runouw.com

Mind if I borrow the mic for a couple minutes?

MessengerOfDreams wrote:[...] and even as we enter 2015, people fear that the site has reached a flatline, and that we might fade out.

I don't have much experience with spearheading a true, solid community, in order to refute that appropriately, but over the 7 years in which I dediacated free time to online activities, I've taken part of several different scenarios - all of which seemed founded on a game, and thrived through restless skill crafting in gameplay and designing alike. The sequential death of four monitors and my XP desktop, in late 2010/early 2011, and the loss of all my PC games led me to join a number of new gatherings: SMG 2.5, McLeodGaming, MundoRPGMaker, Teeworlds and Runouw.com. Today, only the latter still stands, and it's for good reason.

McLeod and Teeworlds are, by far, the groundbreaking, standard-setting examples of how can a widely known game, with dozens of new dummies pouring in by the minute, turn establishing any cohesion between rookies and veterans nearly impossible, with the former's original userbase actively working on a game, and the latter setting users apart with latency and a learning curve that launches newcomers into orbit. Even the brazilian community, once at the verge of total obliteration, but almost completely unified at the time, has been replaced rapidly and, with the veterans in recess, grudges were held daily between newer users.

MundoRPGMaker probably still stands today, but only after rising from the ashes at least once. In contrast to the forum's relatively high amount of participants, few enough participated in the IRC channel before the forums being knocked down. Gradually did that group fade away as well, and due to that, even with the forum's return, I haven't been there since.

And there's the one that started it all, Mario Galaxy 2.5, home to a hypothetical "me" which had once sported a green name and a post count of well over 2'000, before the project had been moved to Kuribo. Eventually its old users vanished, grudges set the others apart faster than they could sort it out, and the project was finally taken down for good sometime last year.

All along, if you were to scroll through all that has been discussed on the course of this subforum alone... you would eventually reach the skies.

I might try and elaborate on the subject further sometime, but I feel I've taken up enough pixels for now. It's time to fly a bit higher.

El Psy Congroo.

I'm going to be honest right now; I don't think I'll ever consider you guys as much of friends as those that I have met in real life, but dammit I'd be lying if I said that this was just another public forum website. Hell, I still consider you guys my friends regardless. It's actually kinda awkward to explain who some of you are to my parents when they walk in while I chat with people, as I pretty much say, "They're friends I made online," but it's deeper than that. I can definitely say that it has been an honor to be with you guys for at least 3 years, and I hope this doesn't change.

Well, Runouw.com is a special place. Just like pretty much every newcomer, I made an account here because of the games, and to publish levels. Never thought this site had this whole community at first.

Since then, I got a lot of new friends who I talk almost daily to, and got something new to distract myself: Level designing. Level designing isn't even only aA hobby for me anymore, it's something I consider taking to another level now.

This community is awesome by the way. You guys are always here to talk, help, or just to have fun, designing for competitions or even just to play a game. It really helped me on the various things life threw at me.

And you MoD, actually played a pretty big role on all that. Survivor Runouw changed how I see a lot of people here, and if it weren't for Survivor, I wouldn't have met most of the people I talk with now. The most important about Survivor Runouw though is that it made me reflect and change the way I act. I learned to control myself better, and to be more serious on tasks. I'd say it was the best social experience I ever had.

So, Runouw.com is still the main reason I turn my computer on everyday. And I still think this community will live the way it does now for a really long time: A small, but really, really awesome community. So I'd like to say a big Thank You to this community as well. You guys are awesome.

I've been mulling over sharing some stuff here on the forums for a while now, and this seems like as good a venue as any for it. Please forgive the scatterbrained nature of the following thoughts.

Firstly, I'm very proud of all of you. MOD especially, simply because I am most familiar with your journey with Runouw.com and beyond, but to everyone here that has taken a lot from this place, and given back in turn, I am proud of you, and grateful for your presence here in this community. How special it is should be apparent from all of the thoughts preceding mine. (And MOD, I am incredibly glad to have been a meaningful support to you as you grew into a truly remarkable person, both on and off the forums.)

Many of you never really knew me, as I largely retired at the start of 2011, and only have popped up occasionally since then. Suffice to say, I was always grateful for my time being a user and later a staff member here. This was always a fun place to be, despite the periodic drama, and it was always filled with great people. It was an unquestionably important part of my life for the roughly 18 months that I was very active here.

In the years since then, however, I've grown to appreciate this place even more than I ever did while active. I never really realized how fully this place was a (generally) healthy support system for many of us, and as many of you noted, a place that really helped a lot of us to grow as people. I know that for me personally, being able to be a part of that here enabled me to better support the people I became close with in college (and boy did a lot of them need that), and as I started experiencing struggles in my own life, culminating in a diagnosis of mild to moderate depression this past October, my experience here helped me to better understand what I was going through in the aftermath of my later years in college, and in trying to adjust to a post-college life where I've struggled to feel I really belong.

It means a lot to me to see how much this place means to all of you, because this truly is a place worth treasuring. I did not know it at the time, but this was the first place I ever really felt fully connected with others. I left because I found that in my own life when I went to college, something I feel my experiences here prepared me well for, but have not been able to find that to the same extent since. But I've been doing better with that lately, I'm happy to say, and have been getting a little better, so if any of you feel in a similar boat now, or find yourself feeling that way going forward, know that it does not have to be the end of the world, and that everyone can find a place where they feel they belong. For that reason, I hope you all continue to treasure this place, because it is a place that has always been pretty good at making anyone feel they can belong, and if it helps you with personal growth in the way that it helped me, it will go a long way to helping you find that sense of belonging in your own lives.

I think that covers the gist of what I wanted to say. Thanks to all of you, both the friends I had while I was here - you all know who you are - as well as those active users who have followed since my departure, for everything.

MICrophone

I'm not a person of long posts. All I want to say is: you guys have helped me more than you can even think by just being on the forum, I haven't really wanted to share my problems or anything here because I already get enough help without you guys even intentionally doing it. I love this community.

so basically

and yes i was looking for an excuse to post my avatar at it's full glory

MoY, you may remember me, and if you do, I'm sorry for being the immature 9 or 10 or 11 year old I was at the time. I didn't realize how hard you had it, so sometimes I may have done something wrong that affected you somehow negatively. Thank you so much for an opportunity to see into your life. It's hard to put how thankful we are for you being the person you are into words. So thank you. I really hope for the best in your life.

Bleh, I can't really be assed to write as massive of a wall of text right now as you guys have, but you know, you all have helped me in a huge number of ways and I'm really grateful for that. Helped give me something to do in my free time, for one thing. Helped give me people to talk to, friends, even. Helped me become a better human being, too. Helped me learn who I am--no, helped shape me into who i am. Helped me cope with a lot of ♥♥♥♥ life threw at me. Helped me to remain sane, in general, under a lot of really ♥♥♥♥ circumstances. I haven't really let any of it show very much, and I almost feel bad for that. But all of you still really played a huge role in my life. I partially mean that literally. Even though I have nobody to specifically thank for supporting me or anything (since I never really thought to bother you guys by seeking help with anything), I really want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I'm partly driven to do this because of all of the sentimental feelings here, but really it was more by an event a few days ago which was the culmination of a lot of things that are really important to me. In a way, it marked the beginning (or end?) of a transition into a new phase of my life in several ways--no, I'm not leaving or anything, there are just a lot of really exciting changes coming for me that I'm really looking forward to--and I just want you guys to know how huge of a part you were of how I was even able to get there at all. And I really want you to know that you're all amazing people. I can't thank you enough. :D

I've been here around 5 and a half years so far, and I don't regret any of it.

Like many others it started with Super Mario 63. But it evolved into writing stories, and I have to thank people like Brando, MoY, Chau, Avo, and others because of the entertaining stories they provided, the inspiration and motivation I got for writing, and support I got when I posted my stories. Because of you all I still feel like I can hold on to some creativity nowadays. Same with SM63. I felt motivated to make more levels. MoY in particular I always felt knew how constructive criticism should be given. It felt good to be part of the team as a Level Mod as well as judging LDCs. Again, I remember how MoY made me feel welcome as a staff member.

I'm so happy I've made so many friends here too. In multiple ways, I love you guys more then some of the friends I've made face-to-face. As an introvert with a lack of social skills, I felt good knowing I could turn to you guys. Even now, just seeing you guys still around brightens my day. Thanks to who I mentioned before for that, and Nin, Raz, Usu, StarF, BY, CY, MIC, Four, everyone on the forums I've gotten to know. An assignment in our class had me write a letter to myself 10 years from now, and our teacher promised he'd mail it in 10 years. I made sure to mention these forums because I never wanted to forget this place.

I don't know if the memory of this place will ever disappear, but I hope not. This site is too integral to my adolescent years to forget. Thanks, everyone.

Yoshi Boo 118 wrote:Thanks to who I mentioned before for that, and Nin, Raz, Usu, StarF, BY, CY, MIC, Four, everyone on the forums I've gotten to know.

Daw thanks. Unless you mean Captain Yoshi then screw you, too.

ChaosYoshi wrote:

Yoshi Boo 118 wrote:Thanks to who I mentioned before for that, and Nin, Raz, Usu, StarF, BY, CY, MIC, Four, everyone on the forums I've gotten to know.

Daw thanks. Unless you mean Captain Yoshi then screw you, too.

Yes I meant you when I initially said that. The other CY too, though.