Hello Friends.

How are you? We’ve missed you, and we want to update you on what’s been going on with Feral Vector.

Although we wanted to, we couldn’t run Feral Vector in 2023. Restarting it requires significant additional expenses, and for reasons outlined below will be a higher production effort than previous events. On top of pandemic uncertainty, this year a few of us have been dealing with illness, house moves, and renovations.

Looking to the future though, we intend to run Feral Vector in 2024 and we’re excited about it! We’ll keep you posted about the exact dates which, as usual, will likely be in the spring.

If you bought a ticket for Feral Vector 2020, it will be valid for Feral Vector 2024. Thank you for your patience and support.

Please continue reading to learn about some of our plans regarding covid safety, as well as a couple of other interesting tidbits…

Trick or Retreat:

Trick of Retreat is also happening in Hebden Bridge this year, around Halloween. It won’t be like FV and isn’t a part of FV, but will be happening in the Birchcliffe and Hostel. Its first edition was down south, and was a lovely few days of board games, food, and going for walks. David and Sarah have been discussing things since last November; Feral Vector and Trick or Retreat are sibling events now.

Social Media:

Many of you follow us on the platform formerly known as Twitter, but have also migrated to other platforms as it continues to slowly crumble into the sea. For several reasons, we will be leaving it soon, but you can also find us in these places:

Mastodon: @feralvector@peoplemaking.games https://peoplemaking.games/@feralvector
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/feralvector.bsky.social
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/feralvector/

Covid, Safety, And Accessibility:

We’ve discussed covid safety periodically since March 2020. At present, everyone involved in Feral Vector has different levels of comfort when it comes to events and indoor spaces. One thing we’re unanimous on though: it’s not okay to pretend everything’s fine, that vulnerable people don’t exist, or that we’re not still in a global pandemic.

We contemplated an online FV2020, but decided that wouldn’t capture the most important bits of FV. The point is to mostly not be sat in front of screens.

We also looked at doing an outdoor-only Feral Vector, but unless you’re in a field and hiring expensive music-festival infrastructure, that doesn’t reduce risk. It would just offload liability from organisers onto guests, cafés, and bars.

Hebden Bridge also has challenges when it comes to venues, ventilation, and accessibility. Unless something radically changes to make point 3 redundant, here’s the minimum we’re going to achieve at the next FV:

1. To use accessible venues and document that accessibility:
We won’t use venues that can only be accessed via steps. If a venue doesn’t have an accessibility statement, we will work with them to write one.

2. HEPA air filtration and air quality monitoring in venues:
Venues in Hebden Bridge typically lack good ventilation. Adequate filtration will be a large, one-off expense, and we may also have to work out additional strategies and equipment to ensure airflow through venues. We will also get carbon dioxide monitors for smaller spaces. These aren’t just covid measures. Events are hotbeds for virus transmission, and higher carbon dioxide concentrations have been shown to be cognitively detrimental. We intend to reduce both at Feral Vector from now on.

3. Testing and mask provision for event staff and volunteers:
While UK events can no longer enforce masking, having masks and lateral flow tests available to anyone working on FV, including those doing things as part of the programme, is the minimum we’ll do. We’d like to provide for more people if we can afford to.

4. Redesign our website to be accessible:
This site was designed over a decade ago, on a shoestring, to look nice. It is an accessibility nightmare and we’re going to fix that.

One more thing:

If we can’t all meet in person soon… is there anything you fancy doing with people in Minecraft, in places that might look familiar? Answers to cfp@feral-vector.com

There has been a lot of concern about the effects of the COVID-19 flu outbreak on UK events, and we want to update you with our current plans and what it could mean for Feral Vector in May.

We have been keeping an eye on other events, and monitoring UK Government advice. At the current time there isn’t enough information or certainty to say whether or not we should postpone Feral Vector, so as things stand, we are still planning to hold Feral Vector on May 21st – 23rd.

However, given the recent developments, we will delay ticket sales until the second week of April. At this time, we’ll review the information available and confirm whether we go ahead with the current Feral Vector dates. We expect there to be much more information available then to let us, and you, make an informed decision.

Should the situation change and force a delay, or cancellation, we will inform everyone at the earliest possible opportunity. In such an event, we will make sure to transfer or refund the hostel tickets that have already been sold. We understand this could also cause complications with travel and accommodation bookings, for which we can only apologise, but we have a duty of care both to ourselves and everyone attending the event.

Here are some of our favourite photos from Feral Vector 2015. It was fantastic to do a videogames event in a venue flooded with daylight, near beautiful outdoor spaces.

See more on our flickr stream.