Also, the ban is temporary and is expected to be lifted before people flock to Indianapolis, and unless things really go south with all the progress that's being made against the thing, I can't see a low-infection time with known mitigation (as the Z-pac combo is looking like it's going to be) having a ban.

If you're afraid for any reason (financial, time, health, safety, etc.), there is nothing saying you MUST go (as a matter of fact, we're saying if you have fears for anything that you would be better off not going).  I (even with a few minor health issues) don't see Gen Con (or Origins) as a big problem and still have plans to go and will stay with them unless GAMA (Origins) or Gen Con LLC (Gen Con) say they're cancelling.

Well the Indy 500 was just officially postponed from Memorial Day but rescheduled to sunday August 23rd.  That might bode well for the Gen Con date being okay at this point if they are thinking about the same time.  I'm sure they are working with the same or similar local officials that Gen Con does.  

Edit: As part of their announcement was moving their road course race that kicks the month of May off to July 4th so Gen Con is falling between their 2 reschedule dates.  

Food trucks just showed up and there would be a spot?  A bit of a change from now where they compete for the locations. 

Really feeling a lot better about the end of July timing for Gen Con. Seems Indiana is targeting the late Summer for big draws. Remember that they get even more people at the Indy 500 than Gen Con, so this is actually the best news I have heard all month so far.

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Postponed events I am getting are all targeting the middle of August right now. Still awaiting a couple more updates for events I planned to attend between now and end of June.

All joking aside, while it wont cause the con from going on, this thing is going to screw up a lot of tournament events that involves qualifiers that happen all year since several months of those have been cancelled.  

I have had 2 local cons cancelled.  And a national professional conference. (I was SO looking forward to New Orleans...) I NEED THIS.  I choose to believe GenCon will go on.  Because it gives me a light up ahead.  A return to normality of sorts.  If it is cancelled, I will deal with it.  But I choose to be positive and hopeful.  I could see attendance down, as there are people in our communities with health challenges.  But not all.  Not me.  I tried True Dungeon for the first time last year.  I want to play. Shadowrun.  Shadows of Brimstone.  Triplanes & Tripods.  Blood Bowl.  Wings of Glory.  Any movies/shows by Zombie Orpheus Entertainment (ZOE).  That new Marvel miniature game.  Some games I had never heard of before until I randomly found them in the guide or demoing in the vendor hall.  Maybe this is the year I try a dice-less RPG.  

So here I sit, thinking positive thoughts.  Dreaming of games yet to play.  

I am still acting as if GC is happening. I've been able to do the GenCon Housing Portal Shuffle enough to whittle my way from 15 miles out to just 2 and change. Still on the quest for the grail rooms, i.e. downtown, connected.

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Disney has officially pushed out all bookings for anything on any of their properties to June at the earliest. 

The Kentucky Derby was postponed until September.

I don't think the Indiana governor is going to let GenCon happen and open his arms and say "Sure, have 100,000 people gather in our state."

GenCon is a huge, huge convention and very very very close quarters in doors. At GenCon you cannot keep social distancing. You do not have a choice but to literally rub yourself against people and walk around people all day and trade and use people's belongings all day to play games.

It's literally going to be a breeding ground for any leftover cases of Coronavirus in the US if this happens.

We need to start being honest with ourselves. I'm sorry to Mike and other organizers who continue to go on as if nothing will be wrong by July. 

Events of this size or caliber could actually be a way for the virus to spread and propogate again very quickly and very easily. GenCon is not just an event to go and see something like the Indy 500. GenCon you are HANDS ON, touching stuff, interacting face to face, moving around in the same space, talking in close quarters, being taught, interacting with one another for 4 days straight. 

In order for an event like this to happen of this magnitude with this many people involved from all over the country and world, if travel restrictions are even lifted, they would have to set up tons of hand washing stations, lots of hand sanitizer stations, cleaning stations, by the time August comes around we will still be dealing with the virus and people having to distance themselves regardless of whether there's 5 cases in the US or 100,000 still active. 

GenCon will have to implement severe social distancing and sanitation rules for this many people to congregate in closed, confined spaces in July. GenCon will have to be adding a LOT. The bathrooms currently are NOT enough for people to wash their hands, not every single person, in a timely fashion all day. 

GenCon will have to add temporary sinks, they do it for homeless people. They have water jugs and you use a foot pedal to wash your hands in all areas of the halls and hotels including lobbies. They will have to put hand sanitizer stations at every table too if they can even get enough supply by July. We're still dealing with backorders through April for my company alone. 

For very close and personal with face to face required events where many people sit side by side, especially werewolf, GenCon will have to consider supplying face masks. The whole point of GenCon is to sit down in close proximity and share space with thousands of other individuals, passing things back and forth, talking all day long. 

Game pieces and board games will have to be regularly sanitized especially if they are being passed out and reused over and over by several people or they will have to have restrictions on who can handle the games and pieces for events. Maybe designated GMs only and they will have to wash their hands after each game. 

To be totally honest, regular sanitation isn't enough. You would need to be sanitizing dice and pieces and board game pieces after every single use. You pass one die to 3 people, those people pass that die to 3 people, one person has it, and suddenly 1,000 people have touched the same die with a virus that lives on surfaces for hours.

Imagine how many people one person with the virus could infect in a 4 day period by touching one game piece or one die.

It's going to be exceptionally tough for GenCon to manage something like this given the current pandemic. At a bare minimum hand washing stations must be in every hall and hand sanitizer must be available at every single game table. And that's currently not enough but might be passable by the end of July.

The dealer hall is a nightmare to deal with when it comes to staying sanitary. I can see someone just simply lightly coughing in a crowded line and that line is infected. 

I am scared for every single one of my gaming brothers when I imagine a total of 50,000 people grabbing door handles alone. The convention center itself is going to have to employ a lot more people to constantly sanitize the grounds during the 4 days... Escalators, tables, chairs, counter tops, food serving booths, elevator buttons, door handles. 

Something major has to be announced and changed about the way GenCon operates and has to be announced soon. I certainly and genuinely do not hope that event organizers and the ones in charge of GenCon do not think it will go on totally the same way it has every year prior and I am really concerned we have not heard any news on how GenCon plans to change the way events are held and what new sanitation measures are going to be in place. A logistical nightmare but if GenCon chooses to go on I assume the governor will need to address it as well. 

I get it, you're not trying to be a jerk. I'm sure you're a good person. If Gencon happens and you attend, or 2021, I will buy you a beer or coffee or soda and we'll shake hands and laugh. But please, to be polite to everyone else here, please stop with the wall of text demands that Gencon kowtow to your way of thinking. You are not saying anything new in your arguments. Your point has been made, I guarantee it.

It is not unreasonable in any way to demand an answer about this. A wait and see approach doesn't make a lot of sense. If an event goes forward, new cleaning and sanitation measures will have to be taken for any social gathering that occurs this summer and that needs to be on the table for discussion sooner rather than later. Especially if we need to plan for a postponement of the event. 

Until then, events (like Gencon, Dragoncon, the NFL) are taking a wait and see attitude.

4 months aga, the first cases of COVID-19 were being reported, who know what the next 4 months will bring us, a cure, a reprieve, a new norm where we are all afraid to gather in groups of more than 1.

Let us just try and focus on the here and now, good hygiene, clean living spaces, maintain social distance, relax and we should challenge our selves, our family, our friends, our neighbors, our leaders to do better.  

At this point, it would be fiscally irresponsible to cancel - it could cripple GenCon depending on the depth of the organizations financial reserves.  There are salaries year round (I imagine) and the majority of the revenue/expense is right at conference time.  Funds would need to be refunded.  IF it is cancelled before it is covered by a government order to not allow it, there would still be a legal obligation to the Convention Center.  I am sure there would be a cost for closing the hotel block also.  Could the involved businesses waive those CONTRACTUAL obligations? Sure.  Doesn't mean it will happen.  Could resolve it through mediation, mitigation or other legal recourse.  But that costs money.  Money that would not need to be spent when/if the government makes moving forward an impossibility.  

We are still outside the cancel period for hotels, flights, registration.  It may be a long shot to wait and see, but I am good with the wait and see approach.  It is a measured, rational approach.  There is time to react and over-reaction will cause more problems than need be.  

Yeah, I know.  I'm evil for introducing financial considerations during a pandemic.  Sorry.  I'm a CPA and that is how I see the world.  

Besides.  As I stated before - I choose to be hopeful.  GenCon is my ray of sunshine in the midst of the clouds.  (The odds may be against me, but it doesn't stop me from buying a lottery ticket either so...)  You should plan for the best way to keep yourself safe and your own peace of mind.  I am sure many already have/will cancel even if GenCon happens.  Either for health concerns and/or fiscal pressures.  (Look at what has happened to the unemployment rate.)

brotherbock is right, you aren't saying anything new.