A stunning turnaround

I’m surprised, flattered, and a little bit weirded out by the overwhelmingly positive responses I’ve received in the wake of achieving the professional equivalent of dinging L. 60. Of the several hundred tweets and blog comments and forum posts I’ve read, only a tiny handful have been trollish or even negative. Even freaking GAF barely had anything bad to say, and those guys are supposed to hate my guts. It makes me vaguely wonder if something has gone terribly wrong with the universe.

Seriously, though, the tidal wave of good vibes is more than a little humbling, and also makes me mindful of the potential for failure and blowback. The Internet clearly expects good things from 1UP now, and the Internet doesn’t deal well with being disappointed.

To my closest friends: Please prep your tearful, mascara-streaked “Leave Jeremy alone!” videos now, just in case.

22 thoughts on “A stunning turnaround

  1. Jeremy, you’re better – far better – than you give yourself credit for. Just look at what you’ve done with Gamespite in your spare time. I know it’s daunting when so many people congratulate you (which, by the way, c

    • Sigh. Don’t write meaningful things on an iPhone.

      So, congratulations, and I was saying that so many people are happy for this and expect great things because you have already done great things. It’s can be daunting, but just keep doing what you’ve been doing and I’m confident you will deliver.

  2. I’ve read enough of your work to realize that anyone that is hatin’ really just disagrees with you, and is certainly not a reflection on the quality of your work.

    Keep up the good work, but don’t take on more than you can handle. I’d rather see a slowed pace than have you go stark-raving mad and lose you completely. ;)

  3. That the internet even expects good things from 1UP speaks volumes to your reputation for quality writing.

    Have to say, hope this doesn’t mean we’ll see an All-New, All-Different, nicer Jeremy Parish. That Xenosaga piece here on gamespite has gotta be my favorite piece of yours. Complete and utter dismantling.

    Then again, I suppose we haven’t really seen that sort of thing in a while…

  4. Nah, you’ll be fine mate. It was your writing that introduced me to the wonderful world of video game criticism beyond a simple score and “all these weapons are rad and fun, the levels are long and the game is HUGE. 9.87/10”.

    On a more serious note, I don’t think I’ve stumbled across a piece of your writing I haven’t liked, even for games and topics I’m not interested in.

    Yeah, we’ve got your backs

    • Same. GameSpite was my introduction to more in-depth, non-IGN/GameInformer criticism, and I’m very grateful for that. Congrats.

    • I didn’t actually expect you to create teary pleas to be left alone, but I assumed that you have some actual trepidation regarding the role to fill. I recently finished grad school and took an actual research position in a respected industry lab, and I felt much the same way.

  5. As someone who’s followed you since the toastyfrog days (and misses the Rorita/Toasty toons), I can say with utmost confidence,

    You so got this.

  6. “I’m surprised, flattered, and a little bit weirded out by the overwhelmingly positive responses I’ve received in the wake of achieving the professional equivalent of dinging L. 60.”

    Oh man, I’m a professional at this:

    grats

  7. Tongue in cheek or not, I’m thrilled for you, Jeremy. Congratulations.

  8. Always humble as ever. You are highly regarded in the world of game historians and thoughtfulness. I’m glad to see you only delving deeper into game journalism because it needs your input to help evolve games!

  9. Congratulations! This is a damn big thing to be proud of. I actually like 1UP.

  10. As long as this means 1UP will continue to vaguely remind me of why I loved The GIA so much, if not vaguely remind me of it to a greater degree, it’s good news all around.

  11. Jeremy. I have read you since before 1up, before Gamespite. I remember waiting for you to publish installments of thumbnail theater. You have always been great! I look forward to your continued success.

  12. Wow, congrats!!!! Very exciting! Will go back to reading 1up again and not just to handpick your articles and some Retronauts episodes — looking forward to the site under your direction.

  13. I just found out the news. Congratulations! I’m really looking forward to it. I will have my camera ready, just in case.

  14. I hope I don’t come off as negative, because truthfully it’s been pretty cool to see you come along as you have. Now if you can just reveal who Sushi-X REALLY is…

Comments are closed.