I've always been told that in order to understand the future, you've got to go back and understand the past. I've had that hammered into my head in just about every history class I've ever taken, and for a large part, it's true. You see patterns and occurrences that have huge effects on the world of tomorrow, and Destructoid is no different.

Throughout the day, I've been perusing through the Destructoid archives, looking back at where this site has come from and just trying, perhaps to get a hint of where our future shall be. And in doing so, I learned a lot more about Destructoid that I didn't even know about.

A lot of familiar names and features show up with a look back into the archives, and even more so when you click on some of the linked articles in those stories. It's like clockwork: names like Ron Workman, Summa, Faith, Fronz, DMV, and Hamza all show up not just when they were introduced as new members of the Destructoid family, but even well before that in some cases. There's also your YTMND Thursdays, the good old Ninjtendo (remember him, Hamza?), your wacky gaming stories and LULZtastic videos, your Monday Morning Mind Teasers, Game Debates to the Death!, cosplay, wild speculation, and perhaps just a bit of truthful fact.

But there also things that didn't make the cut, like the comics. Likewise, we also see the birth of new features, like the very thing you are reading right now. We also find a few things, like an explanation of just what the hell Bonus Kun is from.

But to be honest, this means nothing without context. What does it means to Destructoid besides a nice trip down memory lane?

The answer is that it will indicate, in part, Destructoid's future is the same is the past; the community is key, and it is from both the community and from friends of the site that future editors will come. We've already seen recent examples of just that - Qais Fulton worked with Chris Furniss, who is a friend of the site, while Nex's replacement came from the C-Blogs in the form of Jonathan "Tron Knotts" Holmes. That's almost certainly not going to change.

Likewise, while the site has grown throughout the years in size and features, a lot of what makes Destructoid Destructoid has remained the same. And likewise, there have been growths and changes in the people who come here and the people who write for the site, but in the end, it all seems to come full circle that the Destructoid we know today is still deep down the same as it was in times past. We all might come and go in time, but there will always be that Photoshoop wizard, the guy who makes the funniest comments you've ever seen, the guy who's always up on the latest movie news, those cool gamer girls who make us laugh, the guys with contests, and of course, Niero. And that's a pretty damn good thought to have.