What I Leave Behind

Started by Grizz, February 07, 2020, 06:44:39 PM

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Grizz

Hello TLO fam,

Last weekend, following the cancellation of Star Trek: Tyrella's return due to attendance concerns, I announced my intention to the Cabinet to retire from The Last Outpost effective this Sunday.

When I was elected RPG-X CO, I had promised and hoped to bring new players to The Last Outpost and introduce them to Star Trek: RPG-X - for my money (or lack thereof), still the best Star Trek video game available today. Since then I have been privileged to introduce a few new faces to the game on our servers. I am very pleased that I was able to be there for their first introduction to the game as I still firmly remember my first connection to an RPG-X server and the experience that followed: a Bridge of 10 crewmembers all surrounding the Captain drinking coffee aboard the Poseidon-B.

Unfortunately such experiences are a thing of the past. It is clear from our SRP and server activity that I have failed. Ultimately it seems that you can only promote a 20 year old game so far and I have been unable to bring players in enough numbers to sustain our RPG-X department. Without an active RPG-X player-base, my role here is redundant. Existing Serial Roleplays cannot proceed. Two new Serial Roleplays have been unable to get off the ground. New events cannot be scheduled.

The RPG-X Community and The Last Outpost have always been my happy place. A wide-ranging expression of escapism to play and create with likeminded strangers and friends. When I was bullied and struggling to meet my target grades at school, RPG-X was there to distract me. When I struggled with my sexuality, RPG-X was there to comfort me. When I got my first job in an unfamiliar new town, writing Star Trek short stories became my free-time hobby. When I struggled to make new friendships offline, I was building a Star Trek universe of my own with my new friends online. When one of my closest friends was diagnosed with and passed away from Motor Neurone Disease early last year, RPG-X and TLO were there again to shield me from the shock.

The last thirteen years as part of this community have been wonderful. We have shared countless hours gaming together in many different forms - all memorable for different reasons.



My hard drives are packed with memories. From RPG-X to Minecraft. Star Trek Online to Chivalry. Sins of a Solar Empire to Garry's Mod. Star Wars. Stargate. NCIS. We've done it all together. I intend to continue compiling all the screenshots and videos I have from our time together to ensure they are preserved for the future.

From writing the monthly State of Gaming articles for Ex Astra to simply creating signatures and thread headers for Criminula, it has been a pleasure and a privilege to serve The Last Outpost in many different forms over the year. I only wish I could have done more to prevent this day from arriving. I wish I did not have to leave work unfinished. But I could not and that is why I must leave, with the treasured memories I hold unsullied by the passage of time.

I hope that I have overlooked something. I hope that The Last Outpost can go on and perhaps find that there is life in RPG-X still. Perhaps TLO can become a true gaming community again. I hope so. It deserves that. But for now I shall step back and perhaps focus on things I have otherwise neglected. Perhaps I will even take up writing again (when I'm not too busy being a lefty snowflake political activist). If I do, I hope that I can share any new work with you all so you can critique accordingly. I even get to watch brand new Star Trek regularly again!

There is so much I could say to so many of you. You have made me smile. You have made me laugh. You have guided me when I was lost and picked me back up when I had fallen. From when I was 13 to now at 26, you have allowed me to mature and grow alongside you and for that I am incredibly grateful - even if there were some bumps along the way. I love you all dearly and I hope we will all stay in touch.

I never would have imagined that the ridiculously named Star Trek: Asteroid Base in 2007 would have led to the years of roleplays that were to follow. Creating and evolving that world has been an incredible journey and being able to share it and experience it with you has been an unparalleled opportunity. Through Amber, Renee, Sophia & Emilia, I have been able to express myself in ways I would once have found impossible - they have each been a part of me.

From writing scenes, editing vSlider images, cutting together trailers - from the roleplays themselves to all the fluff and promotional stuff around the edges - I have had an absolute blast and I will never forget it. Nor will I forget those who were kind and generous enough to lend me so much of their time to take part and help me tell that story week in and week out - spanning the years since Star Trek: Enterprise's cancellation to the dawn of a new age for Star Trek.

They say we all have at least one novel in us. Mine simply took the form of a 5000 page RPG-X Serial Roleplay epic. So thank you for reading it.

Thank you for being a part of my crew.

Goodbye  ^-^