When did I join? The tail end of 1999. I was wrapping up college and shared a big rental house with 5 other computer science nerds. It was an amazing time. Up to that point my personal projects were too big for my limited skills and motivation levels. I think at the time I was working on a Necromunda Gang manager, an implementation of Car Wars, and trying and failing to learn how to program a new MUD.
What brought you here? @Xai told me about the site. He was one of my roomies in the big house of nerds, my best friend, and my mentor in computer programming related things.
Why do I participate? gamedev is an amazing site. I originally participated because of all the awesome resources available. I've learned so much over the years from the people and articles. As time passed I started asking less questions and answering more. One of the catalysts for my increased participation was after the Week of Awesome game jam. There was a requirement to have a developer journal and be active in giving each other support in the blogs. I connected with lots of cool people, made friends, and found the blog experience to be very motivating.
Around that time I made the decision to make a serious attempt at becoming a game developer so I buckled down and started pushing my learning. I spent a few hours per day answering questions in the forums. I remember getting more and more profile points (or whatever they're called) and climbing the ranks until I was on page 1 of the ranking. I miss that ranking page by the way.
So I guess I participate mainly for learning and the community. It was also a way that I could demonstrate my passion for game development to potential employers, and when I do get back to indie development I think it will serve as some decent marketing.
20 years??? Happy early anniversary!
- Eck