I was going to write this up as a “year in review” thing for the site, but since we’ve not even been doing this for a year yet, I decided to go a different route because I’m lazy. There’s no game of the year awards or revisiting of articles or podcasts this time around. Maybe next year we’ll have the organization we need to do such things, but I wanted to get something out that would encompass what gaming and blogging in 2009 was to me.

The year started off with me playing Warhammer Online. I was still hanging tough and praising the game for all its qualities, namely tier 1. My lackadaisical leveling curve and repeated rerolling of characters were the rose colored glasses that eventually became cracked when I broke past level 32 and went full on into the end game. I wouldn’t ask for that time back though, not a second of it, but I would ask for my money back. Even with as much of a disappointment I feel the game ended up being, I learned a lot about hype, and I took away some great friendships.

In December of last year I was writing for Lagwar.com. I wanted a switch in Warhammer, so I had asked Captain Brad if he liked the guild he was in. He said they were a bunch of dicks a great group of people. Then after finding out they did a podcast, I checked it out, and thought it might be a good fit. Boy was I wrong. They ended up being a cool bunch of cats, and eventually broke from my constant bickering let me be on the show. Because I have no life I’m pretty flexible with my time, I ended up becoming quite the regular, much to the listeners despair delight despair.

Time went on, and the positive feelings for WAR started to wane for most of us. We got to a point where people wanted to leave the game, but were sticking around because of the group. We had them all blackmailed.  We wanted to stay in touch and continue gaming together, so we started this blog and kept working on the podcast, simply changing it from a single game focus to about whatever we’re playing.

Over the last six months, I think I’ve grown as a gamer because I’m balder of working on this blog. Even though I kept up with games before, I really seem to have expanded my gaze of what I’m staying current on. My viewpoints have been challenged in some regards (which is a good thing), and I’ve been able to meet some very interesting people that I would have never had the opportunity to otherwise. That’s really what I’m taking away from 2009.

Let’s face it, most of us working on this are middle aged with people living in our houses who suck the life force from us kids and full time jobs. We just do this for kicks. So it amazes me that young whippersnappers people read and listen to us. But I sure am glad you do. I’m anxious about the upcoming year and the fun that I’m going to have with my family (kids will be 4 and 2 years old in less than a month!) and all of you in our little gaming community.

Hope you had a great 2009, and looking forward to seeing you around in 2010!