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by on Aug 07, 2007

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I spent hours upon hours posting photos from BlizzCON yesterday and I'm still not close to being done. Players can say what they want about Blizzard as a company and Blizzard as a developer, but the facts are indisputable; they make great games that are fun to play for a wide range of individuals. If you have a few minutes go check out what is in the gallery from the event. There are some great, and so not so great shots.

Attending events as a member of the press is usually quite different than attending as a fan or a player. Developers treat the media, or at least some of the media like rock stars. You sit in the best seats, eat the best food, never stand in line and leave with more swag than Planters has peanuts. When you are treated like royalty your perspective on an event cannot help but be skewed. Your perspective of the event is based on what you saw, heard and felt which is quite different in the first three rows of the show than in the last three.

BlizzCON was different. For starters our Press Passes were lost somewhere between Blizzard HQ and BlizzCON. We had confirmed them before heading to the airport, but when we arrived they had no passes and no extra passes to print for us. We were given "Attendee" passes, which meant that we had access to everything that a normal attendee would see, but and it's a big but, we would not be allow to video anything within the show, nor would we have access to any media benefits like preferred seats (for photos and video).

If we can't take video then one-half of the reason we attend events like this was gone. I explained this to the tired young lady who was trying desperately to believe my story of being on "the list". She must deal with dozens of people trying to mislead her into believing that they are part of the media. Eventually she found a duplicate press pass and Jeff was able to video what he witnessed inside the darkened halls of BlizzCON. I however, was still an attendee. I sat back far from the stage zooming as close as my 200mm lens would allow, trying to get pictures for our readers. I walked back to my hotel to use the Internet connection there since I had no access to a media room at the show.

What really struck me as I sat with the players and worked the mic in front of the camera was that I don't particularly enjoy being part of the press, or at least the press as they are perceived by the development teams and the players. Then, as I sat there, listening to a grown man yell at Jay Mohr that it was "Bull@#$^" that the press got to sit in the front rows it hit me. The reason that Jeff and I, and for the most part the rest of the TTH team never fit in well with the rest of the press is because we aren't there for the same reason that many of them are.

Many of the media representatives are there to get some sort of scoop. To trip up a developer into spilling some as yet unknown golden nugget of information, before rushing back to submit their copy and "scoop" the rest of the world. Some are there to eat the food, write their required number of words and get the heck home before doing it all over again tomorrow. They couldn't care less about the games, the developers or the industry. It's a job for them and quite frankly they would be just as comfortable covering a dog show. That's all well and good in most industries, but in an entertainment based industry the readers aren't looking for dry regurgitation of a press release. In our industry the readers are more than fringe participants. Our readers are an integral part of the process and they wish to be entertained and enlightened at the same time.

There are always professionals present, reporters who ask the right questions, knowing what is a great question that the developer can answer from one that is simply out of bounds. They have talked to the developers frequently. They attend every event. They have been in the industry forever and have their own following, their own voice.

Then there is Ten Ton Hammer. Myself excluded, the team is group of fresh faces. The up and coming of the industry so to speak. We have been fortunate to hire writers like Jeff Woleslagle and Cody Bye, individuals who could be working at much larger, more high profile publications, but instead make our network their home. As our site has created its own voice, different from what came before us in the market space that we inhabit, we have attracted the best people from our niche segment of the industry. Garrett Fuller joined us not too long ago when he could have gone just about anywhere he pleased. More recently, we were fortunate enough to bring Katie Postma, arguably one of the best community builders in our industry into our team.

Our team is different from most, if not all media in that each and every one of them goes to an event to represent you, rather than our company. Our team has almost grown itself, like attracting like, until today we have this band of incredibly like minded individuals who report on an industry that they love not because someone writing a check tells them to, but because they want to share the "inside" of the industry with you. We are fortunate enough to see the gears that turn the cogs that tap the keys that make the games. We are on a first name basis with the developers that many of our readers revere like rockstars. Each and every one of us knows that we are doing something that you would like to be doing. We are there to represent you. To ask the questions that are bothering you and to deliver the answers back. Is it fun? Heck yes! And perhaps that is the crux of the difference. You can't fake enthusiasm. You can't fake passion. The developers know it and our readers know it.

Ten Ton Hammer represents you. Nothing was more apparent than this at BlizzCON as I sat with the players and they commented on our site and our writers. It was emotional to have them tell us how much they loved the site, the game, and could we do A,B,C or D so that they could be more in touch with the game and its community. We were one of them, accepted by them, and truly that is what we are; a part of the gaming community that just happens to have access to the cool kids who make the games that we play.

Thank you to Blizzard for mucking up my Press Pass and letting me enjoy the show as it was meant to be enjoyed. More importantly thank you to the Ten Ton Hammer fans who shook my hand, had a drink with us and chatted with us about the industry that they love so dearly. It was my honour to hang out with you.

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John "Boomjack" Hoskin

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Dissecting and distilling the game industry since 1994. Lover of family time, youth hockey, eSports, and the game industry in general.
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