Every life needs a creative aspect. Without creative expression we really are just meat and blood machines – eat, sleep, reproduce, file, type, order, take, walk, stop, watch, move, stay.

Die.

Game over.

The freedom of capital improvement - prosperity, ownership, cars, travel, money – these things are not real freedom, just the illusions of choice. They dress our lives with the shiny wrapping paper of pretend fulfilment – I have things, I do things, I choose the things I have, I choose the things I do, therefore I am free. My thinking is free and I am master of my choices.

None of that is real. In fact, none of that even matters.

At all.

What matters is expression, interpretation, creation. And mind that I don’t talk about quality of creation – just the act itself and hang the critics is what counts. Watch your kid with a box of paint, a brush, and a jar of water. Watch that sheet of white paper in front of them as it explodes into colour, mess, crazy interpretation of a thought, a world, or of an emotion – because that’s what a child’s painting is: the creative expression of an abstract moment within that kid’s head.

Sure, the result might look like it was created by a senile Damian Hirst during a course in impressionist painting for maximum security prisioners, but its still art baby.

Ngghhhhhhh - it is art. It is. Please stop now though.

Where do you find your outlet? That’s the challenge. Draw, write, play, make music, make film, create videogames, act, garden, decorate – whatever you want to do it’s all good. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that your creation is worthless just because your attempt at redecorating the dining room, might have left the place looking like Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen has pre-Raphelite’d his twatish way through the house.

It’s okay. You’ve expressed yourself and that’s what counts.

The cruellest trick the system ever pulled was to shove us all into a formal education full of creativity only to snatch away the opportunities to express that creativity after we’d left dinner halls and thrown sausages-on-forks behind. Life sucks the life out of many of us – creative expression gives us the chance to replace some of what’s lost.

The greatest thrill I’ve had in the last few years, and I am utterly sincere in this, has been opening WotR up as a place for absolutely anyone to write in, to express themselves through. It has provided me with more joy and happiness than almost anything I’ve ever been a part of. And I know the whole Rodent team feels the same way.

Before they submit their first Rodent piece, most of our writers haven’t written a creative public word since leaving school. Only a small handful of the team here are professional scribes but every last person we publish has the right to call themselves a writer. You have written and we love you for it.

A writer. If he is then you definitely
fucking well are.

In these digital pages our writers have expressed the whole range of emotion: all of it wrapped around our love of videogames. The sheer scope of your articles always astounds me. Sure we’ve got a lot of the sepia-hued stuff about growing up on the colour-clashing, sprite-filled leading edge of gaming, but there have been just as many moments in which the rose-tint has been replaced by darker hues. Breakdowns, regret, loss, recovery – these are themes our writers have returned to often. Videogames are kids stuff, toys for those who have never grown up, aren’t they? No way – read through the archives and dispel that notion right now. And then there are the celebrations - the wonderful moments when we all just get together and write down why we fucking love videogames and why we hold them so close. I hope too, especially in our reviews, that we make the point that mature, grown-up gaming isn’t about living in the cosy retro niche but that it’s about today – that we are living in the golden age of videogaming right now. Put in its simplest terms, there has never been a better time to play videogames. Emulation serves us up every dusty thrill we ever had sure but there are just as many new thrills to be found.

Way of the Rodent is a written appreciation of lives lived in, around and through videogames. But more than that, it’s about the original spirit of our childhood discoveries married to the reality that games are wonderfully here and now.

Rodent has become the creative home for 69 writers, hailing from all four corners of the globe and spanning a wide demographic. Most of us work at Argos, in factories, as IT drones, analysts, system support people, businessmen, hell we’ve even got a food safety inspector (god help his employers) – everyone of us though is a writer.

The 69 position is a geniune judo hold. You were sooo expecting something else, weren't you?

And that tally of 69 writers grows even larger if you include all the kind contributions listed in our regular group pieces (50 best shooters etc). Christ it’s a bigger number still when you add-in the fantastic image contributors.

Great Rodent writing isn't about clever vocabulary, or the ability to fling clever metaphor around, or playing just the right notes on readers’ heartstrings. No, it’s the honesty, the grin and the soul that we look for – the sheer bloody thrill of playing games and loving it. Never mind the quality – we've got a great team here who can turn even my oafish mumblings into great writing - if a submission is full of heart, soul and passion for the subject then it gets in.

And you know what? The wonderful irony of our celebratory amateur outlook is that we’ve seen those individual amateurs become better and better writers. I’m not going to embarrass anyone by naming names but many of our regular contributors’ abilities as writers have increased many-fold since their first submission. Seeing those people progress is an extraordinary feeling, wonderful in fact.

Way of the Rodent has provided a big group of people with their opportunity to be creative. We’re humbled by that, and immensely proud of it, and long may the words continue to flow. The format of WotR may well be changing soon but that sense of wonder, which we like to call the original spirit of videogames, will always remain.

Thanks to all of you, each and every one of you is a fucking superstar.

Koworld, November 2004.

All of these amazing 69 writers have contributed main articles to WotR between issues 1 to 58 (click on 'Back Issues' from the main WotR homepage to read old copies of the magazine):

EE = Early Editions (the legendary semi-lost WotR issues 1-9)

AEROFLOT (appears in issues: 58, 57, 53, 51, 44, 43, 39, 31, 28)
AHCHAY (Guest Editorials, 58, 56, 50, 48, 46, 44, 42, 33, 32, 30, 29, 28, 22, 20, 18, 17, 14, 12, 10, 8, EE)
ANDERS (35)
ATLAS’ APPRENTICE (12, 9)
BARRY X (23, EE)
BLUEY (17)
BOG (21, 8)
BUBBA (EE)
CDW (37)
CHANT (47, 45)
CIPPY (33, 28, EE)
CUBIT (33)
CYRIC (48)
DIO (55, 52, 47, 46, 42, 40)
EKENDRICK (30)
ELY (51, 39, 38, 35, 26, 21, 14, 11, 8, EE)
EWOK (13)
F0ZZ (49, 36, 25)
FLOJOMOJO (EE)
FUSEBALL (Guest Editorial, 51, 50, 48, 47, 44, 40, 37, 34, 33, 27, 24, 22, 20, 17, 15, 12, EE)
GORDON (49)
GRAVY (50, 22)
GRIBBLES (EE)
HYPHZ (57)
JACQUI (17)
JEDBURGH (39, 23, 22, 20, EE)
JIMAROID (Guest Editorials, 57, 56, 54, 46, 31, 27, 19, 13, 9, EE)
JUNOSIX (43, 37, 24, 11, EE)
KENTISH (54)
KORRUPTOR (26, 23, 15, EE)
KOWORLD (Early Editorials, 58, 57, 46, 43, 42, 41, 32, 30, 29, 27, 26, 24, 22, 19, 17, 15, 11, 10, 9, EE)
LIMBCLOCK (17)
LOUISE (18, 17)
MAD HIPPO (32)
MAMEMEISTER (41, 18, 13, EE)
MARK@RETROVISION (EE)
MATT (57, 31)
MAYHEM (57, 49, 30, EE)
MICHELLE (18)
MRS SIMON B (17)
NBCL (57, 54, 14, EE)
NOODLES (34)
ONE PUNCH MICKEY (38, 34)
PAP (54, 46, 42, 35, 23)
PAULEMOZ (58, 55, 52, 50, 48, 48, 45, 44, 41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 33, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 20, 19, 14, 12, EE)
PEEK’N’POKE LEE (36)
PVB (53)
REV. STUART CAMPBELL (30, 22)
ROMANISTA (52)
RUSS (54, 51, 37, 36, 34)
SHEWROG (56, 43, 41)
SHOB (21)
SICKBOY (Most Editorials, 56, 55, 53, 50, 47, 45, 44, 43, 38, 35, 31, 30, 28, 26, 22, 21, 20, 19, 17, 14, 13, 12, 11, 9, EE)
SIMONB (32, 24, 18, 17, 10, EE)
SOLID CHRIS (51, 40)
STARK (9, EE)
STUARTB (34)
SWITH (58, 54, 53, 52, 51, 50, 49, 47)
TEAMONKEY (41)
THALAMUS (38, 36)
THE MEADOWS (40, 27, 15, 11, 8, EE)
THE SON OF YESTERDAY (52)
THRONGOR (45, 42)
TINA (17)
TMUK (33, 27, 25, 15, EE)
VENUSIAN (30)
XTREME (32, 22)
YAK (50, 39, 33, 31, 30, 29, 25, 24, 22)
ZOOT (29)

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