PixlBit

A look back at being on the internet for 10 years...

 

Hello everyone how are you?

On this day 10 Years ago I joined the internet, as in I made an account on a site and joined a community. This will be an interesting post so join me as I look back at my 10 Years of being a part of the internet.

 

Captain N Begins

I have always checked the internet before and whatnot like catching up on gaming news but it wasn't till 2010 that I finally joined the internet. I joined a little site known as 1up.com, maybe you have heard of it. I have always checked it, it was my go-to site for gaming news and reviews and I never really commented on anything. However in 2010 something changed and I noticed that people can write their own posts and have access to their own blog page and I would love to write my thoughts on games I've played and maybe current events going on in the industry. I made my account and I wrote a blog. This was before Super Mario Galaxy 2 released and I remember that year really well. I wanted to write about my thoughts on the game once I finished it but I felt that the time was not right for that one yet so I saved that for another time. I wasn't expecting too much or any comments at all in my very first blog since I was new to the place among some of the really well known members.

But I noticed people started leaving comments on my stuff and I was amazed that someone took time to read through my blog and even left a comment. I blogged more and more and I got better at writing, I was an amateur at the time. But I eventually got featured on the site! That was the biggest surprise I have ever gotten there that out of all the blogs that week, mine was the one that got featured on the community spotlight. It was a blog on Batman Arkham Asylum, I titleed it "ngamer has Batmania". It was my first time playing through the game and I just wrote my thoughts on the game and how much I loved it and I even talked about my history with Batman. I even posted a picture of myself dressed as Batman from when I was a kid. I had a ton of comments on that blog, it must of been 20 from what I remember and some staff members even commented on it. I then wrote aout more things. Nintendo has always been my bread and butter and those were my most popular blogs. People started calling me "Captain N" and since then I have adopted that name because it definitely describes me really well.

     I always wanted to write aout this game back when it released but felt it wasn't time yet

It wasn't the last time I ever got featured either as I got featured a number of times and I have even gotten featured on a number of articles that staff members put out. But one thing I loved about the site was the community. Everyone was unique in their own way and had different tastes in games but we had our common love of gaming. I made some really amazing friends on the site and we are still friends to this day. Unfortunately the site would shut down sometime in 2013 and we didn't know what would happen from there. I had a feeling once 1up merged with IGN that it was the beginning of the end. However one site was there to offer us a new home during this dark time...

 

A New Home

Enter Pixlbit, the site that would be my new home on the internet. When 1up was shutting down, everyone was in panic mode and was scrambling to save their blogs and to see where they can go. I don't blame them since it was so sudden. Some moved to IGN, others to other sites and some even tried forums. Pixlbit was there to offer us a home with welcome arms. I joined and I liked the site so I went back to 1up and was telling people to move to here and most of everyone who I knew made the move.

Pixlbit is no 1up, but it didn't have to be. I love this place because the community is smaller but we know each other better. But also because it was a place that offered me the same thing that 1up did, and that was a place to talk about gaming and other things. I have written about games, things I'm generally interested in and even the famous 1up community event Blog a Day every February since 2013. BaD even found a new home too! I have also written far more blogs here than I did at 1up, probably because I have been here more longer. I was only a member of 1up for 3 years vs. the 7 I've been here at Pixlbit.

                          This is that one Batman blog I mentioned and takes me back

I love the community here. Most of everyone that I knew from 1up made the jump but I also made new friends here too and everyone has been so nice and friendly. I was welcomed with open arms and I am forever grateful for Pixlbit. Then there's the "interesting" world of social media...

 

 How do you #hashtag?

Twitter. Facebook. When you hear the words social media, those are always the first 2 that come to mind. I mean they are the most popular and most used sites in the world afterall. I have always heard of these places even when 1up was still around and I remember 2 friends told me to make an account on twitter. So I did but I honestly didn't know if I would use it much since I spent most of my time at 1up. But they told me that twitter was a good way to catch up to everyone when they weren't at 1up. And was a good way to keep up with gaming news and whatnot. They were right.

I followed everyone that I knew who had an account on there and I will say that twitter was indeed a good idea to join. To me it was a fun way to pass the time and just post whatever came to your mind. In 2015 I took a break from twitter and pretty much the internet. I disappeared for a while, I suppose I just wanted a break. I came back in early 2016 and a bunch of stuff happened in that year that I was absent. I remember I was playing Splatoon one night during one of their Splatfest events, was the Pokemon one, and I was playing with this random user and we kept getting the same match and it was fun I posted a screenshot on tumblr and that user said "OMG IT's YOU! I can't believe I found you!" They found me. That was quite an interesting turn of events. We became friends. I don't use tumblr much anymore though.

But I definitely came back at just the right time in 2016 too as I met a new friend that year on twitter and I suppose one way of putting it would be that my life changed too due to that meeting. I know that we might not have met had I not come back to twitter or the internet in general that year and I'm really glad I did. Today twitter is such an invaluable tool to me to keep up with everyone I knew as well as gaming news and anything going on in the world. I keep up with friends from 1up, friends from Pixlbit, and friends from twitter. Well pretty much everyone.

 

                          Playing with a friend on your birthday is really magical and fun

Final Thoughts:

The internet is a host to many different people with different opinions on things. Some people are good, some people are bad.  When I told my parents I had online friends in 2010 my mom flipped. She was saying when did this happen and how? I told her and explained it to her and she was worried but I assured her that the people I knew were really good people. She had her doubts but said it was fine as long as I don't get into any dangerous or illegal activities or whatever. I can't blame her, any parent would of reacted that way.

10 Years later and here we are. People have come and gone and I have unfortunately lost contact with a few. But for the most part I have kept in contact with most of the people I met all those years ago and I have been in contact with new friends I met in recent years. I have always been an open-minded person and I generally trust everyone and see the good in people and I feel that is a fault I have. But thanks to joining the internet I managed to broaden my horizons even more in ways I could have never imagined. I joined gaming communities, got into online gaming, and met some great friends along the way. I went from an observer to someone who participates.

It's funny how things work, I wrote a blog about Arkham Asylum all those years ago and tonight I will be replaying it on the PS4 for the very first time thanks to a friend. I have replayed that game so many times on PS3 and know everything about it, yet I always feel excited every time I play through it again. Is it because it brings back those memories from bac then, or is it because the game is just so good? Maybe both. But I do plan on writing aout that one game that I always wanted to write aout bac in 2010 but decided to shelf for the time being. That blog is coming and has been 10 years in the making and will be coming sometime next week. We will have come full circle then.

                                    

                   1up may be gone but I will forever be immortalized on their front page

What does the future hold for me? I have no idea. The world works in mysterious ways as well as life, which can sometimes take you to some unexpected places. For better or worse. I'm honestly surprised that I'm here writing about this but I felt that I had to I guess. Will I be here 10 years from now to celebrate for a 20th anniversary? Hard to say. It depends on what direction my life takes me. I just hope that all of you will still be there with me 10 years from now. But I want to say thank you very much to everyone who has been by my side after all these years, be it from 10 years ago or in recent years. I'm not the best person or anything but I am grateful that you're all my friends and have continued to be my friends after all this time. This blog isn't about me, but about all of you and it's thanks to you all that I made this and why I'm here.

And so those are my thoughts on being on the internet, 10 Years later. Thanks for reading and till next time...