I’ve been away for a while.
One of the things I’ve decided to do recently is check in on the folks who were so supportive of me when I started AmbiGaming, and the great people who joined along the way.
Boy oh boy, was that an adventure I was not expecting.
Some people are still here (and I was so happy to find that out!!!), but it’s been… something something to see how many folks have also stepped back from blogging. I commented to a sailing friend a few years ago that I missed some of the old group I used to sail with (including her). She made a very sympathetic face and said, “Well, sometimes people just move on.”
I’m not judging – I’ve certainly disappeared, as well. But there are three folks in particular I wish I had a chance to say a more formal goodbye to:
Aether, from Lost to the Aether, posted last in 2022. He was one of the first people to read and comment(!) on AmbiGaming Corner, and was one of the first people I knew “only” online but still looked forward to chatting with. He posted about why he was stepping back, and I commented on his post at the time. He said he’d only be gone for a bit, but years have passed. I hope he’s doing well.
VeryVeryGaming is another one of the fantastic folks who were my first commenters. Always so encouraging and upbeat, VeryVeryGaming was someone else I looked forward to seeing comments from. His last post was in 2023, during my absence. I don’t know what happened, but I hope his life is treating him kindly.
There are other blogging buddies who have bowed out of the scene during my own unannounced break, and one in particular is Ian from AdventureRules. He (and his partner) were folks I always enjoyed talking to, via blog posts or on social media or during their streams. I understand his stepping back, as well, and I hope things go well for both of them.
I had no real plan or direction for this post. It’s just so strange to think about how people in your life can exit in a blink. Sometimes you get to say goodbye, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you’re left with memories, sometimes with the last words someone wrote on a page or on an internet site. Sometimes it’s just a memory of long-erased words left somewhere you can’t remember.
The holidays are not generally a happy time for me, and this past season made me think a little more about the characters in games. What do they feel when the game shuts off? Obviously nothing, as far as we are concerned. They’re just lines of code. And that’s it. The game turns off, the television goes to black, and they’re gone. They’ve been blinked out of existence, for a short time if you’re going back to the game, or forever if you’re not.
It’s strange to think that we can be the same, in a sort of Schrodinger’s Blogger kind of way. Here, on the internet, these people don’t exist anymore. They have blinked out of existence, like a game that’s been shut off or a site that’s been shut down. But somewhere in the world, the people still exist (hopefully). They experience the world, other people experience them, and they have continued on.
Something something deep discussion about the possibility of something after death. Something something are people like computers getting turned off, or blogs being shut down, or game characters disappearing, or is there something else to them?
I guess what I’m trying to say is, start off the year by telling people you care about them, no matter how silly it feels, before their game shuts down forever.
Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you soon,
Athena
Ambigamingcorner 
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