As of this writing, the CCSF 2023 has reached its conclusion. By virtue of only having properly returned to the community a week before it was set to begin I didn't actually submit anything...well, not formally at least. I did release a test version of my standard norn genome.
I'll admit I was really harsh on the tradition around the time I fell out of the community. I was just running on nostalgic memories of how great CCSF 2006 was to experience as a teenager, and felt the modern ones just couldn't live up. I even went so far as to dismally predict that there wouldn't be one year after year. I definitely put too much stock into how many "big releases" (read: sprited breeds and metarooms) were released any given year.
So what did I think of 2023? Well...once again, it wasn't quite as exciting as I remember 2006 being, and I still don't think 2006 will ever be matched. The community's quieter now, and more importantly the internet as a whole's just different now.
However, I'm also older and (somewhat but not really) wiser now, and I've realized that's not a great way to look at it. I've decided that rather than just yearning for the past, it's best to just appreciate the present.
2023 might not have been as big as 2006, but it was still very fun. We got a nice batch of cool stuff. The little riddles given every day were fun to try and figure out (that last one was brutal...but doesn't a puzzle that was built with the community putting their heads together in mind also in the spirit of the CCSF?). Watching Freyla run the CCSF Wolfling Run and seeing what kind of shenanigans happened was fun.
And I've also come to realize just how impressive it is that it's been almost 20 years and the CCSF has not skipped a year yet. The CCSF still feels pretty unique too; I'm not sure if I can think of another fandom that continually runs an event like it. After all this time, the spark's still here. The community's still getting together to celebrate a series that's almost thirty years old.
So ultimately? I'm glad I was here to experience 2023. I'm glad people are still excited enough about Creatures to have run it. And I hope this enthusiasm keeps going for as long as possible.
Here's to the next year, folks.
