Graham Smith is leaving RPS, come say goodbye

Graham is gone. The longest-running exertion of Rock Paper Shotgun worked his past time connected the website earlier this week, and has leapt softly into the mysterious realm of the games manufacture proper. The affectional fallout of this departure is astir the aforesaid arsenic immoderate different clip RPS has watched a writer swan-dive retired of the RPS treehouse and into the mist acold below. There is sadness tinged with hope. "There goes different one," you think, smiling done a azygous teardrop and imagining their aboriginal beingness acold from these branches.

Only this time, well, it's Graham.

Brendan: I officially discontinue RPS myself backmost successful 2019, but person since reappeared arsenic a regular freelance phantom. This gives maine the weird accidental to constitute a goodbye station for the antheral who wrote my ain goodbye post. Fuck you, Graham, I spot your compliments, and I rise you. Eat it.

Back successful the horrendous mists of 2014, Graham jumped vessel arsenic exertion of PC Gamer. He was hired by the past founders of Rock Paper Shotgun due to the fact that the past founders were unspeakable astatine spreadsheets and were ever lasting successful the incorrect place. In Graham Smith, they not lone got a managing exertion who could archer them what time of the week it was, but a writer who was capable to eviscerate developers for their unspeakable names, champion comic caller ways to play, and observe the champion games of each time, each with the aforesaid decorous lethality.

Go done Graham's full writer archive and you volition find implicit 4000 articles that collage into a vivid tendency for this manufacture to beryllium much than it often is. Indie physics brawlers basal side-by-side with EA shooters successful a swirling database of chill oregon heinous crap that was important capable to archer you about. Few tin constitute this overmuch this good for this long, and not look a maestro of the knife-like phrase.

"Fuck underscore that," helium said of Watch_Dogs.

Reviewing picrossy crippled Proverbs helium wrote: "It was determination erstwhile I closed my eyes, arsenic if my encephalon was defragmenting."

"Makes maine consciousness similar I'm connected hold," helium said of the wholesome nothingness of Naiad.

I'm picking these articles fundamentally astatine random. They are astir apt not the pieces Graham is astir arrogant of penning - lone helium knows those. But it says a batch that I tin excavation done his archives successful a azygous greeting and find, truthful easy and quickly, countless examples of wit, energy, and humanity. A humanity that helium often expressed privately successful our regular meetings, alternatively than connected these digipages. God I privation we'd recorded our meetings arsenic a podcast. We would person breached SO galore NDAs.

When I accidental "humanity" I mean conscionable that. Graham knows that erstwhile you constitute astir games, you're truly penning astir yourself.

"I'm reminded of however precious it is to play a videogame and ne'er request to compete," helium wrote of Minecraft successful 2014, not knowing past that exploring those mountains and valleys would years aboriginal go a regular ritual with his son. "Minecraft is simply a toybox, a dressing-up box, a pencil lawsuit of colouring pens, and sometimes conscionable a sunny hill. I played it successful 2009 and I played it yesterday and I person nary crushed to uncertainty I'll beryllium playing it successful 2039."

As idiosyncratic who has freelanced for this beauteous cesspit since its scrappy red-faced days, I besides cognize the bully Graham has done not arsenic a writer, but simply arsenic a feline who tin get things done. He dragged this spot kicking and screaming into a modern net that nary of america could avoid. Remember erstwhile RPS was a accepted blog? It was great. But articles would much oregon little evaporate erstwhile they near the beforehand page. There was lone abstraction for 3 apical stories astatine immoderate 1 time. Graham oversaw the tract arsenic it got an adjacent bigger splash of apical stories. Some readers frothed astatine the rima to spot the blog rotation pushed further down the landing page, reacting with that acquainted viciousness we person grown to find adorable successful you implicit years of consequent RPS facelifts, insignificant and drastic. But, oh, whaddya know? YOU MOTHER FUCKERS CLICKED ON THOSE TOP STORIES DIDN'T YOU? You filthy, lovely, loyal dirtbags. It is for you Graham killed our darlings. Change is neither bully oregon bad. Change is simply change.

When Graham was archetypal hired, his invited station wrote that "the calamity of being exertion of immoderate mag is it dramatically reduces the magnitude of penning you get to do" and this curse threatened to travel to walk erstwhile helium ascended into the achromatic halls of corpomanagement 8 years aboriginal to go a bigger, badder directorial man. But the information is, Graham ne'er stopped writing. He kept doing quality posts astatine nights and weekends. He kept penning news. He kept crushing costly enactment adventures and toothless indie darlings with adjacent knuckle-cracking insight. Okay, helium took a hiatus from our Sunday Papers file (one of the site's longest traditions) but adjacent that didn't last.

It's successful those Sunday Papers pieces that I consciousness you get the astir bang for your Graham buck. Rock Paper Shotgun has ever been the location of large writing, and possibly cipher has built the site's editorial ruleset arsenic overmuch arsenic Graham (with the imaginable objection of Alice O'Connor, who wrote implicit 8000 articles and the benignant usher we usage to this time - an untouchable legacy). His last Sunday Papers past week is simply a fangs-out manifesto for games journalism, and if determination is immoderate young pup who inactive covets this occupation implicit the glamour of being an influencer oregon the solitude of being a video essayist, past their top anticipation for honing their trade lies successful Graham's words.

"There are infinite ways to play a crippled and nary of them are wrong," helium says. "There are infinite ways to constitute astir a crippled and immoderate of them are wrong, but you person to determine what those are for yourself."

Or you tin conscionable inquire Graham. You tin travel him, and immoderate he'll beryllium doing next, connected Bluesky. I suggest you do. Words volition burst retired of this antheral if helium doesn't constitute them down somewhere. You'll privation to beryllium determination erstwhile helium pops.

Jeremy: I'm inactive comparatively caller to the Treehouse and person known Graham for less months and years than the different folks here, frankincense rendering maine incapable of penning thing arsenic poetic arsenic Bendy's ode above. But arsenic idiosyncratic who's work RPS since ye olden days anterior to really getting a occupation here, I've felt Graham's beingness connected the tract for a agelong time, and it's been a superb guiding light.

As a fella who besides had a agelong vocation moving successful non-games journalism, I consciousness compelled to adhd that I've suffered nether the hands of galore atrocious editors, and Graham was not 1 of those. He is the rarest of beasts, the eventual of Achievements - an existent Chaotic Good guy-in-charge who cares not lone astir this bizarre country of the internet, but the radical down it. A existent one, successful different words. We'll miss you, Graham, and present that you person near america I americium presently gathering healing potions to hole for our swift descent into Lord of the Flies territory.

Edwin: Graham, I volition miss each those moments successful meetings erstwhile I'd effort to enactment omniscient astir video games journalism - sorry, videogames journalism - and shame-facedly realise that you'd heard it each before, astir apt a twelve times over, from successive generations of RPS scribes, each the mode backmost done the large Google Meet invitation database of History. You person absorbed everything worthy knowing astir this business, and it is lone acceptable that you depart for a kinder realm, wherever you tin bask your Crunchyroll subscription successful peace, and walk little clip fielding complaints astir woody posts. Please radiance down connected america occasionally, large beardfather successful the sky.

Mark: If Jeremy's inactive caller to the Treehouse, my feet person hardly cleared the topmost rung of the ladder into it arsenic I constitute this. I'm bittersweet I didn't get to enactment with Graham for a batch longer, adjacent if conscionable to effort and glean much of the secrets that inevitably lurk wrong his look fuzz by staring astatine it successful greeting meetings.

James: Looking astatine RPS from the extracurricular in, Graham’s power is far-reaching and evident – there’s a crushed this tract has kept connected trucking arsenic agelong arsenic it has, and that crushed has a affluent beard and an awesome postulation of graphic tees.

I privation that everyone presently saying their goodbyes besides knew the afloat grade of Graham’s interaction down the scenes, that they mightiness clap and question conscionable that small spot harder. Relatively fewer radical spot the Graham that truthful effortlessly elevates our bully ideas (while tactfully squishing our atrocious ones), oregon the Graham that lets america vanish for days connected end, nary questions asked, erstwhile things spell incorrect astatine home. Or the Graham that ever encourages america down the astir honest, integrity-paved roadworthy done an manufacture that often isn’t conscionable unconducive to the principles of bully reporting, but actively hostile towards them.

We’ll beryllium good – he’s seen to that too. But erstwhile you deliberation of Graham the writer and editor, cognize that you tin besides deliberation of Graham the leader, Graham the shield, Graham the engine. Let’s convey him erstwhile again, for each that and more.