by BananaCrapshoot
Hello everyone, I hope you are all well in this seemingly undending pandemic cycle we find ourselves in. Gaming has been a huge escape for lots of us our whole lives and more so these last two plus years. Well The Side Scheme was creating content for Marvel Champions very early on into the games release and all of a sudden we stopped putting stuff out there. Now people in our discord know what was up but I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about what was going on, and where we go from here.
So for those of you that don’t know, in my personal life I’m a married father of 3 young children ages 2,4, and 6. I was in the army and deployed to Aftghanistan from jan 2009-Jan 2010. As a result of my deployment I had undergone surgeries and was eventually medically discharged in 2012. While I have always dealt with some form of anxiety ever since my deployment I have been able to manage it reasonably well. I used video games and more recently tabletop games as my release, my stress reliever, my way to get my mind on track and at ease.
Suddenly I experienced great loss all in a short amount of time multiple people I served with passed away suddenly, most to suicide and one was murdered. Then a Man I worked with, and his wife, passed away in a car crash. Games didn’t help my anxiety anymore. It built and built, working on side scheme stuff and marvel champions just added to the stress instead of relieving it. So, I needed to step back and take a break. For myself and my family. I changed jobs to work less hours and be home more. I started coaching my oldest sons sports teams. I started talking about things I’ve kept bottled up since that deployment. I started to heal.
i disengaged from the Facebook group that’s been running fairly smooth since the game was announce, in disengaged from discord, I stopped consuming any content for champions, or any other game I play really. I felt it was necessary to reset and figure some things out. 22 veterans a day commit suicide. What are we doing to help solve this problem? Too many people think no one else understands the pain or frustration. I want people to know, my brothers, I am here for you. I am a phone call or text message away. Just keep engaging with those that love and care about you, to heal, to grow, and move on. The past doesn’t have to define you, but it can help shape you.
I write this not for pity or clicks/views, but I’m writing it as a way to personally heal, grow and move on from the sudden extreme loss I felt in my life. I hope you all understand where I’m coming from. Mental Health issues should not be stigmatized the way they have been for decades. People are in pain, we need to help them not condemn them. To be clear, I never thought about hurting myself or others. But other people in pain do, and that’s who we need to help.
If you are out there and you feel lost, feel unloved, or extremely hurt I want you to know you are loved, you are cared for, you can heal, and you matter. Every life matters. You matter.
The gaming community can be great but it can also be toxic. Toxic behavior doesn’t help anyone heal or grow, it belittles and destroys. This community is one of the best and I hope we can all show everyone a little more love in 2022.
Moving forward you can expect articles regularly again and also the podcast should return. Thanks For bearing with me.
love you all,
BananaCrapshoot