Then and Now

[theone7142]

Hey guys! Theo here. Wow, it's been a while since I first started on Opticraft, about 4 years to be more precise. I thought it would be cool to see how we all changed throughout our time on the server and maybe how it helped shape who were are, if at all. I imagine we could do it like this

Beginning
Age : 13
Interests : Minecraft Hunger Games, Daft Punk, League of Legends, being angsty
Main activities on server : Farming, building silly spleef arenas
Memories : Having a memorial made for me when I left, haha!

Now
Age : 17
Interests : Hearthstone, CSGO, Daft Punk, Electronic Music in general, Overwatch, Speech and Debate
Other : I really enjoy talking to my friends and talking for hours. We've thrown around the idea of a podcast, so we'll see where that goes

Overall, I think Opticraft helped me recognize how to stop being really obnoxious. I remember countless times being reprimanded for being, well, obnoxious. I think my social skills really improved from the daily interactions on the server, and helped me to be the outspoken and respectable person I like to think I am today. Thank you, Opticraft community. I owe a part of who I am today to you guys. Cheers!

[tribalturtle]

Beginning
Age: 12 (although I lied about my age most of the time)
Interests: Minecraft (obviously,) One Direction, Drawing, Talking
Main Activities on Opti: Being overly flirty with everybody, basically doing nothing involving minecraft
Memories: Finally going on SMP after like two years of classic, getting operator on creative and then losing it b/c I stopped coming on
Other: My username was a mess considering I wasnt born in 1998, I'm still happy I got rid of it

Now
Age: 16 (17 in like a month (~: )
Interests: Makeup, Traveling, Baking, Attempting to drive although Im really shitty
Other: I kind of just lurk on discord and the forum and I have no idea what my password for Minecraft is currently lol

I think Opticraft kind of shaped who I am today, since I grew up just sitting around talking to all the people that go on here. I've definitely matured a ton since I first joined and I lie a lot less, which is great. I admit, I was super annoying when I first started playing but everybody just dealt with it, which I'm extremely grateful for. I'm still overly talkative, but that's just me and Opticraft definitely helped blossom that. I just wish I knew my Minecraft password so I could hop on occasionally :p

[UnknownHedgehog]

Beginning
Age: 17
Interests: Minecraft, D&D, VtM, Smash Bros., Halo 4, Civilization 5, EarthBound
Main Activities on Opti: Building
Memories: Getting Crafter on Classic, general shenanigans of Timothythe3rd, Nuzzy being da bess, griefing swastikas and penises, afk boxes, building arenas for the Spleef world/tournament, Unholy_Gibbon and I clearing out a really old guest world to build in (to the dismay of Nick), building warp points for worlds on smp, the events in mumble leading to Alpha's ban, building the current market, shortly being admin on Creative.
Other: Your_Mine, let me know when that Spleef tournament starts.

Now
Age: 22
Interests: Rocket League, Smash Bros., Pokemon Go, Death Note, My Chemical Romance, traveling
Other: Been working at Walmart as overnight stocker. Tried doing Smash Bros. tournaments (got 1st at a small Gamestop one, but lost terribly at Evo 2016 in Las Vegas). Pokemon Go was pretty much my entire summer this year. Got into the emo fashion as of late. Also, Rocket League is great.

Opticraft didn't have life changing things for me other than the great memories with the friends I've met here. I just only wish it didn't die (otherwise I'd probably still be playing and building).

[clawstrider]

Beginning
Age : 12
Interests : Being a dickhead, Minecraft, being a dickhead, internet memes, being a dickhead, whatever else you do when you're 12
Main activities on server : Talking shit and getting other people to build for me. Also dominating at spleef with a laptop and a shitty trackpad
Memories : Could go on for days.

Now
Age : 18
Interests : Dota and whatever amuses me

Never quite sure if Opticraft actually helped me grow up, or I just grew up and Opticraft followed. Bittersweet to watch the rise and fall of this server. Be nice to say that I made lifelong friends here, but I barely speak to any of you guys anymore. That said, I'm often around on Steam or (sometimes) Discord so if you fancy a chat, hit me up!

Also - fuck you Opticraft. Shitty gateway drug into gaming. Very nearly screwed up my education because of it.

[TarynMai]

Also - fuck you Opticraft. Shitty gateway drug into gaming. Very nearly screwed up my education because of it.

Too real.

Beginning
Age : 14
Interests : Being annoying, talking too much, drawing, not sleeping
Main activities on server : Asking for recruit, mining for hours on end
Memories : Too many

Now
Age : 20
Interests : Watching Netflix, sleeping, who has time to do anything else?

Overall, Opticraft was a depressingly large part of my life as a teenager, and while I wish it was still active, I'm glad we got what we had with it. And you know, meeting Tobs on it was nice too

[LIEKABOWSE]

Then
Age: 11
Interests: Minecraft, a fucking lot of Minecraft, Halo, drumming.
Main activities on server: At the beginning I just made my way through doing everything I could to make money to buy better materials at the market. A lot of people know that I used to run a LOT of cobblestone shops and also farming shops when that one update came out with the carrots and potatoes and stuff. Later down the road I became close friends with iGenerator, Italian_Crafter, and Moses, and that's when the Stuttgart obsession began. That's all I was involved in on the server from about early 2014 to mid 2015, building that city. (You can still visit there on the SMP server, /warp stuttgart)
Memories:

• Getting trusted. It was my first time on Mumble about 5 months after I joined. I had to go AFK, I come back with an orange name. Me being 11 that made the night of the year.
• Sending a screenshot of GirlLuvzerMac of an offensive message someone sent to me, completely oblivious that I had my minimap enabled. Getting banned for that.
• Always trying to help out the mods, often being called a minimod. Especially that time when bhoughton and the other guy did the big logblock grief, I was trying sooo hard to suck up to the mods in the hope I could help. Fun times.

Now
Age: 15
Interests: Battlefield 1, Overwatch, bass guitar, music theory, massive car guy, Tame Impala, Snarky Puppy, Led Zeppelin and Rush.
Other: If you wanna add me on Xbox to play either BF1 or Overwatch, shoot me a PM

There were countless hours that were spent of my time spent here. I really can't help but thank everyone that has been here for dealing with people like myself when I was an annoying 11-13 year old. This server made up a huge chunk of that time of my life. I remember always checking /seen on myself to see if I could beat my record of something like 11 hours. It's a shame that the server has died down, but time takes its toll on a game like this. Hope to see y'all soon.

also follow my instagram @con.con

[Chipaton]

Beginning
Age : 12
Interests : Minecraft, Call of Duty, Halo
Main activities on server : Normal Minecraft stuff, I dont recall
Memories : Being a little too happy whenever I received a promotion

Now
Age : 18
Interests : Sleeping
Other : College is expensive, FAFSA pls.

Been feeling kinda nostalgic lately, seems to happen every once and a while. Would love to catch up with anyone at some point.

[SoulKnightGT]

Beginning
Age: 13
Interests: Games, mostly minecraft for a long time.
Main activities on server: Being an Operator and screwing around with friends (and Alicia).
Memories: too many to even recollect. I just know I had a lot of good times with people here.

Now
Age: 19 (just turned 19 about two weeks ago)
Interests: Im still into gaming, however not minecraft what's so ever. I enjoy to sleep. Overwatch on PlayStation is fun too, if you want to add me by chance, Godzkid is my psn.

Opticraft was a very huge part of my teenage years; a lot of memories and time was spent on here and I was able to meet a lot of great people. While I don't talk to any of these people anymore, I had a lot of fun with them, and I'm thankful for them. Without them, opticraft was not opticraft for me.
Have I changed? Yeah probably. I'm sure I still have my some of my traits from when I was younger, but I think for the most part, I've changed. I'll be on discord much more, so you old friends, hit me up (I'm Sorra (Soul))

[benc117]

Beginning
Age :  11
Interests :  Minecraft, thats all lol
Main activities on server : Spleef, building, making selling and buying shops. Playing with friends.
Memories : Those mumble calls where i'd speak in a full aussie accent and zelda going crazy over it looool.

Now
Age :  15.
Interests : Filming, Photography.

Opticraft was an a excuse to meet friends, play with my friends and overall place myself into in an alternative world.

[Pugabyte]

Beginning
Age: 12
Interests: Minecraft, hockey
Main activities on server: Building way too many statues
Memories: Sneaking on the computer late at night to play, being annoying, thinking I was gonna get accepted for Moderator (I wouldn't have accepted 13 year old me either), doing nothing with my life

Now
Age: 17
Interests: Programming, hockey
Other: I hadn't even started high school when I joined Opticraft- I'm now about 5 weeks away from finishing my last class. I've also finished almost a year of college and worked in the IT Services department of a university as a student software developer.

Minecraft and Opticraft was the introduction to what would be not only something I greatly enjoy, but my career, programming.
I'm very grateful to all the friends I made over the years (a few that come to mind are zeldie, nikoljan (and hundreds more through my adventures with him), the crippns, wone) that all helped me get where I am today. Opticraft will forever be an important part of my life. Thank you for the experience guys <3

I'm on Discord pretty much 24/7 unless sleeping or coaching hockey, my username is Griffin (with a pug picture), feel free to message me, I'd love to hear from you

[TheWholeLoaf]

Suppose I'll do one of these too.

Beginning
Age: 16
Interests: Marching band took precedent, had just started to become a gamer (Opticraft definitely helped with that), not knowing what I was doing with my life.
Main Activities: Building all the houses
Memories: I've got so many from Opticraft, it's hard to single out the main events. I've made several friends as the time went on, many of whom are gone and I haven't heard from, but I'll always cherish all those friendships. Working my way up the ladder was fun, knowing that some of my friends placed that kind of trust with me. The creation of the creative server was also fun to be around for, something new that grabbed everyone's interests that could be built from the ground up. All the houses that I built and eventually sold to the people that I knew for top dollar was probably one of the most exciting things that occurred for me on the server, my most expensive being sold to Zelda for 400k.

Now
Age: 21
Interests: Architecture (In the later half of my thrid year of study and starting to look for internships around my area), Travel (These past few years I've toured some prominent cities in Canada, spend a month in Alaska and I'm signed up to study abroad in Australia next spring), and I've been getting into media marketing recently to make a few extra dollars on the side (always good to have a second or third source of income I suppose).

Overall, Opticraft will always be a fond memory, even when I'm old and gray, and I wouldn't have changed one thing about those years, I'm glad to have them. High school was a tough time for me, my social anxiety combined with prescription medication that had too large of an effect on my personality, unfortunately in a negative way, but the community on Opticraft helped me through that day by day. It was always nice to wrap up everything I needed done in a day and know that there was somewhere that I could call home. That's really what Opticraft was to me at the time, somewhere where I had friends I could talk to about anything and really where my heart was. I'm not sure anything has really changed from then to now, I still want the best for this community and I doubt it will every truly die. The vast majority of us will probably always keep in contact with at least one friend we made during our days on Opticraft.

[Winniedoxie]

Blast from the past, am I right? I suppose I'll do one too (even though I'm super inactive).

Beginning
Age: 15 (even though I was immature and lied about my age half of the time, sorry lol)
Interests: Sports, gaming, moderating on Opticraft, music 24/7
Main Activities: Building lots. Helping other people build, lots.
Memories: Oh goodness, Opticraft was a HUGE part of my life throughout high school. I definitely cherish those friendships and memories. I remember getting trusted status by Drunz and I kid you not, I cried for about an hour. Later on, I applied for moderator a second time and I ended up getting it. I thought that was the coolest thing ever and my mom told me I couldn't put it on my resume even though I did anyways for my first job (10/10 would not recommend even though I actually got hired). I remember trolling people all of the time and nobody ever thought it was me because I seemed all sweet and innocent even when I was like the only other person in chat. So many good memories, wow. 

Now
Age: 20 (sheesh)
Interests: Bass guitar (playing gigs nonstop and it's taking up my life, but I love it so much), studying (I actually love my degree so much), traveling, writing music, photography, and blogging. 

Honestly, Opticraft has shaped me into who I am today. Sometimes I wish I could just quit life and jump back into being immersed with all things Minecraft/Opticraft. But moving forward, I love reminiscing on the sweet, funny, and memorable memories. In a tough period of my life, the friends I made here pulled me through. So thank you guys and much love <3.

[Holy_Moses]

Then
Age: 17
Interests: Gaming, Cars, Architecture, Music
Activities: Gaming, Obsessing over cars, not wanting to join the military
Memories: Getting Op on classic, my first time denying someone recruit for a build (they cried for an hour). Helping build Stuttgart.

Now:
Age: 23 (Nobody likes you when you're 23)
Interests: Cars, guitars, puppies, memes
Activities: Work, learning guitar, going to car shows, wanting a dog, being in the military.

Probably gonna be my last post, like ever. I rarely ever use my comp other than for Steam, or sorting files and crap. I am active on Snapchat if you want to witness my Dunkin Donuts addiction and terrible song voice-overs.
SC - momo508doe
IG - @oem_moses

[SalsaInABowl]

Whoa, look at all these old names coming back. I feel obligated to contribute.
Sup theone, long time no see.

Then:
Age: 13
Interests: Minecraft, computers, school. Baseball. Really not much.

Memories: theone7142 (I even remember the numbers), building what was imo a great spleef arena, building random stuff, and the year or maybe year and a half where I actually didn't care for Minecraft anymore but just logged onto the server because I liked this community. Getting moderator and then being a fucking idiot. That one time 2crzy4uall told us about when he had to shoot some M240Bs and someone ended up starting a fire.

Now
Age: Soon to be 18
Interests: Gaming (currently playing Furi, wonderful game this is. Hotline Miami is still my favorite game ever. I love N++), my computer I finally built last year, college, hopefully guns when I get older even though I live in California, doing cool things with a jailbroken PS Vita. I run an Instagram page that has grown pretty huge. @salsainabowl currently at 34400 followers. I hope I can get aYouTube channel started up and maybe upload videos about more than just Rainbow Six Siege. I love sharks they're big squishy cutes. Baseball is over because I fucked up my shoulder and it is still fucked.
Other notes: Seriously I love you guys you're my first online community and I'll never forget this place. I have changed a lot since then. I might visit these forums more often, but I sold my Minecraft account a while back so I'm definitely not coming back ingame.
Anyway hit me up on Steam (SalsaInABowl) or Instagram @salsainabowl where I'm more active, but I think I'll make a comeback to these forums. Time to go look at the dumb shit I've posted and regret everything.

[Owlgirl66]

Now I have an excuse to say something!

Then

Age: 13
Interests: Minecraft & Food
Main Activities: Acting like a lunatic with tribalturtle, trying to build awesoe houses but in reality always looked like a shoe box.
Memories: Me and zelda (tribalturtle) acting like pets/kids, Kodak and Alpha_Lance being our owners/parents, lmaao. Meeting Tylbran. Someone griefed my house and Tylbran helped me rebuild it, thank goodness for that griefer. When I think about Opticraft, I have memories that mainly consist of tribalturtle and Tylbran, mainly tribalturtle, because we spent almost all of our time with each other on Creative if we were both online. We always called ourselves sisters.


Now

Age:18
Interest: Bettafish, makeup, & food
Other: Went into a bad teenage rebel stage a couple years ago, purchasing a baby betta fish helped put that all to an end, now I'm a proud betta mom to 6 bettas, took makeup into interest a couple years ago. Started with filling my eyebrows in with black eyeliner and making them look HORRIBLE. Now years later, I can spend 3 hours on my makeup and get compliments instead of laughs, lol. When I first started Opticraft, I was an F student in school, now, I'm in online school and bringing in a 3.2 gpa. I don't have any friends, mainly because 18 year olds these days are only interested in random hookups, drugs, alcohol, and parties. I'm interested in my bettas, hiking, spending quality time with family, and reading.

Opticraft was the best time of my preteen life. Growing up, I was very sheltered by my parents, so being able to go on the computer and play this amazing game with amazing hilarious people made everything so much better. I could have the absolute worst day, but then I could log on and my day would be changed to an awesome day. When I think of Opticraft, I have nothing but funny, amazing, love-filled memories. I spent hours and hours on Opticraft, but it never ever got boring. I have heard it isn't as active as it once was, and while that makes me sad, I'm glad I was able to be apart of the time when there were so many amazing members. I miss Opticraft a lot,but  I miss you all so much more.