As a 1up survivor, I too was looking for a new place to call home while frantically trying to save my blogs. I'm just glad I was able to call this place my new internet home. Alot of the people I knew from 1up move here so I was glad I was able to see some familiar faces, but I met some new ones as well. I'll write something about this hopefully today so I'll keep this short. But congrats Pixlbit and congrats everyone!
Celebrating Five Years of PixlBit
The staff of PixlBit commemorates five years of the site.
It’s absolutely dumbfounding to think that PixlBit has existed in this world for five years now. I can’t even begin to tell you all how many times Chessa and I considered hanging it up and just moving on with life. But we never did and I’m not sure why that is. The early days were grim at times; visitation was extremely low, the hours invested were high, and my day job was absolutely soul crushing. I guess we always felt there was a light at the end of the tunnel – a point at which it would all pay off. And boy has it.
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that the initial intent of PixlBit was to make some money doing something we loved; writing about games. The naïveté behind that drive became quickly obvious. The internet is an enormous place, and go figure, it’s extremely tough to stand out in a sea of competition. But our hearts were always in the right place, I think, which was to produce quality content and a healthy community.
We wanted PixlBit to be a place where people came to talk about something they loved and could rely on the staff to provide insightful and meaningful content that wasn’t clickbait drivel. We refused to cop to the blog standards set by nearly all other gaming publications at the time. We wanted people to expect professional quality reporting from us, despite being just a small group of amateurs. I’d like to think we’ve lived by these standards for five years now and will continue to live by them no matter how the tide shifts in the market of gaming journalism.
While I think we’ve delivered on the journalistic side of things, we still haven’t fully realized the community aspects we’ve wanted to include since drawing up the original spec for the site. But we’re working to amend this in the next redesign of the site. It’s only fair, of course – now that we have the amazing community we always hoped would one day arrive, we owe it to you fine folks to make PixlBit the best it can possibly be.
To help celebrate the achievements of PixlBit, I’ve asked the staff to talk a bit about what PixlBit means to them. These fine folks have played a crucial role in converting a silly dream into a reality. Their volunteer efforts are unparalleled and the dedication and time they’ve invested in PixlBit is enormous. PixlBit wouldn’t be here, or what it is today without their contributions.
And just the same, PixlBit wouldn’t be the same without all of you out there reading, commenting, and blogging. You have transformed PixlBit into something so much bigger than I ever thought it could be. The reality is, PixlBit isn’t Nick and Chessa DiMola, PixlBit is all of us together. While Chessa and I may have had the privilege of getting the ball rolling, it’s all of you that keep it moving forward.
In celebration of five years of PixlBit, please click through and read the proceeding pages from the impassioned staff and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below. Thank you everyone for five amazing years.
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