Hello,

Many of you have been waiting to hear on the status for GameStorm 22 amid the current Pandemic. We have been working closely with our Board of Directors, as well as monitoring all current health code requirements.

First off, we are going to say this again. GameStorm 22 in March (26^th-29^th) has been canceled. Current regulations make it impossible for us to host this event and it would not be safe in general.

So many of you ask ‘Where does this leave us?’ and that’s what I’m going to answer now.

At first, we thought we could reschedule and attempt another convention later this summer. However, upon looking at the schedule of events that are already normally on the schedule for this time of year, coupled with the extremely short timeline we would have to reset and do it all again and the fact that all the other events that the hotel has had to cancel or postpone are going to be vying for these spots, we have decided that hosting an event this year is not in anyone’s best interest. We are still intending on having the GameStorm Library present at Rose City Comic Con, OryCon, and Kumoricon; however, so we are not missing out entirely on events this year. We will also still have our Game Days, but more on those later.

That brings us to what happens in 2021. While normally this would be a brand new convention setup, we have, along with our Board, decided to make 2021 the official home of GameStorm 22, Second Edition! (name tentative). This means we are moving forward and will still have this convention, just a year later! The weekend of the event is the same (March 25^th-28^th) and will be at the same hotel with the same primary guest of Honor (Peter Olotka).

What does this mean for you? Let me go ahead and answer those questions:

If you purchased a membership for GameStorm 2020 and have not contacted our registration team, do nothing. Your membership will roll directly over into the following year without issue.

If you did ask for a refund, you will be contacted by our registration team about seeing if you wish to re-purchase a membership at the same price you received it for previously.

If you have not purchased a membership, memberships are going back on sale tonight (March 21^st) at 70.00, the last posted price we had, and will stay that way until we stop sales next March.

If you offered to donate your money, we have moved your donation back in as a valid membership.  If you would rather keep this as a donation (which is tax deductable) please contact our registration team to see about special dispensation for membership.

If you had purchased a membership for 2020 and are unable to attend, please contact registration@gamestorm.org to arrange for a refund or to donate your purchase.

If you were hosted in our Dealers hall, Our current plan is to restructure based on the original list that was approved, but please wait for our Liaison to contact you for more information.

We are using this extra year to fine tune the scheduling system and plan to bring it back online October 1^st. Due to the ever changing nature of games, we will be setting this back to square 1, but we will be keeping records. If you do not see any reason to change your schedule from what you had this year, please contact events@gamestorm.org and they will be happy to make sure we re-upload your events.

Our Hotel block will be open again soon for those who wish to purchase rooms. As this is a new hotel contract, I do not have current pricing on what the block price will be. Stay tuned.

Hopefully I have covered all the questions, but if you have any others, please contact me at chair@gamestorm.org

Thanks,

-Jason

-Chair(again) GameStorm 22, 2^nd Edition.

Thank you for your patience during this confusing and unprecedented time. We will have an update on Saturday about what is happening with GameStorm.

In conjunction with Governor Kate Browns Announcement, as of this moment, GameStorm 22 (March 26th-29th) will not occur. We apologize for any travel arrangements you may have made to attend. I am going to use this post to answer as many questions as I can:

1) What happens now?

The Short answer: We don’t know.

The Longer answer: Our Hotel team and parent organization (OSFCI) are in discussions right now to see if we have an option to postpone GameStorm to mid/late summer, or it will be easier to cancel outright. We are hoping to have updates quickly and as soon as we have that information we will be quick to share it.

2) What about my paid membership

This depends on what happens in question 1, however there are options.

-You can ask for a refund: Contact registration@gamestorm.org and you will be given a refund without any issue.

-You can donate your membership costs to GameStorm/OSFCI. Just let Registration know.

-We are looking at options to rollover all memberships to next years event should we have to cancel. For this, please wait until we have an answer to #1 and we will be able to discuss options.

3)What happens to my Complimentary Membership

Much easier. Your complimentary membership will still be good for our next convention that occurs

4)How do I handle my hotel reservation

Please contact the hotel and cancel your hotel reservation directly with them. We are still outside the penalty window for cancellation so this should have no impact

5)What about my flight/train

Unfortunately we cannot do anything about anyone who travels in from other areas. We do recommend travel insurance, or if your airline allows it, moving the time/destination to better suit or to our next event.

6)How will this impact the OSFCI board elections

the OSFCI board of directors is not directly tied to the convention staff or event. However, invitations to join the corporation are based on helping at our events. my intent is to still credit all members for their assistance this year to ensure proper credit is given.

7)If GameStorm is postponed, when would it be held

very likely we would target late July if possible. This is before GenCon, and allows us to not conflict with Dragonflight. It also allows us to be wrapped up before OryCon really gets close.

8)When are the dates for next years GameStorm?

March 25th-28th. Same weekend as this year.

If I have missed a question please let me know in the comments and I’ll add them as they come in. If you have any feedback you can contact me at chair@gamestorm.org or feedback@gamestorm.org

please remember to join our public group on Facebook to discuss GameStorm and anything GameStorm related.

-Jason

-GameStorm 22 Chair

Hello everyone,

Like you, we are saddened to hear about the postponement of ECCC and the cancelation of events like CMON and SXSW. These are major events that have some lasting impact not only on gaming at large, but also on the companies, artists, and vendors who attend, as well as the staff who run them.

At this point, GameStorm is still going to occur. We are less than 2% of the size of ECCC and over 90% of our attendance is local. Our demographics are different enough that we do not believe the convention needs to cancel. 

That being said we are going absolutely taking precautions. We are still working our sources for hand sanitizer stations and will be working throughout the day to keep all areas clean. We will also be relying on you, our loyal members,  to help us keep everything as  clean and safe as possible.

That said, if you do decide you would feel safer staying home, we understand. You can contact our registration team (registration@gamestorm.org) to assist. (Your hotel and travel, unfortunately, we cannot help with)

If you do come, we promise a great time as always

Be safe,  be careful, and have fun!

Jason

GameStorm 22 Chair

From the Desk of the Chair, GameStorm 22

Hello Everyone,

As hopefully all of you have seen, the world is handling a major crisis in the from of Coronavirus (COVID-19), an extremely dangerous virus that has started taking lives here in the United States. This is not something to ignore, but we also want to be smart about it.

At this time, GameStorm is still going to happen as it was planned. However we are making some small changes that are in compliance with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. Please note that this could change at any time and we are actively monitoring all recommended actions by both the Oregon Health Alliance (OHA) and the CDC. The below information is based on our current standing and requirements. Should the suggested actions by the CDC change, we will act accordingly.

Pending the finding of some available to purchase, hand sanitizer will be made available in all function spaces and staff will have portable bottles available with them. While this does not replace handwashing, it will protect against some transmission areas. Additionally, it will be STRONGLY encouraged to be used upon entering either of the 2 hospitality rooms.

Signage will be up to direct people to the nearest restroom. We strongly recommend washing hands between games, or whenever you move between rooms. We are aware that there is limited sink access in the wings of the hotel and are working on solutions for this.

We will be using sanitizing sprays during lulls in games. These will be as close to fragrance free as possible, especially in enclosed spaces. Most of this will be happening during off hours.

Beyond that, there is very little, short of shutting down GameStorm, we can do to protect our members. Unlike other larger events that have closed (GDC, Facebook-8), we are all volunteer and non profit, and a year of closure can be devastating.

We ARE however asking that if you are feeling ill, or potentially have been exposed, that you think of the rest of the membership when attending. Our staff is going to work within its abilities to protect all members of the convention.

If you have further questions, please feel to reach out to me directly at chair@gamestorm.org

Thank you for your love of GameStorm,

-Jason

-Chair, GameStorm 22