The Mashie for Best Mish Mash/LSG Player [Winner Announced!]

[pablito]

Thanks for the honor.

Upon reflection of the year, I've put a lot of effort into ensuring that I maintain a consistent presence in Mish Mash and LSG, as the standard of excellence is pretty damn high. I've always tried to be as hard of a worker behind the scenes, and I spend a lot of time, whether it has been as a challenge designer, a day-to-day moderator, an active and respectful spectator, or a casual game player. Because both Mish Mash and LSG have such a high standard, I always strived to reach that standard, and to extend it beyond its own expectations. As such, I am pleased to have received this honor.

I've been around the ORG world for ages (before some of you were born - 18 yrs), and I like to think I've done a great job for myself with games on mafiascum, and plenty of them before that. I always put in my best effort from the beginning of a project, and I don't like to put in half-assed effort. It is my work ethic and my identity. I hope that you have benefited from this. I have continually moderated at least a single Mish Mash game during almost all of last year, because they're simply fun to run, and I felt it was like my own workshop to help me develop ideas and designs to challenge myself. I also enjoy it around the football season, and I plan on coming back for that. I hope that Mish Mash can continue to grow and it's not always just recycling the same ideas. I was proud of Buy the Bullet, which was originally a test game to see if equivalent limited action sets could make for a dynamic game. It was the foundation for Medevac, and we all know how that concept went. Even Tactical Musical Chairs was a test for future challenges in LSG.

I am proud of my LSGs no matter what anyone has told me or said about them. Despite having come onto this scene in 2016 with a LSG that did not have challenges, I have always been a challenge designer - starting with my roots in The Mole. I hope that my outside thinking in challenges has encouraged others to think beyond the typical structures, and to know that challenge design can have no limits. I have thoroughly enjoyed designing challenges, and with the calibre of players on MS, I had to set the bar high for myself. I hope that this was something that people have enjoyed. I've heard from many that my efforts were appreciated. I'm pretty damn sure I've had an impact on CC and his challenge design. I'm not one to shy away from taking ideas and making them better - to take something great and take it beyond what one could have even imagined possible. I see the big picture and ensure that ideas are balanced, have flow, and are intentional.

I've also tried my damndest to be a good team player and to be an intentional spectator. It's not a surprise I've made so many (successful) nominations in the 2017 Mashies thread, because I want people to be acknowledged for their efforts, because I noticed them, no matter how small. I review gameplay and analysis in spectator groups not because of my own selfish need to comment on players in LSGs, but because I find the strategy discussion to help everyone to become a better player in the end. As a spectator, I ask questions not because I always have a selfish need to know something, but because I want player to know more about their own game, and need the questions to help flesh out their own thoughts in their own confessional. I know that some people have appreciated this and enjoy my confessional presence as a spectator. If they have become better players as a result (and I know many have), then I have accomplished what I aim to do. I am not a selfish person, and I want the community to become better because of my efforts. So thank you for this honor.

I aim to be humble, and I aim to be steady, even in a forum where lasting feuds and the loudest voices can take front and center. And as a player, I try to be fun without ever going over the line. I am content with the legacy that I have left behind, because it has always been for the greater good and for Mish Mash and LSG communities to become better as a result of my actions. As I've said all this, I find that my drive to strive for more has diminished for reasons within the community and outside. I feel like I've accomplished all I've wanted for myself, and there's not much that could motivate me to try for more - as I feel like I've already outdone myself time and time again and poured my heart into all of my efforts. I just don't think there's much more higher I can aim for. And I think I've done enough lasting impact to have made the community to be what it is whether I'm here or not. But I just don't think this is just the right fit for me anymore.

So thanks for the honor. I wish you all best of luck.