An apology

[[DvT]UY]

Time to come clean

For the last 6-8 months...maybe a year or so... I have not been able to get into playing. I show up and start to play and I have no drive and intensity like I used to. It all seems mechanical.

I am so sorry and I apologize to the clan. I've never gone through a doldrums like this and I hope it goes away soon. Lot on my mind now too...hard to go 5 minutes without thinking about the person that has come into my life in such a big way.

Can I join DvT again?

[{DvT}JonahHex]

We all go thru that. Sometimes it only lasts for a few days; for some, it lasts forever; some just need a ... or ... which is exactly what is on our agendas when Hawk and I come down there next month - you even get to supply the fish.

Yes, you can join DvT again...whenever you think you're ready...

[{DvT}WaRHawK]

Yeah.... poophead!

[{DvT}Sapient6]

Originally Posted by [DvT]UY

Time to come clean

For the last 6-8 months...maybe a year or so... I have not been able to get into playing. I show up and start to play and I have no drive and intensity like I used to. It all seems mechanical.

I am so sorry and I apologize to the clan. I've never gone through a doldrums like this and I hope it goes away soon. Lot on my mind now too...hard to go 5 minutes without thinking about the person that has come into my life in such a big way.

Can I join DvT again?

I completely understand. For me it was that the whole concept of shooters had keeled over dead. I had to go do something completely different for a long time. As it is, even now that I'm sort of playing again, whenever I look at a brand new game and see it's an FPS my reaction runs along the lines of "why are you serving vanilla?" The most recent shooter that I enjoyed was Doom3, and even there it was the distinctly non-shooter aspects of the game that I enjoyed.

Anywho, go ahead and take that break, do something different with your time. My advice is, for whatever it's worth, is to not even contemplate firing up UT again until you actually start feeling like you want to.

Don't you stop coming around here, though.

[{DvT}Reckless]

I know the feeling. I get bored of the game and have learned I need to take lengthy breaks from it. I'm really hopeful that U3 will be good and give me cause to go beserk again with hardware, server rentals..etc etc..TBD.

One aspect of this clan that is great is the willingness of the membership to welcome you back with open arms after an extended leave. (Of course in Daggers case he prefers those awful welcome back tongue kisses, but he's young he will hopefully outgrow this...) I do wish others that have been here before (like farNorth, Latro, Benis) would come back and hang around for a few more maps. That would be terrific.

Ok now that I've said that perhaps this will help you UY; you are a lame, wimpy, red neck hillbilly from the fudge laden hills of Texas. Your steers aren't queer you are.

[{OF}DMW]

Hey Steve? Hope this finds you well. Sorry to butt into here but I read your post and felt compelled.

NOW... u know why I have been absent from the game for almost 2 years. One day when I was playing UT2004 this guy came in the game who was running a bot and once again ruining the game. It was happening all to frequently back then and I was getting tired of it. I needed higher level of play but I didn't want the cheaters. Admins weren't doing crap about it any of it or it was them themselves doing it. I shut the machine off that day and never turned it back on. I am not fibbing. I have never turned that machine back on. I actually scrapped out parts here and there for my kids machine. I have not felt the desire to play UT since then. I went thru this once before as well where I took a year off.

I guess that's what I like about the OF... u can take a break and then come back.... once a fart... always a fart.

You have kept asking me to get out and play. Well. There you have it.... that is why I haven't.

Now, I have been getting the itch. Thinking about it more. Maybe anticipating UT3. I dunno. UT... for me... is not going in the direction I personally would like to see it go though. I am more old school with it and don't care for the new stuff they keep adding to it. I hate vehicle games. For me they would make me most happy revamping UT99 on the new engine. Quicken the game play of that version up to UT2004 level would be nice and all I would ask for. Regardless though I have been having the itch and am feeling like I might be ready to play some. Now though. I have to put a system back together in order to just do that.

Take a break. Do something else. Come back when your ready.

[{DvT}JonahHex]

Clans: IMHO, the old skool clans that have survived are the ones that put their emphasis upon their people rather than the game(s). Back in the late U1/early UT, days someone at Unreality made the observation that the average lifespan of new clan was about 2 weeks. As I recall, noone argued w/ that point because it self-evident. Back then DvT had its share of clan-hoppers and we instituted a process that requires weeks, if not months, for a new member to get his tag to combat this. The result has been a group that enjoys each other's company - friends - who have a common interest in the Unreal franchise.

Servers: From 2000 to 2003 my employer, a local ISP, hosted the DvT U1/UT servers on their T3 connection to UUNet for free - yeah...sweet it was. U1 had no security built into it and retro-patching security into it was (still is) difficult and not terribly effective. UT was better, but not much...on both counts (built-in and retro-patching security). During the (about) last 6 months that we had the T3-line servers, I practically had to camp on the U1 server to keep the botters and other cheaters in check -- doing so was a pain and got really old really quickly. When I left the company we lost the servers, of course, and UT2003 was almost ready for release. We then had to rent our servers and never reinstituted the U1 server ... because of the cost, but more so because there was no way I was going to go back to spending the time as a security guard. Starting then, our servers have always been private, pw required...because they are cheaper that way and because I haven't had to even think about cheating; you cheat, I change the pw, you're never invited back, end of problem...and I've never had to change the pw. The absence of a DvT public server has had the effect of isolating us from the Unreal community to some degree but it has also avoided the constant "I wasn't cheating but was banned" threads that are ubiquitous in the Silent Assassins [SA] forum (a U1 Infiltration clan) over at Fappin (nee Unreality).

The Unreal Franchise: I was very much less than pleased when Epic introduced vehicles into UT2003. At first I tended to avoid using them, somewhat in the same way that almost everyone in the U1 community used to avoid using the amp and the invis power-ups. By the time UT2004 was released it was clear that the vehicle based maps (mainly Onslaught) were too big to avoid the vehicles altogether...walking was too slow. Further, IMHO, it also became clear that the game had NOT been transformed into a "vehicle-based game." Yes, the vehicle weapons are powerful but the vehicle vulnerabilities do not leave the on-foot player desperately looking for a vehicle. More importantly, the game-types that contain vehicles are team based games where repeatedly dying (giving the opponent who killed you points) doesn't preclude winning. ONS, like CTF, gives the individual points for killing an opponent, but those points matter not at all toward the outcome of the game: altho generally improbable, in ONS and CTF it is possible for a team to win the game w/o scoring a single kill. Bottom line: I have come to agree w/ Epic that the vehicles have enhanced the game rather than transformed it. In my experience, at any given time in most 2K4 "vehicle" maps, there are virtually always more players on the ground than in vehicles, ie, the vehicles are just another addition to the weapons mix.

[[DvT]UY]

Thanks for the advice peeps. Not sure what I'll do. I want to play but it's like once the game gets started good I lose interest. The only game I have got any satisfaction in playing lately has been invasion but even that gets old after a few levels.

It will work out somehow. Just never went this long without the desire to get intense. Use to hit the public servers quite often...haven't in a long time. Not because of bots though...just don't see anybody out there I know anymore.

Then the catch 22 is in effect. I don't have the drive and intensity I used to so my fragging reflects that and it becomes even more discouraging. Hehe.

That said, Reckless is a fairy fag drag queen

[cowbell]

If any of you are up for it, I'm gonna jump on the server in a minute.

[{DvT}dagger]

Originally Posted by {DvT}Reckless

Of course in Daggers case he prefers those awful welcome back tongue kisses, but he's young he will hopefully outgrow this...

Aren't we the jealous type... Missing out on the action?