WBC cancelled

Sad but not unexpected. My favorite week of the year.

boardgamegeek.com/thread/2425293/wbc-202...s-special-newsletter

So this is canceled nearly three months in advance.

Yes - the com was supposed to start 11 weeks from today. While it is no doubt a disappointment to many, to others its a relief - both on BGG and Facebook informal polls were conducted and while I didn't actually count, a fair number of people said that even if WBC were held, they would be unable/unwilling to attend. Many other large events have been cancelled in similar lead times. Hell Comic Con cancelled awhile back and that's what, early August ?

While I don't know the full details that went into the decision, I imagine some factors:

- the normal deadline for cancelling hotel reservations without penalty would be less than two weeks away.

- its possible the convention contract with the hotel mandates a decision by a certain point. While these are are certainly extraordinary circumstances, I could see this being an issue. While the hotel may want the business, if they can't get staff to work exposing themselves to say a thousand guests from all over the country.....

- I think even if the state is reopened by the original date, some sort of social distancing guidelines will still be in place. This makes gaming rather problematic . I don't think any organizer wants to deal with enforcing social distancing guidelines right now or mediate any sort of conflict between someone wearing a mask and someone who isn't/refuses to.

Logistically, who knows what restaurant service restrictions will be in place - if places are only allowed to serve at say 50% capacity, that makes serving large groups of guests somewhat problematic - esp since Seven Springs is somewhat isolated, there aren't any nearby options outside the resort. Hell, ANY hotel that used to offer a breakfast buffet is going to have to rethink how the serve breakfast for the foreseeable future.

It sucks but I can see why the decision was made. I am sure many informal gatherings will take place around the same time in small groups . A few have said they may travel to Seven Springs even w/o a con just to get away from it all, who knows. Within an hour of the cancellation I got a text from a buddy who is looking to have a long weekend invite only con where he lives . I think that sort of thing will only grow going forward.

In late March there were still people arguing over May events. I think the reality has sunk in more thoroughly at this point. "Normal" has changed.

Yeah there are still a few die hards screaming in protest that big events should go on; they are shouting in the wind at this point. I suspect GenCon will make the call in the very near future as well.

The real secret sauce is that at this point it doesn't really matter what the rules are. There are not going to be enough people willing to go to them regardless.

I heard that Gencon will be making a call within a week. I expect they'll cancel as well. I don't think many of the exhibitors are enthused. I think it'll be challenging to get volunteers or even employees to work in the booths all day.