Old Ironguards

[drone]

I really appreciated his economic insight on the rise of the Vietnamese currency against the US dollar.

His profile says he was online 2 days ago. He's still lurking...

[Pannonian]

Will the dong overtake the dollar?

[edyzmedieval]

Will the dong overtake the dollar?

One of the best threads of the Org ever.

[tibilicus]

Nothing makes me more happy when Dave returns to post the odd thread. Quite frankly his threads make all other backroom threads look sub par.

[pevergreen]

I remember when that thread was going.

Oh, those times...

[Furunculus]

i might count by age, but i didn't post a great deal in the backroom back then.

[edyzmedieval]

I hear ye! Old Ironguards! Rise above the mire back to your stations!

I just had to bump this thread. I want my memories back...

[Veho Nex]

I feel so young around all you 6 and 7 (8 9 10 and 11 included) year olds, me... Im past 4 years. In the end though, I did post in the dong dollar thread. If I remember correctly, it was the first back room thread I've read.

[Togakure]

Pre-dating the Old Iron Guards as defined in the OP, are the Hatamoto Tamahagane--those who began here in the days of STW. I rode in as the sun set on Shogun and STW MP was in its final stages, so I don't qualify as one of the venerable Go-ruden O-rudizu. Within my first week, I got into a heated argument with daveinkorea in the Entrance Hall, in defense of Sinan, over a middle-east issue, iirc.

I was pretty active in '04 and '05, but not so much in the off-topic forums. I'm sure the mods of that time were glad of that. I did earn my one warning point in '04, courtesy of my current mentor, Hosakawa-Tito-san, thanks to a bit of an over-reaction based on principle in regard to "abuse" of authority, the victim being A.Saturnus. When I grimace from the headaches brought on by the stench of so many fresh camel droppings, I just remind myself: "Well, well ... paybacks are a bit of a 'pain,' aren't they now?" Karma.

It was all about the game and the gaming community for me back then. While it wasn't what it was when the Go-ruden O-rudizu were in their prime, it was still a ton of addicting fun, and there was definitely a strong sense of community, both here and on the surviving clan boards (Aggony, Shinkage, 7Bear7, Wolves, Insane, Takiyama, Masterless/47Ronin et. al.).

I moved across the country and life got very serious in late '05, so my participation dropped and I became a casual observer for the most part, eventually using a different account: Masamune, which I recently retired in favor of my old account. But I've been here all along, seeing many of you folks begin, and some, rise to fame, or infamy, or a bit of both.

For those who curse me under their breath, you have Shinano, now Sasaki Kojiro, to thank for my presence. He introduced me to this place back in '03. Vote: Sasaki, indeed.

[Sigurd]

For those who curse me under their breath, you have Shinano, now Sasaki Kojiro, to thank for my presence. He introduced me to this place back in '03. Vote: Sasaki, indeed.

Rule #1

[edyzmedieval]

I miss the days when Gawain and JAG would argue in the Backroom and when the Frontroom was so active every 10 minutes there was a new thread...

[Askthepizzaguy]

Well, you have the old ironguards, but you also have the new hotness.

Old ironguards. (points at you) ------->

New hotness. (points at me) -------->



That said, I don't hang around in the backroom very often. It always seems to be the same intractable arguments rehashed monthly, with no one switching sides. If I want to argue until I'm blue in the face and still fail, I'll play a mafia game and at least enjoy it.

[Furunculus]

Since the departure of another man of the "old guard", Kagemusha, I'm wondering which members of the old guard are still around. By old guard I mean the ones who registered before 2007 and who were around in 2005 and 2006 and posted extensively.

how does Oct 2003 grab you?

[Zim]

Well, you have the old ironguards, but you also have the new hotness.

Old ironguards. (points at you) ------->

New hotness. (points at me) -------->



That said, I don't hang around in the backroom very often. It always seems to be the same intractable arguments rehashed monthly, with no one switching sides. If I want to argue until I'm blue in the face and still fail, I'll play a mafia game and at least enjoy it.

Another one. After reading the op I checked a few other posters and almost everyone I know here joined in 2007, or within a year before or after that.

[Askthepizzaguy]

My guess is that it was the Medieval II Total War wut done brought in a big wave of peoples. It's why I came here originally.

[pevergreen]

My guess is that it was the Medieval II Total War wut done brought in a big wave of peoples. It's why I came here originally.

Same here.

I remember watching the faction preview videos and just drooling.

[Zim]

I actually came here after buying both RTW and MTW1. Hadn't even seen an ad for MTW2 (which came out months after either of us joined the .Org), although no doubt the game was already being hyped and I was just too busy reading aars to take notice of the discussion about it.

My guess is that it was the Medieval II Total War wut done brought in a big wave of peoples. It's why I came here originally.

[Togakure]

My guess is that it was the Medieval II Total War wut done brought in a big wave of peoples. It's why I came here originally.

When I arrived in 2003, the Org was a dynamic and thriving place. The community was large, diverse and very active, and the emphasis was on the game, STW; everyone was looking forward to MTW with high hopes. Threads and posts were rich with content, and people were contributing right and left with tools, maps, stat patches, AARs, fictional prose, and helpful information for newcomers. It was a very different place. To use a variation on the word of the month, there seemed to be more 'substance' and less inanity. There was the .com, the character of which paled in comparison, but the now-deceased .net and the TWC didn't even exist yet. When it came to TW, aside from the active clan sites for MPers, the Org was the place to be.

Perhaps there was an upsurge in population during the later games, particularly Rome, but in my opinion the character and quality never matched the STW and MTW days. Of course, many will shout "geezer" and dismiss this. But that's fine; how would they know? They weren't here.

[Viking]

I miss the days when Gawain and JAG would argue in the Backroom and when the Frontroom was so active every 10 minutes there was a new thread...

I miss the times when people didn't post each year saying how much they miss the past. Really.

Signed Viking, from the new silk guard of the Org

(yes, the criterions in the OP are too lax)

[Zim]

I certainly won't shout "Geezer" (especially as I near the ripe old age of 30) In fact, I can admit to having a similar view of when I joined (during the RTW era). There were guides being written every day and tons of aars and succession games in the Throne Room. Vanilla RTW became a little dull after a while, but it seemed there were always mods coming out for it (I've probably put more hours in EB more than any other game or mod I've ever tried). Then MTW2 came out, and brought with it more great mods, hotseats, and the first PBM rpg I joined.

The Org never had great mod support, but the people and the discussion impressed me a lot over other game forums (especially in the aforementioned Throne Room). I'd browse the mod forums at twcenter, then come here. The only real exception was that there was a small group of longer time players who always posted about how terrible whatever game was current was, even in what started as completely different topics in the main RTW and MTW2 forums. After a while I just stopped frequenting those areas.

Things became even worse when ETW came out (and I was among those who found it disappointing, despite improvements in some areas). Even worse, ETW seemed to bring a shift towards being as hard to mod as the older games, while not providing the challenge and atmosphere they had. If I had joined sometime in the last couple years, I'd probably not last long due to all the negativity, and lack of interest in what's been the current TW game.

Even now with activity having dropped, I still come here primarily for the people here and haven't seen a decline in poster quality (perhaps I should note that the frontroom has about the same level of seriousness versus inanity in quality as when I joined, and the backroom slightly better now).

I suppose I should add some small sliver of credibility by mentioning that I started with MTW, not RTW, at least to stave off anyone saying that people who started with RTW won't be aware as much of how things declined with that game. I know full well, and found MTW on normal difficulty a more interesting challenge than any of the subsequent games (unmodded) on the highest difficulties. I just ended up involved very early in the roleplaying aspect of pbms and later hotseats, where I thought the two games between MTW and ETW shined, and in all the mods that game out for RTW and MTW2. I just hope STW2 ends up being more engaging. I already see potential in it for rps and other Throne Room games.

When I arrived in 2003, the Org was a dynamic and thriving place. The community was large, diverse and very active, and the emphasis was on the game, STW; everyone was looking forward to MTW with high hopes. Threads and posts were rich with content, and people were contributing right and left with tools, maps, stat patches, AARs, fictional prose, and helpful information for newcomers. It was a very different place. To use a variation on the word of the month, there seemed to be more 'substance' and less inanity. There was the .com, the character of which paled in comparison, but the now-deceased .net and the TWC didn't even exist yet. When it came to TW, aside from the active clan sites for MPers, the Org was the place to be.

Perhaps there was an upsurge in population during the later games, particularly Rome, but in my opinion the character and quality never matched the STW and MTW days. Of course, many will shout "geezer" and dismiss this. But that's fine; how would they know? They weren't here.

[Mithrandir]

n00bs

[Togakure]

n00bs

no U! kthxbai.

[edyzmedieval]

n00bs

Go back to your camels.

[Populus Romanus]

Mithradrir is OLD. He must 50 or something!:geezer: