While I am not a fan of Twitch as a company or what they have been doing lately, Twitch is great because of the people and communities you can find there. Likewise, the draw of TwitchCon is the people you can meet there, friends you came to know during the quarantine or streamers you admire.
Streaming saw explosive growth during the Pandemic, and people have been turning increasingly to socializing online and with far-flung friends, building communities of people independent of location. TwitchCon makes for a great focal point for many, somewhere you can all meet up and see the people you have come to know and admire.
The organization of TwitchCon 2022 in San Diego was much improved compared to previous years. While the convention saw a bit of an increase in attendance from the previous US TwitchCon in 2019, the lines were quick for entrance and to get badges once the convention began. The Artist Alley was the best it has been, with Twitch charging no fees for artists to have tables; instead, they selected applicants to fill out the hall, which was consistently full of people. Livestreaming, recording and photography were omnipresent. People talking into their phones or waving around cameras, you could see partnered streamers walking through the convention, at booths, event shows, or at the meet and greets. With some having massive lines while other creators had almost no one waiting for a signature.
Badge pickup line before pickup opened
Lines for people to meet Twitch Streamers
Since the last TwitchCon, Vtubers have also had a surge in popularity and presence, with ‘VIRL’ meet and greets available at the VShojo booth and with Techycutie in the Artist Alley, who also had a couple of guest appearances. Artist Alley was filled to the brim with fan art of Vtubers and everything else anime.
Testing real time VIRL autograph tech at the VShojo booth! pic.twitter.com/ZuEXLviPrJ
— theGunrun (@theGunrun) October 9, 2022
The rise of Vtubers has allowed very popular streamers to walk through the convention halls without incident, as quite often, their faces are not known to their audience, or at least not to the majority of their audience.
I myself came to TwitchCon to meet people whose faces I did not know. During the Pandemic, I turned largely to VR in order to socialize and make friends during a time when many were isolated. I found through VRChat friends I have now known for years but never met in person or even knew what they looked like in many cases. Recognizing them when I saw them by voice or body language rather than by their looks (the badges helped too).
There was even a general VRChat meet-up at TwitchCon that saw a crowd gathered of well over 100 people. It was a surreal experience to walk through groups of people unable to recognize anyone until you heard a memorable laugh or saw a nametag you recognized.
#vrchat meetup at #TwitchCon pic.twitter.com/MAmE4wAMED
— Felix (@blueskywhaler) October 8, 2022
Cosplay Contest armor category winner: feipaints
Cosplay Contest winner: GinozaCostuming
The convention itself wasn’t what most of the conversation revolved around. In fact, one of the most common topics of discussion was the injury of Adriana Chechik.
While walking around the ground floor on Saturday, I saw EMTs putting someone onto a back brace and then a stretcher at the Lenovo Legion booth. It looked bad, but it wasn’t until later I heard what happened.
Adriana Chechik, after beating her opponent in the ‘jousting station,’ jumped off her platform into the foam below in celebration of her win. However, the foam was not thick enough to cushion her, causing her to break her spine. After surgery, she was told she had significantly more crushed bones than initially thought and that many fusions had to be done, and that doctors saw damage to her bladder nerve too.
Participants were made to sign a waiver before playing, but multiple injuries were reported, and even after Adriana’s, the booth was not closed until before noon on Sunday. Leading many to say that it was clear negligence that led to her injury.
Some have said that it has not lived up to previous TwitchCons, and the maiming of Adriana is on the minds of many, but the people I talked to were glad to have gone. Because of the friends of the past few years that they finally got to meet and the experiences they had.