After a little over two years and after so many great memories, it is time for me to say goodbye. Goodbye to a server that taught me that there are still nice people in this world. Goodbye to a game that has always been a platform for an incredible community. And goodbye to a pastime that has brought me so much joy throughout the years.
Opening rant
I like to think of myself as a little weird when it comes to gaming, because I never committed to being a full-on professional, but I wasn’t just an occasional gamer either. I would play for around an hour each day, and that hour was filled with happiness. Yet when it came to the other 23 hours in the day, I found that this pastime kept eating up more and more of them. Time spent on the forums. Time spent on Discord. Time spent on special events on this server. And when I looked at this time that was spent doing something that brought me such joy, I could only help but feel a little disappointed.
My social life wasn’t really there all that much because of the amount of time invested into this game (to be fair, it was never incredible), and I wasn’t spending enough time (in my opinion) on other pastimes that would bring me joy. So as I slowly watched my life become less and less fun (as it also became more and more fun because of the amount of my time that continued to be invested in this server), my sense of accomplishment diminished. Yet I always knew the root of the problem to be Minecraft, and at the same time, I never wanted to stop. It was just so much fun.
But now, I’ve decided to be done with it. I’ve decided that there are enough things in this world that I can do in my free time that will bring me equal amounts of joy as this game, without making me feel like I’m useless. But one of the problems that I have is that if I don’t completely stop doing something, if I leave a few threads of connection to whatever it is, I will always come back to it, and sometimes more so than I would like to. So I’ve decided to completely sever my ties to Munchy, and to gaming as a whole, so that hopefully I can spend time doing the other things that I like to do. And who knows, maybe I’ll discover something new.
My history
Let’s take a pause from my ranting and take a moment to talk about how I got here. Before we get to the end, let’s start at the start.
I remember (well, vaguely, but still…) joining Munchy for the first time. I had just left the other server that my brother and I used to play on because there were too many hackers and a really bad anticheat. I went on one of the Minecraft server lists, and found this one.
As I joined, I realized that it was Bad’s server, which was a nice little touch. I probably joined Kit, but was outplayed by people who could click faster than me. So, I joined WoolWars, where I would spend the greatest portion of my time for the next two years.
I saw that in the lobby, people were saying hello to each other and being wholesome, and I decided to make that my goal: to one day be recognized as a (at least semi-) prominent member of this community. Because whether I wanted to admit it to myself or not, one of the main reasons that I would stay with this server for the next two years is that I longed for community, and Munchy has a great one, though it was seemingly out of my reach for the time being.
My first few games were rough. I asked the classic beginner question of “what kit should I use?” and I found a pretty resounding answer of “Vast”. This was before it was nerfed, mind you. It was such a great kit for beginners because it required little to no skill to use semi-effectively, and I fell in love.
This was also the WoolWars where the timer was displayed over the chests for when they would refill. Back in those days, I would send a friend request to anyone who said “hi” in chat in response to my “hello” (or vice versa, I wasn’t really picky about the form of the greeting as long as it was directed towards me). In one of my first games, a few other players and I decided to team up and fill in the top of the map, at height limit. And we did. And it was so fun and such an easy way to create community. But the community at large was still out of reach for me. And yet I still did not give up.
A few months later, I decided to stop sending quasi-random friend requests, mostly because of their incredibly low success rate. I decided instead that to become more well-known, I should have a green name. Because, you know, if you look cooler, you feel cooler, and other people think that you’re cooler. So, I bought myself Super rank.
Over the next few months, I continued to play this game that I was in love with, while continually trying - and failing - to gain a place in this community that is so incredible.
But then, everything changed.
I had joined the forums and Discord maybe a month or two after I first joined the server. I still remember that the first day I joined the MunchyMC official Discord, somebody had started a WoolWars bingo competition, so the Discord channel was incredibly hectic. It was… interesting. And I remember seeing a forums post where some dude named McDonalds was trying to convince everyone that Bouncy was better than Vast. Oh, how the tables have turned.
But back to the point - I had been thinking for a while to write a series of forums posts chronicling my ridiculous interpretations of well-known server members (mostly WoolWars players), with some not-so-well-known players thrown into the mix. Interestingly enough, my goal was never to leech off of the popularity of others, it was actually just to have fun, use the creative skill that I have, and sure, I wanted those likes. Because the more likes you had, the more well-known you were. Well, that’s what I thought.
Anyways, I wrote my first episode of But What Does It Mean? starting Munchy’s favourite kiwillustrious (I’m still fairly proud of that portmanteau) survival player, Aiadeva. And boy, did I get those likes. Motivated by all of the support, I kept writing BWDIMs every Sunday. At one point, the posts got a major, well-needed aesthetic makeover. My intellectual property was stolen without my consent by Beelzebeel, but I didn’t mind, because my posts kept getting more likes.
Throughout the months, I continued to post BWDIMs and I also progressively got better at WoolWars. At one point, I bought the orange rank because it looks sooo much better than the green one. I still believe that, by the way. Fight me. And I progressively attained this personal holy grail of becoming well-known. Bea invited me to her WoolWars Events server.
Then, the BWDIMs stopped. Rat was the 25th episode, but also the last. It just wasn’t fun for me anymore. And for the next several months, I mained WoolWars on and off, always being active on the forums.
Fast forward to a few months ago, I start to think about quitting, for reasons already menyioned. So I stopped playing WoolWars as much and moved on to unnamable server that is coincidentally the most popular server in all of Minecraft. I knew that if I wanted to stop playing Minecraft, I wouldn’t be able to go from this amazing community to nothingness. So I progressively distanced myself from this server and this game.
Which brings me to today.
Thank you
II’d like to take a moment to thank everyone here. Without you, the community wouldn’t exist, and the community is what keeps people coming back to this game. There are some really incredible people who happen to play a block game on the same server as I do, and I feel incredibly privileged to have known them. So thank you all for existing and for being here.
The End is near
So, in two weeks, I will ask someone to close this post. On that day, I will delete my Discord account and stop using the forums, and if all goes well, I’ll stop gaming altogether.
Closing rant
I know it’s cliché to say this, but as this chapter of my life ends, I’m hoping to start a new one, better than the last. And I am certainly not discouraging you all from playing this wonderful game on this wonderful server, but maybe you should just stop for a moment and ask yourself if you really are happy playing this game. If you truly are, then go ahead, continue stabbing children, or doing whatever you do in this game. But if the answer is no, then maybe it’s time to reconsider your priorities.
I’ll leave you with a quote to reflect upon, a quote from a game that has been with me since I was very young, and which will always be my favourite video game of all time.
Minecraft has given me so many incredible memories that I hope to cherish for a very long time. But at the end of the day, that’s all it is: a game. It happens to be my favourite game, and it happens to have some really really amazing people who happen to use it, but it is only a game.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
-Unknown
For the last time, this is your host, Spectro, signing off. Goodnight!
