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View Full Version : Celebrated my 5th anniversary with VGR


Fivespot
04-24-2008, 10:11 AM
Just realized today that I recently hit the five year mark at VGR. I know many of you have spent a similar number of years here and then there are more who recently joined in the last three years or so.

It's a great community with it's ups and downs but regardless it's still a place I've come to chat for over five years. And the true meaning of my name is finally revealed. Kidding.

Joined five years ago when my wife and I decided to own a retail store. Actually we had already owned it a year by the time I got to signing up (for the first year or so I just visited and never posted). I would sit at our store night after night after my regular job ended for a couple hours thereafter. Since we were a new business in a not-so-perfect location, there wasn't much for me to do. The shelves were clean, product placed, books balanced, bills payed.... so I found VGR to help kill time.

I think I might have started with a couple reviews although I can't remember which games they were for. I found the site initially for the user game reviews specifically. Back then, that portion of videogamereview was thriving. I could supplement major site reviews from the then big hitters, IGN mainly, with user reviews which ultimately provided me with a much better understanding of what each game was about. I was on a tighter budget and considering the investment we made in our store, reviews were crucial to me as they helped guide my purchases.

Roughly one year later, I discovered the forums and signed up. Sat real quiet for a long time and only posted rarely. It was my first experience to any internet forums and frankly I was shy. Obviously I shed that later on and have been actively posting for much of the five years since my first day on the site.

Thanks to all of you for making the last five years enjoyable. Got into a silly tift or two with a few VGR members but it's only videogames and if I were to step back and take a more realistic, high level viewpoint on my life, videogames are a hobby and are supposed to be fun. At least that's why I choose to play videogames. In the grand schemes of things, it's stupid to even argue about stuff like this but then again it's fun. We're all passionate about our games/systems and it shows in our posts. Quite a few of VGR's members are also knowledgable and intelligent. I love that about VGR. It's gets watered down by imbecile fanboys but who cares. As annoying as they are, they're just showing up and sharing their love and passion for videogames.

May we all grow old playing the games we love and then coming here to discuss and argue about them. Forget videogames being mainly for men between the ages of 18-34 or whatever those numbers are that we all hear spit out of "experts" mouths or when referring to marketing strategies and what not. Let's carry this number on up as we grow older. I'm currently 34, right at the peak age of that number and I'm not slowing down. Plan to play games as long as my hands and body let me.

Rogue Bounty Hunter
04-24-2008, 01:15 PM
Happy 5th, Five.

I wouldn't worry about that 18-34 crap. I've seen people in their 40s and 50s buying 360 and PS3s, and my 60 year old uncle is interested in a 360 himself for Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. Age isn't going to be a reason why I would stop gaming.

Has Fivespot been your only VGR name? I've had two official ones, and a couple of old ones in the old forum before it was required to sign up to post.

As a Happy 5th, here's where I got my username from (Bet everyone has been wondering, with everyone = no one):

Bounty Hunter - From Jango and Boba Fett. Besides those two, Vader, Princes Leia, and Lando, everyone else in the SW movies are lame characters.

Rogue - Though the dictionary defines this as a wandering beggar or tramp (I'm a tramp?), I use it as not being attached to one of the three (Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft) game companies. I can enjoy their game systems, but they can still be dumbasses. Microsoft is currently the King of Dumbasses due to my own RROD, the Xbox Live malfunction during the Holidays & cheap ass game as an apology, as well as how they are messing up by not letting Silver members access to demos the same time as Gold members.

Fivespot
04-24-2008, 02:00 PM
I think I may have registered a different name at one point but yes, fivespot has been my main and only name all along. I was posting in the old forums for sure as I remember doing so just not as frequently as I do these days.

Glockstar
04-24-2008, 06:53 PM
Why don't you give up that blog of yours and blog here full time, eh? :p

Five year anniversary, eh? That's fitting.

But dayum, has it really been that long?

I think I might have started with a couple reviews although I can't remember which games they were for. I found the site initially for the user game reviews specifically. Back then, that portion of videogamereview was thriving. I could supplement major site reviews from the then big hitters, IGN mainly, with user reviews which ultimately provided me with a much better understanding of what each game was about. I was on a tighter budget and considering the investment we made in our store, reviews were crucial to me as they helped guide my purchases.

Like you, I came here to read some user reviews. Later I discovered the forums, and like you just lurked for many months before getting the courage to post. My join date says October 2002: I'm pretty sure that's when I started posting, not when I started reading.

In fact I remember specifically why I came to this site: I was looking for real-life, honest-to-goodness user reviews on NHL Hitz 20-02. This was about April 2002; I finished - and loved - Halo and Munch's Oddysey and was looking for more gaming goodness. The reviews weren't much to go by however, and I ultimately bought the game on my own recognizance. I'm glad I did. However... while it was the third game I bought for the system it ended up being like the sixth that I would play. The continuing excellence of the N64 (namely Gauntlet Legends; Ogre Battle 64; and Conker's Bad Fur Day) had a lot do with that.

Regarding starting to post... I think it's a commitment that you have to make. I know it was for me. You have to get like 10 posts under your belt before people will start paying attention to you. Understandable, I think. What with all the spam, and all the people who just drop a quick line and then are never heard from again.

As for my initial reasons for wanting to chime in: (I think I've said this before) the Xbox was getting bashed too much, and I felt the defenders needed another voice.

Now I stick around - in large part - because I know you all so well, and use you guys for my reviews. (Of course that's not the only reason.) Lord knows the review section of VGR has gone down the dumpits. I'd kind of like to get back into doing reviews myself... but I don't know where to put them.


Thanks to all of you for making the last five years enjoyable. Got into a silly tift or two with a few VGR members but it's only videogames and if I were to step back and take a more realistic, high level viewpoint on my life, videogames are a hobby and are supposed to be fun. At least that's why I choose to play videogames. In the grand schemes of things, it's stupid to even argue about stuff like this but then again it's fun. We're all passionate about our games/systems and it shows in our posts. Quite a few of VGR's members are also knowledgable and intelligent. I love that about VGR. It's gets watered down by imbecile fanboys but who cares. As annoying as they are, they're just showing up and sharing their love and passion for videogames.

Oh yeah. My viewpoint is this: If I haven't argued with you then you're nobody. :D


May we all grow old playing the games we love and then coming here to discuss and argue about them. Forget videogames being mainly for men between the ages of 18-34 or whatever those numbers are that we all hear spit out of "experts" mouths or when referring to marketing strategies and what not. Let's carry this number on up as we grow older. I'm currently 34, right at the peak age of that number and I'm not slowing down. Plan to play games as long as my hands and body let me.

Thank you. As long as I'm able buddy, as long as I'm able...

Aku
04-25-2008, 02:09 PM
Happy 5th, Five.

I wouldn't worry about that 18-34 crap. I've seen people in their 40s and 50s buying 360 and PS3s, and my 60 year old uncle is interested in a 360 himself for Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. Age isn't going to be a reason why I would stop gaming.

I'm 92, and I'll whip you youngins anyday at CoD4! Hey I first came here in '99, back when it was called pcgamereview, and they had a real site with real user reviews. I still come back for the forums, it's the one good thing left about this site.

Fivespot
04-25-2008, 03:13 PM
I like the explanation behind your user name RBH. Mine is a pun based on my last name and it's my nickname as such with many of my friends. Other nicknames all puns based on my last name: Lincoln, Sure-fire & Fiveski.

My favorite has always been Fivespot and it's stuck. Many friends don't even call me that anymore.

Rogue Bounty Hunter
04-25-2008, 04:05 PM
I always like to hear where people get their user names from.

...............And I think I'm going to hold that against MS for the rest of this gen. :mad:

Do any of you guys think the forum changed for the better or worse when they went to the current format?

Aku
04-26-2008, 09:21 PM
The forum itself was improved. The old forum was pretty primitive. That was the only improvement, though. The site as a whole went down the toilet when they changed the format. This used to be a fun gaming review site and now it's competely irrelevant. I don't honestly know who would use this site and get any value from it. You can just go straight to Amazon and get better consumer opinions on games and in a much better presentation than this site.

Glockstar
04-27-2008, 02:12 PM
What Aku said.

Rogue Bounty Hunter
04-28-2008, 05:44 AM
I like the current format over the old format, mainly because you can actually find threads now. I do miss the old one, simply because there were a lot more game talk there than in the current format, especially in the General Discussions and Xbox forums. Then again, it may have to do with the actual posters losing interests, getting banned, or not wanting to deal with making and keeping one username, or something.

ceevee
05-12-2008, 01:08 PM
joined PCGR the heady days of PC gaming circa 1969. in that time i average 9.5 posts a year and in December 2009 i'll be celebrating my Ruby anniversary

suck on that n00bs