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Disclaimer: if the diary didn’t have a heart shaped lock on it, this would be called Journal of a Community Fan. Over the next few days and articles, I hope to share my experience as a fan with other fans about meeting and partaking in some of the community events outside of Blizzcon. Please share your own experience in the comments below.

To say Blizzard’s event as a whole was meh, is understandable. Blizzard’s biggest announcement wasn’t Demon Hunter for Diablo, Blizzard Dota or Starcraft Bejeweled, it was BlizzLine! There were lines for everything, if you like to buy stuff, try a demo, like to eat? There’s a BlizzLine for it!

Blizzcon was fun on many points. If you love panels, there were plenty of them. Fans took the time to dress up and Blizzard took the time to pay people to dress up. The fans won the walking around costume contests hands down. I never knew a mail box gnome spy could be sexy.

The true story behind Blizzcon is the community. Blizzard host a yearly event with special effects, 20 ft statues and lights that put U2 to shame. All this is really for the community to come together and geek out. Blizzard knows the masses are opinionated and have already dissected everything they created. This event is for the fans to meet and get out from in front of our computer screens.

I said long before Blizzcon 2010 started that I didn’t get my tickets to see the big announcements. Previous Blizzcons had huge news breakers that made major game sites freak out (along with their advertisers.) but I can learn these from the internet the second they are announced. This Blizzcon was going to be about our guild and the events we would be part of with the community.

I hope over the next few articles I can express the true awesomeness of the WoW community: the podcasters, bloggers, video casters but my guildies most importantly. I hope that even though you might not get tickets to the next Blizzcon, you go anyways, there are so many things to do with your fellow fans outside of the main event.

Night One: Thursday before Blizzcon 2010.

On a night where people are talking about a brush with Felicia Day or Ghostcrawler at a 1000 plus meet up at other events, our meet up was decidedly low-key tonight. An intimate meet up, where we got to enjoy each other’s company in the flesh for the first time, that wouldn’t feel like a precursor to BlizzLine.

The Rawrcrew’s first event was at JT Schmid’s Restaurant and Bar (mainly bar.). One of our special guest was Kevin Michael Johnson, who was 48 hours from the premier of The Raid documentary. Our other special guest was Australia’s #1 WoW Podcast co-host TheWych from Bind on Equip.

Through out the night we got to know each other before the weekend started. Playing online for so many hours still left the question of ‘Will I get along with these people in real life?’. It became clear over this time that we are friends and not just in it to kill imaginary dragons. That’s just what brought us together.

I was able to have a lengthy conversation with Kevin Michael Johnson. From a fan perspective, I got a first hand opportunity to see why he loves the game, the community and the monumental task he took on when creating The Raid documentary. Looking back on it, you can see how nervous he was, one of his biggest nights was ahead of him and it showed. Start to talk about what happens in two weeks though, he perks up more, when he becomes a father. We wish you the best Kevin!

Our other guest was TheWych from Bind on Equip. Meeting this podcaster would greatly impact my Blizzcon experience the next few days. TheWych is a rockstar but seeing him converse with fans was refreshing, I would see him meet a fan and spend a good 30-40 minutes with them, with out a hint of megalomania (okay, maybe there was a hint, who tweets #becauseimthewych to himself?).

The Rawrcrew’s night ended with about ten of us in a hotel room, meeting up with Plectical and Finrot from Bound, then polishing the night off with Glenfiddich Scotch. Great way to end the night.

Up Next, Part 2: Kangaroo boxing, A player who ignores their kids and pancakes…