Vaccination Requirement and COVID-19 Guidelines

UPDATED 01/10/22

For our Winter 2022 event we will be requiring that each person present (staff, helper, and attendee) provide proof of "full" vaccination to attend our 2022 Winter event. This means both does of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine + 2 weeks, or the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine +2 weeks. Children ages 5-11 are now elligible for the vaccine. For more information, see the NYS Covid Website

This document is subject to and relates to our eviction policy

Vaccination Exceptions

There will be no exceptions to Vaccination Requirements Policy. This includes staff and helpers.

Symptoms

Added 1/4/22

Any attendee that presents any health related symptoms will be required to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test before being allowed entry into the event. These symptoms, outlined by the CDC, include:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

A full list can be found here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html

If you present any of these symptoms, you will need to provide document-able proof of a negative, non-self-administered PCR test, performed on or after Tuesday, January 11th. This means that over the counter "at-home" tests do not qualify. If you cannot provide one of these tests, you may participate virtually, or be granted a refund. We encourage our attendees to self-isolate prior to the event to ensure as risk-free of an environment that we can.

"I'm not vaccinated, how can I still participate?"

For the first time ever we will be adding a "Virtual Ticket" for those that still want to participate and compete with their friends. More details are coming, but the Virtual Ticket will allow full access to any official tournaments, any associated prizing, and door prizes during our end of event raffle.

Number of tickets being restricted

We are currently restricing ticket sales to 200 participants. We may re-evaluate this number as we get closer to the event to stay in compliance with federal, state, and local guidelines.

Mask Policy

We will be requiring all attendees to wear masks when not at their assigned seat or designated guild area.

Indoor social distancing guidelines

We are taking steps to encourge natural social distancing during our event. More on this later, but here are some of the steps we are taking:

• Increasing the spacing between rows: there will be more space behind your seats. You will be able to use this space for a common area for you and your friends, as well as use this space for sleeping. See example here
• Removing the dedicated sleeping area: in previous years tents/air mattresses had their own dedicated section. The intent is to spread the entire event out across the entire building, and put your sleeping area near your guild area. See example here
• Empty tables between guilds. We will be adding gaps in the event layout to include spacing between guilds, effectively making each guild its own "bubble."
• We have not yet decided on things like the board game room, retro PC area, console area, or other common areas we've had in years past.

How did we come to this decision?

This was a group decision that MassiveLAN staff came to after having extensive internal conversations and after talking to respective guild leaders and attendees at our open meetings. We know full well this may exclude some participants (including some staff and families of staff) from being able to attend for a variety of reasons. Our primary concern is the safety and well-being of our attendees and feel these precautions are necessary to minimize the amount of risk and exposure for everyone in attendance.