What would you like to see at a virtual BlizzCon?

It’s official: We’re going to be experiencing one of the few years without a BlizzCon. And while we may be getting a virtual version of it — not to be confused with the Virtual Ticket  — its absence is still going to be felt quite a bit. I, for one, have not stopped crying since I heard the news. The first things that came to my mind when I heard the news were that I won’t be able to see my friends and that I won’t be able to experience that, “Holy crap, I’m at BlizzCon!” moment that feels oh so good year after year.

But once I got beyond those thoughts, I couldn’t help but wonder what a virtual BlizzCon might look like. As mentioned above, we’ve had the Virtual Ticket option for years now, and it only seems to provide more and more each time. But how could a virtual BlizzCon replace everything else? The cosplay contests, the pin trading, the Hilton DJ — all these would be incredibly difficult to replicate digitally. That said, I can see at least two of those still happening.

What else would it take to make it feel like BlizzCon, though? I’d love to be able to play the demos from home. We’ve seen it done with WoW Classic in the past, so I have to imagine the technology exists in some capacity for other games. (And I apologize if I just made any engineer types scream in horror.) And the Blizzard Watch staffer in me would love to more of the slides in the panels made available for download. Screenshotting works, but the real deal would be a lovely consolation for not being there in person.

Oh, and we’d have to see at least one voice actor in full cosplay.

Anyhow, it’s really hard for me to think of ways to make a virtual BlizzCon feel like the real deal, because the real deal for me has always been about the people. But maybe there are still ways to bring that feeling home. How about you guys? What would you like to see in a virtual BlizzCon to make up for the lack of a physical one?