Is there a chance that Gen Con could be cancelled for this year? I just got an email re: mandatory masks, which I am fine with. But since everything seems to be getting worse by the day, I was curious, could they still cancel it?

I highly doubt it, but I am expecting a bunch of no-shows.  Generic tickets might be more useful than usual this year.

Barring a lockdown by the state of Indiana, I doubt it'll be cancelled.

Yes, there is.

I doubt Gen Con the company will cancel, but there's still a chance the city, state, or feds may ban large gatherings.  I'm waiting on the fall out (if any) from Sturgis and Lollapalooza to determine things.  By the the time the con rolls around, any super spreading (if any) will have spread and the proper authorities will take it from there. 

Nothing is certain, and that's for sure.

They already have social distanced events and mask mandate. Its about as safe as it can be without making it vax only.

Cancellation won't happen.

Besides that, there are other ways to make it safer including simply cancellation or online only.  

Cancelling the con could lead to the end of Gencon. No one wants that.

If you are vaxed and wear an N95 you are at little risk when everyone else is masked and distanced as well.

And FTR I was in favor of a vax only convention. But they decided not to do it and it's really late now to require it.

Like I said in another thread, it's not too late for Gen Con to make this a vax-only convention (and they haven't ruled it out). It is too late for unvaccinated potential attendees to make their decision whether or not to get the vaccine based on Gen Con's decision, unless they go the J&J route.

Personally, I'd like a vax-only convention (with the only exceptions being those who can't get it, either for medical reasons or because they're not old enough), but the current setup works for me too.

You keep saying it is too late.  But, it is not.  In fact, their latest update was clear that a vaccine requirement is still a possibility.  If they don't think it is too late, why do you?

And your calculus on that is based on getting to MAXIMUM protection from the vaccine.  You ignore the fact that a person who starts the process now will still be safer (even if not reaching maximum protection) than they would with no vaccine and a mask on.

Again, I hear a lot of talking about 'safety', but the decisions made don't actually reflect that priority.  It's theater at this point.

I think the only reason they have not required vax only is that they don't know if they have the legal grounds to do so in the State of Indiana. Based on their most recent Blog post I think they are vey much in favor of that but don't want sued.

if it's vaxed only then there is no need for everyone to wear a mask

2)  It shouldn't be close to 10% of GMs.  As of their survey, 87% of attendees were vaccinated with another 5% planning to do so.  With incentives and/or mandate, it'd probably go higher.

3)  You fail to mention the "hot mess, anger will be through the roof, and loss of goodwill could inflict lasting damage" from the MASK rule.  Look around, people are demanding refunds.  Considering the numbers cited above, this could be worse impact than a vaccine mandate would be.  And, not for nothing, the vaccine actually protects people at a much higher rate than masks, which are better than nothing, but have a small effect size compared to vaccines.

Something else that occurred to me about an all-vaccinated convention:

Gen Con might be waiting for full FDA approval of the vaccine, just to ensure they've got all the bases covered.

That approval might actually happen this month.

It probably wouldn't negate the mask mandate, however.  Barring a miraculous collapse in cases, that ship has sailed.

Yeah, Lollapalooza did that.

Yes, vaxed people can get infected and transfer, in extremely low percentages

Hospitalized or fatal vaccine breakthrough cases reported to CDC. 7,525. out of 164 million people fully vaxed
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/breakthrough-cases.html

Masks prevent the sick from giving it to the non-sick; so everyone getting vaxed is the best answer.  Not making vaxed mask up for no good reason.