I last posted 18 months ago, a lot has changed since then for me. I am now 18 and in college. I am studying film and currently work in videography, working with local clients around Northern Dallas/Ft. Worth. I also work as a server to get some extra cash.
It has been 7 years since I started posting here, and as I have said many times, it was an absolute staple part of my childhood. I want to take the time and say that I really appreciate all of you guys giving the 12/13 year old kid the time of day on these forums, it made me feel like a part of something much greater-and back then, it really was something much greater. It pains me to see how much interest in this game and forums like this has deteriorated since the abandonment of true RCT and classic tycoon games in general. In my opinion, that abandonment started when Atari released RCT3 (a great game, but not a true RCT game in my book). I have always loved amusement park history, and, bear with me here, but the classic RCT franchise (mainly speaking about 1 and 2) reminds of Chippewa Lake Park.
For those that don't know, Chippewa Lake Park is a now defunct amusement park in Chippewa Lake, Ohio. It was opened in 1878, and closed forever exactly 100 years later in 1978 due mainly to decline of public interest in the park. It was an absolutely beautiful park with one classic, and equally beautiful wooden rollercoaster, the Big Dipper. The thing that sets Chippewa Park apart from most other defunct parks is that 1-it was closed without media attention or announcement immediately following the end of its 100th season. And 2-it remains mostly standing, rotting away in the Ohio forests.
Lets take a quick stroll down memory lane for a second, before we get back to Chippewa Lake.
I remember Christmas of what must have been 2003. I was 9 and living in Lake Matthew's, CA. I was a home-schooled fifth grader, and completely in love with RCT1. But on Christmas morning, I opened what must be one of the most influential Christmas presents I have ever gotten. RCT2. It cost only $20 at the time, and was sitting next to the remote controlled airplane I had asked for so repeatedly that year. RCT2 would normally pale in comparison for any other 9 year-old boy with a 3 acre backyard at the top of a SoCal mountain. But I spent exponentially more time with RCT2 than the airplane. I completely fell in love, and to this day I don't know why. I created parks on a daily basis, always setting myself a goal of "creating the next Disneyland" or "recreating Knott's Berry Farm", but would always have my imagination consumed by a new project before the last one was even relatively close to completion. I spent 3 years this way (looking at my ancient computer's save files is something that still amuses me to no end), and when my mom and dad finally allowed me Internet access, I signed up for RCTspace (which was called something different back then). Y'all opened me up to the ideas of collaboration, sharing, and creative criticism. You helped me, a home-schooled fifth grader living miles from civilization, achieve comfortability in a social environment. And those of you who are quite literally architectural artists when it comes to RCT inspired me to get better at the game.
But then my dad got a new job, and we moved halfway across the country to Texas. With the move, my time with RCT was replaced with a lousy public middle school education. For the first time in my life, I had to put up with bullies who weren't used to someone from the secluded SoCal culture I left behind. It all got much better for me as soon as high school hit, but nonetheless I dropped RCT forever, and never really came back.
It seems that many of the former RCT addicts faded in similar fashion, either growing on to different video games or leaving altogether to pursue other hobbies and interests. And for many others still who were young when the RCT revolution took place (myself included), life itself simply took over.
The vibrant community that was this forum has dwindled from thousands of daily participants to a very small group of individuals who are doing their best to keep this forum and its subject alive and running. But what is here now is only just a small, small fraction of what was.
When I look at the pictures of what Chippewa Lake Park used to be, I am filled with the joy and wonder that defined my years as a preteen surfing these forums whilst simultaneously working on the next project I was so intent on finishing, but never would.
Look, there's the big dipper, and all the peeps having a great time on a Sunday afternoon. Look at that couple in the center. It looks like they've been coming here for a while, maybe they even started their relationship here. Look at the kids next to the slide, begging their parents for another ticket. Look at all those people at the mini-games, with hoardes of affectionate teenage men trying to score the big pink teddy bear for the girlfriend they want to marry, but never will.
Here's the Big Dipper, one of the last times it ever ran with a full train of passengers. Look at those girls in the front. Imagine the glee that must exist inside them at the moment this picture was taken. No care in the world, except for the endless childhood joy that was riding a classic wooden rollercoaster in the back woods of Ohio.
Look at the couple on top of the ferris wheel. Maybe this was the moment where the man in his early twenties nervously thumbed the ring in his pocket, planning to reveal it to his girlfriend later that night at dinner. An incredibly important and (hopefully) positively emotional moment for at least one person, captured forever in time in this picture-no matter what lies in this spot today.
As the couple, now married, has moved on with their lives, maybe had children and maybe sent them to college...all these years later the ferris wheel sits in the very same spot it was in all those years ago. What was a monumental moment in the life of a young man, was just that-a moment in time. And time has since moved on, leaving this skeleton of a ferris wheel to rot in the forests of Ohio.
Here is what remains of the Big Dipper-collapsing and rotting away. Its chilling to imagine the joyous screams of the girls sitting in the front, all those years ago. That moment lives on with them, but time has moved on of its own accord.
Here is what remains of the Fun House. Imagine all the children that poured into this exhibit, looking at their reflections in distorted mirrors, and trying their best to walk through the tilted hallways.
Whenever I look at these pictures, I am reminded of the times I spent in the community here. I have so many fond memories of spending time here. Whether that be constantly having Amazing Earl's website in the background, checking every five minutes to see what was next in development. Whether that be attempting to jumpstart my own community alongside my friend ME121. Whether it be staring at my computer screen in awe of some of the amazing parks that were created and shared in this community, hoping I would post something that would receive that same amazement from my peers. I learned a lot on this forum and in this community, and even though time has moved on, every bit of it lives on with me.
What are some of your favorite experiences with RCT? Let's keep this flame alive, no matter how small it might be right now.
Thanks for reading and sharing this moment with me.
-Matt Madoni
(mods-maybe a temporary sticky would be cool?)
Edited by GTO@2, 12 October 2012 - 05:41 AM.
