My Thoughts of the 1up Saga
By finalkross 2 Comments
I'll admit it, in regards to 1up I am still relatively young to the site. While I frequented the site every once in a while, it wasn't until I was going through my PodCast addiction early in 2008 that I finally started paying attention to 1Up. I quickly became a fan and even created a 1up page and tried to collect points (although for some odd reason, my points keep getting reset). While I might not have the experience that so many other 1Up users have, I did appreciate what it had to offer. I loved the features but it was the PodCasts, both in terms of content and quality that made my weekends at the Gym so enjoyable.
When it came to the communities of the major game sites, my impressions were as such. GameSpot was littered with most kids under the age of 21 who loved to purposely misspell, use improper grammar and talk about 'how cool they were online'. It almost felt like 'Videogame My Space'. Yes, there were people with some/lots of intelligence, but they were a very small bunch. GameSpot also suffered from having those who thought they knew it all and felt that they controlled the Web . It wasn't a place that I felt like I fully belonged. I have stopped writing there but I do attend the pages to see what other people I grew to enjoy reading are up to.
I will admit that did enjoy reading the blogs of the staff there, but only a few of them actually updated their pages on a regular basis. They almost always had great stuff to talk about, but unfortunately, they were not as dedicated as they should be. It also didn't help that a good chunk of their staff suffered the axe before Christmas.
As for IGN, I felt their community was really laid back and not that engaging. I did find reading the staff's blogs entertaining since they were often off-topic with plenty of , but I never managed to read an interesting blog written by a user. I really love listen to all the IGN Podcasts, both Gaming and Entertainment related and outside of the 1Up Network, offered the most content to gamers.
1up was different. Their staff regularly update their blogs with plenty of gaming information, pictures of the staff and other cool images and even plenty of off-topic commentary. I even managed to find some interesting people who wrote and updated their blogs. I really like the fact that there is a 'popular blog' section where you can see their featured users post. While I don't have anyone post comments on my blog , I do try my best to post on others and to get my name out-there.
Once word got out that most of the 1up staff were let-go, I spent a good portion of my Orthodox Christmas Eve adding as many people in the Gaming Press (but specifically former 1Up Staffers) to my Twitter feed. Since I became so interested in the 'gaming' and 'personal' lives of most of the 1up crew, I really want to know what the future holds for all of them. I am confident that most will land on their feet in no time. Thankfully most of them have the experience necessary to either land a job at another gaming site, developer or even follow in the foot-steps of Giant Bomb and create a new site where they are in complete control.
The gaming industry is like any other industry. There are ups and downs and I believe that all of these people were slowly preparing for this. We all knew Ziff Davis was in trouble and that EGM was bound to suffer, but I just doubt they thought it would happen this soon after the holidays.
I will probably still continue to follow 1Up because some of the staff that I grew to love are still working. While we don't know what will happen to 1Up Yours, 1Up FM and so many of the other programs, I still believe the site will benefit greatly with the support of Hearst/UGO. Change can be good, I am certain that the guys at Giant Bomb can atest to that.