As the global pandemic continues and we sit through another wave here at the Gdaycave, with numbers on the rise and nearby cities going into modified lockdowns once again, I’m fearing for the conventions of 2021, should any happen. CaptainCon has already been cancelled for 2021, so we won’t be there to run our annual charity fundraiser, and it’s becoming more and more likely that there’ll be no GenCon next August.
Yes, this saddens me, yes, it sucks dirt, but every one of us who values our own health, let alone those of the more vulnerable members of our families and communities, should be taking every precaution we can to halt the spread of COVID-19 by limiting outings, avoiding gatherings, and doing whatever we can to ensure that we’re not vectors for the disease to spread.
That’s why I was somewhat aghast when I head that Anime Dallas took place a week or so ago. Then I read that the convention organizer and his daughter were exposed to someone with COVID a week before the convention, and still went along anyway, showing cavalier disregard for the health of every person at that convention – vendors, guests, attendees – and everyone in their circles.
Briana Lawrence wrote an editorial which delved into the whole affair more effectively than I can right here. I encourage you to go read it, but I’ll post some snippets below.
“The entire weekend Anime Dallas was going on, many—and I mean MANY—people took to social media to say how bad of an idea it was. This wasn’t just convention goers, but industry folks who were perplexed that a convention was going on when there has been a massive, ongoing spike in cases. After all, this was one weekend after Thanksgiving, and we’d all already been advised to not travel or have large gatherings.
But what makes the Anime Dallas situation even more frustrating is that the con chair reportedly knew better, too.
As reported by Anime News Network’s Lynzee Loveridge, not only was the con chair advised by several people to NOT hold the event, but the con chair had been exposed to someone with COVID a week prior to the event.”
“… Swasey posted on Facebook about the safety measures being taken and reassured everyone that he, his daughter, and the rest of the staff did not have COVID. Of course, he failed to mention that he’d been exposed. “
“We can’t reach the point of having a solution to the pandemic if we keep spreading it around and making it bigger than it already is.”
Ignoring the pandemic, pretending it’s not a thing, is doing NOTHING to halt its progress. More and more people are dying. A hospital in Reno converted their parking garage to hold 700 beds for COVID patients, for crying out loud. This isn’t going to go away by itself.
I want to go to GenCon. I want to go to CaptainCon. Heck, FanExpo isn’t even a gaming convention and I’d love to go. But one of three things are going to happen.
- One, Everyone – and I mean everyone – starts taking this more seriously, starts listening and adhering to medical directives, actively taking efforts to stop the spread, and we get on top of this. Once it’s quenched, we can look at gathering again.
- Two, Everyone gets vaccinated. Everyone. This will take time and the conscious participation of the populace. We’ll reach a point where we can look at gathering again.
- Three, enough people continue to ignore the severity of the pandemic that more and more people die and the lockdowns and restrictions continue.
I know I’ve harped on this before, but this Anime Dallas thing has be dumbfounded, that someone could so wilfully disregard the health and safety of hundreds, and from there into thousands, of people.
Don’t gather. Socially distance. Wear your freakin’ mask.
Social isolation and distancing is hard on all of us, especially those of us that turn to tabletop gaming as a social outlet, a coping mechanism, and more. It’s also hard on the FLGS’s who rely on regular custom from their playerbase, and as some logistics services and distributors adjust to the current state of the world (for better or worse – see the current 
Morning, kids! Who missed me? I’m back from CaptainCon and pretending that I’ve recovered from the rush of running our annual charity fundraiser, my shell-shocked rambling through Sunday, and the subsequent day-long drive from CaptainCon back to the Gdaycave. It was a heck of a con, and with many smiles to be had with friends that we only get to see in person once a year, because apparently we haven’t mastered teleportation yet and distance continues to be a thing. The main thing, though, is that thanks to the generous contributions of everyone who provided items for the prize pool and everyone who came to CaptainCon and purchased tickets for the fundraiser, we raised…
And then there’s these guys. Atomic Mass hit the ground running at GenCon back in August, and haven’t looked back. Marvel: Crisis Protocol has been a huge hit – and a lot of fun to paint and showcase here on Lost Hemisphere – and we are delighted to have their support for the fundraiser!
