I found Classic late, but thanks to the Official Creators I didn't go in blind. It took me three and a half years to save up to build a PC and convince myself to play Classic. I didn't make the jump into the game until January of 2023. I was slow to learn but I had so many resources at my fingertips with it being a PC game after all, once I got over the initial bell curve of learning? The world of the Evergreen Hunting Reserve was my oyster! From the beginning, my first trip to Timbergold Trails giving me a 320+ Piebald Rocky Mountain Elk LIVE ON STREAM no less? To literally just last week I got a 300+ Melanistic Rocky Mountain Elk. We've laughed, celebrated, bled, sweated, and sometimes cried playing this game. Some of us have grown up with it and it feels like home, some of us fell in love later and now it feels like a safe space.
Losing a big piece of internet/computer life isn't new to me. I've experienced losing a community before. I followed Unus Annus from beginning to end, and this feels strangely similar; we know the end is coming, and we're trying to make every remaining moment count. We have an end in sight we know it is coming. Is it worse to know when it'll happen and have the ability to prepare ourselves? Or would it be worse to have woken up this morning to the announcement and it was just GONE.
I for one, know I'm going to keep going, keep playing, and keep making some Classic content while I can. I'm going to savor it and let it last while it can if the petitions don't go through, and I'm going to give it a hell of a send off with eyes probably full of tears for myself, for the game, for the developers, for anyone who put a piece of themselves into this game, for the players, and for the community. Those who love the game really love the game and will miss it dearly if this turns out to be the real end, but no matter what happens I'm here for it. It's my most played game in my Steam Library and I hope I get to keep it that way for a while longer.