We had a pretty good time together, didn’t we?
I’m not really interested in crying over spilled milk; sometimes these things work out, and sometimes they don’t. I’ve had a wonderful two years at Penny Arcade, and the few times I worked directly out of the office I enjoyed the commitment and joy that everyone found in their work.
I’ve learned a ton covering PAX while getting a taste at what it takes to run that sort of show, and I was able to write many, many stories of which I’m very proud.
This is to say nothing about the great work that Dabe Alan, our photographer, Kristin Lindsay, who both edited and copyedited the site, and Andrew Groen and Sophie Prell delivered on a regular basis. The goal was always to be enthusiastic about the games we loved, and to be ruthless with the games we hated. I think we succeeded in those two goals.
I couldn’t have asked for a better crew, and I’m proud of the things we were able to pull off with such a small, dedicated team. This is the way I like to work: Lean, hard, and with great purpose.
I want you to know that I read every e-mail, every comment, and every tweet that comes my way, even if I don’t respond directly. This was always a two-way relationship, and I enjoyed our interactions and getting to know everyone out there as a community of readers.
I met many of you at PAX, I’ve enjoyed the thoughtful conversation in the comments, and I know that you have a nearly infinite amount of sites to read. The fact that you came around here from time to time to give us a bit of your attention, and hopefully get something out of each story, is an amazing thing for me. You gave me your time, and I hope I gave back something of worth.
I’m very happy with PAR, and if this is how it ends, that’s not too bad. We had a good run. We didn’t fix game journalism, but the whole idea of it being broken and needing a white knight to run in and make everything better was arrogant and more than a little pigheaded. There was good game writing before PAR, and there’s going to be good game writing after we go away.
I’m just so very happy that I was able to contribute to that flood of ideas in even a modest way, and I wanted to thank you very, very much for coming along with us.
