Ben Pack Appreciation Thread

As announced on the Bombcast, Ben is ending his time at Giant Bomb after Game of the Year has concluded. Please use this thread to wish him the best and appreciate the time he has been here.

If you have nothing good to say, keep it to yourself. The other mods and I will not tolerate any wild speculation about new hires or the "real reason" why Ben or other staff members have left. Please keep it civil and give @benpack a warm goodbye.

I for one will always fondly remember Ben Appetit Jan Can Cook.

Thanks, Ben. You brought a unique energy and fun to everything you were on. It was a real joy to have you on the site. From Ben's Lens to Ben and Jen Can(?) Cook, it was all very positive and I loved it.

Good luck with everything you do <3 <>

Big loss, Ben really came into his own since being hired full time.

Ben Appetit was the best but the Aftermath podcast is probably what I’ll miss the most.

Good luck Ben, Ben's Lens was a great series - you'll be missed!

No way! What a bummer! Ben was a welcome addition to the crew. I loved the way he and Jeff played off each other. His Godhand series was my most anticipated show while it ran. All his chill vibing with Jan was always a welcome energy that was a big boost when things were overwhelming. He was a bad ass Bombduder, a fantastic collaborator and I'm certain he will continue to do great things.

Ben has always brought some chaotic energy to anything he has done. Sad to see him go since I did enjoy just about everything he been apart of during his time at Giant Bomb. Good luck with whatever else you plan on doing Ben. See you space cowboy.

Big Loss. Ben I hope you have a blast with whatever you are doing next. Please don't be a stranger!

Thank you for everything, Ben! You always brought so much fun and so many jokes, and it will definitely be missed. I wish you the best of luck with in the future!

Oh shit.

Fuck.

Gonna miss you Ben, really appreciated your voice on the Bombcast.

Love you Ben! I will miss you! I hope you have an awesome time doing whatever you end up doing =)

One thing I'll miss about Ben is how he wasn't ever afraid to break out of his comfort zone. Either because he was genuinely interested or because he wanted to cover something for the site, he would play lots of games no one else on the crew dare touch. Love you, Ben!

Going to miss Ben! I wish him luck wherever he ends up!

Ben, you were a great addition to the site. Thanks for all the laughs.

Man, I haven't listened to the bombcast yet so this news really bummed me out to to see.

Ben was my most relatable person on GB. His jokes often landed for me and I really appreciated his anecdotes and opinions on games.

Best of Luck to whatever's next, Ben. Hopefully it continues to be in the video game world.

EDIT: Nevermind, just listened to the clip and it sounds like he's moving on from games. So best of luck on doing something else!

Unfortunately, I didn't get to hear all of his announcement on the Bombcast but I respect his decision. Ben will be sorely missed. As an "older gamer" both he and Abby opened my eyes to things being the youngsters they are. Wishing him, his partner, and his dachshund all the best!

Good luck Ben. I am a fan.

Ben I will miss you and your pineapple shirt.

Ben you have brought so much. Going to miss your manic laughter and energy.

Good look with your future endeavors.

ben you are not just a 3am boy you are a 3am man

"its 3am I must be lonely"

Ben and mine's taste in games was a Venn diagram with some, but not a lot of overlap, and I think that's why I appreciated his presence. Ben had an enthusiasm for titles and genres that encouraged me to give them a second look. Ben's endorsement didn't mean a game always stuck with me, but I often found something in there that I had overlooked.

Really sad to hear about this. Loved Ben's take on games and his energy made for some great features. The site will be worse off without him. Best of luck in whatever he does next.

The thing I'll miss most is the Ben and Rorie "frenemy" relationship seen in UPF and Extra Life. Always brought a smile to my face when those two interacted.

So this is what Ben meant when he asked, last week, about what happens if GOTY runs longer than the week and they mentioned how the Friday is a hard stop.

Thanks for everything, Ben!

Love Ben's honest take on the Bomb Cast today. Ben punching the hard out and saying "Nah, this whole video games coverage and being an internet personality isn't for me" is what I've loved about him over the years. I am so glad he has been around all this time and I've everything he has done. Except get Brad into Dota. That part hurt us all.

Fuuck. This hits. With Abby I had sort of accepted that she was going to leave at some point, with Ben this is unexpected.

I loved the millenial hijinx with Jan AND the 3 AM boys with Jeff AND the dumb beat 'em up shenanigans with Jason AND his bitter rivalry with Rorie... I guess he had a fun shtick with every West member except Brad.

To me he was Big Content Ben, the dude who kept up coming with all sorts of features for the West coast office and tried out new things. I wouldn't compare that to Dan's strange game shows, but they were all fun features with the games themselves as the main attraction in my opinion.

I wish Ben continued success and hopefully his future jobs do not start as unfortunately as his tenure at GB.

Aw, man. You'll be missed, Ben! Good luck in your future endeavors!

Haven't seen the Bombcast, but I will miss Ben and his contributions. He really grew into it as time progressed.

He may be the reason I played Disco Elysium, and I frickin' love that game!

Oh man I guess I better catch up to the bombcast. From intern to kingtern to one of the duders, you are one of the last vestige to the whiskey media days. When I asked Jeff a while back what he thinks of the "next generation" of GB to carry the torch forward and then you were hired shortly after that, I was like boom, this is it! Anyways, loved your junior scientific input to the fighting game genre and having you try new things in the west coast. I'm not sure if you announced what your next steps are yet but if it's like recent GB alumni's then I look forward to you blowing up as the next big (get it, cause you're really tall) twitch streamer!

Damn. Good luck Ben your future endeavours, thanks for all the great entertainment and game discussion.

Bye and good luck! 👋

damn, bye bud

I refuse to let Ben leave until he concludes Kingdom Heartbreak.

(Bye, Ben. You will be missed.)

Sad to hear you're finally ending your 9(?)-year internship Ben. You were awesome, and brought a great energy to the crew. Hopefully now you can finally get paid.

<>

I'll still follow you on Twitter, so I'm not exactly gonna miss you, but I will miss your energy on the show. You're awesome dude. Take care and good luck.

haven't heard the announcement yet, so i reserve the right an additional:

'ben too?! nooooooooooo!!'

but real talk ben's fuckin great, he'll be sincerely missed. the dynamic trio of jan/ben/rorie keeping it punchy for extralife is amongst my favorite stuff. so it's with tearful appreciation i'll say, "mom's dead. parkour."

Best of luck Ben, you'll be missed. 3am boys for life.

Will really miss Ben, such a unique voice that I always appreciated. All the best for whatever you go on to next.

This is a real bummer, but I hope you find what you are looking for Ben! I really loved Gotta God Hand and thought you handled yourself in GOTY deliberations extremely well! Gonna miss you :(

All the best, Ben. May your cups remain haunted.

You're a goddamn treasure, Ben. So many people make the mistake of not taking care of themselves until it's too late. Don't ever let the bastards get you down. o7

Ben's done some really cool stuff over his time here. I hope he succeeds in whatever he does next and has a great time doing it.

Thanks for all the laughs, Ben! I always appreciated your raw, millennial, Joker-energy. Best of luck in your future endeavors, you'll crush it!

o7 Ben Pack. I wish you the best in your future.

Thanks for all the memories duder!

I was just thinking the other day about how I was really enjoying Ben's presence on the shows recently so this was pretty surprising. However, it's cool to see someone decide that forward facing video content isn't for them despite how common it is now and use this hellish year as a turning point for their career and lives. From what he's said I wouldn't be surprised if he was going to move or will just be so deeply involved with something important that he won't really be popping up online (tbh I'm a little jealous), so I wish him the best of luck with his new endeavor!

Good for you Ben! hope this change brings you much happiness.

Your enthusiasm for video games, and stuff in general, is super, and will be missed dearly.

Good luck Ben!

All the millennials are leaving us.

Ben is so good. Really funny, energetic, and unique. I'm gonna have to rewatch Kingdom Heartbreak now. I wonder if GB Infinite can just stream the whole thing as a tribute to Ben.

Dammit, of course Ben announces this right after I turned off the live stream. :-(

Sad to hear you're leaving, Ben, but I wish you all the best! You always bring warmth and enthusiasm to your work on the site. We'll miss you.

Man, this is a real bummer. He really did bring such a great energy to everything. He was great at keeping conversations going and understood the careful balance of being funny and being sincere. He also had a really incredible rapport with legitimately every single member of the GB crew that always felt so easygoing. Like, if a show was just Ben and any other GB member, I knew I was in for a good time.

I'll def miss him, and I'm wishing him all the best!

Ben you are the best, and something that is not often mentioned, no one makes Jeff laughs as easy as you do. Best wish on your future endeavors!