Hello all, and welcome to the 4th annual Stu Hughes MVP award post. It should be the 5th, but my mother had other plans for me in 2022 which left me unable to write.

To put it bluntly, 2024 has been nothing but a calossal cacophony of catastrophy, confusion and chaos. But amidst all the noise, there are people who we can always look up to, who continue to do great things for us time after time, and who can just help take our mind off it all. That’s the intention behind these yearly MVP posts on this blog. It’s crucial that we take the time to recognise and thank the friends we have and the people we encounter in our daily lives who are just awesome in general.
Continuing on from the 2023 format, I started off with 15 nominations, eliminated 5 of them to make 10, then whittled it down to the 5 who have made this list.

5. 3DCandy and Rick Harmon

In early February this year, my seedy.gq domain name, which I’d had registered for about a year, was abruptly shut down without any prior warning or explanation. This left 5 years worth of websites and services completely non-functional, causing untold amounts of stress and anxiety. Fortunately, a very kind donation of money from Rick Harmon, former owner of the now deceased Blind Geek Zone website, allowed me to register the new seedy.cc domain, an begin the long, tedious process of updating everything and rebuilding my infrastructure. It also allowed me to get my Seediffusion project, which had been in the works since about 2 months prior, off the ground.
Follow Rick Harmon on Mastodon

3DCandy, a strong fediverse advocate and provider of a variety of hosting services, is responsible for helping me get Seediffusion’s email receipt and delivery up and running. I know self-hosted email is somewhat frowned upon these days, but hey, big tech companies have enough power. It’s high time we took back some of that power for ourselves, despite the learning curves and frustrations we might face.

4. the Evil Chocolate Cookie

The Evil Chocolate Cookie, despite her handle, is a classic example of the old adage: a friend in need is a friend indeed. She will always be there to help you out when she can, whether you need help with a video game like Stardew Valley or you just need a kind soul to talk to. She has a YouTube channel on which she streams live at least twice a week. These live streams have really helped me cope with life over the past couple months or so. She’s very gentle, soft spoken, and will always make you laugh no matter how crappy you may feel. Keep up the awesome work, Cookie!

3. Alex Chapman and Chloe Hodges

I first met Alex Chapman, cohost of Galaxy 4 Productions, and his girlfriend Chloe on November 20th during a YouTube live stream.

The thing to note here is that me, Alex Chloe and a few others aren’t just a meer friendship group, we’re a community. We’re all about helping each other out. A good example of this is how I helped Alex set up the G4p website to run off my own server since he has little web development experience and no way of hosting it himself. In times of hardship and uncertainty, a community spirit is the most important thing ever. A good community is one that can stay together and pull through no matter what issues it might face. We’ve certainly proved we can do just that throughout the last few weeks. On a more personal level, I’m truely grateful to have Alex and Chloe in my life. So much crap has happened in my life this year that my mental health has gone right down the sewers, and having these people around is one of only a few good things that are keeping it from going down any further. Here’s to more fun times and all night VC’s in 2025!

2. Thaqib Mir

For the last 2 years, Thaqib has been solid proof that internet friends can be real friends too. A Kashmirian with a kind soul and a heart of pure gold, Thaqib has helped me through so much crap since we met on a TeamTalk server back in June 2022, and our friendship has only grown from strength to strength. He’s the reason I got into Midi/music production with Reaper. He’s the reason I can wake up in the morning and get through the day. He’s the reason I still have a smile on my face despite everything. He’s a true, honest, loyal and reliable friend.

1. Brandon Cole

Winning the top spot this year is none other than Brandon Cole, A.K.A. Super Blindman. Very sadly, Brandon, who fought tirelessly to make video games accessible to people of all abilities and disabilities, passed away on June 29th this year from Melanoma, a type of skin cancer. He was only 36 years old. His death affected me in more ways than I can count, and is the main reason my mental health is now the worst it’s been since 2013. Brand’on was just helping me find my feet in multiplayer gaming again after facing so much bullying and abuse from sighted gamers in 2016. In the months prior to his death, he helped me learn such games as Hearthstone and Forza Motorsport. I now can’t even hear those games mentioned without the memory of 6/29 flooding back. I can still remember the tweet his partner Misty sent on that fateful day! Brandon, from the entire blind gaming community, thank you so much for all the hard work you’ve done in ensuring that videogames are as fun, enjoyable and accessible as possible for everone. You will always remain alive in our hearts and minds. Our brother in arms, may you forever rest in power!

Conclusion

Congratulations to everyone who made this year’s list. Keep doing the awesome work you do! 2025 will rear its ugly head in just a few weeks, but we can all get through it together!

In the year 2025,
if man is still alive,
if woman can survive,
they may find…