And YOU Thought It Was Hard To Get To Blizzcon

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.

.@USEmbassyPrague just denied me Visa by basically saying that YouTube is not a media and there is no reason for me to go to US. WOW

— Andrew Nolden (@Trolden) October 22, 2014

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]