To: Everyone Who Asked For Me

From: Ben

Hey all. I’m here. I always have been. I just don’t talk much because I get lazy. If you want me to be honest, I’ve been here for the past three years and I’ve seen enough newcomers come and go that I have been almost conditioned to anticipate people giving up on their stories after a few weeks, even with my encouragement and comments. You’ll have to excuse my pessimism, but that is just the reality of it I suppose. Looking now, it seems some folks have disappeared since I last messaged.

This message is going to be about 1. Tina, and 2. All of your stories.

Anyway. Enough of that. Some of you are curious about Tina. The truth is, I was not there to know the full details. As far as I’m aware, her passing was very sudden and abrupt, and may have involved a seizure. The community at the time only knew because her brother, Peter, delivered the news, which is common for those who know their close ones had an online presence. In fact, I myself have a failsafe in the case of any sudden death on my end. After she passed, some people went as far as to impersonate her and pretend to have ‘recovered’, which is why I avoided the topic to begin with since it was a trying, frankly disappointing time for everyone involved.

I know PrimalApex has expressed his skepticism ever since he found the Charmer message, but I know otherwise. There was no true reason for Tina to fake her death. If she did it for the attention—then it would certainly be short-lived. She was already beloved in the community, and I don’t see that being a plausible motive. Not to mention, she’d probably continue to write under the Charmer or Peter alias, if anyone was none the wiser. If she did it to get away from the community easily, then that also makes little to no sense. Tina hasn’t been spotted ever since 2022, since that day. If she had left the community, I doubt she would stay quiet for four long years. The community clearly meant something to her.

That’s all you need to know about Tina. So let me move onto the next point of discussion.

To those who have managed to persevere for this long… SomeGamerGuy, BoXXy, Zznake, etc. I’ve underestimated your grit. If you are currently writing a story, and you are confident in your ability to push through and finish what you started, then I am willing to read your story and give my utmost support. Writing’s difficult, as you know. And I find that just the acknowledgement someone read through your hard work goes a long way. It’s why I’ve even made it this far to begin with. I’m not sure where this community would be if everyone stuck to their own corner and only focused on their own stories. At that point, we’d all be talking to brick walls, eh? If you want me to read your story, you can tell me where I can find it, and what it’s called. I’ll read all of them. Just don’t give up, ‘cause that story deserves to be finished.

If you’ve made it this far, listen carefully to what I say next. I can’t recall if I’ve told you this, but the D0d0dex Stories website is very helpful for communication. Just search it up on whatever browser you have, and it should be the top result. When you go to that website, it’s going to give you all the latest tips posted in the Stories section, and you can categorize and sort by Newest and creature. Tips appear faster on there than on the app, so communication should be faster.

If you want to communicate even faster, you can go to the D0D0Dex Fan Fiction Wiki, on Fandom. Yes. We have a wiki. You might even find your story logged on there. We’ve had one for the past two years and a half. Communication is nearly instant there, and it’s a great place to check out cool art and post your own art if you have any. You will need to make a Fandom account, but that’s about it, really. Some people are forbidden from even accessing Fandom (which, puzzles me, since Fandom is not a site I’d expect to be banned from any parents, if you’re able to play a game like ARK Survival Evolved). We don’t use Discord because it’s more likely someone can’t use it, and we also just don’t like Discord. Anyway, the appeal to Fandom is that replies are nearly guaranteed there. Wow. How elitist. It was never supposed to truly be like that, but things just ended up that way the less and less people started joining the community over the years.

Regardless of the choice you make, I’ll try my best to still be here. If you have any other comments, questions, or concerns, feel free to leave them and I’ll answer post-haste.

Finally (I promise this is the last one), if you are interested in reading some ARK stories of your own, but don’t know where to start (and honestly, I highly encourage this anyway. Your fellow community members love having their stories read too, like you, and you might even get a creative spark as a result. Plus, it’s fun!), then feel free to leave your preferences, what type of story interests you most, and there will probably be one that suits your needs, which I can then tell you where to find so you can begin your journey.

That’s all for now. I’ll hopefully see you around?

- Ben