An Ode to Code Redd Net

I was asked by Thrasher to write 300 words or so regarding my thoughts on our experience making this site, and now after reading his Concise History, I feel as though he has captured all the thoughts I did not in my Ode, more eloquently than I could have, and of the ideas mutually expressed, my own writing of them seems a faint echo in comparison. He has captured the idea that CRN is more than just another blog, that it is a major part of a 12+ year long friendship which I hold very dear. Without the Thrasher, my life would not be as great as it is today. This is not only an ode to Code Redd Net, but also to him.

I’m trying to remember, after all these years, where the original motivation came for creating Code Redd Net. Two 7^thgraders with the ambition of creating a respectable website that made up for the short-comings we saw with videogame media are what we were. Though we may have been overly ambitious in what we believed we could accomplish, CRN has evolved into something that offers readers perhaps a new perspective, or even one they already shared but couldn’t find elsewhere, in an entertaining and often humorous way. Though it started humbly as a Geocities PageBuilder website, and continues humbly as a Blogspot web log, I am very pleased with what it has become. Amidst a culture that deifies the next “new” thing and then moves on, Code Redd Net recognizes the classics, not romanticizing them (too much), but allowing them to have their properly earned place. And we are not content with simply giving our opinions about various entertainment media, as if they simply exist in a vacuum, but also the struggles, triumphs, and emotions of those who consume them.

As an army of two, we realize that there will be many who disagree with us or think of our efforts as just plain silly (if they hear of us at all). But that is not the point. The beauty of the Internet is not fully realized by one who has not contributed content to the phenomenon that is the World Wide Web. A major part of that beauty is that it is a bigger revolution than the printing press. Billions who otherwise would have no ability to communicate their thoughts regarding games featuring gun-toting duckmen or a chicken that practices wushu now have that ability on a grand scale. Now running ten years strong (though weak at some points), Code Redd Net is our contribution. I hope you have and continue to enjoy it.