This post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.

Editor's note: Chase's call-out idea is awesome. That's all you really need to know from me. Check it out! -James

What brings you to Bitmob? No, really…I want to know. What made you write your first post?

I hypothesize three possible situations (though I’m sure the community will enlighten me to others):

  1. You made the transition from another site to Bitmob. I think this fits the majority of our community. A lot of you came over from 1UP. Some of you (cough, Cody Winn, cough) still write on your old blogs, too.
  2. You had something to say. This is where I put myself — more on that later. Maybe you frequented Bitmob as a news site, but you didn’t have the drive to contribute until you got this one great idea that you wanted to share with the world.
  3. Both.

So here’s the deal: Tell the community about your first Bitmob article. Why did you write it? How was the response? How have you grown as a writer since?

Post your responses with the tag Taking the Plunge, or if you'd rather share a shorter, quicker story, post it in the comments.

You can find my example on the next page.

I’ve been reading Bitmob since day one. I adored the concept of a site dedicated to community content. I couldn’t wait to be a part of it, but unfortunately, I had two huge roadblocks in my way.

One was my job at my college’s student newspaper, The Maneater. I was writing video game reviews at a furious pace for the publication. I wrote so much that I ended up getting a job as the Arts and Entertainment Editor the following semester.

“Conflict of interest” was a hot button issue for the Maneater staff that year, so I decided it was best to wait for my term to be over before my Bitmob debut.

The second issue was much simpler, yet it would prove more difficult to find a solution for: I didn’t have anything to write about.

I absolutely did not want to write reviews. Others do it much better, and I had my fill or writing them with the newspaper. Bitmob was my chance to try something new, and the last thing I wanted was to fall into a reviewing rut.

Appropriately, I wrote my first article about game reviews. Reviewer’s Remorse: New Game Smell was a look back at a couple of my 25-plus reviews for the paper. I noticed that I disagreed with my original scores for Scribblenauts and Brütal Legend, and I explored the notion of inflating the score of a fresh experience.

To my absolute surprise, the staff promoted it to the front page, and it is still the most commented-on article I have on the site.

Twenty articles later, I am really starting to feel like a part of this community, and I couldn’t be happier.