During the holidays, we’re running a contest through our “12 Days of the Spiral“. The question is – what has Wizard101 or Pirate101 meant to you and/or your family in the past year? Today we have our sixth winner! Read how Pirate101 helped Fishy Courtney Nightingale cope with depression and anxiety.
What has Pirate101 meant to me in the past year? I’ll tell you, but first I need you to imagine something for me.
Imagine that you’re scared to leave the house. Imagine that you can’t help crying over the smallest, most insignificant things. Imagine that you consider yourself such a disappointment to yourself and the world that you’ve contemplated causing yourself physical harm. Imagine that you were once confident, but have been crushed and battered down by your decision to bottle up most of your emotions your entire life. Imagine that the walls keeping those emotions at bay have broken down, and you’ve been left to drown in the tidal wave that follows those walls bursting open. Imagine that.
That’s what happened to me in the past year. And Pirate101 was my only escape from a world which had become unbearable—a world which I was no longer able to cope with.
I was depressed and anxious to the point that I needed medication to help me climb out of the pit of darkness that I’d dug myself into.
Pirate101 was part of the ladder that got me out of that hole. No matter what, the game was always there for me, full of characters I could aspire to be like and people who would come to be close friends.
When my world came tumbling down and I cut myself off from family and friends alike, Kan Po was my first mate, my friend, giving me invaluable advice to help me on my adventure into the Spiral.
When I felt that I had no direction in life, Bonnie Anne was on her path to becoming a better musketeer, dedicated to her talents and the crew that she had joined, never afraid to speak her mind.
When I felt that I had made an awful mistake that I would never be forgiven for, Ratbeard had been given a second chance on my crew and was finding ways to set right the wrongs he had caused.
As I progressed through the game, I eventually made friends, though it took a lot for me to even be able to talk to them to begin with. Sharing the game with my younger brother helped make me more confident about things though—if someone six years younger than me could do it, then why couldn’t I? Now I have a group of high level friends and we can all count on each other to lend a hand when it’s needed.
Pirate101 gave me a constant, a world I could escape to, a place where I could become Fishy Courtney Nightingale and sail the skyways, making friends, recruiting my crew and helping people. Pirate101 taught me to follow my dreams, to find my path and stick to it, no matter what anyone else said. Pirate101 even brought my brother and I closer together, giving us something to talk about instead of arguing constantly.
Without the contribution and beautiful storyline, characters and players of Pirate101, I would still be stuck in the deep, dark, abysmal trench which had yawned open and swallowed me, cutting me off from the world. Without Pirate101, I would still be yelling at my brother constantly, and making family life miserable.
Without Pirate101, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I’m still not quite sure who that person is, but the lessons this game have taught me ensure that I will stay on the path to finding out.
That’s what Pirate101 has meant to me in the past year.
Fishy Courtney Nightingale
Level 65 Witchdoctor
