Entry #2: (Almost) one decade of Connie in the Community
Partially inspired by Chris/Nockess' 10 year anniversary blog post, I decided I'd write something for that too, even if there's still half a year to go until the 10th year anniversary of my MBForums Account.
It's honestly crazy to think that I've spent close to 10 years in this community, and around ~15 years playing this game. I think what hits me the hardest is realizing that, while I grew up, I also watched this game and the community grow up alongside me, or I could even say blossoming in a way. I watched people come and go, come back and leave again. I've watched certain dramas and conflicts unfold, some of which I look back on and think "oh man that was kinda dumb tbh".
Some people who might be lurking here who were active back in 2015-2018 might know me by Alexnico. This is the pseudonym I used to go by before I transitioned socially in August 2020, and the only pseudonym I used when the Forums were still active, around that time (2015-2018). I'm not sure when the Discord server overtook the forums in activity, but I'm sure it was still relatively active when I used to lurk on here more. When I joined the community in 2015, I was 10 years old, however I posted my first forum post in 2016, when I was 11. It took a while for the mods to realise I was under the age of 13 - and the way they found out was by checking out my old Youtube Channel's Bio (although they probably also had a suspicion based on how I acted back then). I was banned in 2016 for being underage as a result of that, and spent most of my time chatting in the Forums (since the "ban" was really just you not being able to talk in the Webchat, and possibly also not being allowed to join the Discord when that was made in 2016(?)). The 2015-2017 era of Connie was mayhaps the era in which people took me least seriously, and this was partially because I was a literal child, but also because of how I acted in the community. A part of the people active back then might remember my silly attempt at ban-evading under the alt account "UndercoverSpy99", an attempt which quickly ended after I blew my own cover in... what, like 4 messages? Maybe even less messages. More people, however, might remember my silly attempt at making mods of the game. Oh yes, the infamous Testing 'Initative' Ball or Marble Blast Alex's Island, the 2 most famous noob mods that I made (that I took extremely seriously back then, fun fact). The threads for those two might still be up on the Spam Board (where I used to live back in this era), so go have a read of those when you have free time - I won't because I think I'll die of cringe. I had one attempt at making a non-Marble Blast game called the "Desktop Game" (which was inspired by another game, whose name I genuinely cannot recall (I'll edit this when I remember)), which instantly failed, but which I advertised here on the forums too (post of that might also still be up, I'll look for it later), with it having it's own separate ProBoards Forums. I don't remember anything else which was notable from this era of my time in the community, but it's definitely the wildest era I've had. I was an annoying little shit, but I was still growing up so it was understandable.
Moving on to 2017/2018-2021, this is the time-period when I started being active-ish in the Discord Server after being unbanned (which happened in 2017, but I quite genuinely do not remember any concrete thing I did back in 2017 besides make a few levels). I'd say my activity in the Discord Server can also be divided into multiple segments of activity and inactivity, but I genuinely do not want to bother doing that right now. One thing I did in this era, and probably the weirdest one of all, was fake having a girlfriend with an alt account - we don't talk much about that though lmao. I'm quite sure I also participated in my first Tournaments in this era - I specifically remember taking part in one Monster Mash mini-tourney hosted by Matan when he was still in the community (miss u </3), possibly in 2017 or 2018. I also remember taking part in a Winterfest themed mini-tourney, also hosted by Matan (Remember when we had those? We should bring those back). This was the period when I started bridging friendships in the community, one of my earliest (if not my earliest) being with Jean. Up until this point, the only person I was talking with in the community was with Regislian, who I still admire for putting up with my annoying ass constantly PM'ing him on the Forums. The other notable thing I did in this era was socially transition from M to F. I intially adopted the name Alexis - as it was closer to my original name - but then I settled with Connie, which I think is also just a cuter name. This happened in August 2020, after I had come out to other people privately. Some people had issues adapting to this, some adapted to it more quickly, but yeah. Back in this era, I used to care a shit ton about people calling me by my old name, to the point where I'd say that they were being transphobic to me. I kind of regret this, it's obvious they weren't malicious, or most of them weren't at least. Nowadays I don't care about that much, especially when talking about my history, but I'd still appreciate if people would refrain from using that name when not necessary (I still won't throw a temper tantrum about it though lmao). Besides this, I don't remember anything else that I did in this era besides participate to some little silly dramas (one which comes to mind is Edward and the beef he had with one of CK's levels - Momentum Throttle?) and that's about it.
Moving on to 2021-present, this is the period where I started to gain a bit more importance in the community, and by that I mean the era when people started taking me more seriously. 2021 was marked by the former mods and devs of MBP/PlatinumQuest leaving the community, effectively leaving the game and the server's moderation to a new set of people. Also around this time was when PlatinumQuest became open-sourced, which meant I could experiment around with its script files and figure out how everything worked. This helped me develop my coding skills a lot, which lead me to coding in my own silly additions and modifications to PlatinumQuest on a local copy I called "StrawberryQuest", and also lead me to joining the new PlatinumQuest Development Team, whose lead developer was (and still is) RandomityGuy. Around this time I also started my more known quest in the community - the quest to beat all of the Custom Level Archive, which I completed (I think?) a year later, having beaten around 3000 levels. Most of the streams happened in a private server I had made though, as a result of some stuff that happened with my behaviour that resulted in me leaving the MB Discord Server (which is also why Discord shows my server join date as December 2021 instead of sometime around 2018, when I actually joined the Server. This private server went on to grow quite a bit, and now hosts several stuff that isn't tied to me, including a place where people can talk about their projects, whether they are MB or non-MB related. It also hosts my new stream series, where I'm attempting to beat all mods that were ever released. This stream series is the reason why I and part of my private server went on an operation to find Therefore, a lost mod that I'm sure many people here know about, operation which ended with eblu (God bless you
) giving me a copy of Therefore. My level building skills also significantly improved during this time-frame. I went from making lazy levels mostly just to garner attention and praise from people to making whatever the fuck I wanted without the pressure of feedback and/or praise weighing down on me as much anymore. This change in mindset led to me making some pretty good levels, or so I think (I don't know, I feel like I've been making quite a few bangers as of lately). During this time frame, I consolidated most of my friendships that I had begun bridging back before 2021 (some of those broke though, which is alright. After all, that's the course of life, isn't it?), and even briefly dated someone in the community (I still consider that the absolute best relationship I've ever had and I still love you, but platonically of course. It just wasn't meant to be that way). I also started hosting a few events of my own, the one with most success possibly being the NintendoGamer2900 ban mini-tourney, which has had 4 editions. I plan on hosting more different stuff though! Maybe some which aren't related to an absolute creep lmao. I also recently became part of a pretty amazing project that I'm sure some people have heard about - if you haven't, give us a few more decades or centuries until we're done with it lmao.
And this is where I'm at today, at the end of 2024, in December, on the National Day of Romania.
I think if I went back in time to 2015 me, when I was making my forums account, and told her what she'd become in 10 years, she wouldn't believe me. She'd most likely slap me lmao, but she'd see for herself in the future, she'd just have to go through some of the embarassing moments that I went through to get there.
I hope that in 10 years time I'll grow up even more, I'll learn more, I'll experience more, I'll love more, I'll do and create more stuff, and I'll become better at what I'm already good or decent at.
Cheers to another 10 years in the community, another 10 years of Marble Blast, another 10 years of our amazing members and creations, and another 10 years of being absolutely the best community to ever grace the internet.
(I'll absolutely have to proof read this tomorrow lmao I'm tired as FUCK right now I apologise if some stuff doesn't make sense)
It's honestly crazy to think that I've spent close to 10 years in this community, and around ~15 years playing this game. I think what hits me the hardest is realizing that, while I grew up, I also watched this game and the community grow up alongside me, or I could even say blossoming in a way. I watched people come and go, come back and leave again. I've watched certain dramas and conflicts unfold, some of which I look back on and think "oh man that was kinda dumb tbh".
Some people who might be lurking here who were active back in 2015-2018 might know me by Alexnico. This is the pseudonym I used to go by before I transitioned socially in August 2020, and the only pseudonym I used when the Forums were still active, around that time (2015-2018). I'm not sure when the Discord server overtook the forums in activity, but I'm sure it was still relatively active when I used to lurk on here more. When I joined the community in 2015, I was 10 years old, however I posted my first forum post in 2016, when I was 11. It took a while for the mods to realise I was under the age of 13 - and the way they found out was by checking out my old Youtube Channel's Bio (although they probably also had a suspicion based on how I acted back then). I was banned in 2016 for being underage as a result of that, and spent most of my time chatting in the Forums (since the "ban" was really just you not being able to talk in the Webchat, and possibly also not being allowed to join the Discord when that was made in 2016(?)). The 2015-2017 era of Connie was mayhaps the era in which people took me least seriously, and this was partially because I was a literal child, but also because of how I acted in the community. A part of the people active back then might remember my silly attempt at ban-evading under the alt account "UndercoverSpy99", an attempt which quickly ended after I blew my own cover in... what, like 4 messages? Maybe even less messages. More people, however, might remember my silly attempt at making mods of the game. Oh yes, the infamous Testing 'Initative' Ball or Marble Blast Alex's Island, the 2 most famous noob mods that I made (that I took extremely seriously back then, fun fact). The threads for those two might still be up on the Spam Board (where I used to live back in this era), so go have a read of those when you have free time - I won't because I think I'll die of cringe. I had one attempt at making a non-Marble Blast game called the "Desktop Game" (which was inspired by another game, whose name I genuinely cannot recall (I'll edit this when I remember)), which instantly failed, but which I advertised here on the forums too (post of that might also still be up, I'll look for it later), with it having it's own separate ProBoards Forums. I don't remember anything else which was notable from this era of my time in the community, but it's definitely the wildest era I've had. I was an annoying little shit, but I was still growing up so it was understandable.
Moving on to 2017/2018-2021, this is the time-period when I started being active-ish in the Discord Server after being unbanned (which happened in 2017, but I quite genuinely do not remember any concrete thing I did back in 2017 besides make a few levels). I'd say my activity in the Discord Server can also be divided into multiple segments of activity and inactivity, but I genuinely do not want to bother doing that right now. One thing I did in this era, and probably the weirdest one of all, was fake having a girlfriend with an alt account - we don't talk much about that though lmao. I'm quite sure I also participated in my first Tournaments in this era - I specifically remember taking part in one Monster Mash mini-tourney hosted by Matan when he was still in the community (miss u </3), possibly in 2017 or 2018. I also remember taking part in a Winterfest themed mini-tourney, also hosted by Matan (Remember when we had those? We should bring those back). This was the period when I started bridging friendships in the community, one of my earliest (if not my earliest) being with Jean. Up until this point, the only person I was talking with in the community was with Regislian, who I still admire for putting up with my annoying ass constantly PM'ing him on the Forums. The other notable thing I did in this era was socially transition from M to F. I intially adopted the name Alexis - as it was closer to my original name - but then I settled with Connie, which I think is also just a cuter name. This happened in August 2020, after I had come out to other people privately. Some people had issues adapting to this, some adapted to it more quickly, but yeah. Back in this era, I used to care a shit ton about people calling me by my old name, to the point where I'd say that they were being transphobic to me. I kind of regret this, it's obvious they weren't malicious, or most of them weren't at least. Nowadays I don't care about that much, especially when talking about my history, but I'd still appreciate if people would refrain from using that name when not necessary (I still won't throw a temper tantrum about it though lmao). Besides this, I don't remember anything else that I did in this era besides participate to some little silly dramas (one which comes to mind is Edward and the beef he had with one of CK's levels - Momentum Throttle?) and that's about it.
Moving on to 2021-present, this is the period where I started to gain a bit more importance in the community, and by that I mean the era when people started taking me more seriously. 2021 was marked by the former mods and devs of MBP/PlatinumQuest leaving the community, effectively leaving the game and the server's moderation to a new set of people. Also around this time was when PlatinumQuest became open-sourced, which meant I could experiment around with its script files and figure out how everything worked. This helped me develop my coding skills a lot, which lead me to coding in my own silly additions and modifications to PlatinumQuest on a local copy I called "StrawberryQuest", and also lead me to joining the new PlatinumQuest Development Team, whose lead developer was (and still is) RandomityGuy. Around this time I also started my more known quest in the community - the quest to beat all of the Custom Level Archive, which I completed (I think?) a year later, having beaten around 3000 levels. Most of the streams happened in a private server I had made though, as a result of some stuff that happened with my behaviour that resulted in me leaving the MB Discord Server (which is also why Discord shows my server join date as December 2021 instead of sometime around 2018, when I actually joined the Server. This private server went on to grow quite a bit, and now hosts several stuff that isn't tied to me, including a place where people can talk about their projects, whether they are MB or non-MB related. It also hosts my new stream series, where I'm attempting to beat all mods that were ever released. This stream series is the reason why I and part of my private server went on an operation to find Therefore, a lost mod that I'm sure many people here know about, operation which ended with eblu (God bless you
) giving me a copy of Therefore. My level building skills also significantly improved during this time-frame. I went from making lazy levels mostly just to garner attention and praise from people to making whatever the fuck I wanted without the pressure of feedback and/or praise weighing down on me as much anymore. This change in mindset led to me making some pretty good levels, or so I think (I don't know, I feel like I've been making quite a few bangers as of lately). During this time frame, I consolidated most of my friendships that I had begun bridging back before 2021 (some of those broke though, which is alright. After all, that's the course of life, isn't it?), and even briefly dated someone in the community (I still consider that the absolute best relationship I've ever had and I still love you, but platonically of course. It just wasn't meant to be that way). I also started hosting a few events of my own, the one with most success possibly being the NintendoGamer2900 ban mini-tourney, which has had 4 editions. I plan on hosting more different stuff though! Maybe some which aren't related to an absolute creep lmao. I also recently became part of a pretty amazing project that I'm sure some people have heard about - if you haven't, give us a few more decades or centuries until we're done with it lmao.And this is where I'm at today, at the end of 2024, in December, on the National Day of Romania.
I think if I went back in time to 2015 me, when I was making my forums account, and told her what she'd become in 10 years, she wouldn't believe me. She'd most likely slap me lmao, but she'd see for herself in the future, she'd just have to go through some of the embarassing moments that I went through to get there.
I hope that in 10 years time I'll grow up even more, I'll learn more, I'll experience more, I'll love more, I'll do and create more stuff, and I'll become better at what I'm already good or decent at.
Cheers to another 10 years in the community, another 10 years of Marble Blast, another 10 years of our amazing members and creations, and another 10 years of being absolutely the best community to ever grace the internet.
(I'll absolutely have to proof read this tomorrow lmao I'm tired as FUCK right now I apologise if some stuff doesn't make sense)
For the best Marble Blast levels, head over to:
- marbleland.vaniverse.io/pack/18
connieofro.neocities.org/
