As a 1up survivor, I too was looking for a new place to call home while frantically trying to save my blogs. I'm just glad I was able to call this place my new internet home. Alot of the people I knew from 1up move here so I was glad I was able to see some familiar faces, but I met some new ones as well. I'll write something about this hopefully today so I'll keep this short. But congrats Pixlbit and congrats everyone!
Celebrating Five Years of PixlBit
The staff of PixlBit commemorates five years of the site.
Chris Yarger Celebrates Five Years of PixlBit
When I was first approached about writing an article about what PixlBit means to me, I was a bit hesitant at first. I feel bad for saying that, but it’s the truth. I was afraid that it would simply turn into a ball-washing ceremony for me in which I sputtered what I thought people would want to hear, and not what I personally felt. However, as I sat and stewed over the question, I realized that PixlBit means a lot more to me than I ever truly realized, not that I ever took it for granted.
To start with, I found myself placed within the staff as a larger-than-life trust figure. As an orphan of 1Up, it seemed odd for me to be labelled as the community manager and to essentially be the one to try to keep everything flowing around here. With some ideas that came and went, I’ve been slowly coming to terms with how I can and should operate. And when ideas fell short and I needed something to do, Nick was always able and willing to supply me with a game or five to review for you all. Though I occasionally got hit with two massive NIS games at once, I still kept pushing onward. It was never an obligation of task though as much as it was a sense of dedication towards my own personal sense of honor as well as a high degree of respect for the site and the community I wrangle.
And that leads me to my next point; integrity.
It wasn’t until Gamer-Gate that I realized just how special small sites such as PixlBit truly are. People are able to come here and are free to read and write as they want without the feeling of justification and benediction, nor the ideology of being force-fed drivel that’s solely based on opinions instead of hardworking journalism. There’s something polarizing about being able to go to a site and see a small group of individuals who fight tooth and nail for a hobby they love, and knowing that even though they have their own lives to live, they still find a way to pursue a passion in the most honest and best ways possible and produce content that’s truly meaningful in their own eyes. There’s an amazing sense of accomplishment behind the scenes that many of you may not be aware of as we, the staff, find ways to work around everyday life to supply you all with the best we can do, without ever feeling the need to sacrifice ourselves or sell ourselves short simply to ‘boost ourselves in the gaming world’.
And this leads me to my final point; friends.
Sure; some of you may see Jesse Miller and I exchange jabs every so often on Twitter as we argue who the better Spider-man is (Andrew Garfield is better, so you all know), but each verbal uppercut we induce on one another is coated with a strong sugarcoated feeling of love. Plenty of times you can see me mentioned within Snee’s blog, as we talk and exchange crazy ideas and general mental meanderings nearly every day. Hell; I’m even driving all the way to New York City to meet Nick to see a concert in December. And it’s just not the staff in which I’ve bonded with either, for many of you have actually come to know me as more than just a staff member, but as a family man, a worker, and most importantly, a friend who can easily be reached on Facebook/Twitter for a chat about damn near anything imaginable. PixlBit isn’t like other places where you often feel the need to hide behind a false picture to conceal your identity. Quite the opposite, actually, since you can see many users utilizing their personal photos, unashamed and proud, and trusting, and this is truly a remarkable thing for something online.
So where does this put PixlBit in my heart and what does it mean to me exactly? Well for short, it means a hell of a lot to me. I sweat and bleed over the articles and reviews I horribly slap together for you all, but the patience that’s exerted from the staff as Travis whips out his red crayon to correct my grammatical errors and the community who unwearyingly awaits for the next article to drop makes this all worth the while as I trudge onward, trying to better myself one step at a time to provide the best work possible. If it wasn’t worth the effort, I definitely would’ve given it up by now and moved back to blogging. But with every piece I push through somehow, I feel a bit closer to you all as the feedback comes in, and the personal messages pop up within my inbox. Each contact is a propeller that pushes me up and beyond my limits. Travis always tells me I need to end on a stronger note than I typically do, and I honestly think there’s no stronger wording than this:
Thank you all for everything.
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