7 Years Celebration
STAFF VIEW: DARKCLOUD
As I near the 10,000 posts necessary for Deity- 10,000 doesn't seem near as daunting or important as it once did. Over 21 posters have achieved this milestone. I am but one of many, and do not even gain the respectability engendered by having my username plastered across the front page of the "Top 20 Members" listing in the Memberslist.
When I first achieved Emperor, as perhaps the 65th poster to manage that accomplishment, posts had just finished counting in the OT, I had been with the site a bit over a year, and the year was 2001.
Looking Back
Looking back, that was a long time ago. 4 years. September 11th had yet to happen. America's War On Terrorism had yet to occur. Chris62 had just managed a 6 month post-assault on emperor (Not that he cared about post counts, he just really liked posting on Apolyton), Rand Al'Tor was still posting here. The hated Newsmax forums were still in existence, and apolyton's little invasion of them had finished. Lincoln was still around, and around in force. I think that Lancer's Karen Mill's Project building the 'Apolyton House' in the Phillipines was going on- and Alexander's Horse, Provost Harrison, and Ming were all heavy posters in the Off-Topic and elsewhere (I guess some things never change).
Newbies! Alert! Newbies!
Fast Forward to October 30, 2001 and Civilization III was released, bringing vitality to the site, lots of new posters and new faces to add to those which had been familiar for many years previous.
DrSpike, Skanky Burns, vmxa1, Jamski, Ghenghis Farb, Beta, notyoueither, MrWhereItsAt, Alva, Trip, all these people and more registered within months of the Civ III release- and they're always here. They post a lot. Can you imagine the site without them? I find it hard to. Looking through the members list, I simply could not imagine how it was before these people existed on the forums, and really have become intrigued, wondering just what exactly made them stay with the site and expand from their initial Civ III-posting area. What made them come to Other Games, to the OT, to other portions of the site?
Let's Complain about Civ III
Then fast forward a few more months- it's December 2001... maybe February 2002. So Civ III had been released, the veterans at the site hated it. People who had contribuitied to the Civ III list felt ripped off and ignored by the game's designers- And lots of people were b*tching about it- including the illustrous yin26 who resigned his moderatorialship over the section. korn469 was proving his usefulness again, creating a bugs listing for civ III, I was trying to get a Civ IV list started (and was shouted down more than once- many people said that there would "never be a civ IV" so I shouldn't bother, etc.)
Enter: The Diplomacy Games
Then comes April 2002. Then arrives Trip. Then arrives the Diplomacy Games- perhaps the biggest fad and best thing to happen to apolyton. Post counts went through the roof, game playing went up- comradery and community increased. People published game newsletters, MrWhereItsAt was elected president of every diplomacy game in existence, save the Spanish one (started in summer 2003, the Spanish Forums' experience with diplomacy games began with a coup... :fear:, so even if MrWhereItsAt could have understood espanol, he would likely not have gathered the support to strongarm the place.)
Spanish Forums
Speaking of the Spanish Forums, there's a subset of apolyton that is frequently ignored by the rest of the site- but it shouldn't be. They have a thriving mod and PBEM community, as well as a perhaps sometimes overzealous OT. A quick examiniation of the top 40 posters on apolyton boasts many sporting the 'enye' the N with the tilde over it (i'd reproduce it here but my laptop doesn't have the function codes), but imagine this: ~n with the ~ over the n.... there, now you get the idea!
All-Star Posters
And now we're going to fast forward to January 2003- Master Zen registers... and three months later we get Snowflake- two posters who certainly made their marks felt very rapidly- climbing up the post tree and appearing everywhere in the site- in Civ III sections, diplomacy games, and just pretty much everywhere. Those two contribuited so much to the site in a short time, that I figure they merit special mention. (Apologies to all who have heretofore escaped mention- I don't have unlimited space)
Back then, before these people and diplomacy games existed, Apolyton had a few manageable forum sections- the Civ II, Civ III, CTP, CTP II, Diplomacy/Stories (abandoned then as it is still today- though orange and RUFFHAUS periodically attempted to get a game started), The Off-Topic, the Apoly/Community, the Other Games, the Alt.Civ's, and not much else.
The Diplomacy Game Bug
However, soon there were special forums for the Diplogames, then subforums, then password protected subforums for games such as the InterSiteDiplomacy game (started in 2003, I believe) and run by Beta (AKA BetaHound), and the elected leadership, consisting of Trip (of america), Master Zen (of mexico), E_T (of america), vondrack (of the Czech Republic), MrWhereItsAt (of new zealand), BigFurryMonster (of the netherlands) and many many others who contribuited endless time and energy. (As a side note, the game ended in January of this year, on the 28th, with MrWhereItsAt (who else) at the helm... But the more things change, the more they stay the same- the ISDG is now in its second iteration, being played with the expansion pack C3:Conquests and revolving around pretty much the same set of leadership- oh well, once a leader, always a leader ;)
Apolyton- A Multinational Forum of Ideas
Speaking of different nations, Apolyton is, always has been and seems as though it will remain as a truly international site. From its inception through the teamwork of a Canadian (DanQ) and a Greek (MarkG), the site has bridged borders, aided communications and inspired international dialogue. I have always respected this aspect of the site, and allowed it to encourage my interest in international relations and study of other nations, countries, and cultures. Indeed, other posters share this interest- I believe that Shadowstrike wrote an article on this that is included in the column, somewhere around #160 or so, though I could be mistaken.
DC Talks About His Post-Count: How Big's Yours?
Nowadays, in contrast to those simple days when I was but a newly crowned Emperor who was chided for starting a thread congratulating myself on my accomplishment, we have Over 210 emperors as of June 2005, and the 65th place poster, Chrisius Maximus now has almost double the amount of posts that I boasted when I first reached Emperor- (5797 as of June 15th). And even worse, we have threads in the Apolyton/Community section congratulating Deities on their achievements! Now, admittedly, achieving Deity appears to be a much more arduous task, and fewer people make their way to that level of distinction, but personally... as I said before- Deity doesn't mean as much to me any more. The thrill of achieving the level isn't quite what it was once before. No, instead, I think that I continue to post today for a different reason- not to have more posts than Solver, not to have more than anyone who registered after I joined the site(which is impossible, considering that Paddy the Scot registered in 2001 and he has even more posts than the great Ming himself!). What that reason for my continuance here, will have to wait until later in this 5 or 6 page essay, but I'll get to it eventually. /endteaser.
DC Talks Some More About His Post Count... Ego +1
And I really have to laugh about this, but my old 'rival' TheBirdMan has 5829 posts. Now, he never knew he was my rival, nor did anyone else, but when I visited the site every day for over six months in 2003 and 2004, I made certain that I spent more time on the site and had more posts than TheBirdMan, because through my careful studies of the posting rates, I noticed that he was gaining steadily on me, and that he was making about 10 posts per day whileI was only contribuiting 4 or 5. This set me into a panic, as I sought new venues to contribute to the site- I mean, running the Hall of Fame helped since it would net me about 40 posts over the course of a few days, but it wasn't enough. So, in 2003 I cranked up my participation in Diplomacy games, working hard in the ISDG, etc. and joining NationStates. Then in summer 2004, I started joining Forum Games in the Other Games Section.
Forum Games
Now, the Forum Games deserve mentioning. Jamski and Smiley are perhaps the worst perpetrators since they designed most of the games. The most popular, Mafia, however was designed by Sheep. These games have develped into an instutiion in that section, netting more posts than most of the actual game discussion. They actually take some time to particupate in, requinig reading an thinking and analysis,and they hit their height in June 2004 with about 6-10 different games running all at once: Mafia, Vampire, Assassin, Nascar, Formula One, Society, Galactic Overlord, Gladiator, are only some of the interesting games that were running, are running or have been run in the section which although interest has died down slightly, still runs about 3 different games concurrently, incovlivn over 30 different posters.
Nostalgia... a Non-Sequitur Designed to Make this Essay Longer
On, another subject- While writing this reflection, I felt nostalgic and decided to take a look at one of my most favorite features on apolyton, the feature where Solver interviews me. The interview happened over 3 years ago, almost to the date. I remember all the hard work that went into it... Contrary to what the introduction states- all the questions were written by fellow apolyton posters, not myself... Solver and myself asked for questions, compiled the best, and then I had to answer them, researching, remembering and thinking.
What My Old Interview Can Tell Us ALL About Apolyton
But to cease with the solipsism about the moment, I think I should take some time to say what this project means about apolyton. One thing that I have always valued about apolyton was how much people cared about each other and how they valued their opinions and how much they knew about each other. When I was being interviewed, I was amazed that people could ask such poignant questions, and I was equally amazed that they would take the time to read about myself and my experiences.
More On Interviews
I know that I have always enjoyed reading the interviews; whether they be of Xin Yu, Wes W, DanQ, Ming, or anyone else... and this includes the informal interviews that were conducted- those of Provost Harrison and others in the OT in the wake of the Solver-inspired interview fever of 2002.
How This Relates To 2005
And how does this relate to 2005 and THIS year? Well, I think it should remind us all of the consistency of Apolyton. Solver was doing interviews in 2002. (Well... he did a few, at any rate, and people were berating him to do more), and today he's being berated into doing more- promising two for August, and time is marching on.
Also, many of the lists mentioned in the 2002 thread have finally come to fruition. In fact, one of the most important, that was only in its nascent stages at that date has finally finished development this year in Apolyton- The Civ IV List.
The List For Civ IV: Completed January 2005
This list for ideas of things that should be included in Civ IV was a massive undertaking, begun by Asmodean, but which was taken over by myself when Asmodean disappeared in December 2003. From January 2004 until January 2005, I headed the project, making certain that all threads had threadmasters and that ideas were collected and then submitted in a readable format to Soren Johnson of Firaxis. Working with great people such as Nikolai, TechWins, Platypus Rex, Jaguar, Nuclear Master, Octavian X, Lajzar, ixnay37, Trifna, Fosse, MattH, Azazel, and all others who contribuitied, was both an honor and a pleasure. Threadmastering and working on a list of ideas forCiviliation had long been a goal and dream of mine from the date that I registered on July 27th, 2000, shortly after the site's 2nd birthday.
Site Sponsorship
And speaking about the site's birthdays, I have to commend Markos and Dan for running such a complicated beast, purchasing Settler III as a new server and upgrading and maintaining the Vbboard, and all their special planned features, and their expanded options for paying members- sponsors of the site. Indeed, with the sponsorship benefits included in the last year of the site, browsing the site becomes even better with expanded PM capacity, nifty little icon titles, bigger avatars, and the added satisfaction that people have contributied to the site in some way. (Of course, the Apolyton store (in existence since 2001, I believe, has always provided one way to contribuite to the site... but this is another, perhaps more personal method in doing so.)
Thanking People
Also, and I think this is forgotten sometimes, it should be noted that there are others who aid with the running of the site, with coding and suggestions: Gramphos and Locutus are always in there, plugging away at the Apolyton Directory or on other projects.
And speaking of Locutus- he's hard at work on the new Civ IV section, along with Solver. I wish them the best of luck in managing that huge responsibility.
Musings
International Dialogue, interest in others' personal history- whether they be interviews conducted formally by Solver, informally by Lazarus and the Gimp, or just solipsistic musings by Albert Speer or EVC or Pekka or someone else in the OT, or if they be tragic events that bring the site together, like September 11th and Scouse Git (2)'s passing, or a diplomacy game, or a forum game, or a Apolyton Meeting- whether it be in Washington DC with DanS, OzzyKP, timexwatch, Jon Miller, Winston, and others, or in Texas with Lefty Scaevola, David Floyd and more, or in Britain with Provost, Iain Lindley, and others.
And then there's the Apolyton Subscriptions and store- and the time that Rasputin dedicates to his Post Stat's list- and the time that people like oedo take to analyze every aspect of Civ II- an old, old game, and the modders of CTP II, and Vel's work on Candle'Bre, and all the alt.civ projects, and the civ III stories with authors like WTE_OzWolf, Lazarus and the Gimp, metaliturtle, vovan, SKILORD, Grandpa Troll, as well as many, many others and faithful readers like Paddy the Scot and Chrisius Maximus and everything that everyone does for free. And less glamorous, but certainly notable is the sheer time that people have been registered on Apolyton and yet continue to post day in, day out...How many other forums have this type of loyalty? You'll see people who have been here since 1-1-1970 for heavens sake! Most Forums didn't even exist then!
Here's to another great seven years of Apolyton! -and to realizing, as I recently did, that the site ISNT about the posts and achieving deity and getting more than everyone else (though that is a nice hobby), but that the site is enjoyable simply because it's the Apolyton 'community' and the people are good and the place is happy and vibrant and filled with fun activities and people to revitalize it...
And here's also to fearfully realizing that the site will definately be older than some posters that will be discovering it with the advent of Civ IV around December 2005! Ah well, young blood, without it- the site (like the time-draining vampire that it is) would never survive ;)
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