MCL is officially over.
Sooo one check on this account and I find it’s been…1757 days. 4 years. 4 years since I updated this account. 4 years since I last played MCL.
Holy crap.
I started playing when I was 13 years old. THIRTEEN! I’m turning 22 soon. I’m now working towards becoming an author (which feels very appropriate considering the nature of this account.) It’s insane to think about how much time has passed, but it’s even crazier when I sit back and truly soak in how much of an impact this game has had on my childhood and growth.
My Candy Love was my first experience in Fandom. It was the first place (and made many accounts for) where I made memes, made shit posts, interacted with other like-minded people who shared my love for the game. I remember the in-fandom jokes, the theories, the way we would pick apart the trailers for any hint of what’s to come. I remember at one point the fandom was so big that it felt like a tri-monthly celebration whenever an episode released. It was the first place I felt like I belonged.
It was that place that helped blossom my love of writing.
Even though I stopped playing MCL years ago (mostly in part to the fact that Lysander was slashed as an LI), I never stopped following MCL. I would watch the tag, would watch play throughs of the episodes, would follow the storyline from HSL to UL to LL. All these years I still had a part of me in the game and I would wait for an update like it was my favorite TV show (in a way, it was). And to this day I’m still attached to the characters like they’re real people. It’s natural—they were with me since I was a pre-teen.
I tried playing Eldarya and so many other otome games, but I never grew attached to the characters the way I did MCL. And I need to thank the game for helping me realize my love of Story, of writing, of fandom. The characters, Castiel and Nath specifically, have come alive in a way that’s almost scary to think about. I hold memories of them as if they’re real. It’s a nice feeling, all things considered, knowing that other people feel the same, no matter if they’re still dedicated to the game or have dropped it long ago like I have.
So cheers @ChinoMiko and Beemoov. Cheers to My Candy Love. It wasn’t perfect and the fandom had its problems, but in some twisted way that was part of the charm.
Heres to whatever comes next from the Beemoov team. Heres to High School Life Season 2…which I will definitely be playing! <3
here’s my very bittersweet goodbye. MCL, you will always have a special place in my heart <3
