1) What is it about the toribash community that you enjoy?
I really enjoy the dynamic range of different people that you can meet on toribash and how everyone has their own unique character traits and different quirks, in a lot of other communities it seems to cultivate a kind of "sub culture" but toribash is a bit different in that it has a few sort of "sub cultures" within it but each individual is different to the next. Also theres the fact that the actual game engine is so unique and is such a timeless and fun game
2) Do you believe that the persona you associate with your toribash account to be separate from your identity in the physical world that we occupy?
I feel like as I grow older and more mature I am behaving more like my most authentic self everywhere in my life and toribash isn't excluded from that. in the past I've vented a lot of my negative toxic traits within the community and not really been my "best self" here but this is one thing I'm actively working on improving each day
3) Does this website and community have something that other online communities doesn't have? If yes, elaborate
Yeah, just the general vibe of how "communal" it feels and like others have mentioned, the ability to form really life changing relationships here with interesting people is very cool.
4) Do you believe you suffer from any kind of mental health problems?
This is a hard question for me to answer because I've never had a formal diagnosis and I don't want to devalue the experience of anybody who does, but I believe that I have ADHD and autism and have managed to "slip the net" of the care system because my parents are both neurodivergent too and during their time in life there wasn't as much of an understanding as there is now about these things. I don't think that they hold me back much though, actually I think that although I face a lot of challenges these things fuel me to do the things I do and be the person I am
5) Have you ever used drugs? if yes, how has this impacted your perception of reality and how you experience "toribash"
I have used plenty of drugs, the ones I will list here are ones that have had the most impact on my life and perception of reality. I started out smoking weed when I was really young (around 14-15, this is a terrible idea and any young people reading this should head my warning and avoid using ANY psychoactive substance unless advised otherwise and prescribed by a trusted medical professional because the impacts it could potentially have on brain development are NOT worth the high/potential benefits) I got into learning about psychedelics around the same time and have spent the last 10 years of my life expanding my knowledge and research on psychedelics and their benefits to human life and different psychological issues. In recent months I have been consuming a lot of ketamine and have been getting a lot of really great insight to my own consciousness and developing a greater understanding of my life. In terms of toribash, I would say that certain substances help me to create replays in ways that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to, for example, whilst taking psychedelics I'm able to "connect" with the tori on a different level and overcome roadblocks that were previously limiting my playstyle.
6) How often is your forum usage compared with time spent in game?
It varies massively but I think I spend more time currently looking at the forum
7) Do you perceive the way you use toribash (both as a videogame and as an online forum) to be conductive to good mental health and living your best life?
In the past the way I used toribash was very unhealthy; I used the game itself to avoid serious responsibilities and challenges in my life that needed to be faced head on and I used the forum and other community aspects (discord etc) to ventilate my toxic ego traits and push out negativity onto others. At this point in my life, I am healing a lot of my toxic traits and core wounds and really appreciating toribash in a new light.