I guess by now you've heard about the "mass layoff" at b5media, one of the largest blog networks in the world. There's no shortage of stories popping out of the woodwork. If you haven't already read one, take your pick from the list below:

Mass Firings At b5media: Entire Entertainment Network Shut
b5media Dumps Women Bloggers
Goodbye to b5Media
The End of My b5media Days

Now it's my turn to write about my sad departure from the community I have grown to love and loved to grow.



For those who didn't know, I handled a blog called MMOtaku on b5media's EveryJoe. The blog covered the market niche known as massively multiplayer online games, one of my passions as a husband to a wife who plays MMORPGs with me, as a father who teaches his daughter the responsibilities that go with the use of computers, as a friend who has taught his best bud the finer points of playing MMOs as opposed to just PC games, as a journalist who keeps an open mind and holds judgment until all facts have been uncovered and published, and as a guild officer in some MMORPGs who realizes that he must keep the peace in the community he holds sway over.

Well, my days with b5media are gone, but I am, even as I type this, carrying on my work on MMOtaku to a new blog called The MMOsh Pit. It's not the same, yes, but I find myself optimistic that whatever ground I have covered and held in my days blogging for b5media won't be lost as long as I continue blogging about the things I hold dear (yes, even if it's on a free blogging platform like Blogger).

I may feel sad and disappointed with the way things turned out between me and b5media, but I am grateful for the opportunity to work for the network.

[Image: The MMOsh Pit]