|
Pangaea Ultima posted:I'm very curious how holding events at scale outdoors would work with the heat at the end of July in Indy. I really, really want to believe that Gen Con will happen this year and I'm open to ideas for how to make it safe in the likely scenario that widespread vaccination is still lagging. But, drat, it's hot there and then! Having people outside for days in the summer heat and sun seems like it might carry its own complications. I mean, I guess Burning Man makes it work in the desert, and multi-day music festivals are a thing that happens in the summer... (Also... R.I.P. Claddagh, official as of today; I had my beef with the place but certainly overall it was a good thing to have available)
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2021 22:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 18:47 |
|
|
Speaking of Claddagh, have any of the general hangouts survived? I know the RAM went under. Scotties didn't even need a pandemic to fail. I heard Burger Study succumbed somewhat recently as well. Is there going to be anywhere to get food and beer?
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2021 22:45
|
|
|
Loughmiller's appears to still be in business. Please remain in business, Loughmiller's. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2021 23:01
|
|
|
nesbit37 posted:Speaking of Claddagh, have any of the general hangouts survived? I know the RAM went under. Scotties didn't even need a pandemic to fail. I heard Burger Study succumbed somewhat recently as well. Is there going to be anywhere to get food and beer?
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2021 23:16
|
|
|
We'll always have the High Velocity.
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2021 00:55
|
|
|
BlackIronHeart posted:Loughmiller's appears to still be in business. Please remain in business, Loughmiller's. Their big advantage is their primary business is the workers of the government center across the street. They didn't rely on the late night eating/drinking crowd/visitors as much as some of the other places.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2021 03:47
|
|
|
That's good to know. Also new estimates are saying wide spread vaccine availability in the US by April. Dare I? https://i.imgur.com/OVzXdTR.mp4
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2021 01:04
|
|
|
What does "widespread availability" mean? I have a sinking suspicion it amounts to "we finally get through all the subgroups who were supposed to be vaccinated by January"
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2021 01:13
|
|
|
There is a definite chance there will be another once-(we-hope-)in-a-lifetime unique Gen-Con this year as in 2020, with this one being something weird like "50,000 people do poo poo online, including engaging with the 5,000 fully vaccinated people willing to be on-site doing scaled down things." Possibly still wishful thinking, if it counts as "wishful" to imagine something nobody would really ask for. It is probably more likely that they will try and fail to require full vaccination to attend and there will be outbreaks thanks to the anti-vaxxers showing up anyway, or they will indeed just do it online again. I am definitely planning to be in Indianapolis one way or another, but I say that not due to my fanaticism (for once) but because I should in theory be vaccinated soon thanks to my worker status. But will that actually happen? Who knows?!?
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2021 01:38
|
|
|
for once the VA called me and it wasn't bad news. I have appointments to get my Vaccine for this weekend and the follow up next month. DARE I HOPE FOR GENCON '21?!!?
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2021 02:22
|
|
|
Carteret posted:for once the VA called me and it wasn't bad news. I have appointments to get my Vaccine for this weekend and the follow up next month. DARE I HOPE FOR GENCON '21?!!? Until we get word by June that the South Africa variant has a 90% fatality rate amongst the vaccinated
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2021 02:43
|
|
|
Gen-Con says they are going to send out more surveys to everyone else subscribed to the mailing list by tomorrow, so if you want to get in on that sweet "should there be anything in-person, and if so how, and if how why" action, hit this: https://us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=2f77d2f8c77398c0b064223ba&id=8125600ed7
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2021 23:34
|
|
|
Dr. Drew back with another update probably only he cares about! I went to check the hotel situation, because thinking about Gen-Con is the only way to fight the Gen-Con Addiction, and discovered after some fiddling about that I could get a Monday-Sunday room at the new Tru by Hilton for $1,000 less than the emergency Wednesday-Sunday reservation I made in September at the Hampton Inn. The Tru is a couple blocks from the Lucas Oil Arena, admittedly meaning it is pretty far from the J.W. Marriott Party City, but it is otherwise not much farther than the farther-out connected hotels. Honestly that might me more of a concern for me this year than usual since I imagine there is a chance most of the things to do will be unofficial, but hey, who knows?!? This information brought to you by Diamond Joe's Vaccination Shack
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2021 21:28
|
|
|
Dr. Quarex posted:Dr. Drew back with another update probably only he cares about! drat, that is super tempting. I just wish I had any confidence at all that I'll be vaccinated by then. My state is currently in the bottom 25% and doesn't appear to be making moves with any urgency. If there wasn't a 100% deposit I'd book that in a heartbeat.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2021 23:19
|
|
|
Well you can get the deposit back if you cancel by August 1! I mean... Yeah, that would be too much if I were not fairly sure I would be going. And keep hope alive, eventually the states that are doing a good job will start running into the population refusing to get vaccinated and that will help the other states by proxy!
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2021 23:24
|
|
|
Speaking of hotels, I know there are a few different "Clusters" around the city that have cheaper options then downtown. Any of them better then others? I stayed out by the airport a few years ago and thought it was fine. Also, got a survey today. They floated the idea of postponing until later in the year, along with more outdoor events and less gaming space.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2021 23:56
|
|
|
Dr. Quarex posted:Well you can get the deposit back if you cancel by August 1! I mean... Yeah, that would be too much if I were not fairly sure I would be going. And keep hope alive, eventually the states that are doing a good job will start running into the population refusing to get vaccinated and that will help the other states by proxy! You are a terrible influence, and you talked me into it. Fingers crossed. In 2019 I drove an hour to Gen Con each day from Lafayette, so if things go on as planned this will seem like ridiculous opulence by comparison.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2021 00:02
|
|
|
I really hope they don't delay it. Especially as an exhibitor. Even if they did delay i can't imagine the health concerns would be any different.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2021 00:31
|
|
|
Funzo posted:Speaking of hotels, I know there are a few different "Clusters" around the city that have cheaper options then downtown. Any of them better then others? I stayed out by the airport a few years ago and thought it was fine. I filled out that survey HARD and made it clear I think that, like Nesbit37, I felt a few months' difference in date would surely make less of a difference than just about any other factor. Even if I am sure the weather for OctoberCon would be nice Pangaea Ultima posted:You are a terrible influence, and you talked me into it. Fingers crossed. In 2019 I drove an hour to Gen Con each day from Lafayette, so if things go on as planned this will seem like ridiculous opulence by comparison.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2021 01:32
|
|
|
I'm so torn on gen con this year so far. If it happens I'm there, I think I am just waiting for them to make up my mind for me.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2021 03:28
|
|
|
Dr. Quarex posted:I filled out that survey HARD and made it clear I think that, like Nesbit37, I felt a few months' difference in date would surely make less of a difference than just about any other factor. Even if I am sure the weather for OctoberCon would be nice Since viral spread (and vaccine distribution to an extent) is exponential rather than linear, a few more months of vaccinations might mean a big reduction in risk. I'd be more than ok with OctoberCon (outside gaming would be a lot more tolerable than August), although colliding with Origins and other local cons that will likely start popping up would be annoying. Lord Of Texas fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Feb 16, 2021 |
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2021 17:39
|
|
|
Lord Of Texas posted:Since viral spread (and vaccine distribution to an extent) is exponential rather than linear, a few more months of vaccinations might mean a big reduction in risk. I understand Nesbit37's concerns since presumably he would be there as an exhibitor rather than just an attendee; I am definitely going to try to go regardless (though again it helps I should be vaccinated soon or I would not be so confident). If the Auction does not happen, which I mean it probably should not, then that will leave me contemplating whether to actually just go and have a nice time wandering around like it is 1997 again or whether to go all-in and volunteer for the show proper?!?!
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2021 21:33
|
|
|
I'm almost certain that an in-person Gen Con isn't happening this year, or at least isn't happening on the previously scheduled dates. Moving to the fall could help, but if they do that assuming vaccines are available by then and they aren't and they just end up further postponing or cancelling, they look extra stupid. There's also the fact that a con that has lots of families attend can't happen during the school year, and the fact that, for stuff like hotel bookings, they can't exactly reserve out all the hotels downtown on like 3 months notice. That said, I'm sure by then a lot of us can have at least small, in-person gatherings, so in addition to the online offerings, maybe they bring back Pop Up Gen Con at local game stores? I know I'd probably trust like 50-100 people hanging out at a local place than 70,000 gross nerds in a convention center. I miss Gen Con, and I miss you assholes, but I'm just sort of whatever on it at this point. It'll happen when it happens. (Also, we have a discord - why don't we do stuff like all the time? Like, I don't think there's a way to binge We're Doomed online, but a bunch of other games can be played online, and we're probably a bunch of shut-in nerds the other 361 days of the year that aren't Gen Con.)
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2021 23:21
|
|
|
If Gen Con gives me the option to roll my exhibitor space over to 2022 and not exhibit this year ill totally take it and just attend like a normal person this year (if it happens). In the survey they sent to exhibitors there was a question about social distancing booths in the exhibit hall. I don't know how they can make that happen without having fewer exhibitors or doing something extra stupid like putting half of the vendors outside.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2021 23:39
|
|
|
Yeah "more space, fewer exhibitors, fewer attendees" is the logical way to thin the crowds, but I don't know how that pencils out economically for the convention.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2021 00:13
|
|
|
Aren't these convention halls booked years in advance though? I doubt that they could easily push the convention based on my experience with looking up dates for PAX East at least. They generally have the convention hall booked out years in advance.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2021 17:33
|
|
|
I figured the hall would be booked as well, but it must be an option open to them or they wouldn't have bothered asking about it in the survey. There must be some down time for these places in the fall since Origins also moved to then and I've heard of other events thinking of doing the same and apparently not having problems doing so. Still hoping they either hold it the scheduled weekend or outright cancel.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2021 18:26
|
|
|
Baring a p massive shift in how we're handling things, I'm not going near a con for at least another year. Maybe if they come out with some info that the vaccine prevents spread, but otherwise lol no thanks, I don't see any realistic way to hold a convention safely with the way things are right now. Maybe if they reduce the attendance by like 90% but then whats the point
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2021 19:10
|
|
|
Drowning Rabbit posted:Aren't these convention halls booked years in advance though? I doubt that they could easily push the convention based on my experience with looking up dates for PAX East at least. They generally have the convention hall booked out years in advance. From my albeit limited exposure to this recently, my understanding is that most convention halls are absolutely reeling after the last year. A lot of them (and large hotels) are bending over backwards to accommodate schedule changes as long as it means they're still going to be booked and people coming.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2021 19:14
|
|
|
Nemesis Of Moles posted:Baring a p massive shift in how we're handling things, I'm not going near a con for at least another year. Maybe if they come out with some info that the vaccine prevents spread, but otherwise lol no thanks, I don't see any realistic way to hold a convention safely with the way things are right now. Maybe if they reduce the attendance by like 90% but then whats the point That would still be seven thousand people. I wouldn't even hang out with seven.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2021 19:28
|
|
|
Nemesis Of Moles posted:Baring a p massive shift in how we're handling things, I'm not going near a con for at least another year. Maybe if they come out with some info that the vaccine prevents spread, but otherwise lol no thanks, I don't see any realistic way to hold a convention safely with the way things are right now. Maybe if they reduce the attendance by like 90% but then whats the point I hope you filled out the survey letting them know this.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2021 20:15
|
|
|
Agrias120 posted:From my albeit limited exposure to this recently, my understanding is that most convention halls are absolutely reeling after the last year. A lot of them (and large hotels) are bending over backwards to accommodate schedule changes as long as it means they're still going to be booked and people coming. I'm not in the industry, so I wouldn't know, but I can totally understand that being a thing. The convention halls would very likely be a lot more amenable to rescheduling, but there is the concern of hoping that companies have cancelled already later in the year.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2021 21:41
|
|
|
I keep almost responding to Nemesis of Moles' post and then reconsidering and reading more about the vaccines and what the hell we are actually supposed to believe they will accomplish Like, I understood on some level that they were SUPERCHARGING IMMUNE SYSTEM WOOO things, but the subtext seemed to be "so once you are fully vaccinated and have waited a few weeks, just go back to being normal-careful instead of apocalypse-careful." But then you see the things about how they do not know if people who are vaccinated will still spread COVID-19. But then Dr. Fauci specifically said you can let your guard down if you are exclusively around other vaccinated people. But then of course you also see them basically admitting they will probably not know if you can spread COVID-19 when vaccinated until lots of vaccinated people start spreading (or not). And yes I recognize Gen-Con is unlikely to go the "requiring proof of vaccination" route but wow, this sure is all going to be a (continued) nightmare one way or another! Great! Edit: Oh,.promising developments though: It may indeed prevent transmission Dr. Quarex fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Feb 20, 2021 |
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2021 23:47
|
|
|
My understanding is that they’re not certain if it prevents you from getting infected, but it reduces/eliminates the symptoms, and since the virus most spreads via droplets, then not coughing, etc. does reduce the amount of virus you shed. That said, people are lovely, and the larger the group, the shittier the average. If asked to wear masks, many won’t. If required to be vaccinated, many will pretend. It sucks a lot, but having your lungs melt and your blood clot up everywhere sucks worse. Although maybe they’ll still try to have an in-person event and the only people there will be the vaccinated and the chuds and Gen Con 2021 will go down as The Year the Chuds All Died.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2021 20:42
|
|
|
It's really hard to know at this point what the future holds. The big questions (in my mind are): how many people have natural immunity via recovery from covid, how long does natural immunity last, do the vaccines prevent transmission, and can we vaccinate people faster than mutations are arising that escape vaccine- and recovery-based immunity? We don't really have a good handle on how many people have had covid and recovered, and thus may already be immune to re-infection. The number of positively identified cases is known to be an underestimate, and there was a recent study that showed that active cases could be as many as 10x greater than the known daily cases (summarized in an NPR article here). Some or many of these were likely asymptomatic carriers, though, and there is some slim evidence that people with low viral loads when sick can get re-infected. So the potential good news is that there could be much greater "natural" immunity via recovery from infection, but it's just a huge unknown at the moment. I saw this article in the nytimes today that shows why this might matter. The whole game here is to reduce the population of people susceptible to infection below the point where covid can spread (i.e. "herd immunity"), and both vaccination and natural immunity through recovery work together in this regard. Though vaccines tend to generate a greater and more robust immune responses than natural recovery (which is why they're recommending that people that have gotten sick still get vaccinated). There also isn't much direct evidence regarding whether these vaccines prevent transmission. There are some promising early results from trials that transmission is reduced, and early evidence from Israel suggests that their vaccination program has been very effective already at reducing new cases. But this is another case where we just won't know until more time has passed. I'm trying actively not to think of the novel mutations, because the slow rollout of the vaccination program is the ideal environment for vaccine escape mutations to evolve and spread. Anyway, all of that said, I'm trying to remain cautiously (but not naively) optimistic about Gen Con. I think if I am able to get vaccinated by early July, and if there is a better picture of whether the vaccines reduce transmission, I'd feel a lot more confident about getting on an airplane and being in a crowded public space. But it's just impossible to know at the moment how realistic it is outside of my fervent wishes and dreams.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2021 23:15
|
|
|
Way to kill the thread with science, Pangea.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2021 03:47
|
|
|
The good news is nobody thought his post was very bad and yelled about it! The bad news is there is a thunderstorm and my hotel cable went out 
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2021 06:02
|
|
|
I would be optimistic for GenCon if all of the logistics and planning ahead could be solved via magic. I hope that given the J&J approval and more vaccines in the pipeline, that vaccination rate will increase to the point that by August, we have greatly decreased spread and minimal deaths/hospitalizations (summer weather will help too, vitamin D and less indoor socializing) Of course, there are confounding factors - variants, COVIDiots who won't get the vaccine or wear a mask, lack of prioritization for high-risk individuals in many states, the fact that an internationally-attended tabletop gaming convention is a 10 out of 10 on the "don't do this in a pandemic" scale... Even with very condensed planning, I don't see August GenCon happening. Maybe OctoberCon or WinterCon will work. Or a two-week blowout con in 2022.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2021 17:03
|
|
|
When do we start toxxing for GenCon 2021?
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2021 21:04
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 18:47 |
|
|
The Malthusian posted:When do we start toxxing for GenCon 2021? I never detoxed from GenCon 2019!!
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2021 21:05
|
|