Topic
Thank you Glitch for saving my life (Metaphorically or Literally: Share your stories)
Dearest Glitch,
Thank you so much for saving my life literally and metaphorically speaking.
Like so many of us, I have been going through all 7 or 9 layers/levels of hell.
Relationship issues, depression, work issues, you name it, I had it.
What I found here was friends that cared and continue to care for me and love me
so much more then supposedly named Real Life or non online friends.
Truly, these RL friends expect me to go visit them even though I don't drive so it would take me all day to go visit them.
Many of my Glitch pals deal or were dealing with real life hells of their own, and Glitch allowed us to come together to provide love and emotional support to one another.
Thank you stoot and all at TS for this amazing game experience. I was at the edge of despair many many times and sometimes wanting the ground to just open up and swallow me up whole.
My friends have helped me out of these feelings and I have helped them too.
This is the power of Glitch and its incredible community. I have never seen as wonderfully kind and caring community hitherto, and I wonder if I will again.
So that's my story, please share yours if you all like, Dear Ur.
*hugs*
Bachjess♫♫♪
Replies
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Glitch is a fantastic way for me to destress when I need it. There's no pressure or time limits or fighting (save for rook attacks) and for someone with anxiety that is something I really, really appreciate. As things became incredibly stressful for me over the last month, I found myself very happy to have Glitch, where I could play and be at peace for a few hours out of the day.
Thank you Glitch, for being my happy place <3 -
My husband and I lost our beloved son, my only child, half my soul and all my heart, on August 1, 2010. Especially around holidays (like Christmas and New Years) and as his birthday approaches, it's nightmare hard, and I kinda crawl away from the joyous celebrating happy rest of the world for a while to weep and hurt. Thank you for Glitch and the wonderful fellow players here who have kept me grounded and occupied, and yes distracted when I need to be. My Civility Group leader and my fellow Civvie members keep me going, one foot in front of the other. When RL gets overwhelming and I need to withdraw and fight the dark forces for a bit, when I want to just crawl into that dark cave and stay there and never come out, Jess and my fellow Civvies keep me going.
Why didst thou leave the trodden paths of men
Too soon, and with weak hands though mighty heart
Dare the unpastured dragon in his den?
Defenseless as thou wert, oh, where was then
Wisdom, the mirrored shield...?
omnes cor meum, dimidium animae meae All of my heart, half of my soul - I've been dealing with disability and permanent loss of employment. It's been my experience that most physically-abled people can't deal with physically-disabled people for the long run and subsequently my social life has all but died as my 'friends' have dropped off. Depression set in in a big way-my doctor called it mourning the loss of my previous life-and in alot of ways, that is correct. I started playing p.c. games as an escape and someone I met on a gaming forum told me about Glitch. This is my first MMOG. On Glitch I can run. I can jump. I can WALK unassisted and for as long as I feel like it. On Glitch I've found friends. Friends who don't care what I can physically do. Friends who will talk with me, encourage me, help me, listen to me - CARE about me. Friends I can help in return because I am abled. It's been a lifeline for the short time I've had it and I will miss it greatly.
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Stuart & all TS,
Just wanted to say thank you so much. There are no words for how much this community and game have meant to me. Game... that word is just not adequate enough to describe my emotional investment in what this has been. And somehow it is just right: the infinite game. This place has been a nexus, real highs and lows here that were something important and meaningful to my real life. Bachjess said it so well. My memory will forever be marked by this period of time that I have had the honor being a part of this. I played Game Neverending way back when. At the time, I saw something unspeakably great happening. And Glitch, a hundredfold so... I just don't have the words to articulate the depth of my appreciation for ALL of the serious play that has gone on here. We know what you have put into this, and we love you from the bottom of our hearts for making magic happen. Even if the world were to never be graced again by this magic, you have already blasted through barriers that people couldn't have imagined. But I don't believe the spirit that made this happen is finished. Be well and rest in the satisfaction of this accomplishment, know that often what is great isn't necessarily understood as such in its time. Much Love.
Your pal,
Frika Frank -
Glitch also saved me from a depressive slump last year(?) when I joined, and I've been loving it ever since.
Good luck to everyone, guys. TS especially! -
Everything I did in Glitch mattered to someone.
A tree. A rock. A pig. A butterfly. Another person. I petted them, or Hi'd them, or sprinkled sparkle powder or fertilidust on them, and they got happier. I did something, and it mattered.
You wouldn't believe how important this is to me. Thank you for giving me *somewhere* where I mattered, where I could make a difference. -
Glitch has, on multiple occasions, been my primary source of de-stressing. Glitch was a place where I could escape from my sometimes crippling anxiety, a place where I consistently felt welcomed. The lack of time limits or pressure to do anything in any specific way helped me so much, and the sheer love and acceptance and lack of judgement from every Glitchen I have passed in-world was astounding. I felt like I was really making someone's day better when I would deliver milk to their doors. I don't get that feeling much outside of Glitch.
Not to mention, Glitch allowed me to keep in contact with a near and dear friend (Kachek47) who moved to a different state last fall. Without Glitch, we would have drifted hard.
Thank you, all of you, for making my days just that much better. -
The players of Glitch and the game itself has helped me through some difficult times the past year. At one time I was suffering from a major depression episode and it was the people in Glitch who saw me through. Lovely people like Ooola, natsumi and Ayasta.
Glitch will always have a special place in my heart. - *applauds*
- I've had several down episodes during the past year, and the community here has helped me through them all. The game also helped me to have something to do so I didn't focus on sad things as much. I will miss it very much.
- Glitch helped me cope with severe post partum depression and the stresses of being a first time mother. It kept me social and sane during my recovery when I could not get around too well. I would play when I should have been napping at the same time as my baby because it gave me more to my day in those early weeks than just feedings, diapers, quickly feeding myself, and sleeping. Yet, it was so easy to walk away from when my baby needed me, and I ADORED Glitch for that. It did not demand my attention and consume me...it was my little escape and I could do whatever I wanted, however I wanted, and at my own pace. I will miss all the fun I had. Truth be told, no amount of pillow cuddling can comfort me since I read the news a little bit ago, and my husband and baby are fast asleep. Thank you stoot and everyone at TS for creating this wonderful world. It was absolutely wonderful while it lasted. And if you read this, stoot: Otters holding hands.
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This year I have had two operations to remove cancer and radioactive iodine treatment, I have sat beside my mother's bed for three days and three nights watching her struggle to breathe before seeing her take her last breath and then having to bury her, I have been diagnosed as having cataracts recently so I am facing blindness next. In the words of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, this has been an annus horribillus (horrible year).
To be honest, I feel so unwell I'm actually not expecting to be around for another year, but I renewed my yearly subscription a month or so ago anyway because Glitch has been a little ray of sunshine in a dark and dreary world for me.
Glitch has been my happy place, my place of hope, a place where all is as it should be in the world. A place where I could relax and smile a little bit.
Thank you for that TS because Glitch was such a shiny place it's sunshine will continue to warm me up a little every time I remember the little piggy wriggles and other awwwwsome stuff. - i found glitch last year after moving cross-country to a new state where i knew no one (except my husband). it really helped me to have this wonderful game to keep me busy and happy whenever i felt lonely or homesick.
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Last September, right around when I started playing Glitch, my mother killed herself. The friends I made here listened to me while I grieved, when I was angry, and when I just needed to rant. And too, the game was an escape for me from the life that I didn't necessarily always have the energy to handle.
Thank you, TS, thank you, stoot, thank you fellow Glitchen. I shall miss you all mightily. -
Last September, when I started playing Glitch, I was facing a major depressive episode, triggered by work issues. Two serious breakdowns, and I'm struggling with BPD and bipolar (nasty combination-and despite everything people said, you do not "grow out of it", as I turned 40 this year...).
Glitch made it all more bearable. I'm thankful for that. It came at exactly the right time, and yes, I do believe it saved me from worse. -
Glitch has been a lifesaver for me, too. Having all you people living in my laptop has made such a difference in my life. Thank you all so much.
*hugs to all here, especially zoe <3* - *bump* This needs to be further up. So many people have shared stories in other threads as well....
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Bumping this to try and get more Glitchen to share how Glitch might have saved you.
*hugs* all,
Jess -
My story isn't so great. It's very possible that Glitch may have been the tool I used to lose my own job. It wasn't Glitch's fault, to be sure. There was already a problem there, but Glitch was what I used to occupy myself while avoiding some really heavy things I've been forced to deal with.
However, I find the lessons of this game (including the tough ones surrounding its closure) to be incredibly inspiring. And as I embark on my own entrepreneurial adventures, I'll be taking them with me. In a very real sense, my goal for the next year is to run my business as if I am a Glitch. I have my rocks to mine, beans to season, fruit to change, and random kindnesses to use, and I am surrounded by a world of newbies to show around!
And the artwork, if you stop to look at it, is incredible! Including the player created stuff.
Also, I'm hoping to dress even funnier. - Shortly after I discovered Glitch last year I developed a pinched nerve in my neck, which moved into full on disc degeneration and ended in spinal fusion surgery this summer. It was a long, painful and awful ordeal. My normal outlet for escape and dealing with stress - my garden - was not available to me as I was so debilitated, and I had to watch as it deteriorated to weeds and mess. The only thing that got me thru it all was Glitch. It has been such a great diversion from the non-stop shit that RL has thrown at me this year. A little bright light of fun and laughter and escape that made the rest bearable. Thanks so much, Tiny Speck and all the glitches I've known. It was magical.
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I thought I didn't have a story to share here.
But here's part of an email exchange I had in 2010:
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-Hey, Cef, how are things?
-Kinda crappy, to be honest. Broke up with Chris, it was better for the both of us, but it's still unpleasant. Still out of work, haven't been able to find anything serious since 2007. That project in California never worked out. They're starting something new in town but they don't have a position for me. I wanted to go back to sea, but I'm so much in debt, I can't.
Oh, but I did get into the alpha test for a pretty cool game.
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I'm not going to say Glitch saved my life, or that it pulled me out of a depression. It didn't. But it was a bright, adorable little ray of sunshine in an otherwise drab period in my life.
:) -
This isn't something that is "saving my life", but it's important to me anyway.
There have been 3 things in my life that enveloped me in magic. 1) My grandparent's farm, 2) books, and 3) Glitch.
We all need the sense of magic at work in our lives, to keep our imaginations healthy so we don't become cynical and worn out with the material world. Magic is intimately linked with the sacred, with the spiritual side of existence. Our brains need magic the way our bodies need food and water.
I only have memories of my grandparent's farm and soon I will only have memories of Glitch. But I will never forget the magic. - Yeah, what Flowery Pott said. Glitch didn't save me or my life, but I love every last blasted pixel and had a hell of a good time playing. I love the attention to detail, the wonderful inside jokes and cultural references (loved the fact that so many of the jokes and references went right over my head--and kind people in game explained them to me). I love the art, the music and the whimsey. And most of all, I love the people I met. The world would have been a poorer place without it. I will treasure the memories.