ZOMG

Oct. 10-11. Blizzcon in Anaheim, CA. I was there.
"What? You play WOW?" No. But it is something to be respected. Blizzcon celebrates and gathers the fans of Blizzard's gaming projects which include Starcraft, Diablo, and yes, World of Warcraft. Now, you'd expect to find an overwhelming gathering of geekdom and the likes of gamers donning WOW threads stained with Doritos and Mountain Dew. But you'd be wrong(though these folks might clean up well for events such as this). Blizzard succeeds in creating indepth PC games that cater to hardcore gamers, but, within their consistent system of 'easy to pick up, difficult to master,' there is mass appeal. That's how we have 'Mom won't give me allowance this week' 25 year-olds and well-to-do white collars who can play together. Attendees ranged from all sorts of types of people, but everyone could discuss Death Knight DPS Talent Trees to the point where it no longer sounds like the english language.
Anyhow, I found enough enjoyment in discussion panels, beta testing, aweing at costumes... It's all a little slice of the passion this niche community has. I applaud it. And it looks like it'll be getting me back into Diablo.