Time Out of Mind
Aeriadne
how sad and bad and mad it was - but then, how it was sweet
The Ghost of Parties Past
A week ago, someone messaged me. It was a simple message, not much to it. "Can I hear a story about the UIP?"
Thunder broke in my mind, and a soft storm set about my thoughts. Mention has been made previously of my involvement there, and I myself have often held up my involvement in that party's demise as a sort of joking standard by which I tend to stray from Party Leadership. Were I to have been born in Westeros, perhaps the albatross may have been my house sigil.
These are things we can never know for certain.
I never replied, for no story came to mind which honestly did not cause some sort of heartache and sadness to me. All I remembered was my anger, and my frustration, my youthful crusade against former friends. These are hard thoughts to deal with, even to this day. And I would have honestly let the question drop from my mind had it not been for another old time friend bringing up the subject that very day.
When Thedillpickl started playing, I will admit I did not think very highly of him. To me, he was the sort of player who would probably meddle about in party leadership, maybe even a small cabinet job, and then maybe burn out in a year or so. After four years, he's still playing, and still proving that this base assumption I had made was utterly wrong. The man is a determined player, and now a much larger level than I. The guy's even got a CP medal.
I'm proud he found his own.
But getting back to the point of this article, he approached me about the same person who had messaged me. And in his message he gave me this link. I had never seen this article, never read it. It was after I'd let Athanaric die. But even still reading it, it makes me sad.
I don't want that legacy. It's something I've tried moving on from for a great while, but something which still probably haunts me. Probably only haunts me. Regardless, I do have a story about the UIP, and I hope you won't mind the lack of pictures.
A Server Forgotten
It was the heyday of my UIP involvement, winter of 2010. My plans to change the party were merely selfish seeds I cultured in the garden of my own private ideals. Nothing rooted yet. Winterfest was in full swing, and the party was having fun with the Frost/CRoy faux rebellion. It was a weird time.
But a fun one. 2010 was arguably when another game, Minecraft, really hit its stride. And like many online gaming communities, our party had decided to have our own Minecraft server. Well, not specifically our own. We were sort of leeching off another server someone knew of, iirc. Regardless, GenMcBeckson, that old banana Pheno Sony, and I bumbled around the server and sought to carve out our own little niche.
Our first matter of business was finding a proper part of the map that could be used for our own needs and creations. We scouted out an island, and eventually erected a large banana in Pheno's honor. Underground catacombs detailing party history soon followed, as well as a large UIP emblem. We spent hours and says formulating our own little place, and I even went so far as to start creating a gigantic winter castle which I as Party President could call home.
I can't give you much more than that. Often, the greatest fun you have isn't very memorable because of the story it will make. You remember the feeling you have, the quiet contentment that washes over you as you lose yourself in a moment with friends. Those memories that you recall in perfect detail aren't the ones that are the best, most often. I still have the logs saved from the night everything in #UIP went to shit and I was finally banned from the party's private channel.
But nowhere are the pictures of our little UIP island except for in my memory.
What to Take, What to Leave
Minister of Fun is an interesting title, and many of the people who have come before me all have approached the job differently. In this age of the game, we don't have a lot of room for shenanigans. People are jaded. After so many years of playing, we all get very rooted in our own beliefs about how everything should go.
And very often, we forget some of the true enjoyments we had in this game.
One of my favorite memories from playing this game will always be the time I spent on that minecraft server with friends, just building things in dedication to a party that only existed because of the community we shared. I was happy. And it was fun.
I'd like, if you've read the whole way through this article, for you to share you own stories. Just one story. It can be short, or long. A tale from a time in this game where you truly just had a whole lotta fun.
Thank you for your time.
Comments
tl;dr
Deux!
i liek ur articles
i liek ur face
it niec i kno
this may require more than 30 seconds consideration. maybe even an article.
great story
*tears*
Yay for writing!
You sir are my bro and that was a very cool story.
And STOP BEING SAD!
ProTip: Don't vote your own comments.
lolololololololololololololol
Protip:
Screw that!
"When Thedillpickl started playing, I will admit I did not think very highly of him."
😮
Reading on to see if this goes somewhere. 😃
Well, it's only 3 1/2 years and you're damned right I'm determined. I consider it my job to see how many people I can piss off in one browser game. I've still got about 20k to go. 😃
(Shhhsh! Don't tell anybody but I got the CP in Switzerland. Pickles kidnapped the Swiss Miss and held her hostage until they let me get elected. I do like my shiny pixelated trinkets.)
OK, read the whole thing. Looked at the farewell article and the link to the banner DOESN'T WORK!!!! I spent hours getting that just right.
http://imageshack.com/a/img836/5439/n5vz.png
(Got a warehouse of images on my hard drive, never trusted those 'in the cloud' thingies.)
I remember you guys going ga ga over Minecraft. Posting freakin' multiple megapixel pics to the forum that took me forever to download. Beck was pretty cool.
Not to change the subject but one of my most favorite people from UIP was Ssomo. Maybe it was we were both older IRL and could relate better. All I know was that place was littered with cool people. I know you guys bumped heads at the end but I wanted to mention Kaz. Remember the avatar I made as a joke and then he used it on the forum 'cause it was so damn funny?
http://imageshack.com/a/img838/1525/bpd4.jpg
Anyhoo, I agree, don't be sad. Remember, reminisce but don't regret. It's all water under the bridge. Remember what you told me "Do whatever it is you find that's fun to do.".
I remember y'all talking about minecraft too much. lol I think now I probably should have gotten on that game.
And you know, a lot of people still carry the weight of things left behind. I hold it close to my heart, honestly. In the past, I left the UIP behind, but I still remember the good things, and that's what matters.
Define United Independents Party: place where I had the most fun in eRep with a great group of people.
This article deserves more of a response then...than...then?...f**k, new plan. It deserves more attention damn it.
Voted for OST Secret of Mana :3
Great read. Thanks.
WHTV