewhere in your message doesn't necessarily make it about Gen Con.
Keep this relevant to Gen Con. Mike has said he won't shut down the thread, but has already banned some people from the forums because of it.
I realize that discussions have a way of mutating from something relevant to something not, and it can happen in gradual steps. But keep a close eye on yourself. 'Cause I am.
Roderick Robertson Forum Coordinator Gen Con, LLC.
Roderick, I was talking about Gencon, and it's timeline, and the chances of it happening. All of that is related to the general state of what is happening. I was specifically replying to posts about Comicon, which were said to be relevant, and to posts saying that it would be irresponsible for Gencon to take place. I don't know how to respond to those posts, about Gencon, without referring to what is possibly going to cause Gencon not to happen. I don't know how to respond to a post saying Gencon shouldn't happen without saying why I think that's a hasty decision. And if the one is relevant, the response seemly is too. I'm not upset, just confused about how what I wrote regarding conventions, Gencon in particular, and COVID, is not relevant to a thread about Gencon and COVID.
I'm just going to not post anymore after this I guess, because I stayed away from politics, and discussed only what is relevant to Gencon happening or not. I was discussing other conventions, Gencon specifically, and what conditions would or would not cause them to happen or not happen. I am seriously confused now about what we're allowed to discuss, so I'm just going to stop contributing.
Gencon's timing at the end of July could very well be after the threat of COVID is overshadowed by the threat of poverty from the shutdown economy. That's my conclusion. Money is not an irrelevant issue in this discussion, and so the decision to have or not have an event like Gencon, given its timing in the year, does in fact need to involve economics. That's a summary of my position regarding Gencon, in relation to some recent posts.
If that's allowed to say, then cool. But I'm just going to step away because I honestly don't see the problem with my last post, and I don't want to cause friction with a friend. Later everyone, stay safe.
It drifted rather a bit away from Gen Con, plus follow-on comments were well and away from Gen Con. I'm not picking on you, really I'm not.
Cheers, buddy
Bringing it back to Gen Con, what kind of practices & procedures would the convention have to implement) at the hall as well as hotels & restaurants that run events) to make you feel safe & your health is considered?
Realistic ideas only.
I’m thinking crowd management, nobody allowed in the convention hall without masks, limited number of tables in event rooms?
Once you start thinking about the details - it’s like playing a full game of Arkham Horror with EVERY expansion made or one of those Avalon Hill Ganes with 2300 pieces and sixty chapters in the rule book..... I feel (& fear) for the convention staff.....
Of course, that's the same thing I'd say about pretty much every other question posed in this thread.
Given the number of attendees, I feel like it's limited in what Gencon/ICC staff could do, realistically.
Maybe ticket sales could end early and refunds could be offered to reduce the total number of people in attendance - but then this might mean fewer vendors and of course Gencon would take a financial hit, along with the rest of Indy that benefits from the tourism. It's potentially better than nothing, though? But people would be angry if the con happened but they were in the group that didn't get to attend. It probably needs to be all or nothing in terms of numbers.
At the bare minimum, I would expect lots of hand sanitizer at events and various stations around the convention.
I think they should encourage, but probably couldn't enforce masks, unless they're handing everyone a cloth face mask or two along with their badges.
I could see vendors and event organizers wearing gloves (provided there are enough to go around by then), masks for all the food vendors, and a lot of things in the hall becoming "look but don't touch."
You could try and limit the number of people in the vendor hall at once, but that would be very difficult and detrimental to the con-going experience for a lot of people.
One thing that would help a lot is contactless payment for all vendors, maybe through something like BGG's preorder system that they started last year (not everyone will have Apple Pay, etc.). You go up to a booth and say "I want X game" and then you pay for it on your phone. They get a confirmation number, you pick up the game and go on your way.
That would make for a lot less cash money and credit cards exchanging hands. It would mean much less physical back-and-forth interactions and touching that could spread germs.
As far as I am concerned, as long as my non-refundable hotel is still non-refundable, I am still going to be in Indianapolis in late July!
Now, will I just have Sugarfire Smokehouse delivered twice a day for five days and leave? Maybe.
Now as far as the ICC/Gencon changes related to the event, some changes we can guess at. There will be lots of hand sanitizer in use. Probably a restriction in entrances to the vendor hall to ensure that everyone going in has used hand sanitizer (similar to cruise ships dining areas). It will be louder(I know right) as everyone will have to be talking through a mask. This last one might be a bit of a stretch but I can see a restriction on the number of people allowed in the vendor hall at any one time and no I don't know that logistics behind this, its just an opinion.
Even if GenCon does go off, I am curious how they are going to handle the 'social distancing' guidelines on the Thursday morning of the show when a massive crowd is gathered waiting for the Dealer's Hall to officially open.
I understand it’s a little over 3 months away and a lot can change but is that enough time to plan & implement large scale ideas? I imagine ramping up purchase of hundreds of hand sanitizer stations isn’t as simple as ordering online. What about limiting seating at tables for events or number of tables in a room? I’m imagining a D&D party of 2 or trying to mash three of the big round tables together to get 6 people plus the DM? Where does the overflow go for the huge rooms if they only have 20% of the regular people? An earlier (great) comment was that Gen Con is an amazingly diverse event with people from dozens of countries and just about every lifestyle. What can the convention do to mitigate the risk to certain attendees like 60+ or toddlers or pregnant women?
On the plus side, I’m guessing there is a good spread of activities between the convention, the city, the hotels/restaurants and the visit Indy.
If a physical Gen Con is not possible, a virtual Gen Con might be possible. For seminars, the speakers could set up Zoom meetings and participants could be emailed meeting IDs and passwords. Games might be handled using Tabletop simulator or other platform. My favorite part is the Vendor's Hall and nothing can substitute for touching the items on sale there. However, maybe Gen Con could set up a virtual marketplace for the different vendors. I love Gen Con and would hate for it to go away this year completely. If they make a virtual conference, they can keep my registration fee.
and so forth. There just not room to spread everyone out and still have everything there.
Based on current information each of those options is valid and has an equal chance of happening. Right now the best thing we can do for our sanity is to wait for more information to become available. The next big conversation date is May 1, lets see what happens then.
Safe Travels.
with comic con being canceled I fear for this :( maybe we all will get herd immunity by then :p
There is still hope, but I will agree it doesn’t look good.
G
Reality: Be mad at me if you must.
Economics- All the Distributors, Game manufacturers and stores are either shut down or damn close. So the industry is taking a huge hit economically. They are not thinking about GenCon atm, because they have a business and employees that are in a battle for safety and security.
Regular people that run events are in many cases, taking a huge financial hit right now, due to being laid off or fur-lowed. Whatever you call it, they are not economically stable. Sure, some people will not be effected economically directly, but can they get the materials to run their events?
All of that means, that this event, that is participant driven, will lose content.
Physical safety: Covid is not going anywhere. This is a world wide pandemic and GenCon is an international event. Game companies and attendees come from everywhere. Even if the United States does a crazy good job of handling it and I am sorry but we are on the brink of opening up the economy which will result in more cases, travel restrictions in the the United States stand to be disrupted and International travel is going to be severely impacted.
If they have GenCon, the plus side will be that it will be smaller. A GenCon of lesser size will be more safe. Of course their expenses will be the question. Can they get super discount rates to have the event? If so, maybe they can do it without going broke. They will have added expenses to cover the required safety concerns. <shrug> It may be reality, but they don't want us talking about it, so whatever.
At this point, writing off the hotel cost is better than actually incurring the event costs, food costs and health risk that the event will add to my life. The old adage "Don't throw good money after bad", seems appropriate.
I love GenCon. I have attended... more than 15 but I would have to think about it to nail down. I have loved them all and I will love them in the future. This one? Nope. If they have it and you go, I hope you have a wonderful GenCon and all of my predictions are incorrect. I hope you are safe and all the events are wonderful. I have no desire to say "I told you so". I want the industry to fully recover and everything to be amazing. I don't want any black marks anywhere. That would hurt it and in the end all of us. Good luck to all of us.
-Pat
is moving the event to later in the year an Option?