Happy Birthday Robot Viking!
It was exactly 365 days ago that the very first Robot Viking post was made. To celebrate one year of existence, Robot Viking will be hosting a month long reverse birthday party. What’s a reverse birthday party? One where the guests get all the gifts.
The birth of Robot Viking was one of those silver lining things. I’d been writing about science and gaming at io9.com when the recession and huge budget cuts at all the Gawker sites caused me to be laid off. It sucked because I’d really grown into that gig, but these things happen. I had developed some contacts with gaming companies and hated to see that go to waste. One of the brand managers at Wizards who had been feeding me Star Wars material for io9 had mentioned that I could run D&D stuff too if only I had an outlet for it. Finally I decided to just go for it and start my own site.
I spent about two months designing the site, considering its scope, picking a name and getting all the technical stuff taken care of. Then Ryan Hoerner came up with the amazing site logo. On Jan. 7, 2009 I started writing articles and posting them, even though no one even knew the site was here. I got like three hits per day. But when I did the big launch, I wanted to have some material for people to read.
The grand opening was Jan. 14, 2009. I lead off with an exclusive preview from the new Monsterpocalypse expansion, which was monstrously (ha) popular. But I have to give special thanks to Annalee Newitz at io9. She was really supportive of Robot Viking from the beginning, and gave the site a huge boost by featuring it on io9 often in those first few months. And if you’re an io9 reader, you might notice I’m back there writing about science again every week. Which I guess basically means drinks will be on me next time I visit San Francisco.
Now that Robot Viking’s origin story is out of the way, you’re probably wondering why the cover of the latest R.A. Salvatore novel is up there. Well, since Robot Viking’s birthday is really sort of spread out over the month of January, I want to do a bunch of things to celebrate all month long. I’ve got some stuff planned that you’ll find out about soon, but the first thing is a contest. I’ve got an autographed copy of Ghost King, the third book in the Transitions trilogy (thanks to Gavin). To win the book, all you have to do is participate in the comments threads for the next week or so. From now until 8 p.m. eastern time on Jan. 15, the commenter with the most comments will win the book.
Now, keep in mind that I’m obviously not going to count random, meaningless one-word comments or other spam. In fact, if you do that, you’ll be disqualified. Only substantive comments contributing to the discussion will count. I am the sole and final arbiter of comment counts and comment quality. Winner will be notified on Jan. 16. Good luck and happy birthday!
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January 7th, 2010 11:18 AM
Most comments is probably not such a good idea for a comment, even with your caveat.
Happy birthday.
January 7th, 2010 11:54 AM
Did I know about your previous gig? I feel like it was mentioned, but, knowing myself as I do, I’m sure I forgot. I forget many, many things, and it makes me sadface. But hey, congratulations, and happy early reverse birthday.
As to the prize, I didn’t even know the next three friggin’ books in the series were out. I thought they only had the first one. I was gonna wait until all three or four were released as “one” book just because that’s how I purchased the other sets. I’m fallin’ behind…
January 7th, 2010 1:45 PM
I think Sahde Join means Contest, but I agree with you, this is gonna be a battle. Megido, I found out about the site from Annalee at io9 and have been coming here every day since. Of course, that may be because it’s my home page. . .
January 7th, 2010 2:45 PM
I’ve never had a problem with comment spam here, the Vikings have always been really awesome at making good comments and having thoughtful discussions. I don’t think there will be any problems with the contest, and I’m hoping it gives folks a little nudge to be more active. Still, ggodo should probably win by default for being such a dedicated fan.
January 7th, 2010 4:31 PM
The funny thing is I probably play less of these games than anyone else. I’ve only played D&D twice, and the second round is still going. Oh, and it’s Zelda themed. and we’re using 40K minis for nearly everything. My Deku Wizard is a Genestealer.
January 9th, 2010 1:16 AM
Hey Ed, great site.. and happy bday! I’ve been following you for a few months now.. and have been really enjoying your coverage (and hilarious commentary) of most things revered in geekdom. Keep it up man!
(drizzt rulez!)