Can I just talk about Star Stable?

Anyone who's been within a mile of me for more than ten seconds knows that I'm obsessed with Star Stable Online and the world of Jorvik. This post should really be titled "Can I scream passionately from the rooftops into the void about Star Stable?" 

This interest isn't new — I first got into the universe when the Star Stable Legacy games came out around 2008, and I received a CD-ROM of "The Autumn Riders" in my monthly Pony Club box. Some of my elementary school friends had copies, too, and we would think up stories taking place within the games and act them out at recess. In middle school, that activity ended up developing into early versions of intricate fanfictions that were drafted and shared over email, using neon text over patterned backgrounds. Star Stable was no longer just a computer game — it was a foundation of friendships and a way to connect, especially after my closest childhood friend moved away and our frugal Internet access was one of few ways to stay in touch. 

In the summer of 2012, when Star Stable Online was launched in the United States, that same childhood friend and I hunkered down and pre-registered our accounts together. We would wait until weekends to do new quests so that we could be on the phone with each other, completing them at the same time. 

Now, with smartphones and social media and an abundance of new ways to stay connected with people, I'm no longer social on SSO at all. If you see me around and try to say something to me, I probably won't immediately respond (I swear I'm not ignoring you, I just never have a reason to open the chat function, let alone pay any attention to it). The game's purpose for me has changed. I no longer use it as a way to connect with real-life friends, but as a way to connect with something else: the story. The game's canon story, yes, but also its parallel to my life. 

The role of media consumption in a person's personality and memories is so fascinating to me, and one of the reasons I've pursued it as a career. As weird (and maybe kinda pathetic) as it sounds, my SSO memories are directly tied to my real-life memories. Exploring certain expansions for the first time or doing certain quests reminds me of the specific time in my life when I did those things, and what my thoughts and feelings were as I escaped into the world of Jorvik. 

And as far as the canon itself... video games are such a unique form of media in terms of fan interaction because it's SO EASY to craft your own canon within the game's storyline. You can write a fic or draw a comic or whatever your heart desires using the game's base story as a foundation, but still have it feel like it's yours because you've added your own unique characters and storylines that you can actually see played out in the game. I can see Cassandra (my OC) in the world and interacting with its elements, even though she wasn't created as part of the main canon. The space for fan creativity is just endless. 

Not to mention the canon itself leaves so much room for exploration because of the changes in lore that have happened since the first Starshine Legacy game was released, especially with Star Stable expanding to other forms of media now. It kind of irks me when any media drastically changes its lore over the years, but I think Star Stable has done a pretty decent job with it considering the Starshine Legacy games, and thus the storyline, didn't start with a central original MC. I was so excited when SSO started including references to the previous games and figuring out a way to connect them all. Building those bridges is something that I've been continuously working on with my fic, and it's just so much fun. 

Is the game perfect? Of course not. Nothing is or ever will be, and there's always room for growth and improvement. But with the amount of forward motion the whole company has made — going from a little low-graphics-quality game based on some old CD-ROMs to a sprawling transmedia world that's exploded in the past couple of years — I'm super excited to see what else is next. 

Yeah anyway. I have a lot of feelings about Star Stable and wanted to yell about it. Catch me on the Hazy Galaxy North American server sometime — the Halloween event this year is fantastic.