Thank You and Good Bye
My friends will know that I am a great lover of history and politics. I have, after all, found myself in the great profession of journalism by way of happenstance; I was a political and business reporter for Business World for two years before I began writing for GosuGamers, but my great love will always be for my actual course: Political Science.
As I say good bye as the Managing Editor of eSports by INQUIRER.net, I can’t help but reflect on the journey so far.
In college, I tried to specialize in American history and politics. It was no surprise that I loved the Broadway musical Hamilton almost immediately. It was my significant other (who has served as the silent copy editor/editor-at-large on this publication) who introduced me to it. Today, it is the vector through which I write this good bye.
The way eSports by INQUIRER.net project began mirrors the life of Alexander Hamilton. In 2014, with barely any resources, we started the site with a staff of exactly one person. It would take two whole months before we doubled our ranks to a whopping two writers on the site.
But we were young, scrappy and hungry. We did not throw away our shots. We jumped on the opportunity of covering Senator Aquino’s support of eSports. We leapt at the opportunity to cover Cong. Gatchalian’s stance on gaming. The same was true for the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)’s programs on giving scholarships for gamers and animators, and the myriad accomplishments, tournaments and reports that cover eSports.
We did not have any established connections. I, a virtual outsider to eSports when I entered in 2014, fought hard to prove that our method of covering the industry was valuable. Slowly, we won friends. We made enemies (in fact my inbox still has a few threats and empty lawsuits) because we believed the news we reported was in the public interest. But we did not relent.
I will not pretend that we became the be-all-end-all of journalism for eSports in the Philippines. On the contrary, I believe we stumbled and fucked up more than we did right. This good bye is not meant to brag but rather to reflect on the work and time that it took to start this project. Of all things, my good bye is a message of hope: In all things that you do, value passion, grit and hunger over compensation, status and fame.
Like Hamilton, I will not see the end of eSports by INQUIRER.net. It is a great unfinished symphony. It sent for me and asked to make a difference in building the eSports industry by providing an alternative source of news.
It’s near the end. I’d like to thank the Philippine eSports Organization for giving me the opportunity in August of 2014. I’d like to thank the many talented writers and designers I’ve worked with during my tenure: Marco de Leon, Aileen Cerrudo, Earl Guevarra, Julius Tabios, Pamela Falsis, Lex Celera, Joy Picar, Juan Carlo Saquin, Jasper Arcalas, Gabriel Lazaro, and Justin Banusing.
I’d like to thank our eSports coordinator Jack D’ Reaper. A machine of a man who coordinates PESO’s esports endeavors. Our back end team Mark Diamat, Joseph Rendon and Earl Amante, who were always on hand to solve site issues.
I’d like to thank our friends at INQUIRER.net, who served to guide the journalism of the site and infuse it with the DNA of INQUIRER: Matikas Santos, Sara Pacia, Seph Garibay, Dan Paurom, the venerable John Nery and the social media Sith Lord Jonathan de Belen.
I’d like to thank the INQUIRER.net marketing team of madame Joanne Llavore and AJ T Santos. Thank you for taking a chance on this project.
But most importantly, my gratitude belongs to my significant other Fiona Villamor. She placed me on the path of becoming a journalist when I had zero experience and zero confidence. She kept me working the straight and narrow and supported me when I pursued the crazy dream of dropping mainstream journalism to pursue eSports.
To you dear reader, you deserve more than thank yous. You deserve quality news and content. Thank you for supporting this site in my tenure and I hope that you will continue to do so even after I have gone.
With my stepping down, I am confident that eSports by INQUIRER.net will carry on strong in the hands of a capable, gritty and — most of all — passionate new Managing Editor, Rikki Quiapon.
You may know Rikki Quiapon as GS Riku, one of Garena’s shoutcasters and a League of Legends analyst. I know her as Garena’s former content editor, a video content savant and one of the hungriest go-getters in the local scene. I have every expectation that she will continue the DNA that founded eSports by INQUIRER.net. She is, after all, exactly the same: She is young, scrappy and hungry. She will not throw away her shot.
Good bye, and thank you!
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