After weeks of constant pressure from the community, Twitch has decided to reinstate mask and vaccine requirements for this October’s TwitchCon in San Diego. In a blog post update, Twitch wrote “We’ve been listening to all of your feedback and know that many of you–especially those who are immunocompromised and the people who support them–want stricter health measures in place to help you feel safe attending TwitchCon San Diego in person… we will require all attendees to provide proof of vaccination or proof of a negative covid test taken within 72 hours of attending the show.”
This is great news for everyone attending TwitchCon. Densely populated indoor events are high-risk environments for all kinds of airborne viruses, not just Covid, and requiring masks and vaccines will help keep attendees safe and healthy. While Twitch deserves plenty of criticism for removing these safety requirements in the first place, at least now everyone can go enjoy the convention with some peace of mind. The news has certainly come as a relief to people who are, as Twitch puts it, immunocompromised or the people who support them.
That’s a strange concept, isn’t it? I’ve never considered myself an immunocompromised ally, but I guess I am. I just tend to prefer when people don’t get sick and die. If there’s something simple I can do like wear a mask or keep up with my vaccines, it sure doesn’t seem like a big deal. I’ve been to more than 20 conventions in my life and I’ve only avoided getting sick at two of them, both happened to require masks. So yeah, I guess I’m someone that supports the immunocompromised, but isn’t everyone? What kind of person is anti-immunocompromised anyway?
Nickmercs announced that he will be hosting a separate event in San Diego during TwitchCon for his community. The FaZe clan co-owner retweeted Twitch’s health and safety update with the announcement, writing “The MFAM and I will be doin’ our thing down in SD, it’ll be poppin’ all weekend. Already spent over $300K with more to come. No mask requirements, no vaccine requirements at our events. Do you, and we’ll see ya there.”
I don’t know if Nickmercs planned his event in response to Twitch’s updated mask policy or if he’s just using the news to promote it. He made the announcement just 20 minutes after Twitch’s update, which seems like a short amount of time to spend over $300K, but maybe that’s how upset he gets about being asked to wear a mask. He and the rest of FaZe Clan also replied to Twitch with “L”, so if you were somehow under the illusion that this was about anything other than disdain for other people, rest assured that Nickmercs is dropping more than a quarter million on a hate party.
I’m not bothered by the way rich people spend their money, but this is just pathetic. People like Nickmercs have turned something that is considered common courtesy in every other country in the world into a constant culture war. My willingness to wear a mask is not ideological, I just don’t want to get sick. But this little anti-vax rally is pure, vitriolic ideology. Twitch’s policy makes the event more inclusive, because it means more people can safely attend. Nickmercs event is exclusive by design. Apparently, the idea of immunocompromised people getting to enjoy the convention made him want to instantly dump his wallet out. Declaring you love freedom but behaving like you hate other people is cringe, and I’m embarrassed for anyone headed out to the anti-vax MFAM party to own the libs, or whatever.
I don’t wish anything bad for Nickmercs and his community. I hope they have fun at their little hate party and no one gets sick. In fact, I would prefer if everyone who has this kind of shitty mindset gets their refunds from Twitch and quarantines themselves at their own event. I’m sure TwitchCon will be a little less toxic without them.