Twitter erupts as Nickmercs announces mask-free event minutes after Twitch revealed COVID restrictions for upcoming San Diego TwitchCon
In a much-publicized situation, Nick "Nickmercs" announced his own event in San Diego within half an hour of Twitch tweeting about Covid restrictions at the upcoming TwitchCon. The streamer, who was accused of hosting a super spreader event for his MFAM Barbecue event last September, made it clear that his event, unlike TwitchCon, will have no mask or vaccine requirements.
The decision to enforce such restrictions has elicited a mixed response from the community. While many commended Twitch for erring on the side of caution, multiple fans and content creators didn't find the situation conducive.
According to Twitch, masks will be mandatory inside the convention center and participants must either provide proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test.
Amsterdam TwitchCon from last month was hosted without any restrictions, and Twitch had declared that there won't be any requirements for the event in San Diego until today, when it decided to change its stance. This is mostly due to public backlash from streamers and partners.
The Washington Post, in an article from August 3 titled "TwitchCon won’t require covid vaccines or masks. Creators are opting out," mentioned that many creators have publicly talked about not attending the event due to the no-mask policy.
It should be noted that the Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, who also owns Twitch's parent company Amazon.
Streamers such as Trihex, AnneMunition, and Meg Turney have tweeted about not attending TwitchCon over the issue, as reported by The Gamer. In fact, a popular post from Twitch's Uservoice forum with over four thousand upvotes was probably another key factor in the decision. The post noted the rise of COVID cases after last month's TwitchCon in
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