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Ben Brode is a jolly bloke. Anyone who’s seen the Hearthstone game director talk during videos or other presentations have caught his hearty laugh and seen his trademark plaid shirts. But he’s also known for something else: filing videos about Blizzard’s card game from his home, not the company’s studio at its Irvine headquarters.

I had a chat with Brode a couple of weeks ago, and the first thing I asked him was why he filmed so many updates and other Hearthstone videos from his home. I can’t take full credit for this question — I got to thinking about it after the gang on “The Angry Chicken” podcast (which covers the card game) discussed the very question. It looks like Brode recorded one of his most recent videos next to his stairwell.

“Yeah, sort of. It’s just a little side desk that’s downstairs,” Brode said over Skype. “It looks like a stairwell, yeah.”

He also raps from here, too.

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Turns out Brode likes doing these videos from home because he’s busy at the office, wants to get it right, and is just a nice guy.

“I’m in meetings all day at work, and I don’t have a lot of time to do other stuff. I like taking my time. I like thinking about how I’m going to do things. I do a couple of takes. I don’t like inconveniencing crew people who are handling cameras,” he said. “It fits my style to take my time and do it after I put the kids to bed. I realize it’s not the most corporate feeling, but it’s a bit more personal that way to me, too. I bought myself a fancy microphone and a reasonable camera, and I do it at home.”

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