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Dear OzzyGaming, It has been my pleasure supporting OzzyGaming over the last seven years. The last four have certainly been the most challenging but rewarding as an Executive. I have worked with remarkable people and helped bring a vision for this community to life. The staggering amount of time required isn't what I remember most about this process, but rather the people I have met and the friendships I have gained. It is with sadness that I am announcing my retirement from OzzyGaming. There is so much more I could say and want to say, as that's one of my faults, I just never quite know when to shut up. But I promised myself I'd try to keep it brief. Returning to Ozzy started as a favour for a friend (Boss) but grew into a passion project for me. Ozzy remains one of my proudest achievements, and I'm happy that long after any of you remember my username, my fingerprints remain throughout. Knowing I had a hand in enabling so many friendships, stories, experiences and fun for so many, most of whom I will never know personally, made everything worth it. Ozzy has given me amazing memories, friends and experiences - and very difficult challenges. It turns out running a gaming community is like any large group, it's a cold day in hell when there is a simple 'right' or 'wrong' and someone is always going to be upset. I feel it would be irresponsible of me to not explain generally why, though for privacy reasons I will skip much of the detail. It has nothing to do with Ozzy. During the last year I achieved a level of happiness I have never experienced before, a bunch of pieces fell into place (like getting my dream job after years of trying). But as you probably guessed and have likely experienced, the higher you go, the further you have to fall. Fall I did. Like an achievement speed run, I managed to achieve not only the highest, but also the lowest I have ever been. I thought taking a month away with family over Christmas would help, I guess in some ways it did, but it wasn't close to enough. To add to my personal problems (which we don't deal with here - inside joke alert), kicking a man while he is down is one of life's favourite past times, as I learnt late last year about some family issues too. I have always taken my role, and it's responsibility to Ozzy seriously, and I respect this community (and myself) far too much to hold onto a role for the sake of it. My ability to support this community has been severely damaged, and my heart isn't in it any more. I find myself staring out at the fragments of my world, wondering what I am to make next. I would like to specifically thank those I consider some of my closest friends. You helped me without question and stood with me when my world was crumbling - your patience, understanding and compassion cannot be understated. @MJC@Boss@Caldweld@The Silverback@Wrath@Kieran@Bendacat You all helped me more than you will ever know at the time I needed it most. You're all exceptional, and I am grateful for everything. There is a long list of other friends who have aided in making the last few years unforgettable, even those I sometimes disagreed with, but I'm trying to keep this short (-ish) so won't try to list you all, and I'd hate to risk forgetting anyone. I hope you know who you are. Stepping down was a difficult decision to make, I will miss it, but I need to focus on my affairs and Ozzy is certainly big enough and ugly enough to manage without me. I always said that no one is irreplaceable on Ozzy - including me. While this is a sombre occasion, I'd like to focus on the great things that have been achieved and how far Ozzy has come - what started out as a bit of a pipe dream with a single 32 slot FiveM server spawned a thriving community and so many copycats, the ultimate form of flattery when you think about it. 3.0 is on the horizon and that will certainly offer an interesting change of pace. If there is one thing I could ask of the community, remember you've all been drawn together for the same reason - your shared interest. Roleplaying provokes a lot of emotions - remember that your character is just that, a character, and the person you're speaking with is another human just like you on a different keyboard who is no less human because you cannot see them. Try not to let your emotion outpace your reason. I know there are a fair few romantics on the server and gaming communities seldom talk about love, but you all have or will face that hurdle in your life, so here is a thought-provoking talk on the topic that I recommend: Click here. I would also like to address one of my passions and one of the gravest problems plaguing the world - mental health. You need to look after yourself and never give up. Even if you think no one believes in you, I believe in you. Ozzy has had too many amazing people hospitalised and worse, and the world is poorer for it. No matter how dark it gets, hold on, you'll find your way. Being unable to see the way through doesn't mean it isn't there. Reach out, don't let yourself become isolated, you'll be surprised how many people reach back. If you're struggling, I dedicate this song to you - Click here. I suppose this all sounds very doom and gloom, but don't fret, I'll still be around playing games, you'll see me loitering. Come say hi if you're brave enough to risk my bizarre and coarse humour. No matter where life takes me, I'll always come back to play games. I just know many people won't care a second past the point I don't have the tags to help them out, I don't take it personally. Ozzy is an amazing place and the place so many people learn to roleplay here. It is one of the most inclusive gaming communities I have ever been a part of - and tragically I can say that because I've been in gaming communities longer than some of you have been alive thanks for making me feel old. Thank you to the staff for your selfless volunteer work, and thank you to all of you for your passion, stories and humour. You all helped make Ozzy what it is today. "Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder" - Henry David Thoreau. All the best, Molotov

G'day Gamers ­ƒæï Today I am excited to announce the return of OzzyGaming Rewards! This is our program of giving away freebies and prizes to those who support the community. We will be running things a little differently this time around and I'll run you through how it's going to work below. To be in the draw you must be a current OzzyGaming Platinum subscriber. Being a subscriber automatically puts you into the draw each month with no further action required by you. *Banned members are ineligible. Each draw there will be a winner and two runners up (2nd & 3rd), a total of 3 people each month. Winners will be drawn on the last day of every month and be announced via Discord. The first draw will be held on November 30. Now for the prizes... This time around winners will get to choose their own prizes. There will be a list of all the available prizes on offer each month and each winner in order (1st, 2nd, 3rd) will select which prizes they want. Once one of the prizes is claimed, it is no longer on the table for the next winner to choose. The winner will get to choose 3 prizes and each runner up can select 2 prizes each. For the first month, the prizes on offer are: 2 x 1 Month of full Queue Skip 1 x 2500 XP on the job of your choice 2 x 1000 XP on the job of your choice 1 x $250,000 3 x $100,000 2 x (Limited Edition Vehicle TBC each month) 2 x $20 Webstore Credit 2 x $10 Webstore Credit (Prizes subject to change each month) For Example... The winner could select 1 month of queue skip and 2x $20 webstore credits ($40). 2nd place could then still choose 1 month of queue skip, but wouldn't be able to choose a $20 store credit and so on. The runners up will be told what prizes are remaining when I contact them. So if you win and wanted to be greedy by taking 2 full months of queue skip for yourself, you can do that too. ­ƒÿë This is a big thank you project to give back to all the subscribers who go the extra mile to help support the community. We really appreciate your time and support and hope this is a little something to make your time more valuable. If you have any feedback I'd love to hear it! You'll hear from me at the end of the month to announce our first 3 winners. ­ƒÅå -- Zaydan OzzyGaming Community Manager

New punishment process and requirements for staff These take effect today (22/03/20) as of this post being made. It has come to Managements attention that we have some recurring issues with players on the server. To address this, we are issuing the following instructions to our staff. This is predominately for our FiveM server but applies in principle to all our services. We have seen a small section of the community which have pages of warnings and far too many temporary bans, we do not appreciate people who keep flaunting the system so this is aimed to address this. We would rather have 50 solid players than 100 legion square trolls. All staff must refer to the bans and warnings of players before a decision on punishment is made - this has always been the case but we will be scrutinising this closely. All bans will now escalate in duration and they will not be shorter than the longest recent ban. Recent ban and recent warning will now apply to all within 3 months. Bans will only be issued with the following durations: 6 hours (Minimum - first ban) 12 hours 1 day 3 days 1 week (Minimum - second ban) 2 weeks 1 month (Minimum - third ban) 3 months Permanent - A maximum of 3 temporary bans will be placed (within 3 months) before the player is considered on final warning. - Players on final warning will now extend to any player with a recent ban of a month or longer. - Any player who breaches a final warning will receive a permanent ban. - Temporary bans are to be a minimum of double the last recent ban. - All permanent bans appeals must have manager+ approval to reduce to temporary. - Minor breaches will result in a warning, a second warning may be granted in exceptionally minor infractions - instead of a third warning a ban will be issued. - All warnings/bans will be considered universal to an account (i.e. they are no longer rule dependent) - Ban appeals of low quality or effort will now be automatically denied - no further information or questions are required. - Three consecutive failed ban appeals will result in a forum ban (no further appeals) unless specifically instructed otherwise by a manager+. Finally, any variation to the above must be authorised by a manager+ and this will be added to the players notes for future reference. This may seem an overly harsh line by the staff team but there are plenty of opportunities for players to improve before facing significant punishments. We will also be using this as an opportunity to crack down on the quality of roleplay (not to be confused with requiring hardcore roleplay - we do not require hyper-realism). We have decided to release this information for the community and not just our staff team in an effort to smooth the transition - and not put the onus solely on our staff team. You may now consider yourself forewarned. This should encourage those of you who do silly things because you are 'bored' to behave with the other players around you in mind you are ruining their roleplay and that isn't acceptable. We are still a welcoming community for newcomers but a certain minimum level of respect for others and our server needs to be maintained. We will also be introducing a few more initiatives to try and improve the experience for new players without negatively effecting the more experienced players. Further information to come soon on that. Regards, Molotov On behalf of the OzzyGaming Management team.

G'day Gamers & Merry Christmas ­ƒÄà At OzzyGaming we love to celebrate all the major holidays around the year and Christmas is by far our favourite. In the spirit of the giving season, I am excited to today announce our search to find OzzyGaming's player of the year and we have some awesome prizes to give away in the process! There are multiple categories to be won which I'll explain below. Job Of The Year ­ƒæÀÔÇìÔÖé´©Å The first competition category is based on the many popular jobs on the FiveM server. We recently updated the FiveM tools leaderboards to include all XP based jobs and we're on the quest to find the best of the best in each job. It's a race to the top of each leaderboard by the end of the year to win the prizes. The following jobs are in the running: ­ƒî│ Landscaper Of The Year (Leaderboard) ­ƒÜÜ Trucker Of The Year (Leaderboard) ­ƒÅ║ Treasure Hunter Of The Year (Leaderboard) ­ƒÄú Fisherman Of The Year (Leaderboard) ­ƒÉó Turtle Poacher Of The Year (Leaderboard) Each job of the year winner will win the following prize pack: - $1,000,000 in-game Cash - A Discontinued Car - 1 Month Queue Skip - 1 Month OzzyGaming Platinum Subscription The titles will be awarded to the person on top of each job leaderboard at the end of the year (as at 31/12/20 11:59PM AEDT). So a few people already have a big advantage in this one, but it's still anyone's game for each job. Happy grinding. ­ƒñÀÔÇìÔÖé´©Å Player Of The Year ­ƒÄ« This is the big one. This is our quest to find OzzyGamings "player of the year". This will be a fairer competition with everyone starting at the same level. It will be entirely hours based across each of the main factions. We are tracking all of the hours gained between today (6th December) and midnight AEDT 31st December (basically between now and the end of the year). The player with the most hours in each category at the end of the year will be declared the winner. The overall winner could technically win 2 categories and win double the prizes. We are awarding winners for the following categories: ­ƒîƒ OzzyGaming Player Of The Year (total overall hours) ­ƒñÁ Civilian Of The Year ­ƒæ«ÔÇìÔÖé´©Å Police Officer Hunter Of The Year ­ƒæ¿ÔÇìÔÜò´©Å Paramedic Of The Year You can view the competition hours leaderboard here. (Please note the leaderboard is updated automatically every couple hours, it may involve some rounding of minutes played) Each player of the year winner will win the following major prize pack: - $100 Gift voucher to your choice of PC Case Gear or JB HI-FI - $1,000,000 in-game cash - A Discontinued car - 1 month Queue skip *OzzyGaming Staff are not eligible for the hours based competition, however staff will be running their own hours based competition. We will also be giving out special groups/badges to the winners of each category (including the job winners) so you can strut your stuff around the community to prove you're our biggest nerd. ­ƒñô Good luck to everyone, Merry Christmas and happy grinding! P.S. You'll hear more from us next week as we will be launching an advent calendar for the 12 days of Christmas with even more great prizes to be won. ­ƒÿë­ƒÄä­ƒÄà

G'day Gamers, Today we are announcing a significant change to our community standards. Historically, we have permitted players as young as 13 to play on the server. We have become increasingly uncomfortable with this age group being exposed to the topics, attitudes and content expressed in roleplay which is not intended for a young audience. Unfortunately, the youngest members of our community have a discernible impact on the roleplay around them. Despite 13-15 year olds being less than 15% of our population, this group is overrepresented in reports and moderation mostly due to the lower maturity, shorter attention span and difficulty relating to others. We do not believe it is reasonable to impede roleplay and lower our overall standards of maturity to protect this group of young players. Based on our observations in recent months and the response from the latest survey, it is clear that improving roleplay standards must be our core focus. As such, OzzyGaming is increasing our minimum FiveM player age to "16+", which will be reflected in our updated TOS. This was a tough and complicated decision that undertook a lot of discussion internally. We appreciate that this change will be upsetting to some of you, especially those who have been with the community for some time. We understand that there are people in the 13-15 age group who are great role players, however at some point a line has to be drawn to enact positive change. In our focus to improve meaningful engagement amongst players and the quality of roleplay, we have concluded that this change is required to support OzzyGaming's goals into the future. In addition to this, we will also be updating the FiveM rules which will specify that players are to present themselves and roleplay as mature adults (18+). This was already implied within the roleplay environment but it clearly needs to be stated. These new requirements will be enforced through the new maturity (Code - "Ma") ban process which at this stage will be only applied with management approval due to its sensitive and subjective nature. Some important points (FAQs): - We will not be verifying players birthdays and will never ask for or accept personal identification or proof of age. - The staff team will not accept reports against players for being underage, this is not an opportunity to submit reports against people you don't like. - There will be no "ban wave" tomorrow, breaches will be handled on a case by case basis. - Enforcement of this new standard will be based on management's judgement of players behaviour, demeanour and general maturity on the server. - Players found in breach of this requirement will be placed on indefinite FiveM bans which may be appealed once they can demonstrate the required maturity level after some time. - Affected Players who are removed from FiveM can contact support regarding their subscription status. - Members who are under the age of 16 are still welcome across the rest of our community including Discord, TeamSpeak and Rust. Again we apologise to those players who will be affected by this change and appreciate your commitment to this community. We are asking players to aim higher than present roleplay standards. We cannot magically make the roleplay quality improve directly but through these changes we are confident that the community will have a better ability to improve the overall roleplay experience. We appreciate that some people may have concerns or questions about this change, we just ask that these be directed to management privately so they can be addressed effectively. Bullying or harassment of anyone, especially young people will never be tolerated within the community. Please be respectful towards the community members affected by this change.

G'day Gamers Yesterday was an awesome day to be part of the OzzyGaming Community. Before I get to the numbers, I just want to say a couple things. First of all, thank you to every single person who contributed to the fundraiser. We understand given the times we are living in and the age of a lot of our members, not everyone can afford to donate to charity and that's totally fine! But nonetheless everyone got involved in one way or another across the whole community in the form of events, discussion and general awareness and that is really what counts. So thank you to everyone! Special shoutout to @nicatude for hosting The Million Dollar Race event last night, presented by LS Legal. There was a great turnout and I was so impressed by the level of effort and complexity of the event. It was very well run and looked like a lot of fun for those involved. You can watch the full event stream from last night on his Twitch channel (Link in the spoiler): We had well over 300 different members donate to the fundraiser yesterday, which is an amazing effort from our server that only has 180 slots! I'd like to give a special shoutout to @Beast260 (Bob The Fitter), @NeXWolf (Mej), @Mattii13 & @darknessfalls251 who were the top donators in the fundraiser, each donating $50 cash, on top of getting the vehicle. Thank you for your kind generosity. So, the numbers....! I am proud to announce a phenomenal $5,000 has been raised going directly to Headspace! The breakdown of the financials has been attached below for transparency. Gross donations received totalled just shy of $5,000 which smashed our goal of $3,000! Unfortunately after PayPal Fees and GST outside of our control, this comes down to $4,430. However, we couldn't let that much money be lost to fee's so we will be donating an extra $569 out of the community funds to cover all of the taxes and fees and round up a little bit extra to make it a nice clean $5,000! These funds will be transferred directly to Headspace this week. Again, OzzyGaming does not take any commission or admin fees on the donations received as this was all for charity and all goes towards the great cause that is headspace. This means all the donation methods and the E63 FiveM vehicle are no longer available. If anyone missed out, feel free to donate directly to headspace at any time and your money will make a difference. We are so excited by what we have managed to achieve and really want to do it all over again next year and make this an annual event. $5,000 will make a big difference to this Australian Mental Health organisation and their facilities and you should all be proud. Thanks again to everyone, I hope this news puts a big smile on your faces! -- Zaydan OzzyGaming Community Manager

Hey Cogan, Also willing to help out when I'm online if needed (Steam Name: Whitey - Main Character: Paqu Jamal), As long as you're willing to learn then a good Roleplayer will want to help... If you want to be a tiprat, you're on your own. 1. First off I would join the discord located here > Discord.gg/ozzygaming < Great place to ask questions. 2. Next download TS3 > https://teamspeak.com/en/downloads/ < this is because if you need to go to Helpdesk (Either you're in trouble or if someone has broken the rules therefore causing you to lose something) or join a Whitelisted business you'll need it. 3. Take your time creating your character (You can make up to 3 characters). Choose a suitable roleplay name, otherwise you will have to change it. If you don't like something you can always change it later at a Barber and a Clothes Store, but you will be charged. 4. Rules - Read them in the context to know not to break them - Don't read them as a way of finding loopholes 5. Make sure your voice chat has a Hotkey, but also go to the Voice Chat in the Settings menu and fix the settings there as well. Also if you ever have issues with the voice head there and toggle both of the enabled settings off and then on again. 6. Avoid carrying Large amounts of Cash on you, instead leave it in your bank account where it is safe. You access this via an ATM. Most businesses will let you pay via invoices located in your `~ key menu. 7. Go and get a Drivers License (Map Marker 140) and a Job (Map Marker 383, 1022, 3012) - Instruction manuals can be found on this Forum. 8. The most important one - IF IN DOUBT ASK, ASK, ASK! pleading ignorance annoys everybody, asking a question hurts no one. 9. Have a fun time but don't deliberately ruin others. Getting a name for yourself in RP for the wrong reasons (e.g. Rule Breaking) will stick with you for a long time). 10. Hotkeys:

First, what a great and thoughtful post. Secondly. this just goes, yet again, to prove how the execs, devs and staff of this server and community go above and beyond and really do things with the community in mind. It's so uplifting to see people using their power in a platform for good reasons and not just sitting back content at the level things are at. Thirdly - LS Legal is running it's race event that night so the stream itself was always going to have a bit of stuff going on, doing some giveaways for OG plats, paypal gift card, etc... now we have to step it up a gear... time to get into the office and make some videos and plans I think. 3k goal they say... Challenge Accepted "Attitude is Everything - If you can change your attitude, I guarantee you will change your life" - Nicatude

Dont know about anyone else i feel like there needs to have a plate change thing in the webstore, buying plat is a thing same with gold yes however when you have already bought them and it wont allow you to rebuy to get some more its very annoying. i think a few people would be keen on it given it was priced right and i dont think it would be bad to implement.

G'day Gamers, OzzyGaming staff are responsible for administrating player activity on the FiveM server. In circumstances of a serious rule breach, repeated breaches or where a verbal warning is not deemed sufficient or effective, our team will temporarily or in some circumstances permanently ban users from our services. Our team works within a set of procedures, past precedent and their own experience opinion to decide if a ban is necessary and the length of the ban. Bans allow us to keep general 'riff-raff' off the server and provide players with time to reflect on their actions so they can hopefully return to our server with better roleplay values. While our team is generally very fair with punishments, in some circumstances we acknowledge that some players may feel they were incorrectly or unfairly banned. For these circumstances we provide a ban appeal process. In an appeal, the player provides their version of events, what the possible issues were and reasons for why their ban should be reduced or overturned. The appeal is initially reviewed by the staff member who placed the ban who will consider your statements. They may decide to overturn your ban based on your new information. Otherwise, they may instead add their own notes to the appeal and then pass it to a senior staff member to independently review. This process eliminates potential bias and allows you to get the opinion of a more experienced staff member. All ban appeals across our services must be completed via a website support ticket so it can be tracked and monitored. Players should not DM staff members or attempt to have bans appealed via TeamSpeak, as you will just direct you to submit a support ticket. https://www.ozzygaming.com.au/support/ Before submitting a ban appeal please review the following requirements and criteria to ensure your ban is eligible to be appealed. You will also be shown how to write an appeal to give you the best chance of having your ban reconsidered. Spamming additional appeals or failing to meet the eligibility criteria will result in your appeal being denied or your ban extended. For long bans, it is recommended not to immediately submit an appeal unless you have sufficient evidence. Bans that CANNOT be appealed - Bans shorter than 1 week (Unless placed in error) - Executive permanent bans - Hacking Invalid ban appeal reasons - The ban placer is no longer staff - You have 'learned your lesson' - You want to play with your friends again Permitted ban appeal reasons - The ban was placed in error (Staff banned the wrong person due to a misunderstanding) - New significant evidence about the situation is provided - You would like a second opinion on the ban (You believe the admin misinterpreted the rules, may have been involved in the situation or was otherwise unfair) How many times can I submit an appeal? - Bans that are 3 months or less can only be appealed once - All other bans (Including permanent) can only be appealed a total of 3 times, each appeal must be at least 3 months apart Successful ban appeals should be in the following format - Explain the situation as you recall it so that a third party could read and understand it - Identify what you did wrong and what rules you breached (or are accused of) - Identify (with reference to the server rules) what you should have done in that situation - If you abused another player or a staff member, you should also include an apology - Attach any applicable evidence I know the majority of our players will never need this information, but it is important for us to clarify this information for those who do need it. Our intention is to educate and reform players so that the community is a positive place with a high standard of role play. We hope that players who do receive bans can learn from their mistakes and re-join the server and continue having fun. Please be aware that when players come off a recent ban they are held to additional scrutiny and may face longer bans should there be additional rule breaches.

Welcome People All night I've been busting my ass to get something out for the community that I thought would be nice, I've never seen the community have something like it. I thought we could use it as part of the content team I thought I would design something that we can use for podcast or maybe for someone else to use, So here it is please give me some feedback. Google Drive Under @Ryan King name https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15WO3cRP_hYduvyUZOvauYydVplQ39M6z?usp=sharing ^^^ Download then Above ^^^ Non Animated Version Animated Version Made by Smokey

Presently, acquiring a 9x12 storage space for a mere 5k in-game currency or the equivalent of 1 boost is an economically clear option. However, when comparing this to pre-wipe scenarios, where a GMC with a 180kg storage capacity cost a whopping $250k, the substantial progress is evident. A large investment of $30 real money would then afford a commendable 250kg capacity, a noteworthy upgrade considering that any storage solution close to 250kg previously demanded a hefty price tag, typically exceeding 100k. Velociraptor's Storage Capacity: I would like to say that the storage capacity of the Velociraptor requires a enhancement to align its worth with its price point. The current 12x15 storage space, while respectable, doesn't quite measure up to the allure of alternative options, such as the quantity of ballers available, offering superior value for investment. Proposal: In light of the above analysis, I propose a steadier review and potential buff to the storage capacity of the Velociraptor. This adjustment will not only augment its desirability among players but also ensure a more balanced and competitive market for in-game storage solutions. Such a strategic enhancement will contribute to a more immersive and rewarding gaming experience, fostering continued engagement and satisfaction among our player community.

I can assure you Ozzy (and the staff team) have nothing against Smokey. It is unfortunate what happened but it's always good to see him poking his head in. He and the rules may not have got along perfectly but he's still a lot of fun to watch streaming - I would recommend it if you see him online on twitch.

Hi everyone, After a few weeks wait, we have today received the receipt from Headspace regarding the community donation. I have attached it for verification/transparency purposes. Once again, thanks everyone for the tremendous support and we hope to get involved again next year!

G'day Gamers! Today we are excited to announce a new initiative that we hope many of our OzzyGaming community members can get involved with to help make a big difference in our world. This will be the first of a hopefully annual initiative run by the community to raise money for an important and relevant charity of the communities choice. Many small contributions together can make a big difference to peoples lives and we want to use our reach and large user-base here at OzzyGaming to help achieve this. To encourage donations and to reward our member's generosity, we will provide players with in-game rewards which this time around will be an exclusive FiveM vehicle! (more info below) First of all, I would like to hit you all with some very real statistics. Now for some not so nice statistics: We are all gamers here and we come from a host of different backgrounds both in our personal lives and the lives questionably projected through our FiveM roleplay personas. A lot of kids, teenagers and young adults these days struggle with social interaction which can be accompanied by mental disorders such as anxiety. People with anxiety can often feel like its only happening to them and they are the odd ones out when that couldn't be further from the truth! Many people experience mental disorders at some point in their lives and it is not embarrassing or anything to be ashamed of, in fact you should talk about it. We are all lucky to be part of such a large, friendly community where we can come together with common interests and meet new like-minded young people every day. For me personally, I have met some of my closest friends through my years being part of OzzyGaming and I am thankful for the times I have had. I've heard of so many people who usually struggle to make friends, find people during RP and begin getting to know each other, it's fantastic. Whether you play under an alias or use your real name (like me!), places like this allow you to make friends and interact with others. Talking is important, especially when you're sitting on issues inside your own mind. There are many people you can talk to in life, You parents, siblings, friends, teachers, doctors, and helplines just to name a few; if some of those are not possible for you there are always other avenues out there. There are many phone services out there that you've probably heard before, but they really are super helpful things. Lifeline, BeyondBlue and Kids Help Line are some available just to name a few. People may not know it, but we have had a few deaths over the past years within the OzzyGaming community. One was a well-known clown in the community who was known for his 'inappropriate' sense of humour but most of all his patience, who tragically died in a motorcycle accident one night. An innocent life, taken in a moment. We were notified of his passing a few weeks later after his brother logged onto his computer and discovered this whole other life he was living through gaming. His brother sent us a warm message thanking everyone for being his friend and giving his brother a happy life. It was a sad, yet humbling moment. Sadly we have also had at least one person take their own life within the community a few years back. He was known for being an excellent shot and liked to annoy the police. He hadn't played the server in a few months and one of his personal friends spread the word back to the community about his passing. It puts things into perspective to think someone you know was going through things and made that final decision. I'll end the anecdotes on a high note. We once had a member of staff who confided in a few other staff members around things he was struggling with in his personal life. He'd been visiting a counsellor while suffering from depression. One day he left a scary message in the staff chat, essentially in hindsight a suicide note. Many of us grew concerned and within hours we had many members of the staff team trying to get in touch with him and his family and we eventually got in contact with someone close to him. He turned out to be planning to take his own life, but people had gotten to him in time and managed to talk him out of it. It was so comforting to see so many people rally together at that moment to try and make sure he was okay and thankfully it was a happy ending. Enough with all the reading (for those who did anyway). The 10th of October is World Mental Health Day each year, which is the day we will be running this fundraiser. Being about a week out, it is time for the community to decide which charity you would like to pool our efforts towards this year. The management team have selected the following three charities which are all very relevant and important to people our age and will likely resonate with a few of you. If there is another charity that you hold close to your heart, please reach out and we will see if we can include it, or possibly use it for our next fundraiser. I've given each of the charities a brief speel below but I encourage you to visit their websites and see what they're all about. Option 1 - Headspace - https://headspace.org.au/ Option 2 - Canteen- https://www.canteen.org.au/ Option 3 - Kids Help Line- https://kidshelpline.com.au/ Please cast your vote in the poll above as to which charity you would like to throw the communities weight behind this year. The charity with the most support prior to the 10th of October will be used for the fundraiser. A Few Details The reward for donations this year will be a brand new, exclusive FiveM vehicle, the Mercedes E63 (Brabus Tuning) pictured below. The donations will be made similarly to normal purchases through our webstore. This will allow the rewards to be instantly available to players in-game after donating to the fundraiser. The vehicle donations will be set at $15 and will be limited to 1 per person. For additional donations, we will be also opening a "Just Donate" option where you can select how much you would like to additionally donate to the fundraiser. All members who contribute will also be able to receive a new badge on the forums and in TeamSpeak. 100% of all money donated from the fundraiser will be redirected as a donation to the charity following the fundraiser. The fundraiser will be live and run for the entire day on the 10th of October. All donations in Australia over $2 to registered charities are tax deductible from your income tax in real life. We will include relevant information on your invoice to use as evidence where required. [REDACTED DUE TO LEGAL REASONS] - We are unable to issue Deductable Gift Receipts (DGR) at this time. We recommend donating directly to headspace ( Here ) if you plan to donate a large amount in order to claim it back on tax. We would be thrilled to raise our goal of at least $3,000 this year, which we think is very achievable! With the effects of COVID-19 on peoples financial, interpersonal, work and living arrangements, mental health needs to be a big focus right now to ensure everyone can get through this tough time and stay strong, stay connected. It couldn't be a better time to get behind one of these fabulous charities and really make a difference and maybe save a life. We are excited about this new initiative and thank you all for getting involved! -- Zaydan OzzyGaming Community Manager References: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/mental-health-services/mental-health-services-in-australia/report-contents/summary-of-mental-health-services-in-australia/prevalence-impact-and-burden Health Direct - Australian Government https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/youth-suicide