DISCLAIMER: Everything stated here solely is my pure opinion. No advertising intended.
So... GameSpot... I remember that, ages ago, back in 1999, I saw in a local games magazine an article about Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus (I am a big fan of the series and I've always considered Abe's Oddyssey if not one of the best games ever, then at least the best platformer ever) which included some screenshots from the game which had GameSpot's logo watermarked. Of course, at that time I was unaware of what the logo meant, but in a later issue of that magazine, there were several links to gaming sites, including GameSpot. That's how I discovered GameSpot. After several attempts, I've managed to convince my father to let me visit GameSpot on his computer at where he works (at that time, I didn't had an Internet connection). And so I've visited the site for the first time in order to find out more about Abe's Exoddus. After I've finally got an Internet connection at home several years ago, I've became a regular visitor of the site...
... I regret though the fact I've only registered in March 19 2006. I could have caught a much better period for the forums when many more good forumites were around. But because there's no such thing as a time machine, I'll now have to do something for a better future. For instance, trying to be a good poster. And, well, it seems I have managed to do that in one year...
Because this needs to be celebrated more than other 1-year celebrations I have seen, I will do all my best to celebrate it in my own unique st*yle... Because GoScers 2007 isn't around for some reason, I'll try now to do a Viennoiserie's Awards Or Whatever They're Called 2006! :)
To begin with something big, I'll begin with the category "User of the Year". In my opinion, the user of the year 2006 should be... edubuccaneer! One of the best contributors of this community, Eduardo makes always a great job no matter if it's a blog, review or forum post. Other honorable mentions would be Noweb_basic (who would have won if he wouldn't have concentrated his efforts too much on videos) and NeoJedi, another impressive contributor that was close to winning...
The next category is named "Moderator of the Year", which isn't based on moderations as much as on mediating the discussions. A winner at this category looks more like... DJ_Lae! Posting for many years and initially known as Laeorn, DJ_Lae has become a GameSpot moderator at the first mod draft of 2006 and ever since proved that he can succesfully be a mediator, without reducing his typical "coolness" that makes him so charming. Two honorable mentions would be Skylock00 for doing a very good job on the VU and on General Games Discussion, and Draqq_Zyxorian for being by far the best reviews moderator. I sometimes wonder how it would have been if he was moderating the forums instead, but you gotta admit that if there's one thing that makes him such a good contributor, then that would be his reviews - overall, a true role model for this community. I also woud like to mention bhame for being such an underappreciated moderator that even himself underestimates his qualities. Too bad he hasn't logged in for half an year - he could have a really good job in the forums...
Another big category is "GameSpot Staff Member of the Year". It's very hard to make a decision especially since there are around 150 GS admins and many of them haven't posted anything in the forums nor wrote in their blogs or "About Me" section of their profiles. But my opinion is my opinion, so my opinion is this - the best admin of the year 2006 is... Lee Alessi! In the past few months, he managed to not limit himself to the Collection Missing Games thread and also post in other parts of the site and also make a blog, in spite of being a very busy man! Many times in these years of browsing the site, I wished I could add the game I was searching for in GameSpot's database. I was very excited to discover the Collection Missing Games almost an year ago and ever since I've constantly contributed because I don't like seeing other people suffering because they couldn't find the game they wanted to know more about on GameSpot - which, mind you, is considered by many the no. 1 gaming site... Back on-topic, another honorable mentions would be Sondra Coyleart (did I mispelled?...) for being a very friendly presence among the staff. Ever since I've discovered her profile, we talked a lot. It looks like I'm not alone on this world. Yipee. Also, Stanley Lin deserves a nomination for his crazy blogs, his typical coolness and his outgoing attitude that's unfortunately pretty rare in the GameSpot staff. You guys rock.
A more bizarre category is "Surprise of the Year". What other bigger surprise than the arrival of... Kreestas?!?... This man is probably the most lucky folk on the entire site. Do you remember any other user who got such a shocking amount of emblems and became a moderator in only 3 months after signing up? Of course, stats aren't important, but nothing else that happened this year shocks more than seeing Kreestas' profile for the first time. 'Nuff said... Other two surprises? Of course, the resign of Greg Kasavin was a shocking announcement that determined a massive earthquake in the bottom of our hearts. Greg, you shall never be forgotten. Also, another thing that affected me - Phreak64's decision to not only move SW2 outside GameSpot but also delete the entire SW2 board on GS. I didn't care about SW2 as much as I do about the VU or the CCU, but my "Top Posters" list would have been much more accurate since there are probably many users who didn't got on that list because they only used to post on SW2...
The winner of the category "Best GameSpot Board" is, without a doubt, The Virtual Underground. I've seen many people talking about it as if it's some kind of secret lair where "the mods talk about the n00bs they hate". :| Sorry, guys, but there's already a board like that called the "Moderator Backroom". The Virtual Underground is, indeed, full of mods, but it isn't mods-only. Think of it as a "General Games Discussion" kind of board with occasional intelligent OT threads. There are many quality posters (including veteran GS users) and many cool threads that simply makes it an addictive board - once you get into it, it's hard to leave the VU.
And... well... that's it. I don't got anymore ideas for another category and anyway I didn't want to put categories like the Worst whatever because I wanted only positive energy to vibe in this blog entry... I guess I'll have to end, hope I didn't exceeded the word limit... Seeya! :)
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