So, after a perilous journey through the turbulence of late May, June, July, and well into early August, I have finally triumphed over the ghastly metallic slime of level 20 and am now training  to become a rescue ranger, and, beyond that, a blaster master, a super bagman, and, in the near future, a long long sleep. And an invitation into the defias brotherhood and a transformation into a cyber-lip. Seriously, i can't believe i made it this far on gamespot. I've been dedicated to many a gaming site, but not like this. I've been seriously wondering: what are the reasons why I stay here on this site? Why do sites like IGN seem vastly inferior to this one? Why does Gamespot dominate usually about two hours of my time daily? Well, after much laboured thought, I've come up with some answers, and each of them are personal, so some of you might not agree with some of my suggestions. So if your eyes can be bothered to read several consecutive paragraphs, it might be in your best interests to read on through the monotony and discover why your friendly neighbourhood stevenscott14 is not leaving this wonderful site anytime soon.

 Reason #1: Blogs, just like this one. Writing my own random journal entries is cool, because I've never really had the opportunity to publish stuff like this to such a wide audience - in this case, the internet. In this amazing blog, Showbiz, I can write whatever I want, to an extent - what has been happening in my day-to-day life, what games are sapping my time, or even pointless featurettes like this one which have no real effect on me except brain straining and finger cramp. And, whats more, I get a fair few comments from the good people on my now-purified friends list, which has gone down from about 140 to a much more manageable 92. These comments spur me on to write even more blog entries so your eyes fall out with the pain! The burning pain!

 Reason #2: Reviews. In fact reviews are the only reason I really registered at this site. I had no real intention to use any other community services like forums and blogs and unions. But, hell, one thing leads to another, really. Ever since I wrote the Timesplitters: Future Perfect review here on GameSpot, i knew i'd be writing a hell of a lot more, and in fact, yesterday, I finished up my Far Cry Instincts Evolution review. Its kinda short for my standards and lacks most of the detail i've put into the rest of my reviews... but before I criticize myself further lets just say there is lots of room for improvement. I considered putting it up for critique at Community Contributions, but i look down on that system for some reason: reviews are meant to be your own work, without any influence from anyone else... and if there are flaws in your work, then so be it - i don't really want those flaws to be made right by somebody else. I want to figure them out for myself. But thats just me going off on a tangent into another subject, I'll just conclude reason #2 with the sheer, unavoidable fact that I love writing reviews.

 Reason #3: The community. Gamespot has a huge following of excellent individuals that I love to chat with on a daily basis. Again, this harks back to my 92 friends here on Gamespot - all brilliant people, every single one. After getting rid of the people I don't know, I can suitably say that I know everyone on my friends list, to an extent, sure, some more than others, but most of these people I discuss on forums with, comment in their blogs, and have a bit of friendly conversation here and there, whether its with PMs, the Xfire instant messaging system, e-mailing, and the occasional bout of MSN chat. You're all amazing people and above all you guys are the reason why I stay here on this excellent website, just to read your blogs, reviews, and forum posts. Far better people here than on sites like teamxbox, i tell you.

 Reason #4: The personalization. Your profile on gamespot is well and truly your own, and you're allowed to do whatever you want with it, free of charge. Its like your own little myspace, only free of all the immaturity. And thats what most members here will agree on - you should take your profile for granted and thank the lord that you have one. Next time you look at your profile, just marvel at the foundation you build yourself on. Its all yours! Every last detail in your profile is influenced by you, and just building the most interesting profile you can possibly imagine is a feat that you'll want to meet in your time on gamespot. I know that I can't improve beyond whats already here, but i can continue to strive to do so. And again this trails back to the subject of blogs and reviews - writing every one is a pleasure and they all link back to this very profile. Your own little hub full of wonders.

 Reason #5: Last but not least, the unions. Unions are the saviour of my post count, shall we say. ;) After the disastrous forum posting following Gamespot unfortunately has, and by this I mean the incessant fanboyism, the unions are refreshing and mature. I've joined unions that I fully believe to be the finest on Gamespot, and now that SentinelRV has presented his vision for a second version of the union system, I'm all for it. Unions' flaws are starting to show and all the problems stem back to Gamespot's dated union system. Sentinel's ideas are all vividly realized in a few concept images and just with a few Photoshopped screenshots half of Gamespot have fell in love with the guy, and countless petitions have aroused themselves throughout this site, and people have been putting "Support SentinelRV's union enhancement" in their signatures. Gamespot won't be able to turn their back on Sentinel now, and I am pretty damn sure this enhancement will come into being soon. Or half of Gamespot will be very disappointed.

 And they are the dominating five reasons why I pledge allegiance to this website. There are many, many more; countless nuances around the site which I would love to mention sadly can't because I've ranted on for far too long already. Maybe in another blog, because I would love to keep Showbiz going for as long as I can. Your friendly neighbourhood stevenscott14 ain't leaving... until either I get hit by a car and die in a freak accident, or until gamespot shuts itself down for no particular reason. And, if you'll excuse me, I have to continue with my rescue ranger duties, or i'll never become a blaster master. I'll talk to you when my training is finished.