Alice B is leaving RPS, come say goodbye
On a Monday in early 2018, Adam Smith, Rock Paper Shotgun's deputy editor at the time, handed in his notice. On Thursday that same week, I emailed Alice Bell, a person I'd never spoken to before, to ask if she would consider applying for the role.
Alice thought it over for a week, and then emailed her response: no.
Thank god I was able to change her mind, so I could spend the next six years giving her shit about it. But now Alice is leaving RPS, and you should join me in saying goodbye.
Alice's writing sounds like how I want RPS to sound: funny and smart, yes, but best of all able to be strongly critical while still unafraid to be a fan of a game she loves. These are a mixture of qualities that it's almost impossible to find in a writer, and typically you get an imbalance towards one or t'other: too cynical, or too game-pilled, or funny but insubstantial, or thoughtful but so, so dry.
Yet the balance is present across Alice's work for the site. TFI Friday. Announcing her love for giant women. Recurring confusion at video game merch - from bath bombs to trainers. Coming up with the idea to commission a tabletop RPG based on Rezzed, so readers could experience it when it was cancelled due to the pandemic. Conceiving of and delivering our ethnic minority work experience programme. Her Ritual Of The Moon diary, about a game designed to be played for five minutes per day for 28 days. The Electronic Wireless Show podcast, the only podcast you need in her opinion (which will return, with Alice still hosting). More reviews and shitposts than I can possibly link to.
That's not to mention Alice's work behind the scenes. Consider the context of RPS at the time Alice was hired. Back in 2018, we were about to double the size of the team by hiring six people and branching into video, guides and hardware coverage. I told Alice that we'd gently introduce her to the various tasks of her new role, an intention I sincerely held until around 11am on her first day - a change of
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