Merry Horacemas Readers: We Love You!

Ho flipping ho, readers, it's CHRISTMAS! Team RPS are currently all frantically tearing the hides off their bucket of gifts from Horace, preparing themselves for the Great Slaughter. We hope you're enjoying the holidays in whatever godforsaken way you celebrate them, whether it's a traditional British burning of a scallywag, a big ol' American family game of Slops, or Lithuanian laser fights. Perhaps there are other countries too - we haven't looked. But wherever you are, however tall you are, we wish you the very best glad tidings and other seasonal merriment.

While we weave elaborate cutaneous cocoons about ourselves, in preparation for our re-emerging on the 4th Jan as even more beautiful ultroflies, RPS shall not be quiet. We've a wealth of posts coming your way over the next week and a half, ensuring your continued obligatory loyalty and Google Analytics upkeep. And we'd also like to wish you a very enormous thank you.

THANK YOU

RPS is not exactly the same as other gaming sites, and we know that's reflected in our readers being not exactly the same as other humans. A better, smarter sort. And we mean it - we're incredibly grateful to the community that's gathered around us over the years, and it's one that's growing ever faster. November saw our biggest traffic ever, and 2015 saw us grow an enormous amount. All that means we can get more writers, more features, and more articles on subjects we don't think you'll read anywhere else - all alongside the essential gaming coverage you demand from us no matter how much we cry.

As we grow, we've fought against doing the scummy tactics normal in other sites. You'll not see paid-for articles ("advertorial") on our site, ever. You'll never have adverts that leap out and obscure the screen, or slide shouting videos from the middle of the text you were just reading. We know many people don't like any ads and will complain about them whatever we do, but know that we turn away megabucks not to make the site as frustrating to read as perhaps some of our rivals will. In return, we ask that you consider whitelisting us if you're the sort that blocks ads. And as ever, we super-dooper encourage you to join the RPS Supporter Programme, where for a small amount you'll get access to brand new hidden articles every day, as well as free gifts, first dibs on giveaways, and most importantly, help fund more writing and video stuff for the site. If you've enjoyed, say, Marsh's extraordinary Fail Forward series, know that it was paid for by Supporters for everyone to enjoy.

So very happy holidays, seasonal greetings, merry Christmasses and bloody good hugs to you all.