1: Any other Web site would have fired me by now. Seriously. The amount of times my long-suffering Editor-in-Chief Nick Chester has to talk to me about the latest ruckus I've caused and the latest phone call he's received about something terrible I've done should be enough to make me a liability in anybody's eyes. Fortunately, I have bosses that have always been willing to take a risk and let me do what I need to do in order to bring home the cheese.

2: The community. Sounds cheesy to say, but the community at Dtoid really does make a difference. I've always said that other blogs have readers, but Destructoid has fans. I've never felt that the spirit of the community decreased as the site got bigger. It's always been here, and when you see CBlogs embracing a ridiculous meme like this one or the top ten phenomenon Randombullseye started the other day (yes random, I got the message!), you know that like-minded people have gathered and are always on-hand to help each other drive a joke in the ground. That's just the way things should be.

3: It's not pretentious. There's no "HEY LOOK AT ME I AM IN JAPAN" stuff, no "I MUST BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY AT ALL TIMES" bullshit and no "I REALLY WANT TO WRITE ABOUT MOVIES BUT I'LL WRITE ABOUT GAMES AS A STOPGAP AND HOPE FOR AN EXCUSE TO DO *REAL* MEDIA JOURNALISM LATER" fuckcrap. It's people who love games, get excited about games, and don't care if they look like total nerds when they freak out about something.

4: The interesting debates. The Shadow Complex post we had this weekend was amazing fun for me. I am never short of a good debate here, once the trolls have been sidestepped and I get to engage the intelligent people with real things to say. There's always a fascinating conversation to be had, whether it's in a thread, via email, or even with Dtoiders on Twitter. People here want to talk about games, and wider issues involving games. You compare the level of discourse here to something like N4G and NeoGAF and the difference is clear. And yet WE'RE the guys with the immature reputation!?

5: Niero. Truly a fascinating, life-changing man. Trudat. His secret machinations terrify me sometimes, but he's never steered me wrong yet, and his calm, quiet charisma seems to always make one feel at ease. He also knows how to throw a motherfucker of a party.

6: Rutger Hauer loves it.


... Probably.