Nerdageaddon

This weekend, I was one of a select few who managed to obtain tickets to, and attend, the mecca of all things Nerd: Blizzcon 2009. For those of you who are blissfully unaware of the gaming world, Blizzcon is THE gaming convention and is put on by Blizzard, the company responsible for creating World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo.

I actually do not play any of these. Once upon a time, many moons ago, I played on a guest pass and leveled my Knight Elf Druid, Morgaene, to a whopping level 3. This is the extent of my forays into the gaming universe, though after this weekend, it probably won't be my last. In the meantime, nursing school and life in general are my first priority so my alter ego as a Blood Elf will have to wait (yes, Blood Elf, because I've been informed that most adults and real gamers play Horde..).

I really had no idea what to expect upon arrival to the Anaheim Convention Center. Jason had to work Friday so we were only able to make the second day of the event. (As a side note, driving in LA is quite possibly the most miserable activity I've been a part of in my adult life. It trumps cleaning up after a C. Diff patient, hands down.). When we finally arrived at our hotel Friday night, there was no question we were in the right place: the lobby was a sea of black t-shirts, thick-rimmed glasses and intense discussion about continents, races and lore that exist only in that ethereal otherworld known as the internet. As we were waiting for the elevator, the door opened and they were crammed in like sardines: nerds, bags of swag and cases of mountain dew and chips. We smiled to each other, knowing that the next morning would produce hundreds of dark circled eyes and caffeine sales after an entire night of raiding.

As expected, we emerged the next morning to a huge line already forming outside the convention center. Thousands of unshowered, groggy-eyed, Starbucks wielding heroes rallied to take on another day of their pilgrimage. Jason and I joined them and were soon squeezed in between pockets of slightly stale smelling guilds. I mentally grimaced at the thought of being stuck there for two hours until the doors opened, but as I began observing and listening, my perception of this fascinating crowd and the pastime that unites them all began to change.

Let me take a few moments to pan out from Blizzcon and discuss some other events taking place concurrently at the hotels and convention center that day. The Center is conveniently located at the end of a short street in Anaheim that is lined with huge hotels. Our hotel was hosting the National Little Miss pageant on Friday and Saturday and the one directly across the street was hosting some sort of Christian conference for young people (high school through college aged, it appeared). The juxtaposition of these three groups was rather intriguing: the gamers seemed blissfully unaware of either of the other two, while the Christians didn't quite know what to make of the hordes of slightly unkempt looking nerds. The gaggles of overly painted mothers and tiny tots competing for hot pink trophies seemed painfully angsty and interested in nothing more than beating the other tiny tots rather apathetically sitting in piles of satin and tulle along the walls.

My observations began focussing on the reactions the Christian crowd had to the gamers and I was really quite disturbed and disgusted by what I saw. Each time the groups merged, which was unavoidable given the proximity of the meeting places, the perfectly coifed Bible toting cliques pressed a little closer together, eyeing the other group with disdain and dissolving into fits of laughter tinged with harsh comments concerning the types of people they must be. To be truthful, I wanted to slap the mouths right off their faces.

As the day progressed, we stood in lines in an attempt to finish a quest, played twenty minutes of the new WoW expansion, bought some swag and enjoyed the artistic talent of several Upper Deck Artists. I continued listening and watching and noticed several things:

• This group doesn't give a crap about what they or anyone else looks like.
• I didn't hear one person say anything gossipy, mean or rude about anyone else. The only division was the fairly friendly Horde v. Alliance rivalry, but even that was carried out in good fun.
• New friends were made instantly over something as simple as a common server, and they then spent the rest of the day together hanging out

Possibly the most fascinating observation I made was that there were a number of disabled folks at the convention. I noted several wheelchair-bound people whose mobility was limited to their hands and arms. One man appeared to be paralyzed from the waist down. One was a dwarf, several wore hearing aids and still more had various and sundry ailments that impaired some form of function or another. I mentioned this to Jason and he summed it up quite brilliantly: The world of online gaming is an equal playing field for them. They can log on, kick some butt and make friends with people who a) can't see that they're disabled and b) don't care if they are or not.

The more I thought about this, the more it perturbed me that the thousands of young people across the street who were supposedly convening in the name of Christ were incapable of this sort of love and acceptance. Conversely, they overtly made fun of those who weren't as in style and clean and who chose different forms of entertainment from them.

Jason and I finished our day at the Charity Auction where we attempted to procure an original painting that one of the Upper Deck artists had created live throughout the convention. I fell into conversation with one of our rival bidders who, along with his wife, decided to pull out of the bidding so Jason and I could have the painting. Another guy came in and raised the bid above our cap so the nice man jumped in and won it for a steal. In an unbelievable display of generosity, he chased us down outside the booth and offered to let us have it but we declined. We're still just blown away by how completely cool of him that was.

Later that night we joined the other thousands of Blizzard devotees for the closing ceremony. After a hilarious opening act by the band Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain (comprised of some of the top artists and designers working for Blizzard), Ozzy Osbourne graced the hall with a deafening performance. Aside from his obtuse use of the F word (and drugs), he seems like he's probably a pretty cool guy. He looked slightly less stoned than he usually does and put on a great show. We left early because I couldn't take the noise, but at least we can say we've seen the Prince of Darkness live (is that something to be proud of...?)

The weekend came and went, the nerds are all probably happily logged back into their accounts, saving the World of Warcraft from the powers of the Lich King and doing whatever else they do online, and I'm incredibly glad I got to go. Thank you, nerds of the world, for letting me be a part of your universe for a day.