Just wrapped up a wonderful week with @Twist of Fate (Taker25700). We visited the Great Lakes area together. Among usual tourist activities, we found some time to relax and play RS. I'll spare the mushy details, but did want to share some reflections on the power of online communities, and the bonds they create.
I've been part of online communities my whole life. In the years that most of you were making content for Sal's, I was pouring my heart and soul into another forum site called RolePlayGateway.com. The community members there have continued to mean a lot to me, and a few have gotten married, become roommates, or otherwise continued creating together on or off the original website. After that period waned, I found it refreshing to come to Sal's and watch somewhat from the periphery.
Sal's Realm of RuneScape brought Taker and I together the way it has brought RuneScape enjoyers (and lapsed players) together for years. As some folks may be aware, Taker was a fixture long before I joined. I joined the Friend's Chat sometime 2008-2010, and the forums in 2011-2012. I wrote unique blog content here, which I did not remember until recently! Sal's Realm was the only clan and community I ever identified with in RuneScape, and it remains that way to this day.
RuneScape and Sal's have been around for so long, some of us have known each other for 10-15 years, if not more. Taker and I have been talking this year, and we were both aware of each other's existence in 2008-2011ish, but nothing too concrete. My memories of that time can be summarized as such:
1. Taker used to go by Takertree. In fact, lots of you used to have "tree" at the end of your name. Explain yourselves.
2. We talked about music - he was really into Angels & Airwaves. He also mentioned playing in bands!
3. He introduced me to the song "Fall For You" by Secondhand Serenade, a deeply sad song lol
Say, did you know that Sal's Realm is home to some talented mofos? Early in January 2023, Taker was promoting the single "Unrelated Popcorn Fire" from his latest project in the Sal's Realm Discord. The music is catchy, polished, and infinitely listenable. I interviewed him about the project here: 10 Questions with the winter without. Not only was I blown away that someone from Sal's was putting out music, but it was actually good.
(PS, Taker isn't the only talented Salmon promoting tunes in the Discord. Check out Army of One's The Bridge EP here: https://army-of-one.bandcamp.com/album/the-bridge-ep)
One of my goals for 2023 was to commit to rediscovering my creative side through music and writing. I ended up hitting up Taker and basically asking him questions about his creative process and music journey uninterrupted for a period of several weeks. Somehow, someway, Taker was receptive to this deluge of interest, and.... here we are. :)
It's been a good year for all polled Tasogaryns in the chat: I've started performing at open mics around the SF Bay Area, I'm blogging again, my novels are getting new drafts, I'm sketching, I'm writing music, I'm even getting back into mixed media art and poetry. I can attribute that in part to finding a creative partner and friend to share that process with.
I'm still getting my writing chops back after a period I like to call "my orphan speedrun." Still, I hope to be writing a lot more here about RuneScape and online communities in general. You can find my personal blog at oddsoul.blog, my newsletter at chanimaya.substack.com, and on Medium at https://oddsoul.medium.com/.
PSS, Taker and I have started streaming RS3 content on Twitch. You can find him at twitch.tv/taker25700, and I stream over at twitch.tv/darlene. We'll be streaming a run for Necromancy soon.
It's my birthday pretty soon, and I'm getting too old to be a gamer. Still, it's nice to play RuneScape with a community of folks who are also setting goals within the game and exploring what there is to offer. Don't know what exactly the future holds, but so far I'm happy to be sharing it with someone special.
Tas