The front row is still empty.

It wasn't a few minutes ago, I was sitting right in the middle of it: Front row seats to Gamers' Day.

But then came the tap on the shoulder and a polite "You can't sit here."

So now I'm about five rows back and pushed to the side. I'm pulling out my tiny laptop, settling in when Stephen Totillo, MTV's ace gaming writer, leans across the aisle and politely introduces me to the guy I'm sitting next to.

"David do you know Brian from Kotaku? Brian this is David Jaffe."

Jaffe... Jaffe... Jaffe? Oh, that's the guy I've been cyber-stalking for more than a year.

I smile, say hi. He goes to shake my right, broken paw, but I slip him my left.

"Sorry, right's broken."

I can't tell you how many people I've slipped that girly half handshake to today.

He says he knows Kotaku, reads it.

I let a few seconds pass before deftly sticking my foot in my mouth and freaking him out with equal alarcity.

"You know, you're really not that pretentious."

I notice the look on his face and quickly follow up.

"Do you know about Google News searches?"

Now he also looks confused. I have that effect on people.

"Well, more than a year ago I created a search for your name and I've been tracking you... I figured that you and CliffyB were sorta... out there. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I like CliffyB, he's a nice guy."

Someone from behind us temporarily rescues Jaffe from my ravings. He looks relieved until a sheet of paper is thrust into his hands. There's a stick figure drawing on it. Underneath is scrawled the name Kratos.

Jaffe smiles, politely. The voice behind me says "You can throw that away."

"No, now I have to keep it." I think he means it. Jaffe, I'm starting to realize, is painfully polite.

He folds the sheet up and tucks it away and then turns back to me, looking, I kid you not, as if he actually wants to carry on the conversation and not run screaming from the room.

"So," I continue, blithely, "I figured that maybe I could sorta cyber stalk you and use what you say to other people as part of our Kotaku Stalku stuff."

He's still smiling.

"But what I realized is that you really aren't that bad. You're really not pompous....I just say that because I know you've worried about it before. About how you come across on your blog. Don't. I've been watching for more than a year and you're really not that out there."

Jaffe, still smiling, says he's gotten over that.

"I just needed to develop a thicker skin."

I ask what he's up to now. "Are you speaking here?"

"Yeah, about my game. Criminal Crackdown."

"I'm going to have to blog that you know," I say as I pop open the laptop.

"Now? Are you writing right now?"

"Yeah, do you want to say something?" I thrust the laptop into his hands. He types up a short message and then the presentation starts and he hands me back the computer.

"Can I cuss on your site?"

I smile.

Brian Crecente