Welcome to the fourth edition of our Member Spotlight. I apologize for having to skip over the scheduled date for this feature two weeks ago, but as most of you know, the Game Developer’s Conference took precedent over everything else. We’re continuing with our scheduled time frame of a bi-weekly member interview and this week we’ve coerced Hockeydude30 into talking to me. I’ve touched based on his experiences in gaming, life, and on the forum, so continue reading and enjoy.

Dave Wales: How has PSU.com impacted your life in terms of online friendships, gaming knowledge, and views in regards to other consoles?

Hockeydude30: It has definitely broadened my view on gaming in general. When I first came here it was because the forum I was on before, maxps3.com, got shut down. This is the first one that popped up on Google. When I first came here though I was basically a PS3 fanboy, and I was definitely as bad as they come. I couldn’t comprehend why any one would want to use another console. Now I am a lot more open. I don’t really care what console someone else uses and I would use an Xbox if I had one. I am a lot more open in that sense.

As to gaming knowledge, it has definitely given me a lot more information than I ever had. Heck the reason I started coming to forums was to find out answers to questions I had. Now I know a lot more about upcoming games, games that have come out, and technology in general. For me I love it since I really like technology and everything that goes a long with it.

The online friendships that I have made on PSU aren’t really that deep. There are only a handful of members that I would truly consider friends. I have always had some online friendships though, but by coming to PSU they have definitely become more involved and I talk to people a lot more now.

Dave Wales: PSU seems to do a good job of bringing everything under one roof. You seem to be a pretty relaxed and laid back guy on the forums, so it was weird watching you lash out towards Baki, does anybody else pull that from within you?

Hockeydude30: No, not really, some people do but I usually hold it in, I try not to get too “emotional” on the forums. I mean it’s only the internet, no reason to take it seriously. Some things just make me mad more than others. The last member to really get to me would probably be Atheist. But he got banned, so I am happy now.

Dave Wales: Yeah, you can’t get sweet redemption more-so than through a ban. Who are some of your favorite posters on the forum that you look forward to reading replies from?

Hockeydude30: Wow, that’s a hard one. The main reason I come to the forum is because of the people on it. It is hard for me to pick out a couple but seebs would be up on my list, he seems to know a ton about technology.

You’re another poster that I like to read replies from since you say what ever you want and you don’t care what anyone says. I like to read what Reflex says, especially in the Home Theatre section. He and a couple others like badz_ps3, ex-nihlo7, sonyfan, and other people that I can’t think of right now always have something interesting to say in the HT section.

One of my favorite things to do though is read what Uncool says after some one is banned or given an infraction. Uncool always says something funny in there. In the PC realm I usually read what GuitarasDeAmor, behemoko, Mecha_Daddy, and Appolyons have to say, they have helped me a lot especially recently when I was deciding on getting a 64 bit OS or not.

Just for posting though miamiman, Wons, leukoplast, ideno, Tribunal, and a ton of other people are always posting something worthwhile reading. I know I am missing a ton of people but like ... (continued on next page)