PixlBit

I made this for everybody at 1UP and but I wanted to post it here as well because I think it might give a nice welcome to any refugees coming here to Pixlbit to join our community.

I came to 1UP in March of 2011 and this March would've been the mark of me being here for two full years lol. When I arrived I was scared, I was the nervous kid everybody sees in school that sits in the back of the class quietly observing everybody. I found out about this place because of a blog posted here by Julian Titus about Mass Effect 2 called shades of grey: one little quest in Mass Effect 2 that changed everything. I was following Erika the social media manager from Bioware on Facebook and she reposted Julian's blog because she liked it and wanted other Mass Effect fans to see it. Julian was the first friend I made when I came here, he welcomed me warmly, we geeked out over Mass Effect missions we loved, he was passionate, and enjoyed good discussion.

Those qualities Julian showed ended up being the same kind of qualities I found all throughout 1UP as I explored and made new friends. At first I was the kid in the back of the class afraid to make a noise, afraid to socialize. It took me several months before I actually worked up the nerve to write my very first blog. I tried to be funny, I tried to be cool. I gave a shoutout to the Hamburgler mascot, I posted a picture of cake in a can. I sure was rad, hah. I had finally broken the ice, and that kid in the back of the classroom was starting to get engaged in the action for the first time.

After I had risen above my nervousness, I finally began thinking critically about myself and my life, and about why I even decided to stick around this place and blog. It was then that I put out some of my more meaningful blogs like: when video games began mattering to me and Level Design: a pipe dream? and finally, The Quarter-Life Crisis. I even showed you the levels I built in Halo and what I learned from them: Forge World Diaries. I was a boy in transition, trying to get find out how I can move onto the next stage of life. How can I become a man, how will I chase the American dream? As 1UP shuts down for good, I want to pause and think about the positive impact all of you have had on me.

Over the years I was able to get quite personal with all of you. I let you into my head, I showed you how I think, I told you all about the games I want to design, I let you know when I was happy, and I spilled my guts when I was depressed. When my grandfather died, I gave him a eulogy here and celebrated his life. I told stories of him so you could all know a small measure of him, and you all were here to support me and let me know I wasn't alone. They were tears of sorrow at the time, but now it would choke me up with tears of pride to know I've had friends I can confide in. Some people aren't so lucky. One of my fondest memories of being here was being able to write an Inspirational Blog for Aaron B (aboboisdaman) when he was going through a really rough time. We were all able to gather around Aaron and let him know he wasn't alone. Gaming may have been the hobby that brought us all together, but it was our hearts and minds that kept us together.

Aside from the serious blogs, I've also done a lot of fun and inquisitive things with you all. As a budding designer, I wanted to know how you all play your games so I did things like: Let's Talk Loot, and How Often Do You Save Your Games? During the time I was here I was able to learn a heck of a lot about gaming. Did you know that the first time I ever heard the term "JRPG" in my life was here on 1UP? Being a part of this community I was exposed to games I never knew existed, I was shown aspects of the industry and the world that I had never seen before. I absorbed lingo, terminology, and I always kept my mind, eyes, and ears open to new knowledge. As 1UP ends, I will continue to carry on the memories, experiences, conversations, and knowledge the community has given me.

I'll always remember when I'd do a Dark Souls Diary entry and everybody would come read about my numerous death and great triumphs. Thank you Chris for giving me the advice I needed to get through Anor Londo. Thanks to Jose for convincing me to buy the game in the first place. I'll also never forget when I did a big blog series about musicianship: Let's Talk Musicianship. I'll always remember Jeremy Perish coming by my blog so we could talk about Rush, Genesis, Steve Hackett and shit, and he showed me some old live performances that blew my mind. Across my music series we all talked metal, punk, prog, 70s rock, everything, and that was a whole mess of fun for me.

We all kept coming back, we all stuck around even when coming to 1UP was a pain in the ass. Remember last year when the site was bombarded with mountains of spam blogs for weeks and weeks, it may have been E3 week because I remember Jeremy saying he was off in meetings and when he checked up on the site it was totally bogged in spam lol. He did his best to clean it up, and we all continued to come and be the community we are. We didn't make this our home because it was perfect, it wasn't because it had some perfect set of features or flawless performance. We had bugs, we had trolls, but this was still our place and I enjoyed coming here every day to be with you guys. I hate to have to do it but I should start wrapping this up. Remember how I always said I want to learn to be concise and write shorter blogs instead of wild unformatted walls of text like I did when I first came here? Well, maybe I learned something.

I came to 1UP to meet new gamer friends, to be engrossed in our culture, to learn about all of you, and most of all to learn about myself. I can say with confidence that being a part of this community and being your friend helped me. It made me a better person, a better writer, and during my time at 1UP I was able to become motivated, ambitious, and hungry for success. I'm learning the skills I need to build worlds, I'm trying to become a better writer, and before long I will be making video games I can be proud of. Video games some of you might play, and maybe even enjoy.

Don't fear, I'll still be lurking around here until the end. As long as my friends are still here and the servers are up, I will continue to come around and see if anybody wants to talk. But my primary home is at the gaming community site called Pixlbit.com

Do you remember at the beginning of this blog when I told you about Julian Titus, the first friend I ever made on 1UP, and how he embodied the spirit I would later find in this place? Julian now works on the staff at Pixlbit along many other former 1UP bloggers whose talents were noticed. Jules has always been a good friend to me, a kind man to all, and he's as passionate about video games as ever. Julian does reviews, features, and is the host of one of the many great podcasts at Pixlbit. It's called Nerds Without Pants and I listen to it regularly. Give it a listen if you like podcasts, and tell them what you think: Origin Stories. Well, as this blog explained, you have all meant a lot to me. I just hope we can all stay in touch now no matter what directions we fly off in. You all know where you can find me. Until next time, this is your little great horned owl fledgling, signing off...