0031benjy (Warning: Very Bittersweet)

0031benjy

Hey there, some of you may know me as 0031benjy, or more commonly Ben.

I joined this server in October 2012, two days after purchasing and playing Minecraft for the first time. This was my first server and is the only server I have ever frequented. I started out as a fairly (probably below-average) run-of-the-mill Tyro, which I remained as until December 2012 when Arcticstar promoted me to Yeoman, to this day I remember the joy 15 year old me felt being accepted into a group of people (I was not the most popular kid (nowadays I see how little popularity means to me)), the rush of emotion I felt making genuine friendships with many of you has meant more to me than many of you know.

There was a period between the beginning of 2013 and towards the end of 2014 when I would be online upwards of 12 hours a day, I'm not much of a builder, I just love the community. A lot of my life became this server, I frequently liked to nurture different aspects of my relationship to the server and monitor its effect on the surroundings without fear of (direct) judgement, knowing that on The Shire, everyone starts equally.

Somehow after getting by at school, and scraping through college, I've managed to get my life on track, got rid of some people irl that were influencing me in a bad way, and have started to see the light at the end of the tunnel that is my adolescence.

Regrettably for me this has undone my passion for this server, the nurture it provides that I once needed is now no longer necessary to me, nor do I feel I can directly return the favour to many of you.

I will never stop loving this server, nor will I ever forget it, not till the day I die, its impact upon me is literally astonishing and I am extremely humbled to have met all of you.

I feel like I've been clinging to the server now for the past few months, trying, begging to find a way to fall back into the times when I felt like my life here was as important as my life beyond, but alas I can't, and so I guess it comes down to this.

I have been clinging to my title as Arbiter for too long, there was a time when this worked for the benefit of the server, but nowadays I am only being selfish holding on to it.

For any Lords reading this, I would very much like to resign from my post as Arbiter, there are plenty out there that are much better suited to it than I, I trust you'll make the best choice.

For all my friends I've made these past 3 years, I am also resigning from the server, it pains me to do this just as much as it pained me leaving my friends from school behind, because you've all impacted me in very real ways. Thank you for making my time here absolutely wonderful, if I could go back and change anything I wouldn't.

Nebbers, thank you for what you've done, this server is by far the best thing on the internet, you've evolved and nurtured it in such a selfless way that many people would fail to do, you've created a fully fleshed world, always remember that.

Arctic, thank you for being my beacon of hope in the early days and my good friend and counsel in the recent, I have always considered you to be one of the kindest and most selfless people I know (including irl), thank you for being such an amazing person.

Andy, thank you for being one of the early sparks to introduce me to programming, one of my biggest passions and soon-to-be career, one day we need to grab a coffee at Costa, Shirecon will live on.

Batman (If you read this), thank you for being a mentor to me back when this server was alien to me, if not for you I probably would've left way back in the beginning before all the good stuff, I wish you all the best in your current pursuits.

Drekar, thanks for the dankest memes and being the most xx420noscopexx person on the server, besides me, congratulations on your promotion, since your return you've only convinced me more and more that you'd fit the job perfectly, good luck with the noobs.

Darklordmo (Even less likely to read), thank you for that tour you gave me back when I was a Gaijin, the amount of wonder and excitement you invoked within me was just such a new and amazing experience for me, shame you've not been on much though.

Morris, thanks for the intense discussions, thanks for the trust, thanks for helping me realise who I really am. I trust we'll continue to talk over Steam.

Hay, thanks for doing my job better than me you're a really cool and happy person, I've never seen someone dish out such high quality tours for such low prices, only suggestion I could make is you do some actual work sometimes (jk).

Sammich, thank you for teaching me the beauty of chaos, take from that what you will, I feel like we've grown alongside each other here, I miss the days of our crazy improv outbursts, keep making the server a better-worse place.

I'd also like to mention some other friends who spring to mind right now, I guarantee I'm setting myself up now to miss some of you, don't take it personally it's just 1am and I'm tired...

Ender PC Gaan Monkey Chef Lobstrex Mieshoa Geek Vetous Jimmy GJ Maghion Prey Vinny Maw

Message me on Facebook this isn't an obituary,

Thank you all for making my life better than it would've otherwise been,

I am truly humbled to have been a part of this,

Love,

Ben

-0031benjy, Signing Out *Drops Microphone*