REVELATIONS: Surf's Up! - Summer Ciddies '16

[Queen Award, First of Her Name]

It's finally that time, the time for the final Ciddie. The cherry on top of our Ciddie sundae. Has it been a good one? I sure hope so, Award Dude and his helpers have been working hard. I don't know yet though because I'm from the past oOoOoOoOooooOoO!!!!!!!!!!

But I digress. We have some excellent members in the running for this award, as usual. I won't be talking to you about them, however. No, I'm going to let them do the talking. Each nominee was assigned another nominee to write something nice about. After all, EoFF isn't just about the individual. It's about a whole community of people working together to make this place what it is. What better way to celebrate that then to have our best member nominees talk about why their competitors deserve this title. The Ciddies is a time for all of our members to celebrate each other.

So a huge thank you to everyone who helped with this speech, and all of the speeches, and to everyone who makes this forum what it is. Whether you won a Ciddie or not, we appreciate you.

Without further ado, here are your nominees!

Freya is part of the furniture here on EOFF... and what lovely furniture she is! She is an amazingly positive person with her posts around the forum. She's an incredibly hard-working and talented editor producing some fantastic articles. Her artistic side is fabulous too, my particular favourites being her comedy sandworms from Dune! She is also pretty as a picture and EOFF would be a much more drab and empty place without her presence. Freya for Best member!

Wolf Kanno is an awesome guy. He's not always the most active on the upper forums, he doesn't participate in all of the events, and he isn't usually the center of attention. But he still does so much for this forum. He keeps the lower forums active with a number of interesting topics. He writes articles for us, including a lot of news for upcoming games and the like. Most importantly though, he's just a good person.

He's easy to talk to and get along with. Even if we have very different opinions on things, games mostly, we can still discuss and converse in a respectful manner. And it's just fun talking to him about this stuff. He doesn't take it too seriously, he's open to different ideas and points of view, and he'll joke around in a way that makes him very approachable and easy to get along with.

He's not just a good guy and a top tier forum member. He's also a talented writer who generously offers his own time to help out his fellow aspiring authors. I think Wolf Kanno is one of the best friends I have on this forum and I hope he thinks of me as a friend too.

They say to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Psychotic is my second in command at EoFF and was best man at my wedding. Enough said.

Karifean is honestly one of the best people I know. He's always super composed and respectful, no matter how much he may disagree with you. He has strong views but is not stubborn, and has a great sense of humor. Needless to say, he's an amazing conversation partner and I've learned a lot about visual novels thanks to him.

On a more personal level, I am really grateful for his patience and willingness to put up with the need for attention of a complete stranger. We actually started interacting when I asked him if he'd like to take a look at my stories. Since then, he's offered me very constructive feedback on every single one of them, expressing genuine interest in what is the effect of my life's passion. Knowing I have at least one faithful reader out there, who really reads my stories and likes them despite having very little to do with me beforehand, was a huge drive and inspiration for me. It's in large part thanks to Karifean that I could evolve so much as a writer. And I am incredibly grateful for that.

Because of that, I really think Karifean deserves to be this years Most Tubular Member.

Fynn is a swell guy. I'm very glad he asked me - probably just on a whim - to give his writing blog a try, because he's a very skilled writer and reading all those short stories was a joy. He's also the kind of person who, even if your tastes couldn't be further apart, will still have constructive arguments with you over how and why a certain narrative is subjectively good or bad and accept you having a differing opinion without looking down on you in the slightest. Which is really awesome.

Many thanks for the many great and interesting conversations we've had over the past year and a half, and best of luck for Most Tubular Member! You really deserve to win it.

Cheers to Fynn!

I have tried to come up with just one word to describe Pumpkin. A tricky task but I think I've done it. Caring. It doesn't sound all that impressive on the surface of things but let me explain. I think we all often undervalue what EoFF is as a community. It's easy to forget that there are dozens of people from all around the world who are interested in what you have to say, care about you when you are down and are happy for your successes.

So how does this tie into Pumpkin? Because it is my sincere and honest opinion that nobody on this website cares more than she does. Her heart is gargantuan. It is the Hodor of hearts. Take Jecht's advice and cut open a Shoopuf but its heart will still be smaller. It doesn't matter if you're having a good day, a bad day or just a day. She is interested and she cares. So yeah, sure, if I say "caring" is my Pumpkin word it doesn't sound all that impressive on the surface. But when she embodies the best thing about this community, what higher praise can I give to someone?

Loony BoB has been the butt of many jokes over the years on this site: from his incessant need for stats, his dislike of name changes because he gets confused, and the fact he's from New Zealand. Yet, he always takes them in stride and chuckles with the rest of us. He has always been the friendly guy who just wants everyone to get along and have a good time, even in the midst of a heated argument. Even when he disagrees, he will always try to meet you on some middle ground, which is more than I can say for the majority of us. He's also the only member I can think of who has never really said anything bad about another member, and hell, he's never said anything really bad about a game either. Even when he complains about something, he'll usually be his own contrarian in the matter. He can be blunt sometimes, other times he's a bit stuffy about the "old ways", and his values don't always mesh well with others; but he's never been the type to say his rules are final or to try to force an issue when its proven not to pan out.

I can think of no other member on this site, who is more understanding, more compassionate, and willing to help out a fellow member of the forum, regardless of whether they are some newbies still trying to figure out the ropes, some oldbie who wandered back in because BoB summoned him from the ether with an email, or even the "problem" members. BoB to me would be the Best Member because he lives (mostly, you could be more active ) the way we wish all people on this forum would, by being just a nice guy who doesn't take all of this so seriously. It was always a pleasure working with him, debating with him in the forums, and watching him laugh off a joke you made at his expense; I am honored to have met such a person through this site he loves so much, and be able to say he's my friend.

BoB, easily deserves this award, which is why I voted Psychotic instead.

Bubba is one of the most amusing and happy members of our little community. He likes to leave little presents around for members to step in when he's not around, so watch out for those by the way. Did you know he also loves sparkling vampires? He won't tell anyone this, but I know... and now you all know. He'd rather dream of being swept away by one than actually moderate EoFF.

Okay, that's pushing it a bit far but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the truth. I'm not spreading rumors or anything, I'm just saying. Is that the kind of person you want as your best member? Probably. It fits in with the rest of you people.

Bubba also is one of the first to offer his ear if you need to vent or need advice. Sometimes he's heavily intoxicated when you're doing this but that makes the interaction even better. Okay, I'm not sure if he's intoxicated ever but I'm not saying he isn't and isn't that the important thing to take away from this?

Bubba. An intoxicated, present leaving, sparkling vampire loving listener. He could be your Best Member too.

Bubba - Best Member Summer 2016?