I need to brush up on the guidelines of posting here, but I've been wanting to share something important to me about Minecraft for a while now and I haven't found a place for it until now.

I started playing Minecraft back in 2011, back when I was a prepubescent, unconfident little girl. I was so excited to have my first computer and to have this cool game that all of my friends were playing.

In fact, the first thing I want to thank Minecraft for is my best friend, who started playing at roughly the same time I did. Through Minecraft, I met and got close to my current best friend. We'd known each other all our lives, but weren't close until we played together on a tiny local private server and made some stupid little hotel out of all the different ores together, as one did back then. She barely plays the game now, but we still have some of the best times together online and offline, thanks to something Minecraft started.

The next thing I want to thank Minecraft for is the ability to type. Before I played on multiplayer, I was a woodpecker when it came to typing. When I joined a server for the first time, I was forced to get better at typing as to communicate with my friends better. Now, it's become a useful skill. Essays are easier to write, I can reply to messages faster, I'm an efficient online note-taker, and I don't have to struggle with typing like some of my peers STILL do in my junior year of high school with our school laptops.

Another thing I'd like to thank Minecraft for is the creative servers. Per this community's guidelines I will not name the creative server I am a part of, but it has really become a major, wonderful part of my life. I've made amazing friends this past year, friends that I confide in, friends that confide in me, people that I trust. They're about my age, and they're intelligent, funny, geeky, and dorky, just like me. We talk and laugh in a Discord chat for the server every day. We build amazing things on this creative server and mess around on plots, creating rather obscene things and writing the strangest stories in books, to be read aloud in the voice chat in our goofiest accents. I built a mountain on this server, and realized my mediocre talent of terraforming by hand. This one girl who lives on the other side of the world from me built this gorgeous build full of massive trees, dragons, and pavilions, and the whole server practically worships her as a goddess, and rightfully so. I love that I've been connected with people who live all over the world thanks to this beautiful game.

I'd also like to thank Minecraft for a dear friend of mine who I met on the server, and who lives a mere 30 minutes from me. He is kind, hilarious, an amazing cook, and a blossoming artist.

Sorry for such a long post that probably not many will bother to read, but I needed to write this. Minecraft has given so much to me, and I've never been able to express my gratitude in a way as to not feel judged so much. Some people I know judge me for playing this game at my age. I find it incredibly frustrating. I'll explain to friends or family that I met said excellent cook and artist on a minecraft server. The adults don't know what to say, and the friends either giggle or say "oh, you still play Minecraft?" I'll reply with "yes," and they'll almost always ask why.

Why, you ask, do I still play Minecraft?

Because I have met (hopefully) lifelong friends and confidants, I have built beautiful things as an expression of myself and what I love, and I have gained knowledge and skill from time spent on my hobby. Because I am thankful for these things and never get bored.

(Sorry to make you all suffer through such a long and disjointed post)