Thank you so much to the whole Insert Credit crew (past, present, and future) for this episode and everything IC has come to encompass. I think @goonbag articulated above some feelings that really resonate with me here. Gaming and it’s more quirky and obscure ephemera have been a part of my life basically as long as I can remember and, whatever life throws at me, can at least serve as something of an anchor to keep me sane.
I’ve been a pretty passive follower of various sites, podcasts, and communities for decades now, with old Destructoid and Giant Bomb in particular being sources of some real fun writing and personalities. I felt a bit more adrift as of late, though something about IC really clicked when I first started listening to the podcast last year. I had been reading Action Button dot net since its founding and following Frank’s work with the VGHF (and his stellar GDC talks), but I am really disappointed in myself for somehow orbiting IC for all these years without every quite landing on it.
At the beginning of this year I was able to finally pay off a loan that had been following me around for quite a while, and I made a resolution to start putting some Patreon money toward creators that I really thought were elevating the online experience. Insert Credit was a no-brainer here. I made another resolution to seek out positive ways to engage online, tailoring or cutting out big, loud, anonymous Social Media proper. It was a big step for me, personally, to begin posting–even though a lot of it is silly or frivolous, IC has encouraged me to at least begin to think about longer form writing and even trying out creative mediums that I never thought I would (special shout out to the Art Jam, as well as @fridgeboy for issuing the sketch-a-bird-with-your-copy-of-Ace-Combat challenge). There’s a strong core of intellectual good faith around here that somehow imbues everything from sonic GIFs to Azure’s powerful soliloquy on this episode with meaning, and I’m glad to be a part of it.
Most of all, I just appreciate reading, seeing, hearing, and watching the amazing and diverse contributions of everyone here–Thank you IC!
