by elizabeth on September 7, 2010
Dragon*Con is officially over and it’s been… I’ll just say interesting. Some good interesting, some bad interesting, but I’ll hit the highlights and endevour to spend the rest of the year forgetting the rest. (It’s a necessity, or else I’ll never go to a con again. Which I’ve already said I won’t, but there’s plenty of time to talk myself back out of that.)
Parade! Fun! There were 150 Doctor Who cosplayers in the parade, including me. 
At some point during the route we started clapping to the Master’s drum-beat, and we had enough people clapping that it was literally echoing off the buildings downtown. The parade experience might have been more entertaining were I not pretty awfully hungover. Note to self for next year…
Voltaire, as always, super fun to see in person. Bought some CDs that I can’t listen to because I didn’t bring a computer with me. Well, when I get home…
Jim Butcher’s panel was brilliant and has made me both want to re-read all of his novels and work on some writing of my own. The man’s a true geek (and I say that fondly) and I like him more than ever.
Edward James Olmos. I just made one (of the many) BSG panels and, though filled with spoilers (oops), it was entirely worth it. Some great stories, a ridiculously sweet marriage proposal in the crowd during the Q&A (with Olmos’ blessing), and I got his autograph.
Frazer Hines. He’s incredibly charming in person, happy to talk and answer questions, and had a seemingly endless number of entertaining stories to tell. (A great number of his stories seem to involve pretty girls that he was dating at the time. Watch out, ladies.) I’d gone over to talk to Frazer after getting Edward’s autograph, and after some conversation about how I was worried about damaging my autograph before getting it somewhere safe, he found a plastic sleeve for it for me. I know it may sound like a tiny thing, but it’s a thoughtful gesture that a lot of people wouldn’t have bothered with. So it could be said that I’m now in his fan club. I’m told there’s a secret handshake, but it apparently involves bagpipes.
The Brittrack panels, always entertaining, even when there aren’t any guests about. Met the TimeGate folks, too, and may come back out to Atlanta in May for the occassion.
And apparently the Sheraton is already taking reservations for next year. I may have to get in on that, though I’m really not into being the respoinsible person who books the room. Damn responsibility. /shakefist
by elizabeth on August 24, 2010
I’ve been working on the Joystiq network (currently comprising Big Download, Joystiq, Massively, and WoW.com) for four and a half years now, back when WoW.com was WoW Insider and we got as much traffic in a month as we now do in a day. (For laughs, check out my first post on the site, about patch 1.10.) In my time on the network, I’ve written 928,077 words in 2454 posts. I’ve learned more than I can reasonably explain in a simple blog post and I’ve worn more different hats than I can count. It’s longer than I’ve ever stayed in one place before and, no matter how difficult it’s been at times, there’s a comfortable familiarity to it that makes it hard to imagine leaving. But leaving I am, at the end of the month. It’s been a wild ride and I don’t regret a moment of the time I’ve spent here, but gaming has turned into more work than play and it’s time for a change.
I will, however, miss the team I’m walking away from, especially the WoW.com team which I’ve taken great pains to assemble over the years. I imagine life without our team chat will be a much quieter affair, with fewer random descents into laughter. I emailed yesterday to let everyone know that I was leaving and have been absolutely floored by the responses I’ve gotten — “floored” in a good way, mind you — which have ranged from:
Was it Khan? Are you leaving because of Khan? I’m just going to pretend you are.
KHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNN!
To:
I have no words, just ellipses with many dots (tears?) ……………
Truly:
… out of fairness I should point out that wherever you’re going isn’t half as awesome as us.
A haiku:
we will miss you liz
and not just for our paychecks
your future is bright
Obviously:
Thank you for making everything sane and making sure I knew what the heck I was doing when I got into this thing. And the Doctor Who rabid commentary.
From Twitter:
A @wowdotcom without @Faience is like a @mikesacco without long hair 
And a few lolcats, which are our regular conversational currency.
The phrase is overused, but all can say is that it’s been an honor and a privilege to be part of this team. I’ll especially miss Brad Hill, whose calm presence never fails to impress me; Chris Grant, whose ability to turn brilliant ideas into tangible realities is nothing short of amazing; and Dan O’Halloran, who will be taking over for me as WoW.com Editor-in-Chief and has taught me a heck of a lot. (There was a time, back when he first started, that I very nearly fired him — and WoW.com would be a different place today if I had.)
But new challenges: I’ll be rejoining the indomitable Barb Dybwad, who first hired me at AOL, at Tecca. I can’t really say much about what we’re doing there except that it sounds like fun and we’re hunting for talented folks. Change is always a bit scary, and I can’t deny being anxiety-ridden over the jump. But I do think it’s time, perhaps even past time, for something new.
