Jon | Lqzer
Platinum
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2012
- Messages
- 3,897
- Reaction score
- 4,085
It's been a long time. It's been almost four years since MCSG was founded. How the time passes, and yet it almost seems as though things are the same as they always have been; but yet, in a way, not so much...
I remember when I first stumbled upon Here. Upon this place of so many memories, the place that was my second home through my early teen years, the place where I didn't feel alone, where I had friends, where I could meet new people, where I could fit in, where people would like me and care about me, where I would feel a personal connection to others even though they were actually so distant. And yet... they felt closer than everyone I knew in my personal and real life.
When I say "in real life", that's completely and utterly ignorant of the truth. Even though I desperately wanted to know people and have friendships face to face, that doesn't mean that everything I experienced, everything everyone here experienced at MCSG was all a lie. Just because we communicated through a screen, we made friendships through Skype, and we hung out in a game doesn't make our friendships and personal connections anything less than what they would have been had we known eachother in "real life." Because this in fact is real life... even if people may say otherwise, this was real. You can't make up all these memories, all the fun times, all the laughing and crying and screaming and joy that took place here in this 'game'.
All the hours by all the people that were poured into this community would probably total to more than anyone would ever be able to count to in 100 lifetimes.
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It was November, 2012. Thanksgiving break. I was 13 years old, about to turn 14, and had just started to get involved with Minecraft. Unlike most people, I had neither seen the Hunger Games nor read it at the time; I was young and naive and was picked on a lot. I really had no friends and was extremely socially awkward.
A kid earlier in the year had invited me to play Minecraft on the Xbox with him. We played together a few times, but we weren't really friends and it felt extremely awkward to be completely honest. But, for the first time, I had something I could turn to when I was stressed, when I was sad or frustrated, or when I needed a friend. I could play Minecraft.
I bought Minecraft for the PC in October of 2012. I watched countless of Youtube videos from countless amounts of Youtubers on Minecraft, soaking in as much about the game as I possibly could. I could pour my emotions into something for the first time as well, using my creativity as much as I wanted. Then, over Thanksgiving break of 2012, my family decided to watch Hunger Games. I had finally decided to read the whole series about a week before, and caught on fast to all the hype directed towards the franchise. I was dying to watch the movie. And it most definitely was everything I was expecting.
Upon finishing the movie, I raced up to my new, powerhouse of a laptop (that was complete trash, but I thought it was amazing lol). I opened it up and googled "minecraft hunger games" as fast as I could. That was when I discovered this community.
My first time playing here was, like most things in my life that the time, extremely unusual. I was banned during my first game by a Sr. Mod's account that had been compromised; that's when I discovered these forums. After trying to figure out why I was suddenly not able to play, I posted a ban dispute and was quickly unbanned. From there on, I decided I was going to try interacting with people by means of the forums. I anticipated every day at school leaving and coming home to post on the forums and share my opinions to people that would actually listen to me and enjoy what I had to say. People that would respect me for what I said and wouldn't judge me for how and who I was. People that I could interact with and eventually form friendships with.
After playing for a few months, I was absolutely awful at the game; however, I was driven on by the longing I had inside of me to finally win a game. In the meantime, I was off on the forums, happily posting away. During one game, I ran into a team of two. Instead of running away like I always would, I decided to take a risk. When I saw them fighting a team of three, I decided I was going to jump in and do my absolute best to help them. I charged in and somehow helped them kill two, and the last guy ran off. They ran up to me, and my heart was pounding because I thought they were going to kill me. Then, I received one of the most nerve-wracking messages (in the game chat) that I had ever received in my life:
"Want to Skype?"
I had never voice chatted with anyone other than people I personally knew. I was scared to death, but I decided I would give it a go. They added me on Skype and added me to the call, and for about 20 minutes, I just sat there, heart pounding, hoping they'd get frustrated and would kick me out and not want to talk to me. Instead, they encouraged me to talk despite me expressing my nervousness to them. And then, I managed to squeak out a single word:
"Hi."
From there on, I had unlocked a whole new world; a whole new opportunity for making friends and meeting new people. ulthar and Virtual were my first ever online friends, and I still keep in contact with them to this day. After meeting them came the invitation on the forums from HalfSquirrel to join a Skype group with him and many of his friends who, at the time, were popular forumers that I looked up to and greatly admired.
I became more confident of myself and got better and better at the game while still meeting new people and making friends and sharing my opinions and ideas on the forums with others.
I got into the clan scene in the Spring of 2013, applying for my first clan (the Hurricanes). When that clan disbanded, I decided to start my own with members from the previous clan. We had so much fun together, talking all the time in Skype and playing in games together and participating in clan battles on my personal-hosted server (lmao).
The clan community as a whole was one of the most amazing experiences in my life and was so much fun. From the Summer of 2013 to the Summer of 2014, I spent almost all of my free time participating in clan activities in the various clans I was a part of, never once losing my enthusiasm for the game. When I applied for the staff team the week of Easter in 2014, I could have never expected getting called into an interview 3 days later. I could have never imagined when I joined the community years before that I would become a staff member of the server network that I loved so much.
Over time, I began to lose my enthusiasm for the game. My personal life began to develop in ways that I never could have expected, greatly because of all of what being part of this community did for me as a person.
I have no regrets resigning from my position as a moderator. Nor do I regret almost completely disappearing from the community that I once loved almost entirely.
They say that once you begin to love someone or something, you'll never stop loving. Even though I am extremely satisfied with my life almost a year and a half out from leaving MCGamer, it still holds a special place in my heart.
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I would not be surprised if many people here have shared similar experiences and stories like mine.
In fact, MCSG is more than just a game. MCSG did so much more for me and almost everyone here than we give it credit for. It gave us something for us to be passionate about, something us to take out our anger and frustrations on, something for us to play in times of happiness and joy.
To claim that MCSG isn't "real life" would be the furthest thing from the truth that anyone could ever say. It would be a major injustice not only to the game itself but to everyone here that made an impact on our lives. When I think of all the people, all the memories, all the fun that gave me so much happiness from playing here, I can't help but wonder why it had to end.
Why can't we turn back time to the good old days? We can make MCSG great again, make it what it once was back in the golden ages of the network. After all, we've been through hard times before as a community before and have made it through every time.
Right...?
Death is the only thing you cannot escape from in life.
It is a universal truth and we all are moving towards that truth.
Having said that, that is what is making this life special, the fact that the time is limited and the fact that there is no escape.
And that's what made MCSG so special: the fact that all of us here were able to experience something so great, something so powerful, something so life-changing to thousands of people.
But maybe it's time.... maybe the end is indeed near. Maybe we just have to let go of our wants and desires to reverse time and stop it exactly where we want it to stop, to the time where this community thrived the greatest.
From the time we entered this community to now, our lives have changed so much. We're all growing up no matter what age, and the focuses and the importances of our lives have shifted dramatically.
We will always have these memories to look back upon. One day we'll be able to tell our kids of all the experiences we had as we watch them play whatever the popular game of their childhood is. We will never, ever forget everything MCSG gave to us.
Maybe right now is the time; the time to let MCSG die peacefully.
Maybe it's time to let go.......
I remember when I first stumbled upon Here. Upon this place of so many memories, the place that was my second home through my early teen years, the place where I didn't feel alone, where I had friends, where I could meet new people, where I could fit in, where people would like me and care about me, where I would feel a personal connection to others even though they were actually so distant. And yet... they felt closer than everyone I knew in my personal and real life.
When I say "in real life", that's completely and utterly ignorant of the truth. Even though I desperately wanted to know people and have friendships face to face, that doesn't mean that everything I experienced, everything everyone here experienced at MCSG was all a lie. Just because we communicated through a screen, we made friendships through Skype, and we hung out in a game doesn't make our friendships and personal connections anything less than what they would have been had we known eachother in "real life." Because this in fact is real life... even if people may say otherwise, this was real. You can't make up all these memories, all the fun times, all the laughing and crying and screaming and joy that took place here in this 'game'.
All the hours by all the people that were poured into this community would probably total to more than anyone would ever be able to count to in 100 lifetimes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was November, 2012. Thanksgiving break. I was 13 years old, about to turn 14, and had just started to get involved with Minecraft. Unlike most people, I had neither seen the Hunger Games nor read it at the time; I was young and naive and was picked on a lot. I really had no friends and was extremely socially awkward.
A kid earlier in the year had invited me to play Minecraft on the Xbox with him. We played together a few times, but we weren't really friends and it felt extremely awkward to be completely honest. But, for the first time, I had something I could turn to when I was stressed, when I was sad or frustrated, or when I needed a friend. I could play Minecraft.
I bought Minecraft for the PC in October of 2012. I watched countless of Youtube videos from countless amounts of Youtubers on Minecraft, soaking in as much about the game as I possibly could. I could pour my emotions into something for the first time as well, using my creativity as much as I wanted. Then, over Thanksgiving break of 2012, my family decided to watch Hunger Games. I had finally decided to read the whole series about a week before, and caught on fast to all the hype directed towards the franchise. I was dying to watch the movie. And it most definitely was everything I was expecting.
Upon finishing the movie, I raced up to my new, powerhouse of a laptop (that was complete trash, but I thought it was amazing lol). I opened it up and googled "minecraft hunger games" as fast as I could. That was when I discovered this community.
My first time playing here was, like most things in my life that the time, extremely unusual. I was banned during my first game by a Sr. Mod's account that had been compromised; that's when I discovered these forums. After trying to figure out why I was suddenly not able to play, I posted a ban dispute and was quickly unbanned. From there on, I decided I was going to try interacting with people by means of the forums. I anticipated every day at school leaving and coming home to post on the forums and share my opinions to people that would actually listen to me and enjoy what I had to say. People that would respect me for what I said and wouldn't judge me for how and who I was. People that I could interact with and eventually form friendships with.
After playing for a few months, I was absolutely awful at the game; however, I was driven on by the longing I had inside of me to finally win a game. In the meantime, I was off on the forums, happily posting away. During one game, I ran into a team of two. Instead of running away like I always would, I decided to take a risk. When I saw them fighting a team of three, I decided I was going to jump in and do my absolute best to help them. I charged in and somehow helped them kill two, and the last guy ran off. They ran up to me, and my heart was pounding because I thought they were going to kill me. Then, I received one of the most nerve-wracking messages (in the game chat) that I had ever received in my life:
"Want to Skype?"
I had never voice chatted with anyone other than people I personally knew. I was scared to death, but I decided I would give it a go. They added me on Skype and added me to the call, and for about 20 minutes, I just sat there, heart pounding, hoping they'd get frustrated and would kick me out and not want to talk to me. Instead, they encouraged me to talk despite me expressing my nervousness to them. And then, I managed to squeak out a single word:
"Hi."
From there on, I had unlocked a whole new world; a whole new opportunity for making friends and meeting new people. ulthar and Virtual were my first ever online friends, and I still keep in contact with them to this day. After meeting them came the invitation on the forums from HalfSquirrel to join a Skype group with him and many of his friends who, at the time, were popular forumers that I looked up to and greatly admired.
I became more confident of myself and got better and better at the game while still meeting new people and making friends and sharing my opinions and ideas on the forums with others.
I got into the clan scene in the Spring of 2013, applying for my first clan (the Hurricanes). When that clan disbanded, I decided to start my own with members from the previous clan. We had so much fun together, talking all the time in Skype and playing in games together and participating in clan battles on my personal-hosted server (lmao).
The clan community as a whole was one of the most amazing experiences in my life and was so much fun. From the Summer of 2013 to the Summer of 2014, I spent almost all of my free time participating in clan activities in the various clans I was a part of, never once losing my enthusiasm for the game. When I applied for the staff team the week of Easter in 2014, I could have never expected getting called into an interview 3 days later. I could have never imagined when I joined the community years before that I would become a staff member of the server network that I loved so much.
Over time, I began to lose my enthusiasm for the game. My personal life began to develop in ways that I never could have expected, greatly because of all of what being part of this community did for me as a person.
I have no regrets resigning from my position as a moderator. Nor do I regret almost completely disappearing from the community that I once loved almost entirely.
They say that once you begin to love someone or something, you'll never stop loving. Even though I am extremely satisfied with my life almost a year and a half out from leaving MCGamer, it still holds a special place in my heart.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I would not be surprised if many people here have shared similar experiences and stories like mine.
In fact, MCSG is more than just a game. MCSG did so much more for me and almost everyone here than we give it credit for. It gave us something for us to be passionate about, something us to take out our anger and frustrations on, something for us to play in times of happiness and joy.
To claim that MCSG isn't "real life" would be the furthest thing from the truth that anyone could ever say. It would be a major injustice not only to the game itself but to everyone here that made an impact on our lives. When I think of all the people, all the memories, all the fun that gave me so much happiness from playing here, I can't help but wonder why it had to end.
Why can't we turn back time to the good old days? We can make MCSG great again, make it what it once was back in the golden ages of the network. After all, we've been through hard times before as a community before and have made it through every time.
Right...?
With the birth of every great thing comes the realization of the inevitable death. When you love something or someone so much and you see them struggling, on their last breaths, it's natural to want to do everything you can to save them. You won't let them die, you will refuse to let them go!
Death is the only thing you cannot escape from in life.
It is a universal truth and we all are moving towards that truth.
Having said that, that is what is making this life special, the fact that the time is limited and the fact that there is no escape.
And that's what made MCSG so special: the fact that all of us here were able to experience something so great, something so powerful, something so life-changing to thousands of people.
But maybe it's time.... maybe the end is indeed near. Maybe we just have to let go of our wants and desires to reverse time and stop it exactly where we want it to stop, to the time where this community thrived the greatest.
From the time we entered this community to now, our lives have changed so much. We're all growing up no matter what age, and the focuses and the importances of our lives have shifted dramatically.
We will always have these memories to look back upon. One day we'll be able to tell our kids of all the experiences we had as we watch them play whatever the popular game of their childhood is. We will never, ever forget everything MCSG gave to us.
Maybe right now is the time; the time to let MCSG die peacefully.
Maybe it's time to let go.......
