I've been following GameSpot, reading and listening to Ryan Davis for more than seven years. I have a lot of respect for Ryan and Jeff, otherwise I wouldn't be here. But I never realized how much Ryan meant to me until July 8, 2013, when I learned that he had passed away.

I’m going to miss Ryan’s stories, his laughter, and his enthusiasm. He loved to do what he did, and we loved him.

Whether you agreed with him or not, it was always fun listening to Ryan talk about... anything, really. Video games, food, drinks, whatever. Even while others were talking, the insight and humour he added to the conversation were always welcome. He was also a talented writer, but alas he didn't get to use that skill much at Giant Bomb.

Back in the GameSpot days I would use wget to download The HotSpot in multiple parts over a dial-up connection. I loved the HotSpot, and I did what I needed to be done to get my weekly fix. But something was messed up either on my end or on GameSpot's end, and the audio file I downloaded would skip, repeat, and do other stuff you don’t expect from an MP3. When Ryan said dumb stuff, my download process would repeat it several times just for me. I appreciate it more now than I did back then.

I’m impressed how much love for Ryan the entire gaming community has shown in response to his passing. Of course he's played a key role in the Giant Bomb crew and matters a lot to us here. And it's not surprising to see Double Fine and Harmonix react. But I’m also seeing responses from old GameSpot friends who aren't members here, Ubisoft, Amazon Video Games, Ouya, and more. Ryan Davis was a trending topic worldwide on Twitter. It's a huge response, and well deserved.

Farewell, Ryan Davis. We'll miss the hell out of you.