15 years of Magistream: share your memories!

[Rosehill]

In just a few months from now Magistream has existed for fifteen years! During that time we have accumulated over 12 million creatures and over 8 billion creature clicks, and currently still have over 1000 monthly active users!

While the proper Magiversary celebrations will be coming later in May, we want to celebrate intermittently throughout the year!

To kick off the celebrations we invite you to reminisce in this thread about your journey with us, regardless of if you are a user from 15 years ago or just registered!

Have a funny anecdote, memory or recollection of an incident? Remember the time when everything was definitely a boat? Just caught your first creature? Had a crush on an NPC? Met people from Magistream in real life and made friends (or sworn enemies!)? Named your pet after a Magistream creature or event, or vice versa? What's the thing you like most about the site, creatures, community etc? Tell us about it, or anything else pertaining to your Magistream experience! We want to hear your memories, impressions and shenanigans!

[shadowlugia]

I remember when people used to do all those "I survived" badges for random events, like the faces in the stream, the platy floods, or raptor jesus.

Also, Talyn is not bad as an npc, kinda miss them, haven't seen them in a hot while are they okay are they doing alright??

[Merkwerkee]

I remember seeing the old gryphon sideart in a user's signature on the Sporum - Spore forum - back in the day. I wanted it, so I followed the link and after what today would be remarkably few sign up fields, had my own eggs and was starting to try and hatch them.

I remember getting my first doni from Imperialism - a Frost Unicorn, back when they were new. Cost me 15k and I barely scraped the gold together before my hold ran out.

I remember shenanigans at the Morgaln fanclub - the ocean couch, his detachable butt, the platypick - and the skype calls with Misty, Hae-face, Rhwfy, and the others before skype went to shit.

I remember the crashes - raznak jesus stole my pets. I remember getting crashborn event creatures with funny dates from the crash form (they've probably been corrected by now, I don't remember which ones they were).

I remember that one single person multi accounting and driving the prices for creatures up so high a damn SB Ibex cost 5k gold.

I remember the pumpkin wars, and the pumpkin flame wars. I remember the breeding contests, and the epic slapdown of unsportsmanlike conduct.

I remember TxCat. And Tinni. And TnHawke.

I remember several fun RPs with folks in the RP section - gone to archive and beyond well before the site revamp.

I remember asking incredibly awkward questions and getting answers that were certainly illuminating.

I remember a brief period where I refused to use the shift key because I was annoyed about having to use it all the time for school. That didn't last, thankfully.

I remember a lot, but I've forgotten more. Any which way, wouldn't trade it for anything

[froglady]

I don't have a lot of old memories, because I joined just before my dad's condition deteriorated and we had to eventually put him into care. It was very stressful for a few months and I didn't have time to spend online playing games. When the dust cleared I didn't come back to online games for several years, until my parents had passed and I had to retire due to injury. Sitting at home without my 50 hours a week, 12 days on, 2 days off weekend and night call required job was boring.

So I thought I'd poke around and see if any of my old games were alive. Many were 404, but I found a few and a couple of ones that were new to me. Through these I rediscovered both Flowergame and Magistream. It's been wonderful being back. I remembered catching my first critters (Caeralis, Pegasus, Sun Vevex Ray, Southern Raza Cobra) and how excited I was for them to hatch. It's still the same. I pull an interesting egg from the Stream and can't wait to see what it is. At this point in my journey I prefer to just find things organically rather than to methodically go through the Bestiary, but as my collection grows I'm sure I will cone down my search to the creatures I haven't gotten yet.

Everyone here has been so kind and generous, even to this old lady who doesn't mean to come off as blunt or judgemental, but often does for some reason (perhaps it's 40 years in medicine with the need to cut to the chase and communicate absolutely clearly with no concern for politeness or perhaps it's that my therapist just diagnosed an old grey haired woman as being on the autism spectrum). I'm glad I rediscovered this magical place and hope to be around to make years of new memories here.

[SeriousSans]

While I didn't join until 2017, I do have a lot of fun memories since I joined! I remember looking through the Bestiary the day I joined, being amazed by all the creatures- and then, I noticed the Wind Hydras. From the moment I first saw them, I had to have one. I literally left one of my egg spaces empty so that whenever one finally appeared, I would have space to grab it. At the time, the egg limit was 4 so I had only three eggs in my keep for probably a day or so while checking the stream every 15 minutes to see if there was a Wind Hydra yet. When I finally saw a Wind Hydra egg, I squealed so loud, and my obsession has only grown from there; I now have over 800 Wind Hydras! I'm so grateful to everyone who has gifted me a Wind Hydra throughout the years, no matter how many I get I will always love each and every one of them!

I remember the pumpkin chucking game from the first Halloween event I was around for; I had so much fun throwing pumpkins at other users and reading the hilarious comments that popped up afterwards. There were a bunch of puns! And then someone started a "pumpkin dunking contest" and obviously I had to join (because Sans lol) and I think I must have spent at least 2 hours just throwing pumpkins back and forth.

I remember when achievements were added, and one of them was goat themed. I was super careful to unlock that achievement on Undertale's anniversary, like the sentimental fan I am. Now there's an achievement for Charaen and I want to unlock that on Undertale's anniversary too, though that one is proving much more difficult because of the Koi Pond lol. Regardless, I am determined to make it happen some year!

I remember when the quest was added to get the pet geode ally, and I spent way too long repeating that quest over and over until I got all of the names. I had to have them all because they were puns! I still do the quest a couple of times each time a new drink is offered at Remy's, just for fun. Speaking of Remy's, during one event when there was a drink called "Solstice Chocolate" I believe, I spent over half my gold singlehandedly paying for his rent for the year so I could have 99 of them. Unfortunately, 999 of them was just way too far outside my budget to be possible lol

I also spent too much gold maxing out my inventory of boxes of chocolates when they were in a shop at one point. I've literally never used one. But I just had to max out on chocolates, for Chara =)

And of course I can't forget about all of the amazing friends I've made, and the super kind community here! I'm so glad I found this site, and I hope to continue making memories here for many decades to come

[CinnaminDraconna]

I joined the site on Dec 15, 2009; so the site was 7 months old. So while I haven't been here since the beginning, it's pretty darn close, lol. Not sure how I found the site, but other than a six month hiatus, I've been here ever since. I've loved it, I've hated it, I've praised it, I've complained about it.. my goals have changed many, many, many times, but I still keep playing.

I remember the first family; DarkSea.. and how bad I wanted a 1st gen. I still don't have one, mine's a 2nd gen. To this day, families and breeding projects are the biggest reasons I'm still playing. When the Kollinus was released was my absolute best day ever; colorpoint cats are my favs.. and I'm still pround of this record: Largest Kollinus Army: CinnaminDraconna, 229. I have a few other records too, lol.

I'm not much of a chatter tho and I don't make friends easily, but I have a few that I consider friends that are still playing.. and a few that I miss terribly because they quit playing.. and at least 2 that have died. *cries*

But good, bad and everything in between, I'm here for the duration and looking forward the the NEXT 15 years. Now if I can just convince Raneth and Rosehill that we need more egg slots.. at least 10, not counting donation slots, lol.

[Smores]

I only joined in 2022, but in that short time I have grown very fond of this site!

I remember coming across a creature from Magistream in someone's signature on another pet site. I clicked on it and was amazed by all the sprite work. Made me feel so nostalgic! I joined that same day and I'm happy I did!

And then this year, I was honored with my entry winning the maintenance contest! ; v ;

I wish nothing more but to celebrate many more milestones to come with every one and excited to see just how the site will grow from here on out!

[sammythethief]

I've been around since the year the site opened - not since the beginning, but close enough. I've come and gone throughout the years, but have always returned. I can't remember how I found this place - maybe I saw a creature in a signature on DragCave?

I remember when Rosehill mostly just made graphics; she made me signature set, which I'm still wholly in love with. I remember TxCat and Tinni and the conversations we had, the games we played together, and the advice they gave me. I remember Taliesen and his one of a kind sense of humour, and the close friendship he had with Sochi.

Speaking of Soch, I remember a drawing made of a polar bear lumberjack, riding another polar bear, with a box tucked under its arm, red hair flying out of that box (I was in the box)

I remember hanging out in the ATLA guild thread, back when it was just Team Zutara. In my mind, Utena is still 'Momma Utena', and probably always will be.

I remember the Great Soap Opera Troll and the tragic demise of the young Li Mou. Raznak Jesus and the Rapture Raptor eating our creatures. I remember TNHawke and her Skwiddie army, I remember DevilCrest and Imperialism and Faeryl.

I remember sending and receiving mail from so many of you, completely flouting what the teachers had always told me about sharing personal information with strangers online.

There's probably so much more rattling around in my head-hole, waiting for someone to drop the right trigger word to unlock the memory. MagiStream has always been home for me. I'm glad to be back, I'm glad to be part of it. I love this place, and I love all of you

[Auriene]

I joined in 2015. I needed to visit my profile to check it up and now I can't believe it was almost nine years ago! I remember seeing MS creatures in people's signatures on Dragon Cave forums - I believe it was a Hallow Capricorn that particularly drew my attention - and that's how I found this site. I really liked the MS creatures' detailed descriptions and the fact that MS world is so neatly fleshed out, with a lot of lore connected to various places and regions of the world. Now while I'm thinking about it, joining MS is probably one of the reasons my English got better throughout the years

My best memories connected to MS are probably the memories of team contests. I had a lot of fun while participating in Pumpkin Wars and Potooto Contest! I also remember participating in some forum competitions and contests created by other users, it was also great. At some point, I started to make family crests and signature images - at first only for myself, then also for other people - and believe it or not, but that's how I started my little adventure with digital graphic editing and designing which lasts to this day, now on a more professional level. If not for MS, I might never discover that in myself.

I don't have as much time for online games now as I had those years ago, but I still try to visit MS regularly. I am really glad that I found this site and this awesome community

[trystan830]

I joined May 27th, 2009, and I remember there being only four creatures!

I'd been on DragonCave for a few (6) months, and had already created a hatchery for clickable creatures on my blogging site (remember LiveJournal?), and i'm pretty sure someone had posted some Magi critters, and I checked it out... and haven't left!

just like with DragonCave, I had my times of 'check the stream for new creatures' but wasn't all that active. And I had a shop to trade critters, but that's been long gone.

I do remember when the Ariessas came out, i caught, hatched, and gave away a TON. I don't remember why now, though.

It's also the community here that's full of great, wonderful people!

I always love the events, but I've never had a wishlist because... let's just say I'm weird that way, always have been (it's not just here). But I do enjoy gifting, and the badges, and the quests, and all the new things everyone always comes up with. and Remy's fun drinks *hic!*