About

Our Quest

The dungeon reeks of stale water and death. Dust filters through the weak light thrown off by the torch of the warrior leading the way. With an absence of noise that still amazes you, the rogue rejoins the party, her black garb blending into the dank surroundings.

“I’ve scouted ahead,” she proclaims. “No traps in this corridor but we have a fork in the passageway up ahead.”

The party turns as one and looks to you. Why they expect you to know the correct route is beyond your mystical knowledge. You’re a wizard…not an oracle. And you’re all out of pathfinding spells. No one has ever penetrated this deeply into the dungeon depths. No maps exist.

One path could lead to dragons and despair and the other to the treasure you’ve risked so much to seek. You’ve barely recovered from the battle with the goblins, your robe is still stained with the blood of your enemies and you lean heavily on your staff in fatigue. But you have to make a decision. Your voice rings out in the corridor:

“Always go right.”

And so it goes…

Yeah, I’m a geek and proud of it. We’re all geeks here.

Each of us has had a passion for all the wonderful things geeks love: fantasy novels, sci-fi movies, video games, role-playing, anime, comics, technology.

Each of us was strongly involved in the geek community in our youths. But sometimes life takes you away from the things you love.

As we busied ourselves with the business of school, jobs, relationships and, for some, even families, we lost touch with our geek roots.

But the love never left us. We all came to a point where we sought our geek passions back out and that brought us together.

And now our journey continues and so does the adventure. We’ve joined forces to search out the Holy Grail of Geekdom, the Fountain of Geek. And we want to share our search with you.

We’re not limiting ourselves to any specific branch of the geek tree on this quest to reclaim our geekhood. We follow our passion where it takes us and we hope the things that interest us will interest you as well. Because if you’re reading this site, you’re probably a lot like us. In some ways we’re super hardcore and in others we’re complete noobs.

What will you find here? Rants and raves, reviews and editorials, features and contests, links and laughter and much more. If we can turn you on to something that peaks your interest we’re doing our job. If we can help you decide how best to invest your time and money in the things you love we’re doing our job. We’ll discuss books, movies, television shows, video games, board games, RPG’s, MMO’s, comics, anime and other things you won’t expect.

This site will grow with you and for you. Because above all, we’re about the community. After all, we all met through the small community that sprung up around my little EQII blog, “Aggro Me.” So we know how important a community is. We hope you’ll interact with us, laugh with us, argue with us and connect with people who share similar interests. As time goes on, we’ll give you more tools to do just that.

And remember how I said the stuff that interests us will probably interest you? Well, it works both ways. We’d love to hear about whatever you’re into because we’ll probably be into it too.

We think big because all great quests should start that way. And remember, when in doubt…always go right.

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Ethics and Advertising

It is very important for me personally to maintain the strictest ethical standards for this site and I know my compatriots agree with me 100%.

Ethics in blogging was always very important to me, as any reader of my prior site will know.

In fact, part of me was concerned about the idea of having any advertising at all. On “Aggro Me” for over a year, I posted an entry (usually lengthy) every weekday for well over a year. And I never had a single advertisement. That’s because I know the kind of advertising an MMO blog gets and I was doing it solely for the passion. In fact, I ended up eating the forum hosting and other costs.

We’re still doing it solely for the passion. Believe me, we’re not ever going to get rich from this website and we’re not looking to do so. We do it because we love the stuff we write about and we love the community.

But we made the decision to include advertising because it will hopefully allow us to do the things we want to do with this website. I don’t mind financing the initial costs but no one would feel right about me sinking more and more money into the kind of projects we want to pursue. As I said, we think big. If the (assuredly modest) advertising money we receive can cover the ongoing costs of the site, to purchase equipment that can enhance the content, to do some advertising ourselves or to, someday, travel to get great interviews or stories, we would be ecstatic. Remember, we’re not the mainstream media - we don’t even get review copies of games, books or movies. We buy them ourselves.

But I know the dangers that come with advertising. And a lot of things I see in the mainstream media (especially the gaming media) make me sick. I will never go down that road.

Editorial content will absolutely 100% never be affected by advertising. We write what we feel - good or bad - always. I give you my word: I can not be bought.

If you ask any of the people who worked at game companies I’ve hung out with they will tell you that Aggro is the one buying the rounds. I’ve seen reporters leech free drinks like they’re going out of style. I always make sure to buy more then my fair share. This is a small example but it’s true in the larger scheme as well.

Just as a judge must avoid even the appearance of impropriety, I hold myself and this website to the absolute highest standard and accountability.

I’m confident you will come to trust us over time. And we would never betray that trust. It’s too valuable.

We will also seek to be as transparent as possible when it comes to any advertising. There will be no hidden surprises, no Microsoft paying us to include a phrase in blog posts without telling people. Not even close.

To further that transparency, I’ll explain some of the advertising we have.

There is a google search box. You use it to search the web, you see an ad, you click it and we make money.

There is an Amazon search box. You use it to search Amazon, you buy a product, we make money.

There is a Google-served image ad. It is supposed to be based on the content of the site. We do not choose the ads. We do not in any way factor the ads into our writing. We, frankly, don’t care about the ads. Well, sometimes they look kind of cool if they’re about some web-based game or something and I want to click them. But Google says you’re not supposed to click your own ads. And I fear the Google. They’d probably come to my house and beat me.

When we discuss a product (say a book or movie or game) we may provide a link to that product on Amazon. If you purchase it, we get paid. This will never effect what we say about that product. You’ll see bad reviews and an Amazon link and good reviews and an Amazon link.

Participating in the Big Fish Games affiliate program is the final part of the advertising on this site. When I was preparing a list of games I wanted to review in the first few months after launch, I realized that nearly a third were games I purchased on Big Fish. In fact, I went back and checked my credit card statement and realized that I’ve purchased more Big Fish games in the past year then all other games combined.

That is freaking sad. But I’m not going to lie about it. I always thought of myself as an uber hardcore gamer. But it turns out that sometimes, after a long day at work, I just want something casual and simple. And that’s what Big Fish is all about.

I initially just played their downloadable demos because they are all free for an hour of play. And then I ended up buying one. And then I bought more. To be honest, I even play their online games. I’ll sit there for an hour playing Big Fish Slots in a chat-room with what is probably a bunch of middle-aged housewives. So yeah, I’m pretty hardcore (I don’t even win).

So, back to the advertising. There is a Big Fish button and RSS Feed. You click on it and buy a game and we get paid. When we review Big Fish games (which we would do anyway) we will provide a link to the game. If you buy it we get paid. But please know that this will never affect the editorial content of the review. A ton of their games are absolute shit. And I’ll review the bad ones too (sometimes that’s more fun).

We are not that interested in money, except in what it will allow us to do with the site. I give you my word, right now, that any money earned will be put back into the site. Directly. If that ever changes, I’ll let you know - count on it.

Of course, we’re not perfect and that’s why we count on the community. If you see us doing something unethical, call us out on it. E-mail us or do it publicly - I do not care. I want to know. For example, if an ad for gold-farming services shows up, let me know. I didn’t put it there and I will kill it.

Thank you for reading my self-involved, righteous little decree. If it’s over the top, I’m sorry…that’s just the way I write sometimes. You’ll get used to it.