Why Donate to X-Shift?

We’ve all seen the donation buttons on websites across the net. You’ll find them anywhere a free service is offered or products are designed, but how many have you ever really contributed to? After all, why should we voluntarily give away our money when the service is already free, essentially giving away money and receiving nothing beyond what we already have?

There are several superficial reasons, I suppose, but I want you to know why you’re donating to this project; to know the real reason. I, like the rest of my team, am just a guy. I wake up each morning and heat up a cup of coffee in the microwave, forcing my blurred vision to clear as I read my email. After procrastinating long enough, I take a hurried shower, feed my guinea pig, Scooter, then drive to work in my Nissan Sentra. I deal with all the stress of any job, be it from cranky coworkers or overbearing customers; usually sneaking out for a cigarette every hour or two. My paychecks are enough to pay my rent, phone bill, internet, buy food, etc. I’m not suffering.

So, now that I’m just a guy, you must be wondering even more, “Why should I donate? At least before I could pretend he was an orphan, working in some Guatemalan sweat shop.” Well, that’s where we get to the heart of the matter. I don’t want you to donate out of pity or gratitude. I want you to donate for yourself; not for something I believe in, but for something you believe in.

I’m tired of stagnation. I’m tired of the world chugging along this repetitive path. Technology is advancing, opinions spread across the globe at the speed of light, music, movies and messages are free for the taking. But amidst all our speed and instant gratification, it seems that people have forgotten what we’ve lost. When was the last time someone spoke and the world took notice? When was the last time a band emerged and changed the world of music? When was the last time the world cheered in unison? We’ve lost our legends.

As the global community grows, its people become smaller. What you do all day long is meaningless. If you disappeared tomorrow, a nameless face would replace you in a second and the world wouldn’t even take notice. Even the greatest form of expression a single person could muster would quickly become washed under celebrity gossip or political banter. The world has become apathetic. We feel weak, powerless and insignificant. This is not our world.

X-Shift was designed as the beginning of something greater; something greater than its creators and greater than “another box on the shelf”. Our team is constantly talking on instant messengers and in voice chat, sending emails and making forum posts. But most of these people, I have never met. They don’t know me, and I don’t know them. Yet every night, I sit at my computer until 7am, organizing our tasks, writing design documents, editing maps, and creating content. Every day, this team produces more work, bringing complex 3d models, full, amazing music and new game engine features and updates to the project. We push ourselves and the limits of everything conventional.

We are nobodies. We were told from the very beginning, as I know many of you have, that we would fail, simply because we were nobodies; and I have taken great pride in silencing every one of our critics and pressing past them as X-Shift blazed forward. We believe in X-Shift. We believe that it can rise above this numb, leveled playing field and shatter predefined expectations. We believe it can grant social freedom to its players and inspire others to envision a world without limitation. But most of all, beyond what everyone has told us, we believe that we can do this.

Thank you for supporting X-Shift.

Phillip “Khanstruct” Peterson