Well humans, I went down to San Diego and decided to partake an the event revolving around the live-streaming platform of Twitch. I wanted to meet some of favorite streamers and look at what content vendors have set up. So let’s take a look at what transpired.
First and foremost was the entrance to the convention. There was very good management when it comes to lines for entering the convention. When you get to registration or simply entering, there was always a massive amount of space to move around (as well as fast moving lines due to their registration process). Which then leads directly into the expo hall with all the booths.
As for the booths, there was a lot to try out and to directly get your hands on. You had the products to try out that were obviously geared toward gaming ( such as products by Logitech). As well as free samples like the energy drink powder mixes from Gamer Supps. Then there were games at booths meant to advertise a company. Such as the Wendy’s booth that had a gladiatorial stage for competitors using foam weapons, and a VR booth with a VR game themed on Wendys food.
Now when it comes to streamers mixed in with booths, the most unique one with a presence was the vtuber booth of Vshoujo. Not only simply having merch, but they also a large screen displaying a life size version of vtubers. Vshoujo talent was able to directly interact with attendees this way, and even had a machine that wrote these vtubers’ signatures on merchandise. It was an impressive experience.
Now how can I forget the interactions the twitch streamers themselves. Obviously there were events centered around streamers, but the big attraction was the fact that you primarily run into them around the convention floor while you’re running around everywhere. To my delight I ran into a lot of my favorite streamers and got to converse with them a bit. In particular I got to not only see Kaho shibuya at the Gamer Supps booth while she worked there the first day, but I got to talk to her longer on the second day when she was walking around like an attendee.
Now I can’t ignore the elephant in room, there were documented reports of attendees getting injured in the foam pit held by Lenovo and Intel. Most notably the severe spinal injury of streamer Adriana Chechik. As well as reports of disabled attendees having difficult times while waiting in line for certain events. I can’t talk too much about these incidents since they have already been extensively covered by the media at large and not something I witnessed firsthand. But I will say I hope Twitch con learns from their mistakes, and improves as t ime goes on. Even if they weren’t directly the ones setting up the foam pit, they should definitely take responsibility for having this happen on their watch.
Now to end this on a higher note, the convention as a whole was a great for streamers and their community to come together. There was a lot of convention programming, but the center focus always was plain old streamers and audiences in one place. Especially when the lines blurs given that not every streamer is necessarily a big celebrity. It was a weekend of people hanging out and relaxing. Let’s hope next year is even better.
About the author: Glitch is a digital demon from planet Fanboy, and is here to teach us humans a thing or two. You can find more of his reviews(and nonsense) over at
www.youtube.com/glitchthedigitaldemon
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