Today as I was pulling out of my driveway, I got t-bone’d by a pickup truck. Miraculously the truck hit the backseat on the driver’s side and not me. The back was completely caved in and if I had been going a little slower I probably would not be here right now. I know, “I could of have almost died and I didn’t”, is lame and I should just STFUAJPG! But it really made me think of how much certain things mean to me and I keeping thinking of you guys.

I started coming to Dtoid after finding a link to RFGO on gonintendo.com. At this time in my life I was very depressed and seemed like my life was utterly pointless. But every Tuesday a brand new RFGO would warm my heart and make me have faith in my only life (I am completely serious). Eventually, I started reading destructoid regularly. It was no more than just another site that might get a story posted before Kotaku or IGN and that’s all it was for awhile. Sure I would comment on stories and maybe, much to my delight, get a question answered on Retroforce but I never really became a part of the community. Despite, this just by commenting Destructoid did something amazing. It made me proud to be a gamer for once, I used feel so bad when I would read other websites and look at the absolute clusterfuck that is video game consumers. Every petty fanboy war just made me so freaking ashamed because I thought deep down I was like that. I only saw these kinds of people when I wanted to engage in conversation about games so what else was I suppose to believe? I realized that Destructoid was something different. The posts had personality; the comments were rarely fan boyish and if they were it was usually started by a new person. I can’t remember when but eventually I dropped IGN and then turned around and dropped Kotaku after they posted a “Guide to furries” article. From then on out it was just Destructoid for all my gaming news and occasionally gonintendo if I need a bit more esoteric news.




I was bored one day and I decided for whatever reason to figure out exactly what Dtoid IRC was. This one event changed everything for me and my relationship with Destructoid. IRC was my gateway drug to being a true part of the Destructoid community. I just wandered in one day and started chatting and I made friends fast. It was going pretty normal when it comes to a chatroom, I would just hang out and talk a little bit but there was never anything to separate from other places like IGN or Gamefaqs. IRC was the first time I ever bought something for people I only knew online. I picked up L4D just because of that hype in that room and love playing it with them. Then the day IRC will never forget occurred (see here and here). The fact that Dtoid was the place for me was reaffirmed and again I dove deeper.

I dove deeper with things like twitter, gmail and skype. Destructoid is no longer contained on Destructoid.com. Whenever I get online I usually have a ton of tweets from people that I just have to read. Destructoid officially became a part of my life. While on the subject of twitter, I would just like to mention the thing that separated this website as the true gaming website, the staff. Before Destructoid I would get so excited when Crecente would respond to my comment or something. I thought I was the coolest to be able to talk to someone internet famous like him (I know GIGANTIC NERD). Dtoid is different in the you feel like the editor are actually people. There doing this for the same reason you want to do it, because they like games. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to Aerox or Ben about something. I can swear I talk to Stella Wong about every single day. I know for a fact I’ve at least talked once to every person on staff besides Rey I think.

I have so many more memories I could share, the EPIC april fools day skype party with step up 2. (Calling mandi a whore is such a joy). The AMAZINGLY PERFECT Stella Wong buying me a book at the Cherry Blossom Festival. I seriously can not tell you how much I love her for that and because she is like the best person ever. Destructoid just keeps getting better and better for me all the time. I even going to meet another community member for the first time this Saturday, but I can’t know because my car is totaled. Even still, nothing can compare to the orgy that will be PAX 2009 and I seriously am counting down the days to that.

I’m sorry if this post is a little scatterbrained or whatever because I am still hurting and not thinking straight a little from that crash. I just felt I had to tell all of you this while I was thinking about it and it was still on my heart. You are the best people ever Destructoid. The saying “Come to Destructoid, get your life changed” Is still to this day completely true. My life is this best it’s ever been and a big part of that was all from you Destructoid. I don’t care how big you get or how much you change in the future, As long as the spirit that started and keeps this going every day is still there. I will never leave. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3.