So Why GiantBomb.com...?

It is a strange question to the community, to ask for a method to the madness, when so many people gravitate towards people that respect them and make them feel important. So why really did I join this site? To be blunt it was the staff, the writing, the cool site features and the ability to be at ground zero (so to speak) of a huge movement in gaming culture.

For a while I stood on the sidelines at major sites, none that I will mention here. Their community podcasts and emailed questions usually consisted of content that was marketing focused or within the certain tastes. There were very few sites out there that took the words and thoughts of its user base to heart and partitioned their media to reflect those views. GiantBomb, to me, is the embodiment of the views of its viewership. Game reviews are written by the staff but mostly the rest of the content is provided by the community. The flexibility of the tools to write blogs and news stories transforms a gaming nerd sitting on his couch, reading slanted news, go from "dude, whatever..." to "dude, whatever....I'm updating this article!" The power is within the grasp of the people to drastically change their environment.

It is a strange question to the community, to ask for a method to the madness, when so many people gravitate towards people that respect them and make them feel important. So why really did I join this site? To be blunt it was the staff, the writing, the cool site features and the ability to be at ground zero (so to speak) of a huge movement in gaming culture.

For a while I stood on the sidelines at major sites, none that I will mention here. Their community podcasts and emailed questions usually consisted of content that was marketing focused or within the certain tastes. There were very few sites out there that took the words and thoughts of its user base to heart and partitioned their media to reflect those views. GiantBomb, to me, is the embodiment of the views of its viewership. Game reviews are written by the staff but mostly the rest of the content is provided by the community. The flexibility of the tools to write blogs and news stories transforms a gaming nerd sitting on his couch, reading slanted news, go from "dude, whatever..." to "dude, whatever....I'm updating this article!" The power is within the grasp of the people to drastically change their environment.

Teh lulz.

I am glad that you have a lot of faith and praise for Giant Bomb.  It certainly has potential through the roof and has already showed some it so far in the little time it has been open.

FP told me to.

Actually, I joined because I was banned from Gamespot. I was actually gonna join IGN instead since they have much stronger Nintendo coverage than Giant Bomb, but you had to pay, and the Wiki system intrigued me.

The fact that the wiki is free to use for every non commercial project.

"So why really did I join this site? To be blunt it was the staff, the writing, the cool site features and the ability to be at ground zero (so to speak) of a huge movement in gaming culture.
...
Most internet communities can be rude, obnoxious and just plain aggressive. Web 2.0 doesn't just need to be network enabled but it also needs to be a community of understanding, moderation and respect; GiantBomb has those qualities.
...
Honest discussion, excellent site tools and respectable community is why I came to GiantBomb, what's your reason?"

I'm here because the staff are down to earth and easy to relate to. 

Good post.  I'm here because I frequented Gamespot and enjoyed reviews by Jeff and the gang.  When they left Gamespot, I left too.  Now Giantbomb is my homepage.  I like how they're not trying to be "professional" like everyone else, it's a site run by real human beings, all the way from the staff right down to the users who update pages with new images and info.

I used to go to Gamespot all the time, mainly for the staff, the reviews, and the community. Over time the community and message boards just got worse and worse, the moderators got ever stricter, and the advertisements got bigger and more intrusive. The killing blow was when Jeff Gerstmann was fired and all the cool people left. After that I stayed for a while, simply because I had no where else to go. Then I heard about GiantBomb the day it was launched, and the rest is history.

Same as a lot of people, I was at GameSpot and really admired what Jeff and Ryan did, especially on On The Spot, I liked their humour and the wrote good reviews. So when they left I followed. Then when Brad and Vinny joined it only sweetened the deal.

Intersting comments all. 

Very nice post twswordsman. One day, after listening to one of the Bombcasts, I was just in a state of awe about this site: the personality of the staff, their knowledge and professional as well as humorous attitude.  And the community is the best I have seen yet. The forums are concise but deep, full of knowledgeable people and interesting topics. So, yeah for all of this, I joined Giant Bomb, day one.  The best site on the internet on my opinion, only next to Facebook, where I can talk with my personal friends, but that is beside the point.

"Intersting comments all. 

There seems to be a lot of former gamespotters...I must admit, the hotspot was my favorite part of the site...and I do miss Rich Gallop. What's he doin these days?

"

Over the first weekend of my spring break last year I went back to gamespot for the first time since december and saw people posting comments about giantbomb.com. I checked it out for a second and came back later today and realized what it was and then I followed the blog for the whole week I had off and kept following it until summer. Why? Cause first thing i did was listen to the first podcast. Obviously I know who the guys are so that was awesome and its all new stuff and its fun to listen to. And now I keep coming back for the whole new site with the wiki and such.

It's just more comfortable.

It's not professional, but casual. A different view on things.

interesting to know that about Rich....yet another reason to hang out here.

The site is alot more casual. I like that.

This place has a lot more personality than most sites.  That's why I come here.

I joined because I liked the software. I stayed because I like the people here.

1.) Gerstmann is let go from Gamespot.
2.) I keep up with his adventures on jeffgerstmann.net
3.) I listen to the Arrow Pointing Down podcasts and become an instant fan. (Gatorade Tiger!)
4.) Davis left Gamespot too and is gonna start a new site with Jeff.
5.) I check the Giant Bomb blog regularly and listen to the Bombcasts.
6.) Giant Bomb launches. I make my account on the first day.

i have been following the guys since they left/ got let go from gs. i listened to all the arrow pointing down stuff and ejpyed it very muvh.  when they said they were launching a site i listened. been here since day one. sorry bout teh grammaer. im tying to eat an apple and typer

After reading about Jeff getting fired back in '07 and reading again how he was going to establish his own site, I hopped over here. After signing up under a different name who's email I lost back when registration first opened, this place was the shit! Watching all of the wiki articles stack up was great. Most of all, Jeff and all the other writers were great. It was so off beat and relaxed. I never read gaming news on sites like GameSpot or IGN because I assumed they were market driven. I just didn't want to read that. Sites like GiantBomb and Destructoid provide the kind of great, relaxed journalism that gaming should have!

yeah i love it because most of the time everyone on the forums are helpful and positive, i havent seen much garbage on here (spamming, advertising, or just being mean.)

GameSpot has too many fanboys