My Situation and the Gaming Community

I would be right there with you to support OW if I could. I have gotten on as much as possible but due to circumstances that is rare. I was pulled out of my 7-5 job as an Aviation Electronics Tech Second Class (E-5) for the Navy to go to school full time as part of STA-21. It's an enlisted commissioning program so once I graduate from Oregon State, I will be off to flight school. Unfortunately, this program is requiring more time from me than my regular job did with a 20 unit load in a quarter system where 12 is the norm. Beyond that, I am constantly tasked with things that are demeaning to an E-5 in the military such as my current project of redoing bulletin boards.

I would not be so negative except for the fact that high school grads with a scholarship are treated as being on the same level with me chain of command wise and as an E-5 my command merits me with no more respect than the avg scholarship student, though I have 214 college credits(unfortunately spread over 3 bachelor degrees). I'll be out of here as an ensign Spring of 2009, but that offers nothing for the clan. I can only wish that we can remain a community if anything.

There is hope in the future since most of the member base of OW and VeX games will find stability in the coming years, due to the primarily young member base in 1997 naturally gaining order. This lends to the fact that if we do keep in touch we will find a stronger community in the future. With that, I say stay on your IM's, post your IM's, and if you are involved in the new evolution of gaming then communicate it as I'm sure many of us have branched into console gaming. I am not one to take anything I have experienced from VeX for granted and though this may be the downest of downs, I see hope.

This is not a call for revival. This is a call for community. Something we have lost. It's amazing the things I know about most of ya'll members and beyond. The things you know about me. Let's not forsake that because OUR GAME is about to die, 10+ years after it was introduced. We made something. Our community stomped the developers in competition. Community doesn't exist without evolution.

Our evolution is to collect our people, small groups and new faces, and to show them what gaming used to be. It wasn't a personless taunt-fest. It was community. Be active in your words, encourage others to be active in their mission - gaming. It seems like an impossible goal but our heritage can offer more than Sony, Microsoft, or any other impersonal method of pwnage.

Reply to this please and reflect what COMMUNITY you are involved in. Reply and reflect where gaming is going and why VeX should be there. Nay to that. Reply why our generation of gamers should influence the next generation and make our presence known that gaming is not an impersonal battle fought with a headset and an xbox controller, but should be a reflection of our identities with those on the battlefield. We have gone from the generation (maybe some of us) to where one person in the neighborhood had an atari or an NES and it was a gathering of people to play to a generation where we had our own screens. Now we are at the point that no one cares who they are playing- this leads to single player games, no community, and no relationships. FUCK THAT, BRING IT BACK. The past should be the clay to mold the future, not the scraps on the floor that indicate we are waste.

Out,
Kresh