What Even Is "Normal?" - National Staff Weighs in On Re-Opening

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RiddickDale

Knight
Moderator
New Hampshire Staff
Chief Publicity and Digital Content Officer
Greetings,

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on our hobby and continues to do so. It has not only kept us from running live events, but, in doing so, it has placed the burden of additional isolation on so many members of our community. We know that many of you are looking forward to a chance to escape into our worlds. We want to assure you that we feel the same way.

We are arriving at a point where live activities are returning and we may have the chance to take the field again. But, I wanted to take a moment to talk about how we, as the Alliance, are going to handle the return to live play.

First, I want to make it clear that we, as a National organization, cannot put any sanctions on any chapter that wishes to reopen live events adhering to state/local guidelines for gatherings/sport activities within the area in which they operate. Our expectation is that the owners that choose to run games must adhere to said local/state guidelines.

This will, of course, be a challenge because every state has different guidelines on gatherings like ours. Owners who choose to reopen and hold events will likely need to get creative to meet those guidelines and keep everyone safe. This could mean all manner of things that range from events with hard attendance caps to only running faire days to help limit exposure. They may even have mask mandates. This is a puzzle for everyone to overcome, but we believe that our owners and their respective staff are up to the challenge. Many of them have already started brainstorming potential solutions that are right for their games.

We understand this can cause concern or create questions regarding fairness, but we believe that these decisions need to be made by individual chapter owners and we support them as they make these decisions.

Second, we do recognize that people’s feelings about the COVID-19 pandemic are varied. We understand that players' concerns and situations differ and want to ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of what measures are being taken at each event so they can make informed choices. That information will be delivered by the individual chapters as they plan to hold events.

We know that the drive to return to normal (whatever that even means anymore) is almost universal. But, we want to encourage all of our players to be patient. There is no need to rush back onto the field if you do not feel safe. Our games will be there when you are ready to play within your level of comfort.

Lastly, we know that there will be a variety of opinions regarding when, where, and how games should open. And we know (from experience) that people are going to share those opinions. We only ask that people be kind when sharing those opinions. We’re all in this together.


Thank you,

Stephen Duetzmann
Alliance National PR/CS
 
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