February 2008 simultaneously feels like a long time ago and all too recent. That's when I began my internship at GamesRadar, and the seven years since have been the most important in my life. I've collected a lot of memories here, and those are all running through my head as I type out this goodbye. Last week was my final one with 12DOVE.
I'm thinking about all my favorite articles, the fun discussions planning features with the other editors, and marathoning a new game to get a review up by deadline. I treasure all the doors GR+ opened for me, such as flying all over the world to events - E3, Tokyo Game Show, and Comic-Con among them. It was on those trips I got to interview some of my favorite creators and performers. Asking questions to the likes of Shigeru Miyamoto, Suda51, and CM Punk are moments I'll treasure forever, and it all happened at GR+.
And I didn't do any of that alone. I always had the support of the whole team at GR+, no matter what I was working on. The staff went through a lot of changes in my time there, and I'm happy to have worked with every person that touched the site. That goes from the wonderful editors who trained me on my first days to the fantastic women and men I saw on my last days in the office. GR+ has hosted so many skilled professionals that I won't fill up this article by thanking all of them by name, but everyone I worked with deserves credit (or perhaps blame) for my successes. So I'll just say, "Thank you," and leave it at that.
I also enjoyed all my chances to interact with all you readers. Whether it was spirited discussions in the comments, or reading your replies on a podcast, or taking your questions on a livestream, I appreciated those chances to get to know you. And I hope you enjoyed it too. I'll really miss being able to check in regularly with the GR+ audience.
I put a lot of late nights, early mornings, and even some 24 hour marathons into this site, and I know that 12DOVE has grown into something more in that time. Every website evolves over the years, and I hope that my legacy here will be that helped GR+ positively with those transformations. And I'm certainly invested in seeing what it'll become years and years from now.
For now, I'll just say farewell with one of my favorite ending screens of all time. While I'm sure 12DOVE will keep growing bigger and better in the time to come, it'll have to be without me. The decision to leave wasn't an easy one, but I think it's the right one for me at this time. Seven years is a long time to do anything, and I look forward to trying something new and testing all the invaluable skills I picked up at this job. I can't really say where I'll end up, but - as I'm fond of saying on podcasts and livestreams - you can follow my Twitter, @hEnereyG, if you want to keep up with what's happening in my life.
TTFN,
Henry Gilbert
