by Vortex_Master » Tue Jul 26, 2022 3:49 am
I've done a lot of introspection these last few years. Ended up moving back home and rectifying some past errors. I recently just broke off contact with a group of online friends I had for the past three years, which reminded me of y'all. I loved them and was happy to get to meet up in person a couple times, travelling around the US to see them. But they just never really cared for me with the same degree of enthusiasm I had for them and treated me increasingly poorly. Well, not all, mostly just three of the 8 or so regulars. We played games together and had a lot of fun, but they really didn't care about who I was as an individual. The relationship became tiring for me, and a couple days ago I expressed my feelings frankly but kindly and they gaslit me and claimed victimhood saying I wouldn't listen to their opinions and how selfish of me to say such things, and I that was the last straw I needed to cut off that toxicity. How dare I have feelings and opinions? This is the sort of thing they would increasingly do any time I had a slightly differing or nuanced opinion on anything, didn't matter the subject, all that mattered was that I wasn't saying something they didn't want to hear because I have my own personality, and they increasingly attached their identities to the "collective" discord server (which I made). I was the enemy to the very thing I created by simply being who I always was instead of morphing myself to fit around some comfy cozy fantasyland. I ended up bringing together a group of people who were such a good match for one another that they formed a hivemind that never wanted to do anything me or another guy wanted (so we did it by ourselves) and then when we went off together to play games or chat or whatever, suddenly we were the bad guys for not including people.
Luckily, I have real friends to go do things in the real world with. But the whole incident got me thinking about VW. Even the petty squabbles and drama I had with people never seemed to get to anyone because it was a facade. A role we played. Our online personas. The masks slowly lifted as the years went by and so did the drama (and the game unfortunately), but it was always just good fun amongst some dudes (and the occasional dudette) online with a shared interest. Glad to have had such a positive online experience all those years ago. It's been eleven years since I started playing VW with over a decade on the forums, and I don't have a single bad memory. Except maybe when Drone came back to usurp Warriors Creed from under my feet after disappearing for like a year. xD
Anyway, I just came back here to reminisce (and rant a little). Best wishes to you all. See you when VW3 finally happens. (or probably in another few months to a year)
Make Vortex Wars Great Again!