Something to think about...

I know everyone's feeling pretty down right now, and powerless, and probably hurt, but what defines us is how we react. In Glitch you probably found a sense of community and story and beauty that was different to anything else you knew before. Glitch opened up a little place in your heart, and head, where new ideas could live, and maybe restored your faith a little... in games... in humans... in many different things. People will all take something different away, but they'll all take something, and that's what's important, that thing you take.

When I was in my late teens I played on a MUD called The Eternal Struggle. I played their for about four years, and the community, and the depth of the story and characters in the game was just incredible. I made so many friends there, and became deeply immersed in my character, and the world, and the mythology. Even ended up on the staff for a year. When that game inevitably closed down, it's the last time I remember feeling how I feel now about the end of something.

How did I react when TES went down? I didn't let it die. Sure the game got shut down, but I started my own MUD. Me and several other players got together and started to build our own world, putting our hearts into it, and making it the way we wanted. We preserved some of the things that we loved about TES, but made it a new thing, our own thing, built with love. We played there for a few years, but like most things, it too reached the end. That's not what was important though. The things it gave us never ended.

I guess my point is that if you love Glitch so much, don't let it die. Don't 'go gently into that good night'. Maybe you can't stop the game from dying, but don't let the things that it gave you die. Everyone's looking for somewhere to replace Glitch right now, but if it was that easily replaceable, it wouldn't be that special to begin with. So wait... for a long time... or build somewhere yourself. Glitch was a dream for Tiny Speck, but you can make your own too. Start small... make a forum... don't let the community break apart. Then build it from the bottom, add avatars, ways to play and create together, ways to shape the world together. Create something together. That's one way to keep it alive. Not the game, but the things that it gave you.

Posted 12 years ago by Aphex Boy | Permalink