N7 Day

If you’ve been a follower of mine for a long time, you might know that despite my avid game fanaticism and blogging, my addiction started not so long ago.



Two and a half years ago, a broken, hopeless, indifferent version of myself picked up the Mass Effect trilogy on a whim, desperate for a new anything to take me away from my reality at the time. Any RPG could have done, but I chose Mass Effect. A time-filler, a distraction at first. A successful one at that. I found myself getting sucked further into this amazing, and more importantly, very trying life Shepard leads. Soon, I found myself not thinking so much about not existing. If life ended that moment, how could I see what happened next? It was worth waiting for, and that was enough.



But Mass Effect was more than just enough for me, which is why anyone who knows me might say it snatched my heart away (and my ability to talk about anything else with it woops sorry). The story no longer just took up time, it revolutionized the way I looked at the world and traversed it after going through it with Shep.

Shepard, who died and came back just to be weaponized. Who lost friends and determined the fates of trillions. Who has the responsibility of deciding what life is valid enough and what war what justified. Who has the weight of an entire galaxy on her shoulders. Shepard, who went through all of this and at the end, while half dead, pained with a horrible truth, and next to the lost life of her loved mentor figure, still manages to stand up, and without hesitation, says “What do you need me to do”. Shepard went through more Hell than I could fathom, I saw every moment of it with her. But she still stood up and did it anyway. If she could do that, I could too.



Mass Effect is not just a game for me. It is the pinnacle event that made me realize the power video games have to change lives, to help escape, to open minds, to heal, to give other perspective to those who might desperately need it. This game is why i stand here today, getting the best education I can to help others this same exact way. I will do what is needed to my fullest ability, just like Shepard, until my very last breath. I will give all of myself or none of it. And I will rely on my friends to watch my back when I need some cover, because no one gets through it alone.

Of course, there are still moments of hardship and doubt, but just like Shepard has her crew, I have mine. And I will take the most important lesson she taught me right along with me forever, to have in every moment I consider not standing back up again.

“Take Heart.

Look around you.

You’re not in this fight alone.”



Happy N7 Day, Commanders <3