Today marks the 10th anniversary of my Gamespot account, even though it certainly feels like much longer.

In fact, it has been much longer than ten years. Today actually marks, in an unofficial way, the 10th anniversary of my entry into high speed internet. Before that, using dial up, I used to visit this website on a (much as possible) regular basis, even before it was actually called Gamespot, way back when, through AOL, when it was called VideoGames.com. My actual earliest website memory was looking for a demo of Quake 2 and stumbling into an in depth guide to Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest, from which point, I turned into a regular visitor. I'm awfully sure I had an user account from when accounts were actually implemented to the site, but that has been lost thanks to the numerous moves and email address/computer changes, from which I was never able to remember or find what it was.

There are many things I'm thankful to Gamespot for for these past ten years. Many, if not all of my best friends abroad have come from visiting this site and interacting with the community. When I previously worked at an union called Community Contributions, I met some of my most cherished buddies that I keep contact 'til now and have even met in person a few times, like Austin (MrCHUPON), Al (The_Antipode), Brian (DrFish62), Pete (Ryvvn), among many, many others. From that union, my interest in writing about games grew into what ultimately brought me to an event like E3, a dream of mine for years, and having the chance to meet many of the people whose work I've followed over the years.

It's unfair to list everyone I've come to know through this site since the beginning. Among the staff, I've had the chance to learn a lot, not only about games, but about the culture as well. Some of my fondest (and also most annoying and frankly depressing) moments have come from being called in to help out as a moderator for the website, in 2007. From then on, I've had the chance to take a casual look at tip of the iceberg that is managing such a gigantic community, a daunting task for the staff, which, for the majority of my time contributing, fell to Jody, who among the editorial staff, has always played an integral part in keeping me going with Gamespot over the years.

I couldn't write about the past ten years and not mention interacting with Gamespot's live video shows in between all the reading, arguing and writing. Those are probably my favorite memories of being around and checking the site out, by watching shows like On the Spot, chatting community members up and even somewhat interacting with the staff through questions. An easy smile comes from remembering all the inane babble that came from chatting with friends during those shows, that like the CCU, have endured through friendships that I still hold dear 'til today (you guys know who you are, I hope you are reading this - if not, bah, Dave, shame on you). Some of them have even moved on to be part of this site's staff thanks to their participation!

In contrast, certainly there were moments when I wanted to leave Gamespot behind. The chaos that was Jeff's firing in 2008 was easily the most likely of moments to have dropped this site forever - but I'm glad I didn't. It's amazing that Gamespot was able to pick up the pieces of an otherwise shattered state and have come back to be once again one of the most referenced websites around. I wouldn't dream of thinking I had a pin of an influence in that revival, even though, in many ways, I'm positively amazed to have been around to see it. And even though I'm hardly as active in the main website community as I've once been, I love to dive in sometimes, to check its pulse.

It's hard to imagine keeping active with something for so long, and even more so to imagine if it'll still be going ten years from now. But instead of worrying about where we'll all be so far ahead, I'll enjoy and cherish the memories of where I've been since then. Even the bad ones are worth keeping around in the corner of my mind, as reminders of how I've come to appreciate the best moments even more. Those moments when you give them more than a chance when you're expected to quit them... and are rewarded so much for doing so.

Thanks, Gamespot!

And thanks to everyone I've met on this cheesy, insane, frustrating and utterly amazing journey!