Similar to how I wrote a bunch of articles before actually introducing myself, this has kinda been hinted at for the past week or so, but I haven’t put it here in writing until right now: I’m out! It’s my last fuckin’ day!
When I started here at Kotaku Australia back in 2021, I was completely new to the world of ‘video game journalism’. I came from a background in radio production and presenting, as well as a historic love for video games. I truly did not see myself existing in this industry, and yet here I am! How absurd! How weird!
Since I started, I’ve had the opportunity to do so many amazing things, like go on panels at PAX Australia, support the local industry at a variety of events, and say some bullshit on many a podcast. I’ve met so many incredibly talented people in the industry, from those with illustrious careers and many titles in their portfolios to fresh new talent just breaking into the game development world. Both have equally been inspiring and insightful in terms of their craft.
And then there are the host of people who exist around the video games industry that I’ve got the chance to meet and talk to about what they do, too, from streamers to actors to musicians to wrestlers. Every little chat that I’ve had with these experts in their field has opened my eyes to a whole new side of the wider pop culture world, and it has been a wild ride!
I’m incredibly grateful to everyone I got the opportunity to work with. Zac Kelly, Lauren Rouse, Ky Stewart, Asha Barbaschow, Steph Nuzzo, Chris Neill, Bella Noyes, Matt Hopkins, Ellie Goodman, Bree Grant, David Allegretti, Bianca Davino, the list goes on. All the writers from Vice, Refinery29, and Pedestrian that I shared an office with, and all of the writers over the pond from Kotaku US. I’ve learned something new from each and everyone one of them.
All the people here in our teeny-tiny little teams at G/O (Gizmodo, Lifehacker, and Kotaku) are incredibly talented. While we definitely could’ve done with a few more people on the team, I like to think David and I (and our merry freelancers) made do with what we had for Kotaku.
Ah, David. David is a wonderful editor and a wonderful person. If you’ve ever read something truly demented that I’ve written, it’s vital that you know that it always went through him. That poor man gave me far too much creative freedom, and I can’t thank him enough for it. Also, the highlight of every week was getting to do the Kotaku Australia Podcast with this freakin’ guy.
When it comes to my experience writing for Kotaku Australia, it’s been a whirlwind of emotions. Excitement, awe, fear, anxiety, panic, goofiness, silliness, and more. It’s hard to deny that one very much sets themselves up for criticism purely by writing for this website, and that’s before people even read what you’ve got to say. It ain’t fun, so I tried to make it as fun as I could by being a big ol’ dummy!
In saying that, I’ve tried to use my time here to spread as many good vibes and silly goofs as I possibly can. At the end of the day, I’ve always known that I wasn’t built to do the incredible work that folks like People Make Games do. I didn’t undertake a journalism degree. I never had the time to do a deep-dive investigation into the wrongs of gamer society. I’m just the court jester that learnt how to read and write.
So here are a few things I hope I brought here, and how I hope I made you (the reader) feel. I hope I made you look deeper into the games you play. I hope I encouraged you to look at something made locally. I hope I helped you discover something you otherwise wouldn’t have. I hope I made you smile, and I hope I made you laugh.
If you’ve enjoyed my weird musings, I’m glad. If you didn’t, that’s okay too! I hope I managed to fill some little niche somewhere along the line for you. I came into this job wanting to write about games that I think are cool, talk to the people who are making them, get some more eyes on the great games coming out of our local industry, and then also a little shitpost here and there.
I think I achieved a good amount of that!
But at the end of the day, I want to thank you guys the most for sticking around. It seems like Kotaku AU has gone through various ‘eras’ of sorts, with each one being vastly different from the one before. Some of you may have stuck around from the beginning or from the middle, and some of you might be brand new. Either way, thanks for hanging out.
I’ve made a promise to my higher-ups here that now I am dead to this place, my corpse will be put in a mystery location in the office. They will only be allowed to remove it once it’s created enough of a stink that it’ll linger around long after they’ve gotten rid of the flesh prison. It’s in my contract, maybe!
Anyway, thank for listening and thanks for everything. If you’d like to follow me in my shitposting travels, you can find me on Twitter at @rubyinnes. If you’d like to follow me in my actual travels, I’ll be heading over to Back Pocket to cause trouble there instead.
To conclude, I have one simple request. Play a game that you love, and think about all the reasons why you love it. Video games are amazing things, and are capable of so much. Wasting energy on the shit that you hate is just that: a waste! Live a little! Do the things you love instead! It’s a beautiful feeling to be able to bask in the things that you love!
Oh, and the last ScribbleTaku was Undertale. I thought it would be cute to end it with that.
So long, Gay Bowser!
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