How has freerider affected your life?

I've been playing this game since the freerider2 days and really made my mark when it became canvasrider. Although I haven't been active with anything freerider-related in years, I frequently draw from my journey from being a blue-fonted fan to becoming an orange-fonted designer. There was no reason for my motivation to spend thousands of hours drawing on such a simple platform, yet it has brought me the most joy and pride out of anything I've done since. We all start as players but at some point some of us decide to become creators, and when that happens we become artists; not just as an internet presence but as human beings. It's funny how I've become that old member has-been but it's so important to state to help anyone, myself included, to maintain an artistic pursuit. Most of you are probably just as I was when I started out, young, naive, and unaware of the turmoils of LIFE. I know if I had continued taking my own art seriously I would have avoided so much mental angst.
I guess the point of this post is to reconnect with fellow Canvas Riders and help create awareness of the power of creative expression. So I ask, how has freerider affected your life?
For those those that want to reach out to their old pal, RH!NO, hmu and we'll connect beyond this website
Thank you for being a part of my creative journey and I hope, to any capacity, that I've been a part of yours.
Cheers to all!

 

Before I started this game, I was the worst artist you could imagine. I couldn’t even draw things most kids can easily, like trees and clouds. Over the course of the 2 or so years I have been playing, I have learned to draw those things and more, and to create fun tracks to boot. and I found the only online community I am really a part of. I hope to help this game grow and revive, as I have no plans to leave anytime soon. I thank all of the people on here who have had a positive impact on my life, cctv, eryp, exylies, just to name a few. And above all, I feel honored to play this truly unique game. Thanks to all
-Eli

 

This game has effectively made me an edgier and more toxic person

 

See my signature; that's what happened to me

 

I used to suck at art. Couple years later: still do

 

I never said that.

So anyway, I have been playing this game since 2008. I was a young angry little prepubescent, I had a lot of life problems but I found this game. I was awful, I couldn't draw anything from love nor money but I kept coming back. I kept trying. I went to every single place that had freerider and just tried to make a mark, just tried to make myself complete.
Life moved on and I wish I did but I didn't, I grew up with it, got better through this. Fell in love here, met so many wonderful people on this game and lived their lives. Saw it from their perspective. It inspired me to travel, to show the world to you all as I saw it. I can't do outside art in terms of drawing but I started photography and it helped me on this game.

It's been 11 years, I am now VIP. I have shown you guys my world, my life, my love. I have seen everyone come and go, some stay and I wouldn't change anything.

 

This game has been responsible for a good deal of the programming I've done recently. I don't know how much of the programming I've done through the years has been caused by this, directly or indirectly, but I'm sure it's a large portion. For instance, this game is probably at least partially responsible for my move from Scratch to Python. Sure, that may not have been the intent of the game, but after having played this game for a while, I now have a desire to understand, to know how all of the components in the background work together to produce this awesome game. I still don't understand what is happening most of the time, but my understanding is improving.
I haven't really created many tracks over the years, as track making didn't really call out to me(unless it was some cool generated stuff or a really hard trial), and I'm constantly scared of people hating things I post online(though this game is helping with that), but I've really enjoyed trying to get good times on tracks and am now getting into spacebarring. This game is really interesting, as while the learning curve may be fairly steep(as many people have said), there doesn't really seem to be a skill ceiling and nearly every ghost can be improved. That's another thing that I feel calls out to me some, as I'm really interested in speedrunning but don't have the time to learn any games or the hardware to do much recording. This game makes it easier to pursue several of my passions (close to) at the same time.
This game also has a (mostly) friendly and supportive community and a variety of different things to do because, in the end, the same things don't appeal to different people.

 

Message from an introvert: I'm still hella introverted I guess but this community's given me more courage to socialize irl which is aight I guess

 

It made me gay.

 

i found out about the game in mid 2017, even though I didn’t register an account until October that same year, having no clue what so ever of what i was doing. i eventually forgot about the game until mid 2018, where I kept making the same old trashy tracks and autos until early 2019, where I actually tried detailing my maps. I guess my goal of always making my next track better than the last one improved my drawing skills to a point where I can actually say I’m happy with myself with some of the stuff I draw (even though I don’t really draw anything that much in general). I stayed more for the community and some of the jokes, since I’m probably way more active in the community than the actual game. My ability to not get angry as much actually improved mostly because of this game as well, since I used to play a lot of really annoying maps that would make most people want to throw their entire computer box out the window.

TL;DR i improved as a person because of this unpopular online biking game

 

frhd is the black hole that sucked the joy out of my life

 

You guys have shared such well-written stories, thank all of you for the amazing positivity

 

I have thought about what id be like if I had never played free rider. I guess what affected me the most was the attention my tracks got back in the day, it was so awesome to have people actually like what I did work for. definitely the first online community I got involved in. I don't think much would have been different apart from all the extra time I would have. love meeting really enthusiastic (cctv) people on here as well.

 

Same energy

 

Woah. You guys are great writers!

I just joined because I love to draw. I have only been here for a little while, but really like it. Every time I leave and take a break from this game it pulls me back. I always seem to be drawn to the simplicity, and greatness of this game. Like Eli said, I wouldn't change anything about this game.

Maybe except for the fact that i'm drawing tracks and writing this instead of studying for midterms.

 

also if I had never started playing, my sister would never have made me these haha

 

Gave me a community to talk too when I have no one to talk too. It’s good for my mental health xD

 

This game teach me how to drawing, and sometimes this game is the reason why should I life

 

has me adicted