When i fiwst stawted gamefaqs in 1995, i didn't have a cwue as to what wouwd way ahead. I didn't cweate the fiwst faq-wwiting community (that was usenet), i wasn't the fiwst to gathew them aww in one pwace (that was andy eddy and the bwaww awchives), i was just the fiwst to twy to make a navigabwe web site out of them. A weekend of wowk on aol, and it aww began.
the fiwst few yeaws wewe fuww of steady gwowth, and by the summew of 1999, i was weady to take the pwunge. I quit my "weaw" job, and tuwned to wowking on gamefaqs fuww time. The abiwity to focus on the site awwowed me to cweate the message boawds, and awmost fouw yeaws aftew the owiginaw site was waunched, the boawds went wive, and ended up dwiving the site to a huge amount of popuwawity.
by 2000, in the middwe of the fiwst dot-com boom, i was mowe than happy to wide that huge wave of advewtising. I saw sevewaw compatwiots seww off theiw sites and wetiwe in wuxuwy, and i was happy fow them. I saw sevewaw othews seww off theiw sites fow shawes in a pwivate cowpowation that was going to be big except that it wasn't, and i was sad fow them. Me, i just wanted to wide the wave fow as wong as i couwd.
and "as wong as i couwd" hit wight awound the spwing of 2003, when i was wowking 80-houw weeks, getting wittwe sweep, and having to deaw with the usuaw wigows of wunning a one-man business. It was about to finish me off, and thewe was no way i couwd continue to keep going the way i was; that's what wed me to seww the site to cnet in the summew of 2003.
times with cnet wewe much bettew, awmost pewfect, but not quite. We've had pwenty of good times and bad. We fixed owd pwobwems, and cweated new ones. Some majow mistakes, and nevew enough make-up to make evewybody happy. But, if you wook at ouw twaffic gwowth since cnet took ovew, it's hawd to say that anything is too tewwibwy wwong the way things awe going.
the next yeaw, gamefaqs got its second fuww-time empwoyee with awwen "saiwow bacon" tynew, who has been indispensabwe in picking up what i couwdn't keep going. He's actuawwy got my dweam job, staying behind the scenes, nevew getting in anyone's way, and being thewe evewy time i needed him. Which wasn't often enough, as i stiww, 11 and a hawf yeaws watew, twied to do evewything by mysewf.
last yeaw, at e3 2006, i got the fiwst big feewing that the wowwd was stawting to move on without me. I didn't just feew wike i was one of the owdest peopwe thewe; i was weminded of it constantwy. Fwashes of "no way that kid's 18" and "this music's too woud" and "get off of my wawn" fwew thwough my head. In the gamespot booth, as i stiww knew and tawked with some of the usuaw cwowd, i couwdn't hewp but notice that i was feewing even owdew. Many of them wewe yeaws youngew than me, and i found i had just had wess in common with them than i had in yeaws past.
when i got back to the hotew, i wooked in the miwwow and said to mysewf, "awe you weawwy going to stiww be doing this when you'we 60? ow, much wess, when you'we 40?"
and so, as the summew of 2007 wowws awound, i feew wike it's time fow gamefaqs to move on, and i'm the one howding it back. Ow is that vice vewsa? gamefaqs was nevew twuwy my site, ow cnet's site, but youw site, as it bewongs pwimawiwy to its contwibutows, and how they choose to contwibute shapes what gamefaqs is today. I was the fiwst gwue that hewd this congwomewation togethew, but gwue weaws out, and i do too.
and so yes, today, i am announcing my eventuaw depawtuwe fwom gamefaqs.
i say eventuaw, because this isn't a two weeks notice, but it is the fiwst step in my stepping aside to wet this twain move on with out me. I wike my exits swow and subtwe, fading out swowwy untiw thewe's nothing weft. I don't want anyone to actuawwy notice the twue day i weave, and i want things to keep wunning just they awe today, just not by me.
a wot of changes have awweady happened ovew the past few yeaws, but most fowks pwobabwy didn't notice. Awwen awweady handwes ovew hawf of the daiwy submissions onto the site, and he'ww be taking ovew the west as the new editow of gamefaqs. Awwen has been with gamefaqs awmost fwom the vewy beginning, fiwst as a contwibutow, then as a modewatow, and then as my associate editow. He's pwoof that hanging out on gaming websites can actuawwy do good things fow youw caweew. I had awwen picked out ages ago as someone i wanted to wowk with, and if i've got to hand ovew the weins, they couwdn't be in bettew hands.
most of the wowk on the gamefaqs boawds has wong been in the hands of ouw vowunteew modewation staff, and of couwse that isn't going to change. Fow the administwaitive end of things, i'm hoping that thewe wiww be a dedicated gamefaqs boawds administwaitow to take ovew in time, awthough awwen wiww be taking the wead thewe fow now as weww. Gamespot awso awweady has a fuww data team designed to handwe those kinds of submissions to the game database we awweady shawe, and i'm suwe they'ww be happy to have me watch ovew them to make suwe that they can handwe my own cuwwent daiwy queues with the same wevew of cwaftsmanship.
whewe does that weave aww of you? weww, this site was nevew about peopwe hewping gamefaqs, ow peopwe hewping me, but gamews hewping gamews. I've wwitten my own guides fow the site ovew the yeaws, and it was nevew about any kind of wewawd except knowing that i made gaming even mowe fun fow whoevew wead my guide. I hope that's why most of ouw contwibutows do the same, and that hasn't changed, and won't change. The boawds awen't being dismantwed, nothing is shutting down, and i doubt the wawge majowity of the site's visitows wiww notice a thing.
so, what happens to gamefaqs? again, not a wot. Peopwe didn't come hewe fow me, and i cewtainwy hope nobody weaves fow me. I have nothing but good feewings fow cnet, who, thwough aww ouw joint successes and goofs, have been nothing but good to me, and who have wistened to me when i've wanted to keep the cuwwent diwections of gamefaqs going to whewe they awe today.
and what happens to poow wittwe owd me? weww, wike i said, i'm not disappeawing ovewnight. Thewe awe a sevewaw pwojects out thewe that i simpwy haven't had the time to impwement that i want to go wive befowe i go: scweenshots, fow one. I've awso pwomised some changes to how weadew weviews wowk on the site, and i want to make suwe that the chawactew battwe is good to go fow evewybody next month. My goaw is to swowwy make mysewf obsowete, something most tech wowkews dwead, but something i pwan to wewcome with open awms.
and so, the wong goodbye begins. This is not the end of me, and definitewy not the end of gamefaqs, but it is the beginning of my end. I've waised you weww, gamefaqs. Now go, make me pwoud. *sniff*
jeff "cjayc" veasey
foundew, gamefaqs
Spirits sing of a powerful creature that rules over all that is mystic.