A lot of it has to do with who you convene with. Even at the height of the lockdown hysteria in my blue state filled with coastal transplants, you could go to a gun show/gun expo indoors, and people would wear masks for two minutes going through the front door and then every single person would then take them off as soon as they got inside.
When you've got a gathering of soy-bugmen that are there to play with children's toys, well you're going to get a different result.
Oh, I know. But they're interesting to keep an eye at because that group tends to be a lot of extremely autistic people who latch on very quickly to whatever "current thing" is.
It also isn't helped because things like D&D have been turned into lifestyle brands and marketed to the same kind of people who rabidly consume Marvel movies.
Sad thing is a lot of groups didn't used to be this way. I used to play some war games with a group in New Jersey that were....definitely not bugmen. We had a few leftists like the one (((school administrator)), but most were decent blue collar guys with good common sense, who grew up as history nerds in the 90s.
At this point the only places still requiring masks+vax are these big dork events. I suspect it's as much to keep "Chuds" out as it is about science and I've trolled a few of the related Facebook posts by saying "these mask requirements are also important to discourage Chuds and science deniers from attending". It's met with upvotes and assent.