quake2 Dafremen This is the story of the most amazing human being that I know. It's not the story of some dingle dorkstick who can shoot six people in 5 seconds from a 1000 virtual yards. It is the story of a player that I know and a person for whom I have gained a deep amount of respect and admiration. Here is that story: I play Quake2. For those of you that don't know, Quake2 is a game. It is a game that is played from the first person perspective, meaning you look out of your character's eyes. The range of movements that one can go through are incredible, after years, I can move more freely in there than I can out here. (That's gunna feel real good when I'm 60.) Quake2 is more than that, it's a community of people, some of whom I've been playing with now for over 3 years. For about a year now, maybe a little less, I have been playing a guy who calls himself T-Bird. He's a pretty damned good player, not great, but definitely a mover and a shaker and a player to the bone, with the great attitude to prove it. I'd been playing with T, as I said for about a year or so when last night we had the following (paraphrased) discussion: "Hey Daf?" "Yea Burd?" "I heard that you teach Quake2. Is that right?" "Yea, I've been trying to for the last 2 years, most folx seem to think it deserves to be called "teaching". It's a course I came up with called Quake2 Kung Fu. Why? Are ya interested in learning?" "Yea man, I just really don't think that my skillz are where I want them to be yet." (I hear this a lot. Even from good players. They know that there is MORE in them, they just don't know how to get to it. That's what I do, I give them the tools that they need to be the best they can be.) "Well do0d, I'd be happy to teach you, but my course comes with 3 conditions that you must agree to first. These are conditions designed to ensure that you succeed." "And they are?" "The first condition is that you must agree to switch to the Quake2 Kung Fu config for a period of two weeks play time. If you play for at least two hours in a day, that day counts towards the time." (a config is a little program that sets up your keyboard and mouse buttons. It defines which keys you push to do which actions in the game. When you set a key to perform a certain action, that is known as "binding" the key.) "Umm ok, but I think I tried it and I didn't really get it." "The second condition is that you agree not to alter the "core" bindings. This means the movement and weapon switch keys. After two weeks, you can alter which weapons are on which key, but the keys remain the same." "I'm not sure I'll be able to do that man. I don't think I'll be able to use all of those binds the way that they are." "That's part of what I'll cover in the course, getting used to the config. Trust me man, yer fingers are gunna LOVE this config." "I don't have any fingers" "Lol" "I never told you?" "Ok do0d, on the off chance that you are NOT f*cking around, I'm gunna believe you and ask, how do you play with no fingers." "I can't believe we've been playing this long and I've never told you. I was born without arms or legs. I have legs from the knee up and from the forearms up." "Ok do0d, now yer cutting into my family time. Do you want to learn or not?" "If you don't believe me, ask enigma...he's my best friend in the quake world." "Naww, I believe you man. I wouldn't humiliate you like that Burd, ESPECIALLY if what yer saying is true. It's bad enough living with the reality, but to have to convince people of that fact? I believe you man. How do you play?" "I rest my right arm on my mouse. I have the left button as fire, the middle as jump and the right as crouch." "Well you'll need a strafe too man." (Strafing is like taking a step to the side) "Oh I rest my other arm on the arrow keys and roll it to the left or the right to strafe." (He demonstrates) "Do0d, that is f*cking amazing. I'll have to waive the config requirement, because I don't see it working out for you. But we will need to make a few minor adjustments." "Hey man, if you don't want to teach me now, I understand." "No, it just makes me sad, that's all. Not because I feel sorry for you...but because I know that you will never feel the map under your "feet" like I do cuz you have no fingers." (A map is how we refer to each of the different 3D "worlds" that we play in. There are thousands of them, but we usually play the same 8 over and over again until we know them so well that some of us can literally "feel" the stairs and the ground under our fingers, our "feet".) "Ok do0d, well thanks for offering before. I understand, I'm not exactly the kind of player you're used to teaching." "No...you don't understand, your skillz development is now my number one priority T. You are EXACTLY the type of player that I teach. The kind that loves this game enough to work hard at it. How about Thursday?" "How about tomorrow? 5 PM?" "Make it 6. CST." "Ok do0d." "Oh and Burd?" "Yea Daf?" "You are f*cking AWESOME for a guy with no fingers...hell yer awesome for a guy WITH fingers!" "I gotta get to bed, I have school in the morning. Thanks a LOT daf." "No thank you Durty Burdy...thank you man." I realized right then, that I had found in this kid another kindred Q2 spirit. A person who plays this game for something MORE than the game. For a place to go and play and fly and feel free. A place to run and jump and play like a bunch of kids in the yard. Seems that for some of us it means even more than that. For some of us, it's the ONLY place we'll ever run and jump and play. My love for this game is stronger than ever now. No...thank YOU Durty Burdy. 011010 ... Yoda>FAS> I used to play Quake2 for hours upon hours every day. It was all I could do to pass time, since I had no girlfriend and I never had any homework. But now, I play Counter-Strike. Now when I TRY to play Quake2 (I say TRY because I suck now) it feels like I'm driving a race car since my character moves so fast, and I hate it. I love the real weapons in Counter-Strike, I love pumping 6 M-16 rounds into a guy, killing him before he even SEES me, then him calling me a "cheater" or a "hacker." It's great. I'm writing this now because I know you will never read it Daffy. So thanks for all you've done for me in the Quake2 world. And it was great meeting you and the family. =Peace 020313 ... good people i used to have 3 computers hooked up to a network in my house. we would deathmatch for hours. i always won. i am the fuckin master of first-person shooters. boo-fuckin-ya. 020314 ... phil that is amazing....that guy has no arms and shit? I actually played with t-bird a few times...damn. Tell him he is an honorary member of the SUX clan if he likes it. I have some guy in the clan with no mouse, so I am sure he could understand. Any way tell him he is in, w9w. p.s. I play as greensamurai 020502 ... phil oh, pfft, daf, almost forgot, you're in too. It's just a title, the only thing clan does is jack shit, we leave our memebers alone, and if they want us, they don't know where to find us. We have a few maps and a few players and 0 servers. Welcome to the club. 020502 ... Dafremen Let's play some time phil. Maybe I can talk you into joining the ranks of the fo0z. 020623 ... w http://greensamurai.dreamstation.com/bsp.html 030206 ... Dafremen That link is broken do0d. I'll be playing tonite. 030604 ... Dafremen I am playing right now. If you would like to play: I will be on one of the following servers: 68.105.233.94:27910 FAS Central 166.70.135.171:27910 Utah Freakshow 206.162.201.130:27910 SEI Data Server 67.160.171.218:27912 Big Easy I'm looking forward to a game...don't disappoint. 030923 ... User24 anyone got a copy of malice for quake1? I used to have it but can I find that purple CD? I haven't played in years, and I've never even looked at q2, let alone any of the newer games.. I remember when Quake's graphics were amazing, now they look really dated. shame really. 030923 ... Dafremen Ok, we have a new server up. connect q2.fragzaintskillz.com That should do it. Map voting is enabled and I'll be there most of the day. skillz are optional. 031108 ... Cabana Boy Unreal Tournament 2004 is coming out soon and it's going to rule! 040121 ... ioj 47777777777777777777777777777777777777 040123 ... ij 4848948948941891 040123 ... dafremen FAS Central 68.10.184.212:27911 040614 ... darkness{O} aw man. logged in to FAS Central but nobody there 050327 ... dafremen Back in the day, I used to play a game called Quake2. It was a pretty special game at the time. While Quake had given us a true Z axis to play with, Quake2 liberated us from network constraints with predictive rendering. Over the course of the next 10 years or so, we watched the game morph, and I..being the opinionated loud-mouth that I am, pointed out that what was happening to the game could only lead to the death of the community, and eventually the game itself. I also pointed out that what had happened to the Quake2 community in that short period of time, was what was slowly happening to us out in society. And what was happening in the game that I saw as detrimental to the entire community and its future? There were people who many of us called campers. They called themselves "zone players." They'd make sure to monopolize any areas that were crucial to survival/and or victory in the game. This makes sense if you're trying to win a competition and make some money. It doesn't make much sense from an entertainment standpoint though..not a community based entertainment. In fact, what happened, was that it became frustrating for other players who had enjoyed the initial flurry of very skilled players who could not only dominate the game, but do so with style, in an entertaining and spectacular manner. Instead, the game became a boring monotony, as everyone stared at the scoreboard instead of the content of the game itself. The folks with the most points, almost invariably played the EXACT same game, game after game after game. They didn't take risks unless their advantage was huge. They were only concerned with their rankings and how many points they'd racked up per hour. And the strategies they'd use were the strategies they'd seen the pros use to win. Soon, each game would be a repeat of the previous game, regardless of who was winning. The only way to get entertainment value was to clown around and not worry about the points anymore. There was no way you were going to win without playing a boring, monotonous game. Folks complained..called them campers. They in turn called those folks whiny losers. You see, they'd explain that ANYONE could practice and get as successful (and boring) as they were. Anyone could contribute to the decline of the game..and only losers didn't chose to, you see. For awhile there, we even had a clan that promoted skills over stats. But of course, competitive people being how they are, there were attempts to discredit they idea as a cop out. Even some of our own members couldn't resist the urge to occasionally engage in played-out point gathering tactics. Just for ego's sake. God forbid every other hyper-competitive player thinks you're a loser, because you don't have as many points as the guy who sits monopolizing the red armor and the railgun 50 games in a row.. And here we are..wondering why so many people don't want to work anymore (quit the game.) Everyone who is going to "be a winner" already has a railgun handed to them (inheritance) or they're going to use the same strategy as everyone else: investment, doctor, lawyer, engineer. And who are our big celebrity heroes? A bunch of shallow, rich, spoiled folks who can't help but keep a smile on their face..they have more points than everyone else. Everyone thinks they're a winner..regardless of how truly uninspired and dull most of them are. (Celebrities singing "Imagine" during the lockdowns anyone?) Hey, at least boring people with money keep the antique dealers in business, right? Gotta have something to talk about when company comes over. And what about the decline of the music industry? No risk taking there either. It's all about the points (er profits) baby.. And listeners are tuning out and tuning in to offerings elsewhere(moving on to a different game.) Er how about the decline in the quality and innovation of video game titles? (Valve anyone?) No risk taking there either. why should they? More profit in cranking out remastered crap. They can get higher on the scoreboard(screw the players..mo money, please.) What about the banking system and the rise of crypto? How long do you devalue a currency for stable profit and a monopoly over the scoreboard, before people start leaving for a game that isn't rigged or locked down by boring strategists? Who wants to be locked into a game that isn't fun anymore? And what sort of selfish jerks monopolize a multiplayer game just so they can enjoy themselves at the expense of everyone else in the game? What are these so-called WINNERS doing to our society? What sort of example are they spreading? What sort of disease? (I mean besides lab-bred viruses and half-baked, non-effective 'vaccines'?) And is it really a GAME when it involves real people, real kids, human suffering, wasted lives & potential? What about when the boring players won't let you leave the game so they can keep scoring points off of you? 211205 what's it to you? who go blather from