@copySave well said. I can also identify as an introverted midwestern in my 30’s. Must be a well represented insert credit demographic lol.
Midwest folks are so insular I think and it makes it hard to make new friends who actually open up. I'd trade Midwest Nice for either East Coast directness or West Coast laidbackness (Born and living in Midwest now)
I’m thankful that in spite of my general absence from most conversations, I still feel like I can post a new thread and not feel/be treated totally like a tool. More than anything I like hearing what’s in other peoples’ heads about stuff because there’s just so much to explore and consider. Thanks for that, everyone.
I like you all a whole lot. I feel like interacting with this community is teaching me how to be a human being again.
People have been so welcoming, curious, and kind here that it‘s been hard for me to feel any kind of shame or embarrassment about the things I love and want to talk about. When there are differences of opinion on something, it’s been cool to see encouragement from everyone involved in the conversation to elaborate further. Not as a way to persuade but just because, I think, we're all interested and like getting into the nitty gritty of each others experiences and unique perspectives.
It's been such a great place to learn things too. All sorts of books, movies, and video games have come into my view that I would not have likely been aware of had I not heard about them here.
I was listening to the 20th anniversary episode yesterday and towards the end of the episode Patrick Miller talks about how he wouldn‘t be where he is without Insert Credit and how the website and its work legitimised people’s work and their careers.
It made me think back to a time between circa 2003 - 2013. I'd been a member of multiple spin-off forums and projects (not all at the same time) of the then Highbury Entertainment games magazine forums (publishers of games tm et al) after they were shut down not long after the magazines were acquired by Imagine Publishing.
One thing that began to emerge from the spin-offs was a greater diversity of discussion of the games people liked that either didn't fit or wasn't really permitted as relevant to the original magazine forums and multiple attempts were made to create a place for forum members to publish their introspective writing on games, going so far as to (attempt to) launch a new website entirely for that purpose. I remember one person in particular wrote a series of articles that were titled something like "X game from the perspective of someone with no interest in the game" that were each followed up by an article once the game had been played.
None of those attempts to create something more succeeded; either through a lack of commitment, personal circumstances, death by committee, lack of leadership, and inevitably any budding writers either kept their articles on an ill-equipped forum or ended up publishing them separately during the initial blog boom.
One other notable part of those particular communities was that, being primarily a UK-centric forum we were able to arrange meet-ups, to the point that I arranged an invite-only (entirely based on trust - I wasn't deliberately excluding anyone in particular) weekender where around a dozen of us rented a cottage in the countryside and played games all weekend. These quickly grew to a week and for several years were extremely harmonious, with a growing invite list. Thankfully there are a number of people that I still get along with very well, even if we talk less as we've grown older.
Inevitably with a growing number of people (at one point we had nearly 30 people) there was a greater risk of division, toxicity and so on that eventually spilled onto the forums, which at the time I happened to be co-admin of thanks to having the task unceremoniously thrusted onto me, and, well things fell apart pretty quickly and eventually everyone in charge made the decision to kill the forum.
Which brings me back to what Patrick said; that time of earnestly trying to create _something_ as a means of talking about games in an interesting way, or about lesser known games in a regular way was, despite the failures, something that put me where I am now - I'm in arms-length public sector PR and part of that work includes a degree of community management and network fostering.
Similarly, in the same episode Brandon talks a little about how lessons were learned after the initial incarnation of the forum, particularly in terms of quickly stamping out people that tried to push what was acceptable to post (something that I failed to do during my later organised retreats), and has also put me where I am now. Going back to my job, it also involves crisis management and let me tell you that dealing with forum toxicity certainly prepares you for nipping issues in the bud in the corporate world.
Which all brings me onto my final point (and probably the point where you're waiting for me to actually tell you the point of this post); where attempts from my previous communities, and no doubt countless others, have failed to create something despite the efforts put into them - something as a means of an alternative, legitimate voice against a backdrop of blockbuster reviews and menial news, and to create a community around that shared something - Insert Credit actually succeeded, and the fact that the current incarnation, as a podcast and forum community, has revitalised a positive sense of community against a new backdrop of toxic social media, clout, and anything-for-a-click news is testament to the often unspoken hard work that goes into making a place like this a success and to bring everyone together to where we are now.
@Gaagaagiins I wish I could afford @esper, they are way too good at what they do.
This forum is a wonderful place to play silly little trivia games and post about sega. It's also sent me on a multi-year journey to play and catalog so many of the games I've missed.
This forum is just what the doctor ordered in terms of online discussion, a bunch of marxist weeaboos that write about Suikoden as if it were the Bible.
Can't imagine a place I'd rather be posting!
I really knew I was in the right place when @yeso and @Karasu recently started talking about Los Angeles chicano punk comics in a thread about suikoden. Being on this forum is like having a bunch of cool older siblings who will actually interact with you. Special shout-out to the dogs thread.
Will just echo what’s been said. This place(and the podcast) has this great vibe that somehow manages to balance serious deep cut knowledge without ever being too uptight and gatekeepy. It’s like, everyone is hella niche and passionate, but we also are self aware that we’re a bunch of silly weirdos.
It’s a nice contrast to general video game discourse. I do follow and engage with the latest AAA titles and Activision scandals on other forums but it’s nice to also hang out at a forum where I ’m more likely to post about Brutal Paws of Fury or something.
Also, as an aside, it’s nice to know there’s no chance there’d be anything transphobic or shitty here or said on the show.
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this is my favourite place to be very silly, and also learn lots from people much cleverer than i am.
Hello.
I love this place.
The internet in general is a tumultuous, violent wasteland... and these boards over the last few years have offered a solace that the value of which is hard to put in to words.
Thank you everyone for just being who you are, which turns out to be just the ragtag group of people that I needed to (virtually) hang out with.
Thanks @exodus, @shane, @esper for making this a nice place.
spoilers for final fantasy xv sorry it had to be done
/ おまえらのこと好きだわ 
/ vous êtes comme des frères/sœurs internets pour moi
Seeing bow out is giving me a funny feeling.
Since 2020, this place has, for me and others, become part of the daily routine. Log on, hang out, see what your Insert Credit friends are talking about—and I use “friends” here despite the fact none of us really knows each other and our relationships to one another aren't “real.” It is indeed a different thing from flesh and blood irl relating, but it still matters to me.
Young and impressionable as I am, reading and participating in thoughtful discussion around here has, if only by degrees, affected the way I think—about games, about online interaction, about all you people out there. I see my old posts sometimes and realize that, in almost three years of largely unchanging routine, I've grown! Those degrees matter! And among many others here (the forum is the sum of its parts), played no small role in creating the distinct atmosphere which has effected this change in me.
Insert Credit is a place.
I directly interacted only a handful of times, but that's not necessarily the meat and potatoes of being part of a forum with someone: it's as much about listening and observation as it is a direct exchange. I have Liked many of his posts. I have enjoyed (present perfect, not past tense) seeing Syzygy express his opinions, whether similar to or different from mine; glimpsing a different way of looking at things, a different set of experiences with games, game communities, the Internet, stories.
And I liked talking about Ghost in the Shell wif him & others :'-)
He is a person just like everyone here, but in my head I‘ve built him up to be a demigod of supreme power, one who knows all, how to do everything—or at least he is someone who believes in learning, gives me hope that I can always learn more, do more, be better. He hasn’t complained a whole lot around here. I am emboldened by his demonstrated belief/attitude that most of what Twitter/Youtube/people on Twitter/the news/every loud voice on The Web gripes about is just not worth the worry, and that there are always people out in the wide world doing cool stuff, trying to fix things, and helping each other. His wealth of knowledge about all manner of [history]<(link to deleted samurai ps4 games thread) and languages is inspiring. His recall of narrative details is magnificent.
We have all expressed gratitude to Syzygy as a moderator, but here I want to say:
I appreciate and admire a fellow poster on this forum.
Although the posts have been removed, I look forward to the possible continuation of the 7th Dragon 2020 Let's Play.
Change is life. The forum is alive. The forum must change. Big Changes are occurring in my Real Life right now! I‘m feeling sentimental! And isn’t gone for good. He can come back anytime.
As our friend wickedcestus once said,
Once again,
Thanks
I've had a few weeks of having very little time to visit the forum recently for, mostly, positive life reasons but the welcoming and warm community here is like a small constant in my life that I can feel comfortable in dipping in and out of when those times occur.
I'm also rather sobered thinking back to last year; it was the one year anniversary of my kidney transplant on April 25th and I recall the kind words of support that I had at the time from, essentially, almost complete strangers when I expressed that I was feeling a particularly profound level of anxiety about it, and that's not exactly something that happens on the internet every day. Thanks Insert Credit community, I wanted to reaffirm my appreciation of everyone and their contribution to making this place a fun one to hang out in.
I should also add that the above was written with a combination of tonsillitis-induced mind-screwing, intense sleep deprivation, and tramadol. Apologies for any sins of the written word.
I‘ve had a quarter bottle of white wine, five whiskies and two G&Ts… I’m a bit drunk but I, as a still relatively sober individual, want to repeat my express gratitude to the community st Forums dot Insert Credit dot com, and the show's host, panel, and guests for being lovely people and their efforts in cultivating such an inclusive community.
@LeFish drink some water and brush your teeth
@Hyper-Guts-Shooter I will. I'm a responsible little Fish with an extra kidney.
i kinda just recently realized that i‘ve been on this forum for over 2 years now. that feels weird, because it makes me feel the passage of time and change all at once. i’ve grown a lot as a person since joining, becoming both less stupid and more stupid. at least part of that was because of this place.
thank you all. thank you for being cool, kind, and for helping me see what good people look like. >!
!<
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@NoJoTo This prompted me to check how long I've been here, and we joined the forum on the same day!