Because of how far the Blizzcon 2013 convention was announced, I decided not to make any effort originally to try and pick up a ticket. When the time came, I ended up getting the Virtual Ticket. For $40 I don’t think it was worth the money. In fact, I’m not sure if I ever want to go to a Blizzcon after seeing the convention.
Some of the youtubers I follow describe Blizzcon as the time of their life. That’s a pretty big leap in terms of defining a key moment in one’s life. I’m certain that the convention itself might have a fun atmosphere but it looks to much like the negative aspects of Disneyland with the long lines and herding of people. Also, the fact that there’s limited space and requires drastic means to pick up these tickets really are a huge turn off for me.
Really what Blizzcon represents is a mass marketing convention. From others in the industry, many of these gaming conventions have turned into nothing more than a massive marketing tool. While Blizzcon still has the gaming component, there’s a lot of excess side stuff that are a huge turn off for me as a more traditional game convention goer. The glitz, band, tournaments and whatnot are nothing more than spectacle demonstrating the excess of a company that looks invulnerable on the inside.
However, as history has taught us, the peak of societies usually end up with a massive fall. Although Blizzard might not be at the utmost of a decadent situation, the convention to me represents the leanings of this eventual fall.
Of course, the convention really should be about the games and having fun. Certainly, those aspects are critical features that I think are reasonably handled. But I do think they need to address various issues such as providing enough computers for everyone to try these games out, less filtered Q&A sessions, developers who are willing to spill the guts on key projects. Too many of the answers from the Q&A sessions, for instance, had ill prepared or unsatisfying responses. The Diablo 3 team, in my view, lacked the necessary confidence to handle some of the key concerns from the community such as PVP and offline modes. Instead, they merely seemed focused on the few things that they managed to develop.
Game-wise, the only thing I felt I really am looking forward to down the road is the World of Warcraft expansion. Heroes of the Storm will end up becoming a MOBA and that’s a genre that I’m not really into at the moment. Hearthstone is something I’ve given up on in terms of getting into the beta, but it will be released in a month or so. However, all the hype for the game pretty much is over for me and I’ve already lost interest. Diablo 3’s expansion, Reaper of Souls, doesn’t do much since I don’t have a lot of faith in the Diablo 3 development team. And there won’t be any new Starcraft expansion, even though I’d probably only play that for a week at most.
So I’m kinda disappointed in general with the results. The tournaments were okay but nothing that really meant anything to me. In general, I felt everything more or less was on a “meh” level. But honestly, that’s why I didn’t bother trying to pick up a ticket in the first place. I don’t think Blizzard has enough to really motivate me into going out of my way to pick up a ticket or get into a beta, etc. I feel that the convention was just a PR event (and that’s what these things are) only for the elite and most hardcore fans.
However, my past gaming convention experience taught me that these things aren’t the world for me. I’ve hung around people who attend these conventions and most of them are…for a lack of a term…just really weird. I’m weird myself but these people for the most part I think lack some social etiquette on average, which is why they flock to these things. Not everyone is like that because I know a few people who went that I feel are pretty cool and down-t0-earth people.
But look at the Q&A sessions as an example. Some of the people they interviewed barely could speak. Going in front of a mic with tons of people watching them might’ve created some nervousness but I felt that it was as though it were the first human contact any of those people ever had in their lives. I wondered at times if a few of those people didn’t have a form of autism in the way they behaved.
Part of me kept wondering if these were the same people who grief others in PVP or during LFR. As I pondered that question, I kept thinking how Blizzard should realize that maybe a few of their games at times are socially damaging as well. Either way, I’m sure the smell wouldn’t be all that pleasant either as I think a lot of people probably just stood up all night without bathing. Trust me that’s the type of people who attend these conventions.
Another example was watching Skill Cap’s interview, particularly Sodah. Man, did that guy come off as an asshole. Talk about lacking social skills, the guy just denounced his opponents in saying they weren’t a challenge at all. While internally that’s true, you sometimes need some level of class. And he showed no respect for them. Similarly, when Reckful got beat by Kripparian, I thought his speech was pretty self-centered. But those are examples of these so-called high end gamers and what happens when they’re exposed into a social situation: they simply cannot cope.
I suppose if there’s one slight motivation for me to attend these conventions it’s to meet some of the streamers/youtubers. On the other hand, I’m worried that I might get brushed off or that these people won’t share the time of day for me. Not everyone but I don’t want to set my expectations too high then have them shattered. I mean, it’s not like I was meeting Charlize Theron or Norika Fujiwara for the first time. But for me, I want to hang out with these people and get to know them and vice versa. At the same time, I realize that a convention like Blizzcon should not be the only vehicle for allowing people like this to gather.
At any rate, I doubt that I’ll be buying any more Virtual Tickets in the future. The little in-game pet isn’t worth 1/40th of the price and the information ends up making its rounds in a few days. I honestly could’ve used my time more productively for reading or hitting the gym, but decided to take the two days and check the live stream out. Speaking of their livestream, it completely blew. The performance of their livestream would degrade over time, even on my higher end PC. Lastly, there was that Blink 182 concert. If it were the late 90s, that concert might’ve been relevant. However, I felt that this whole event was just the CEO’s way of re-living the good old days. It would take quite a bit of effort to change my feelings towards spectacles like this.
If anything, the one thing I kinda felt bad about was how all these people would fly in from around the world to check out this convention, but not the rest of LA. For some people, it might’ve been the very first time hitting California. Even though I’ve been increasingly resentful towards California, the one thing to me is that there’s a lot here, especially in LA. Just taking a few days trip to see a lousy convention is a horrible rip off in my opinion. If you come here, you should really check things out and get away from the games for a while. But I guess that’s the hook that keeps these fish frying.