GWJ's 8th Anniversary

This week is the eighth—count them, eight!—anniversary of the moment when your favorite source of elderly-gaming curmudgeonliness foisted itself upon this fine old series of tubes we affectionately call the “Inty.” Hard as it may be to believe, it’s been eight long trips around that hoary, old sun since first I planted something patently wrong about the industry upon the virgin soils of GamersWithJobs.com and took my liberties on the quivering optic nerves of our new readers.

Looking back at my very first GWJ post, “Valve Milks Cow, Plans Dead Horse Kick,” within the short span of 2 paragraphs I both implied that Valve was not a viable development house and called their distribution platform “stream.” Gross inaccuracy, truly you are and have ever been my faithful companion.

Such were the humble days of our launch: discussions of Unreal 2 going gold, the mind-boggling possibility of a merger between Square and Enix, and the sad, sinking, inescapable truth that Firefly was dead. With such unglad tidings as the wind beneath our disgusting baby-bird wings, it would have been no surprise at all to have not lasted the year.

Instead, it is eight years later. Firefly is still dead, I’m still wrong, and we’re still going strong.

What always surprises me when I wander into the vault is the weird incongruity between how very different the site is now and how, in some ways, it hasn’t really changed much at all. Looking through the comments of old articles, there are many long-lost friends, but also familiar faces. Though it was extraordinary to see an article’s comments or forum post’s replies reach into double digits even at the end of Year One, the site was built from the very beginning on the foundation of building community. I can only speak for myself, but I feel extremely certain and satisfied that this core foundation of Gamers With Jobs has remained steadfastly the law of the land every day since, and though we may never command the real estate of an IGN or your run of the mill pornography site, the tight-knit sense of belonging that comes from a site like this is so much better than all those piles and piles of money. This is what I tell every single repo man that comes to my door.

There is a lot of history in those 8 years: Half-Life 2 Source Code Stolen, Sway’s Box, The Press Pass, GWJ Radio, The Post a Picture Thread, The Legend of Roo, The Pillow of Heterosexuality, Vanguard, The Banning of Derek Smart, The Weiner Bomb, dysfunctional relationships with Warren Spector, “Welcome Perverts,” Cory’s Rabbitcon Antics, Mex’s various conquests, Dannon Light ‘n Fit Smoothie Fanfic, and on and on and on it goes.

If you have not yet discovered the treasure trove of The Goodjer Commandments (http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/2...), then I am happy to have destroyed any productivity you may have hoped to squeeze out of Thursday.

As we enter year nine, there are now far too many people who deserve thanks and recognition. I will let it suffice to say that we have been impossibly fortunate to have been able to feature content from some of the best videogame writers anywhere. And to you, our faithful, occasionally disturbed readers, thanks for your support whether this is your first year or your eighth.

Comments

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Rat Boy wrote:

:drink:

Rat Boy exists in some weird time frame in which he has now been a member for 7 years and 52 weeks. I'm certain this is not good.

Ah good times, good times.

My next epic thread prediction will be when Boogle and Mex meet in a Mexican border town and the world implodes as if matter and anti-matter met. God, here's to hoping they go to Boystown and then post all about it.

Congrats GWJ!

Congratulations! More good times to come.

Halfway to legal! IMAGE(http://rps.net/QS/Images/Smilies/fingerbutt.gif)

More "Welcome Perverts!"

Gross inaccuracy, truly you are and have ever been my faithful companion.

I enjoyed this line so much that I felt compelled to make my third(?) post in two years to say just how much I liked it.

Oh, and while I'm here. Congratulations! Despite my post count you've been destroying my productivity at work for several years.

I demand a toilet toss to celebrate.

the tight-knit sense of belonging that comes from a site like this is so much better than all those piles and piles of money.

Oh Elysium, that's really sweet but you don't have to lie to us.

I'm very grateful to the Penny Arcade post that brought me here for the first time, and I only wish it had happened years sooner.

Jayhawker wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

:drink:

Rat Boy exists in some weird time frame in which he has now been a member for 7 years and 52 weeks. I'm certain this is not good.

Maybe the counter's broke.

Happy birthday, GWJ! Butt pats all around.

rabbit wrote:

I demand a toilet toss to celebrate.

That sounds like my kind of celebration.

LupusUmbrus wrote:
rabbit wrote:

I demand a toilet toss to celebrate.

That sounds like my kind of celebration. :drink:

Do enough of that and you'll be tossing something in a toilet.

Congratulations oh noble purveyors of "Inty" goodness! Thank you too for the podcastaliciousness you continue to deliver each week!

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Halfway to legal! IMAGE(http://rps.net/QS/Images/Smilies/fingerbutt.gif)

Dont let *Legion* find out sixteen is the legal age of consent in NC.

Happy birthday GWJ!

We live to serve.

Cheers!

I've been here for almost 3 years, and it has become something akin to my home on the internet. The podcast is a great lure, but it's the community here that kicks so much ass!

Your work is both deeply appreciated and very necessary to the equilibrium of the Internet: one side, GWJ, almost everywhere else: ass-hat wasteland.

Here's to 8 more!

Congrats guys. Cannot believe it has been that long.

You have kept me sane at work even before I was a coffee grinder. Thank you Gamerswithjobs. May the next 8 years be as memorable as the first.

Congrats guy, thank you for all the hard work that has gone into this site.

That second paragraph is pure comedic gold. I love self-mockery, in others.

No, GWJ, I love YOU more.

You're welcome.

And thank you.

Gratz woot! And I'm not banned yet... wow!

PAR

Well, here's to eight more.

I can't even remember how long ago I started lurking. Five years? Six?

LupusUmbrus wrote:
rabbit wrote:

I demand a toilet toss to celebrate.

That sounds like my kind of celebration. :drink:

F*ckin' A!

Congrats!

Also, Thank you to all the people that make it happen each and every day

Looking forward to many more years. Cheers.

6 1/2 years here, thank Google for actually finding this place when typing in "adult video gamers" and "gaming for grown-ups," and something like "employed gamers". Interestingly the only results I got back then were I *think* 2old4this and, of course, gamerswithjobs.

Also up to 5 1/2 years of the XBLA thread. Wonder when/if I should let it die.

Woo congratz GWJ!

I've been following the website since day 1 I suppose, when Elysium and Certis used to post on EvAv, I followed them here. It's great to see it going strong after 8 years and I see pretty much the same faces from 8 years ago still around. It takes a lot of love and effort to keep people around for this long. We love you GWJ!

I feel old now.

IMAGE(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y209/Magnusnews/moontower.jpg)

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