Hey all,
This might get moved to another forum, as it doesn't particularly pertain to the ongoings of Clans, but rather to the nature that the scene creates and my experiences with them.
When I was 15 a mentor of mine sustained a life altering brain injury. One particularly fragile evening, missing him and mourning him, I decided to find the website he had talked about. He and I talked about our lives, our faith walks, our families, work (I had just started my first job) and he was a developer on Halo 4 at the time. We had a lovely time playing board games and video games. I missed those times with him.
I searched and found 4 websites for Risk, and eventually found an email I had from him mentioning CC. It was the one he had played on. In the following years, I met Denise, TheSpaceCowboy, and catnipdreams who formed me both as a player, and in some ways, as an adult. I watched a mentor, and my mother both dwindle in health while having "internet strangers" to support me - some even played a role in my own life, not ending.
******************************
I don't know who else had experiences like those in real life, they can also pin to the times on this site. But from High school on, I remember having a group of friends. To play competitive games with - chat random crap - and sometimes even have phone calls.
Overtime, Empires fell, Agents attempted to resurrect the glory of Empire, and eventually disappeared. I moved onto Fallen, learned new things, made new friends across the world IcePack, rousseau72, and others... before TheSpaceCowboy and I started reminiscing on old times and hatched the plan to build a clan that fit the sweet spot in our lives. A clan driven by personality and belonging - Social, Kind, Competitive - The Republic.
This time, I got to share my adult life with old friends, resurrect some old players like dwilhelmi, ljex, and mudfighter, while pulling in new friends - The_samurai (my tournament partner), ExtremeWays and so many others... including those I'll never forgetCheffed, CaronylKluster.
Clan life has been a fortunate thing to have in my life. I've built real friendships in the last 15 years here, some have ended in painful and joyous memories. Others are living in current shifting turmoil to this day - and others still are a constant flow of laughs, competition, conversations and joy.
******************************
What has the GOOD of clans brought to you, and your clanmates?
