Getting tickets to Blizzard’s annual fan convention is hard enough when you’re an American who lives relatively nearby. So spare a thought for Andrey “Trolden” Nolden, one of the biggest Hearthstone personalities on YouTube, who can’t even get into the country, let alone the show.
Nolden, who is Russian and applied for a visa to cover Blizzcon for his channel from the Czech Republic (where he’s currently living), has had his request knocked back.
https://twitter.com/USEmbassyPrague
Given the number of media visas I’ve seen handed out over the years to foreign “press” (read: fan sites) so they could cover shows, that seems a bit weird. Especially since Nolden had been invited by Blizzard to attend, and they were even covering his travel expenses.
It’s not over – Blizzard and embassies are still working to find altnerative solutions – but boy, it’s just another reminder that, along stuff like copyright and region-locking, the law and 21st century entertainment aren’t on the same page.
YouTuber Trolden denied BlizzCon visa, “not a real media” embassy says [gosugamers, via Daily Dot]
Comments
4 responses to “And YOU Thought It Was Hard To Get To Blizzcon”
Jesus, when Blizzard region lock, they really region lock… :O
Or the little bugger could apply for a standard tourist visa, you know the ones they hand out like candy, seeing as he isn’t going to be paid for any work while he’s in the US he would be eligible for that.
there are work arounds, they’re just choosing the more difficult route for it.
I’d imagine it’s because US immigration’s paranoid about Russians at the moment with the Ukraine situation.
There’s probably a bit of that going on. I was going to mention that it does however seem pretty easy to import and export potential jihadis/terrorists and their resources back and forth across the world but lord forbid you be someone from the internet, kinda puts things in perspective 😛
You’re not even a real journalism.