merry christmas to all. I hope everyone got a little something they really wanted, had something happen that they were waiting forever for, or go somewhere they’ve always wanted. If you are hurting this holiday for any reason I’m sorry and hope bennets hype RR news brought some smiles, cause it did for me.
[SPOILER="long ass sappy slobber of words "]didn’t want to overshadow bennet so this is spoiler but you made me cry a bit going back and thinking about history here as you talk about moving forward. sorry if it’s too much even in spoiler mode you can delete it if that’s the case
can’t even begin to say how thrilled I am to be able to still be here, and have this community that was a long part of my life and will always be concrete memories. I don’t discount people who I’ve never met before/new here as at one time we were all that guy, the nobody. however the opportunity for expression both ingame and within the community is immense and while we’ve always done some ribbing and had some ugly moments (we were kids/teens/shithead uni students) I think we always can appreciate the effort someone puts into something even if it’s not what we’re drinking that night.
the effort to keep any community alive for this long is insane. If I had to count on my fingers how many different communities (not even RP or game related and of various sizes) were still going, it would be one, which would be my middle finger to anyone who can’t put aside embarrassment, beef, or disdain for this place. I was in that boat for years thinking I couldn’t rebuild the bridge back to a community where I had people with very like minded interests and people who appreciated me but I was too narcissistic and thought I’d grown past this. Years later I regret leaving this by the wayside knowing a lot of time wasted on other attempts to fill that RP void were just half-baked or not fun in comparison to even the low points we have here.
this has always been a labor of passion and love from the community. there’s a lot less instant gratification from serious RP, there’s nothing you can brag about to anyone outside of people who have done some serious RP. thankfully the popularity from the years of content packs spread far and wide and has cemented this place as a household name even if you’ve never been here. thats actually how I got my start here, moving from half assed openaura servers after finding dave b’s old models for HL2 and TRP wondering what the source was exactly.
bennet, hope you read this far because I want you to know that you are such a champ. there’s names no longer here that i thought would be in your shoes, im sure the truth of the matter would make me even more elated knowing you are still where you were when I left and that tnb wouldn’t be turning a new positive page if you weren’t. I probably had some shit attitude with you despite running in the same social circle at the time and regret that, or at least regret not trying to be more friendly with you. don’t feel like you’ve failed anyone man, it’s great to own up to faults but don’t let it hang on you. let it be a reminder now for how much not only TnB has grown but you have grown, and I think you’ve grown into a good person when after not being here for years and through probably some of most turbulent social and political times of our generation (which always trickles down into gaming), to come back and see how much of a positive leader and the amazing team of gigachad admins/devs that you’ve brought together. Failure this time is looking pretty slim in my book brother.
and to people who are new here, I hope y’all can stick around long, can’t live without new blood. honestly a ton of names that were “new” when I was about more are still here and pillars of this community now.
anyway, to wrap up I just want to say thanks. not just to bennet or the team now (you guys are kings don’t let me fool you) but thanks to TnB as a whole. To the fun, the laughs, the discussion, the debate, the drama even. I’ve learned a lot from here, and can probably correlate personality traits and interests I have now to the time spent here, and I say that positively.
big shoutout to Dave o’ B, gang as well, and all past and present devs(drewerth cough) you guys make the script the most unique and fun to play on vs any clockwork type detractor, as well as all the old homies like stevefish (c17 union chad) and pirate(man always had a sick pair of wheels to RP fixing n riding in any iteration, like a lighthouse for me).
[/SPOILER]
love to all,
kordinn
