More and more venues that are competing for entertainment dollars are moving away from mask requirements so, to say masks are the norm isn't correct. 2021? Yep. 2022, Nope.
I think everyone acknowledges that it is Gencon's party and they can do what they want. Personally I think they should have just drawn a line in the sand back in January and said masks/vax in 2022 because I don't think there was ever a moment that they thought of dropping them.
I know there is a subset that would be fine with Gencon requiring masks from now until the end of time. Not sure that is a viable business plan though. As more and more businesses move away from requirements, at some point with masks required, Gencon would be the outlier and people that don't want to deal with masks any more will spend their entertainment dollars elsewhere. And that group won't be just the extreme 2020 anti-maskers because there seems to be a number of 2020/2021 pro-maskers that wish GC would move on. If that is the path GC takes in the future, hey.. more power to them.
To clarify a bit...
We do not just look to the CDC for guidance. We have stated that we are looking at a many factors and listed some of them throughout our updates. Our aim is to make this as safe an environment as we can for everyone. To be even clearer that is not just the attendees. There are a lot more factors that we must manage to have we would regard as a safe and successful convention.
Mike
The CDC is the ppl with the science should they not be the factor that determines what safe or not? How much does this virus have to drop then it already has to drop it? There is a point were people need to make up there own minds if they want to risk going and not enforce the ones willing to risk to follow there rules
To be clear I am for precsution snd mandates when appropriate but with death and hospitalization going down it might not be nessary for a mandate.
Also from what I heard the m5 mask is the only one they reccomend anyway and the normal mask effectiveness dropped by a lot anyway.
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https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/indiana-covid-cases.html
Here is what confuses me (legitimately, not trolling) a vocal minority makes the argument that we need to make this as "safe" as possible. In reality, a gathering of 50k people will never be safe for someone in that life situation. It will never be free from virus or bacteria. COVID is here to stay. Barring a significant outbreak in August, Gencon will likely be as safe this year as any in the next ten. So if one has family or loved ones that they are worried about due to catching something and bringing it home, why is that person coming to a Con like this at all. It's a very real possibility that you will catch COVID due to it spreading the way it does, and yet you still choose to come. I don't understand why you don't just avoid it altogether. If there are "other" factors to consider, those people are being done a disservice if your selling the idea that wearing a mask makes them safe.
Understand I'm not saying I don't want those individuals to attend just that there are other social impacts that need to be accounted for when weighing the statistical differences that any masking actually makes. We are social creatures and covering our faces, our expressions of joy, laughter, sadness, gratitude, has a very real impact on our psyche that needs to be measured against quantifiable statistical differences of mask wearing. I'd wager all of us game because of that social aspect. Taking an element of it away is no light thing to consider. (lots of interesting studies about impact on school kids)
Were I Gencon, I would not have lifted any sort of mandate yet either. I think most attendees frustration comes from phrases like "as well as consulting our own experts" because it feels like a 180 from previous policies. And many feel that the trend lends itself to expect the CDC to continue to relax their restrictions. While not a guarantee it certainly feels like a reasonable gamble. Gencon's messaging have felt much less definative. Their right as a business? Absolutely. However, it's also fair as a paying consumer to express dissatisfaction (respectfully) with a given policy if it detracts from the enjoyment that we are paying for or is keeping us from buying a ticket altogether.
No, you're missing how the current generation has chosen to communicate with each other.
I’m glad the mask requirement is in place as hope it stands. Thankfully I can express all the eye rolling I need in a mask when people start making it seem like they are an insurmountable obstacle to communication. Gotta be careful I don’t hurt my self eye rolling to the ‘kids these days’ observations.
The masks are just virtue signaling at this point. Gen Con simply playing politics and driving away fans.
Gen Con knew that they were going to lose attendees no matter what the policy is.
I suspect that folks in this thread will be surprised at how many people are like me. I prioritized going to Gen Con and am okay with whatever the policy is.
Based on Origins' reversal and David Hoppe's statements, I do think that the exhibitors and volunteers are the keys to the decision. In that case, I'd rather wear a mask and have a full exhibit hall and all of the volunteers.