It's that time of year again, the holiday season. Despite my rant the other day, usually I like to introspect this time of year, see where I've been and where I'm going. It is also this time a year ago that I read my first Destructoid article, despite the fact that it took me 5 extra months to create my account and post my first comment. Another thing I remember about when I burst my DToid cherry was at the same time, there was a contest going on, where you could win either 1 PS3 or 2 Wii's. I didn't enter the contest, why I really have no clue, but I do know that including that contest, and even after it ended, Destructoid has never ceased to give things away.

Now, if you're not truly a part of Destructoid, you would think that this is no big deal. Websites give things away to attract more readers. But that's just the surface of it here. The community ceaselessly rewards its own as well. This is the best online community hands down, it is the first community that I have bonded enough with a set of people to actually want to meet them and proceed to do so (TX NARP). This community watches each other's back, and it's a beautiful thing. There are constant community contests, such as DVDdesign bringing back treasures from the Land of the Rising Sun, to Volcanon giving away a Halo 3 Legendary Edition, as well as completely random acts of kindness, such as Hitogoroshi mailing Necros the Predator box set after only hearing Necros mention that he had never seen it in Unofficial Destructoid IRC. As a matter of fact, someone here at Destructoid is giving something to me at the turn of the month, not because I deserved it, or won it, just because he is a good friend of mine. And an actual friend. I know the term "friend" changes when you are on the anonymity of the Internet, but there are more than a handful of people here I would be willing to call real friends.

So, finally, I want to say a word to the new people, who are coming in everyday. If you just found Destructod randomly, stay. If you are trying to win the Velocity Micro contest, even if you lose, stay. Yes, you might get flamed in the beginning, and if you fail people are not going to be hesitant to tell you. But dammit, if you stick it through, you are going to find the most tight nit group of gamers on the planet, maybe some true blue friends, and I guarantee you, you will thank me one day.