Okay, guys, enough with the "THEY are bad" talk. Slippery slope and all that.
Roderick Robertson Forum Coordinator Gen Con, LLC.
It appears that if Gen Con is able to be held this year it will be under restrictions that will have a negative impact on what we know Gen Con to be. I expect it to be cancelled because of this rather than try to put a severely restricted convention.
I will have to wait and see what 2021 holds as to whether I attend or not.
My group of 4 is a for sure no this year and because one of us is out of work with no unemployment benefits we do not want to roll over or even take system credit. I am however, patiently waiting to see if we can cancel with no 10$ per badge fee and no $50 hotel cancellation fee. I’m so sad about it but for us it’s the right choice. I am hoping that we can attend 2021 but we will just have to wait and see.
As for #2, you can remind people to stay six feet apart all you want, but to paraphrase von Moltke, "No plan survives contact with the convention center carpet," not to mention having to listen to who knows how many people saying, "A face mask isn't part of the costume." Six feet apart doesn't exist the minute somebody trips, the people behind them stop, and the chain reaction of people not stopping in time to keep six feet apart begins.
That's not something you can just hand-wave away. :-)
For me I don't want to go to a Gen Con that is not what I am used to. It would end up being a disappointment for me and an overall waste of money.
As mentioned several times before, EVERYTHING is a concern. There is very little empty space at the con and every aspect of it would need to be changed to meet the six foot rule.
Im guessing we still don't have a possible day for Event Reg/Catalog release?
My wife and I are looking forward to going this year. She just saw a True Dungeon volunteer at the supermarket ( he had a TD shirt, my wife was wearing a con shirt) and he was excited about going this year. Masks, gloves, and sanitizers make us feel comfortable enough.
I worry there won’t be as many RPGs and games, but if it goes, it will be great.
Has TD re hired all of their staff? Last communication from them was that they were forced to layoff everyone
I believe the staff are all still laid off. Only Jeff running it all right now. He ops out of Illinois which has very strict rules right now.
The volunteers as mentioned are those who show to the con, and actually run the rooms.
Now I say it's misleading in that most people when they hear the term volunteer, think they are unpaid. They are not. By law, any for profit group, organization ect must pay their people. They can't use unpaid volunteer if they are for profit. And Gencon as well as TD must pay income tax.
Now someone will argue that there is no real cash exchange. But that doesn't really matter, it's based on the value exchange of goods, cash or services. For example TD gives $250 stipdend, a hotel room shared with other volunteers, convention badge, limited-edition Participation Tokens, limited-edition volunteer-only tokens as well as other swag. If you figure up the value of what they give, it should be around $500 total, which equates to about $12.00/hour. Might be more but not going into the math.
Now Gencon also uses "Event Team" which replaced their volunteer system 3- 4 years ago, basically the same thing.
Should Gencon or a group fail to get enough people to run the events, they should know in advance, there are still options, inside and out. Put out the word to the fans begging for help, offer better incentives, or ect. Or outside options is hire temp workers from places like the following.
Temp Staffing of Indiana, Express Employment Professionals, Indiana Staffing Services.
These places are not idea, yes,. But in a fix, you could hire some temp workers and give them some real basic training that will allow them to work, and get the events staffed.
There is a positive trend emerging in the data. The positivity rate (the red line) is falling steadily. Essentially it means that we are doing more and more testing, and fewer and fewer of those tests are coming back positive. Also, if you look at Europe, which is a few weeks ahead of us, the numbers have come way down as well. A glimmer of hope!