I think I'm nearing the end of the road at MTG Cardsmith?

@Animist, @AnosmianAcrimony, @AustinSmith, @Beeswax, @Bellycuss, @Biblio, @Corwinnn, @CrucibleOfHate, @Cryptonight, @Faiths_Guide, @Flatfish, @Gelectrode, @KJMartin, @Koover, @Lujikul, @Mila, @Modnation675, @MrRansom, @Ningyounk, @Polanety, @Rednaxela, @Sanjaya666, @Saveria201 @TenebrisNemo, @Tomigon, and every one I didn't mention but met here.

I've been a member of MTG Cardsmith for five years, and I have come to enjoy most of the time I spend here engaging with other Cardsmiths and witnessing the creativity you all unleash on a daily basis. However, I'm reaching a pivotal moment in my life, where I've gotta decide what I'm gonna do with my life. As much as I enjoy all the time I spend here, I've spent some time looking back on what Magic's done for me, and I can't think of many good things, and other than smoothing out a few problems I won't mention, the $1500 I have dumped into the game over a few years doesn't make me feel better.

College is slowly inching closer towards me, and with it comes all of my other problems that will probably decide whatever hell I'll have to deal with the next 4 years at least. You may or may not have noticed that I create new cards with ever decreasing regularity, and with the past two to three months I probably delete whatever it is after it's published. Or it was deleted with my recent purging. Now I just creep along the comments section and sometimes reply to a comment for one reason or another, as well as see whatever Featured Card the site decides to share with the world in it's unknown ways.

I am considering what to do with all the progress I have made here, or if I will post once in a blue moon without deleting something, or just wander around and comment every so often. But I can say with full confidence that sadly, I think my time here is nearly over, unless you want me to oddly limp along while openly embracing me. Or pop the bulb in my head and give me a great idea.

I've been aware of how crushing the reality of it is for the most part for the past few years, but now that I'm expected to graduate high school, earn a degree, etc., I've been forced to gut my involvement in many hobbies I cherish. BUT. I have saved a sizable chunk of my collection in OneDrive. I may link a folder sooner or later of whatever's left. And not that I'd want to it to be a biennial thing, but I might press the reset button and just start a new account, except for the fact that I'll still know y'all, and I'd probably use the same Disqus.

I will definitely spend the next week replying, less so the week after, and then vanish and reappear under a different username unless the positively stunning crowd known as MTG Cardsmith convinces me otherwise. But I'm sure you all can one way or another. Or, you know, we can make this a biennial thing where someone points out my Disqus username and the avatar by the one and only Nanomortis.

Comments

  • Farewell, @Damnation! You have been a wonderful presence here on MTGCardsmith, and you will be sorely missed. I am flattered that you cared enough to tag a weird Izzet chemister like me!
  • @Damnation - I know I've enjoyed having you around and of course I'm a HUGE fan of a lot of cards you've made (the Nanomortis ones especially, because we share a love of her art!). Even if you never make it back here, you'll always know that you were a big part of what made MTGCardsmith grow into what it is today!
  • I'm flattered that you remember I exist, and wish you the best of luck. If you never return, know that you've been an inspiration for quite a few smiths.
  • This community has been built upon the people that make it up. Your creativity and insights will be missed.
  • edited September 2017
    Thanks for mentioning me and goodbye to you @damnation , I know college life gets super busy

    It’s okay to disappear for a little while too to take care of other things, and then return. I had life matters to deal with late last year, so left for a while, but have settled down more now and so can contribute more consistently. Hopefully you can return someday too
  • Goodbye my dude...
  • @Damnation Well, it's always sad to see a dear community member leave, but I am sure, we'll see you here again. I wish you all of luck for that new phase in your life, you're facing now and can very well understand, that you need a lot of energy to rev up now. But I also know, you'll surely find a little time to spare for your hobbies, after you've found your place.
    We'll all be glad to see you now and then, when that happened to create some more magic cards here, if you like. I don't contribute as much as I did in the beginning and don't create numberous cards every day, but this is a nice place to come to whenever I have some time to spare.
    I's also like to thank you for mentioning me here. It's nice to be recognized as a part of this community, that's worth being mentioned.
  • I've been in the same position as you and wrote a farewell message like this and since then I keep leaving the site and then returning to it. My point is that things have a way of working themselves out. Reality doesn't need to crush your hobbies. It'll try to get in the way, sure, but I know that someone of your creativity isn't going to take it lying down - unless you find new things that you enjoy more as you venture into the next chapter of your life!

    A short break can be good but don't press the reset button when you come back. It's not a Damnation card unless it's a @Damnation card.
  • edited September 2017
    Wherever you go from here @Damnation, I wish you the best of luck and success. And just like @Animist said, things will work out.

    I never really get to know you, but I'm glad you cared enough to mention me. You've inspired me with your amazing creations when I first started to actually create some decent cards and I will miss you. Remember that you always have a place here in mtgcardsmith.
  • The end of an age. I wouldn't worry to much @Damnation, though I may suggest you cut back on actual spending if you can tell that's what's best/necessary, you shouldn't be too concerned if you find enough spare time to continue here. I find it's a great way to unwind (personally) and benefits other areas when I overwork myself in them. Your moving into a new area, which can be daunting but is (most) often rewarding. Take your time and do your best!

    Either way, do what you feel most appropriate in each decision, blessings on your road ahead!
  • Pfft. You sound so gloomy.

    As one of the "unmentionables" I'm not sure my words can hold any sway over you, given I am but a fleeting memory to vague to recollect.

    I have walked your road, I have ventured to parts beyond without the comfort of Mtgcardsmith, and while I can honestly say that I did not miss it all the time, when I did, it was lonely. The perspective on your mood is skewed I think. Don't look at this as the end of the road, think of it as the end of a road. The grasp of adulthood and the physical, mental, emotional, and monetary strains can indeed be daunting, but I don't think severing the ties that bind completely is healthy (especially in the beginning, during a slight to heavy withdrawal peruod) and is also vastly unnecessary. I completely understand the necessity to cease MtG as a hobby from a buying standpoint, and can empathize with selling of cards and collections with the intent of either closing a chapter, or increasing mandatory funds for survival and the betterment of your future. That being said, Mtg is a separate creature on its own. There is no upkeep unless willing parted with, and there is no mandatory acknowledgement of forthcoming or previous blocks of legitimate Wizards MtG cards. Mtgcardsmith is an island. Inhabited by so many different races, including trolls, and can be visited often or rarely, without any boon or consequence. It's a neutral resting spot for many of us, and you as well. There is no need to create if you do not wish it, there is no need to speak if you desire silence. It is whatever you need it to be.

    If you need it to be gone, then I bid you a fond adieu, but do not think it needs to be permanent. It can be until end of turn, or even until the beginning of your next upkeep.

    Many of the people on this site I called friend have been Bounced from the field, and while I have a saddened belief I may never see or hear from them again, there is also the other side to that coin. I believe I will. I do not regret my absence from here, but I don't think it was necessary either. It just was.

    The other spectrum of this ideology is what YOU want out of this site. If you believe too much time will be garnered towards this hobby, and life will fall behind, then yes, you must sever the connection. Until such a time exists where you can safely navigate the halls without worry of addiction. Though from your comment I don't believe that is the concern.

    I feel more than anything, you merely have a block. A creative block. Perhaps, at some point, your entertainment you found here was enchanted with shroud and now you cannot find a reason to stay. That's understandable. As a "writer" (let's be honest, I just like writing I'll probably forever be an amateur) the inability to create fluid, concise, and interesting cards is a detrimental setback to coming here. It's my bread and butter of this site, slightly edging out the motley crew that inhabit this place. I love creating, and this site gives us the opportunity to glimpse the unseen within ourselves and create on a small or grand scale. Frequent or rarely, mythic rarely in some people's cases. It's not uncommon to be able to create stuff you're proud of, but you need to seek a common ground within yourself where you allow yourself the opportunity to seek that place. If you deny yourself simply out of fear, or allow yourself to intimidate your creative side, you're only acting as a menace internally.

    There's no one on this site that can convince you otherwise in regards to a choice you've already made.

    And I genuinely believe this note is more of a plea than set in stone, so give yourself the chance to stay. Don't sabotage it just to make the pain easier to endure.

    Stay a while. Pull up a seat, engage in the conversation and open up to the possibility that maybe everything doesn't need to change just because big changes are coming to you. Hobbies can be put on the back burner, or they can be discarded like a hand with more than seven cards, just know that you always have that one card in your hand. That one ace in the hole. It's always free to cast, with no draw back. It can't be countered and it genuinely benefits the entire field.

    Return target cardsmith from real life to Mtgcardsmith.

    I'll see you whenever you get back, Damnation. I genuinely hope everything you desire comes to you.

    And if you decide to stay, for whatever reason, I will look forward to seeing in the near future.
  • My comments are so huge they should have defender!

    ^_^
  • Or Banding!
    XD
  • Thanks for helping me making PolitikSet! (still unfinished. lol)
    Do what you like and have fun!
  • edited September 2017
    @Damnation Thank you for all of the inspiration and unleashed creativity that you have shown us all. I know you will be able to use that great creativity to great ends in other aspects of your life, especially the ones that may be challenging. And while a busy life can certainly be challenging, it can also certainly be fun. It can give you purpose that you never knew you were lacking. And it doesn't need to crush all of your hobbies, the little fun things about you that make you you! You might just need to invest less time in them, and/or pick a few of your favorite hobbies to spend your free time on and cut out the ones that you enjoy the least. And you can always come back to them! I wish you a successful and enjoyable college education and career, and I hope you will return soon to show us all a little bit more of that amazing mind you carry around with you. :)
  • Thank you so much for being an inspiration for all of us! The card here is not supposed to be a sad memory from mtgcardsmith, but instead a guide for your future and what is yet to come. You were a great addition to this site, and all of us will dearly miss you!

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