At the time of accepting “The Overlord”'s webmastering offer for The Ultimate Civilization II Site, Daniel 'The Emperor' Quick was a 15-year-old high school junior. He had only been an Internet user since late April of that year and had been playing Civilization II for about two-and-half months¹⁸. Earlier it was established that DelPrete had spoken with Quick via email; more specifically, on at least half a dozen occasions.

Though 'The Emperor' now, Quick kept a PC shareware page of his going on GeoCities. It had been open for a couple of months and was receiving on average 30-40 hits a day²⁰, much to the continual delight and surprise of Quick. As excited as Quick was at the new opportunity presented to him by DelPrete, his response was not immediate. He was not ready to just abandon his shareware site, a move not conditional on DelPrete's offer but one he thought would be necessary to accept it²¹. In addition, he had to consider one additional factor that led Quick to tell DePrete that he would “think about it” for a couple of days.

“… I remember discussing the matter with my parents over a summer barbeque”, Quick recalls. “[T]hey said [that] they were fine with it as long as I didn't let my grades suffer”²².

DelPrete never told Quick why he chose to extend the UCIVII webmastering offer to him, but was given an answer in the affirmative roughly twenty-four hours later. “I cannot imagine I was the only one to [write in about the lack of updates to the site]. Also, I do not recall making any offer on my part to assist in the site's operation – the thought never even crossed my mind”²³.

WHEN PIGS FLY
Differentiating himself from DelPrete was not an immediate concern of Quick's. He felt comfortable following the existing management practices for the first month or so while settling into the position and “to help with the transition more than anything”. Of all of the tasks now in his seemingly capable hands, the new UCIVII webmaster found managing the file archives to be the most time-consuming task of all, and in turn the one most easily procrastinated²⁴.

In an effort break this pattern of lethargy, Quick approached and began to retain the volunteer services of fellow CivII fanatic Kent Wang in the summer of 1997²⁵. The Austin, Texas native²⁶ took up the title of Technical Director. In this capacity he does not manage the badly neglected files area of UCIVII, but rather provides technical support to CivII fans via email regarding both the game and the fansite's message board. Not only after the inception of Apolyton Civilization Site would Wang go onto develop a custom file database management system²⁷ for the new venture, he also co-founded and was the programming guru behind the now-defunct GameLeague multiplayer network²⁸ that is to be explored further later in this collection.

WHAT-CO?
The communication between DelPrete and Quick decreased severely in both frequency and substance during this period. The only exceptions came during a series of hosting crises that resulted in several long-distance phone conversations between the two teenagers. DelPrete was consistently more calm than Quick throughout these exchanges²⁹, attributable in part to an advantage the elder adolescent had and would press. In the previous section Glubco International (Glubco) was mentioned as one of 'The Overlord''s newer online ventures. For the second and final time, the UCIVII Site will be forced to move its hosting accommodations for the reason of excessive server disk usage. The overrun was more than double the space that Dreamscape was permitting home subscribers in its policies, and threatened to delete the UCIVII's content if it was not immediately removed otherwise³⁰. Though willing to warn DelPrete and by proxy Quick of their intended action as did the fansite's previous host, Dreamscape was not willing to grant as generous a grace period.

UCIVII's salvation at this juncture came in the form of Glubco. DelPrete had managed to convince the partners he ran the newer operation with to permit UCIVII's urgently needed re-location there. The contrast between the service UCIVII and the rest of Glubco was providing was stark, but would go unnoticed by most – publicly at least³¹ – as the two visitor bases seldom interacted. The exact month let alone date of this move is presently unaccounted for³² but did occur in the late fall of 1996.

HOSTING INTERLUDE The most troubling phone conversation between DelPrete and Quick comes in December of 1996. It is one of a few that DelPrete initiated.

The same month that UCIVII is reviewed favourably by PC Gamer's Liam MacDonald the fansite is in extreme danger of, as MacDonald himself had put it, “going south” as countless other CivII fansites had already³³. Glubco's host, whose identity is not known to be documented and is otherwise not recallable, is demanding $600US/month over and above what was already being paid for the site. The exact monthly amount that was being paid for glubco.com to operate was never disclosed to Quick³⁴, but the imminent additional fee was a considerably high multiple of that total. DelPrete made it clear to Quick that this was not a cost that he could afford to incur and that UCIVII would have to move, again, and in short order… again. The first of three substantive miracles in the Site's volatile hosting circumstances is soon realized.

The immediate dread that this latest UCIVII administrative conversation conveyed is somewhat alleviated, and subsequently lifted entirely, by the realization of an idea by Quick. Shortly after New Year's, 1997 celebrations had ended 'The Emperor' approaches his then-I.S.P. Mulberry Hill Internet Services (Mulberry) to become UCIVII's next free service provider. During UCIVII's brief stay on Glubco, the Site had for the first time substantive statistics of bandwidth usage as well as visitor data gathered by a third-party to illustrate its traffic levels. The first dataset, from earlier in the fourth quarter of 1996, showed a consistent if short-period level of monthly bandwidth consumption in the 750-800MB range. Disk space usage rested at roughly 10% of that number, 75MB-100MB total³⁵. Quick recalls the face-to-face meeting for which he had planned some time in advance for. It was a discussion with only a member of Mulberry's technical staff and, as such, was mostly technical in nature.

The end result was not a definitive agreement that Quick and DelPrete were looking for. A two-week trial period was established during which time Mulberry would closely monitor UCIVII's traffic levels to make a final determination on whether or not to host the Site for the long-term. In exchange for this complimentary hosting, all the company had insisted upon was the placement of a 468x60 pixel banner advertising their services somewhere on the homepage. When this happened, it marked the first time that a commercial presence on the Site became visible; at least one earlier report crediting this passing to a subsequent effort³⁷ is mistaken. Although not articulated in words, Quick to this day maintains that his I.S.P. did not trust the numbers that he cited as representative of the true circumstances. He has always understood their hesitation to 'take his word' for it and to commit upfront. In hindsight, he feels that he should have given Mulberry's insistence that it would be 'free-hosting-or-nothing' position more cautious consideration.

“In my mind, I was panicking. I was desperate to find some solution for UCIVII's hosting woes that would not cost me a dime. This was it. It's true that [Mulberry] did not bring up the potential for financial compensation for the service I was seeking but, then again, I had done an excellent job of pushing it out of my mind as even a possible option”³⁸.

Quick informed DelPrete of the outcome of his meeting; the Site's owner, too, was guardedly optimistic with the new prospect. Within forty-eight hours³⁹ UCIVII was set up on Mulberry's server. For trivia buffs, this would mark the first time that the Site's address would be assigned a sub-domain (specifically http://civ2.mulberry.com ) as opposed to a sub-directory off a domain for an address (most recently to this point, http://www.glubco.com/civ2)⁴⁰.

It is now a day or so into the month of February 1997. The two-week period Mulberry had set out passes without their informing Quick via email of their dissatisfaction with how the agreement was playing out. Part of the verbal agreement had been that this is how they would inform their new hosting 'client' if they felt that the arrangement was one that would not be sustainable. Further, in this event Quick would have up to one week if needed to remove UCIVII's content from their servers before they would do so forcefully without further notice⁴¹. Both Quick and DelPrete were mutually satisfied with the newfound home for their co-operative effort.

Unfortunately, they would again be subjected to the exasperating game of hosting roulette. Mulberry was about to set a precedent never to be broken, one that would leave relations between themselves and Quick/DelPrete irrevocably bitter and irreconcilable. Moreover, UCIVII would again teeter on the brink of virtual oblivion.

RETURN TO FAILED HAVEN
Just shy of the first month of hosting on Mulberry, Quick receives a terse email from a technical staff member whose name he did not recognize⁴². In it, it is stated that service for UCIVII will be cut off in twenty-four hours due to its excessive bandwidth usage. With the clock ticking, he puts in a call to Mulberry right away. Upon reaching yet another technical representative, he is told that there was never any two-week trial period agreement and that they are well within their right to cut service to UCIVII at anytime due to the fact that it is being provided without charge. They contend that the traffic generated by UCIVII substantially exceeds that of all other sites on their network combined. They further maintain that the email was a courtesy provided to Quick for being a residential, dial-in Internet subscriber of theirs. Pointing out flaws in their reasoning, threatening to unsubscribe from their Internet access service and openly discuss the nature of his departure convinces the Mulberry staff to give UCIVII a maximum of five days hence of hosting on their server. This brings the number of days to find yet another new host for UCIVII before its forcible shutdown to six, just one shy of what Quick contends was a key component of the original agreement. Dejected but determined to find yet another answer of the Site's hosting misery, Quick writes to DelPrete informing him of the incident with his I.S.P.⁴³.

It is here that 'The Overlord' springs back into action for what will be the last time. He takes a daring step in allowing UCIVII to return to Glubco's domain after convincing his fellow partners in the operation to permit it. He then reinitiates discussions with Glubco's commercial web hosting company for a solution to bring UCIVII back onto the Glubco domain for the long haul without incurring substantial bandwidth charges. A 468x60 banner advertisement of Glubco's hosting provider placed atop all of UCIVII's pages⁴⁵ in lieu of a hefty bill is explored as the means to this end. It is soon agreed upon. It replaces the similar placement for Mulberry's service, though again it had only been on the UCIVII homepage and relegated to its bottom at Quick's discretion. The best DelPrete is able to obtain from Glubco's host for this placement is a 40% reduction off of the added bandwidth cost they had quoted previously, bringing the potential surcharge down to a still hefty sum of $360US a month. The negotiations had taken most of the month of February, resulting not only in occasional communication between Quick and DelPrete, but perhaps more critically UCIVII being able to remain online during this period of 'intermission'.

Glubco's hosting company breaks off the talks when it issues the following ultimatum to 'The Overlord': if UCIVII is still being served off of Glubco's server as of March 1st, 1998, the $600US/month charge will be applied his credit card that same day for the previous month's service⁴⁶. The reduction offer they had first suggested has been summarily withdrawn from the table. While it may have seemed generous by some standards, it was more likely an effort to keep Glubco itself as a client. Given the nature of Glubco's management, the possibility of it switching web hosts to accommodate UCIVII's growing technical needs is slim to nil. By this point, DelPrete's patience with UCIVII's hosting frailty is finally spent. DelPrete informs Glubco's host that UCIVII will be removed from their server by the deadline⁴⁷, and then tells Quick of this fact. He then tells his partner that as a result of this event, he will sever his remaining ties with UCIVII permanently.

GOING THEIR SEPARATE WAYS
DelPrete hastily transfers complete ownership of UCIVII over to Quick less than a week before the beginning of March. Despite the hardships endured, and the understandable strain the ongoing stress has caused their working relationship, the move catches Quick off-guard⁴⁸. As will be recounted in the next chapter, UCIVII's continuous if increasingly tenuous operation is at last cut as of March 1st, 1997. It will be one-and-a-half weeks before it would return to cyberspace, but this does not come about expectedly. Even then, the Site's “perceived stability was naturally seen as non-existent”⁴⁹ by this point.

The dissolution of the DelPrete-Quick coalition also served as the formal end to DelPrete's known involvement in the Civilization community. DelPrete was also looking after The Mining Company known later as About.com's newly minted Computer Strategy Guide (CSG) website then. While the CSG site no longer strictly exists today⁵⁰, DelPrete offers the headship position of CSG to Quick around March of 1998. Quick declines, citing concern for both the time and energy commitments of balancing the ownership and management of two websites and About.com's strictly enforced updating practices.

“After DelPrete told me what About.com required of their site “guides”, I had no difficulties in understanding his wanting to leave. They mandated that guides had to update the site at least once a week utilizing only their pre-set templates on pre-set topics”⁵¹.

After graduating from high school, Mike “The Overlord” DelPrete would go on to obtain a degree from Troy, New York State-based Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute⁵². Sometime in the latter half of 2001 or early in 2002, DelPrete terminated his long-standing association with Glubco – at least publicly⁵³. DelPrete's only known gaming community involvement after departing About.com's ranks was a brief two-week period in the latter-half of 2002. He was apart of the Gamescope team⁵⁴ ( http://www.gamescope.net ) whose mission was to facilitate “collaborative [gaming] community interaction... allow[ing] users to directly interact with our database of ideas in offering a link between computer game players and developers”⁵⁵. The short-lived effort went offline in late November and about two weeks later re-launched as a portal very different from what it was initially. On November 30, 2002, the domain was transferred and presumed purchased by the Hong Kong-based Ultimate Search corporation⁵⁶.

Since the end of their joint operation on UCIVII, DelPrete and Quick have exchanged tow isolated communications. Quick characterizes the first as “vehemently antagonistic” and the second plainly “surreal” in large part in how their most previous discussion had rapidly and deeply deteriorated. He dates the former in September 2001 and the latter in the first quarter of 2003. In both instances, DelPrete initiated the exchange⁵⁷.

Now in charge of UCIVII's operation by himself, Quick is uncertain where to turn for advice or hosting for the Site. It appears as though the Site's days are finally numbered.     [... Previous]   |   [Next ...]   |   [Endnotes]