A sad truth about PA alliances...

ImpA became GOD (hi Scouse again) which dissolved. Have no idea why. Spent most of rnd3 allianceless but seeked one since everyone else was talking in alliance channels which left the gal channel pretty much silent. There were Legion, BD, UV and at the end, Legion in my gal. But I decided to check out hirr since they had the weirdest name I could find.

So I joined their social channel and hung out for 4 months until I got accepted. It's hilarious when you think about how that would've looked in later rounds. Tell me one person who's been a hangaround for over 3 months in an alliance channel before becoming a member after say rnd4... :D

Been hirr ever since, have been in big gals, have been bashed since smaller alliances not always can cover everyone. Leaving has never been an option. And I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

[n4m3l355]

the problem with smaller alliances is that they cant offer the safety someone who is doing better then avarage.

ofc. bigger alliances attract bigger treaths yet manage to deal often better with it aswell.

tough inside intel (ie spyz & crap) is i think a bigger treath towards bigger alliances..

[OlaTa]

i started in r4, was in lotsa small alliances, b4 stayed in TC, till it died, after that i traveled again between alliances, till i landed in hirr at start of rnd 5. Found alot ppl, with who i like to play PA. Can´t call em friends, as dunno them in RL, and don´t know either, how they are as persons. But i don´t regret staing in hirr, found my hom ein there. Lemming for ever


-OlaTa

[Norseman]

That i never dug deeper inside the world of planetarion, like accepting a command position.. or being able to watch the universe from other angles.. peon4 ever by own choice, that I regret

like r4 elysium, utter ****e imo.. but still a part of the winning coalition. and in that round.. not a significant crappier alliance then legion (said by lots of old lego ppl). Which is a scary thing, considering how things were in elysium.
but how to rank or evaluate when there is no data or anything available to compare? as a result; a lot of questions left alone, wide open in the air & unable to be answered. which is infact.. kinda irritating

[Caledan]

Always and forever ....>>ROCK<<....

I played first round without an allaince (total n00b) -- R4
Then our gal tagged ROCK and I became involved,first as officer -- R5

During R6 I became ROCK HC and I still am. Think without ROCK I sometimes would have quitted the game, but the great community kept me there.

I wouldn't play if ROCK would have disbanded at some point, I am pretty sure.

I think some PPL play the game and often change Allaince, but they never totally identify with their allaince.
Only a few players find something more in the allaince cause they put much of themselves into the allaince and identify themselves with the ally.
Rock has some of these Players and ofc some also left. They didn't go elsewhere, they were just forced to leave due to RL.

/me puts the HAT on *silence*

/me getting sad, now as the end of PA comes near.

Hope everyone of u had so much fun with their allainces as well.

I will stay with ROCK....

Originally posted by Legator

i think everyone needs to find for himself the best way.

wise words...

why is this such a sad thing, people doing well by helping out and then advancing out of smaller alliances, while they are there they will have helped smaller players to get better and perhaps they will one day become in the larger alliances or that alliance from that help in the first place may rise up the alliance listing and might become a major player and the wouldn't have done it without that player.

guess it´s the common way of almost all dedicated pa players swapping alliances from worse to good (even big ally isn´t always = good ally). the more time you spend into the game the better safety you wanna have. being online 24/7 and working your butt off for a crappy ally is fooling your efforts and dedication. or if you don´t feel comfort in an alliance even it provides you good defence and attacks it´s the logical way to swap to another one you like more. imo there are always two reasons depending on each other to swap allies: personal preferences and the compulsion to grow. that´s what i learned from myself in pa. i started in templar, swapped to silver, to fury and ended in titans. and i wish i would have found titans earlier in my pa career cause it´s the first bunch i really can say i´m comforted.

[Memtok]

I began as ACID, when ACID began...

I remained ACID until ACID died.

A major disruption in the "force" surrounding the alliance caused a great schism in the fundament underlying our tiny slice of the PA universe...

We of ACID began as a few small players, banding together to provide mutual security, and in-game fellowship. In the end this provincial attitude remained, and despite our (at times) humongous numbers, ACID was never more than loosely confederated, petty feifdoms, clinging to the merest threads of alliance-hood...

What kept us from being more?

A great many people wanted a greater share of the meagre power which comes from running a large member base, but woefully underperforming, alliance...

Everyone had their own ideas, and in the racket of the clammoring hoardes, any potential direction was lost...

...and in the end the only person who was entitled to direct our group, left us.

How does this relate to the initial post? How do these statements tie back into the thread of thought running through these many, and varied ideas here? Simple...

ACID had awesome potential, and yet we never sorted ourselves enough to realize that potential. This lack of direction, either through a confused allocation of duties amongst the officers, or a general malaise engendered by our alliance-wide culture of "ACID: The FUN Alliance", led directly to us allowing anyone into our ranks. Granted, the "spies" we let in were in for a rude shock...since the greatest "secret" of all in ACID was that there WERE no secrets...when there are no plans, there can be no datum to keep protected...

This general directionlessness led to massive disinterest amongst a large portion of our members, and the potentially viable members were disillusioned by our inability to lend them support. When you factor in the presence of numerous "recruiters" for other alliances amongst our "members", it becomes quite easy to see why, and how, all the best players of ACID were syphoned off into other alliances...

Is this process "right", or "moral", or "honorable"? Were the secret recruiters we succored, and supported amongst our numbers doing "wrong" by stealing our members?

A much better question to ask would be, "were our better members wrong to leave us?"

In the end the only answer to this is a resounding "NO!"

ACID ultimately failed our members, and thus the alliance ultimately was doomed to failure overall...

It is a natural process for the best in this game to seek out their equals, and to desire to play this game at the most competitive level possible. I do not think the ACID example is far from typical amongst the many small alliance failures. Our story most likely fits dozens of small groups throughout the history of PA...

There was a line from the 80's movie, "The Breakfast Club", which I think is most fitting...

During a conversation with the Ally Sheedy character, about her unsatisfactory home life, the Judd Hirsch character says,

"Everyone's home life is unsatisfactory at some point; if it weren't no one would ever leave home at all."

That is it...If our alliance was good enough to keep its members, our members would have stayed. We just didn't quite give them what they wanted from an alliance...

I started in ICD (rnd 2) too, but when strongest Lithuanian players formed LT, I joined it too. It was too hard to be in 2 alliances in the same time (plus they was fighting between themselves), so I needed to choose one, and from R4 I was no longer ICD. But I still have good memories about ICD, and hope I didn't fight against them too much

And:

It is natural best players want best alliances. Every1 wanna be big and fight for the win. That's life...

Leto what u say is true ofc, but don't u think friends can be found anywhere?
With a number of exceptions the contact with alliance 'mates' is quite basic, and that's normal i think, i mean who needs 'hunderd best friends'

Pa is a game, games are for fun and i think ppl should join the alliance where they have most fun.
Due to the reason you have given smaller alliances are less professional , and if ppl seek that in this game i can't blame them for leaving for the bigger alliances.

For myself, Started off in SL, where everyone was recruited into at the time they died after lantador left etc so i had no idea what to do, I joined the SL-allie Tsunami where i spend most of my Pa-time Learned a lot there.
When chizel left tsunami sort of died, we tried to hold the alliance together but activity dropped alot (had a lot to do with the hammering we got while allied with NoCeX).
Joined WP, really to be on the winning side for once spend a few weeks in wolves and it seemed all so 1337.
Altho it didn't took me long to find out wp wasn't the place for me, altho i had a lot of mates there i didn't agree with command decisions etc.
When Vision formed a battlegroup/wing we had little to do with the actual wp anymore and tbh vision is the first place where i really feel at home. It's right between just a fun community and a prof. alliance
perfect for me to enjoy the game, took me 6 rounds tho to get there shame it won't last long anymore

[TAFKAJ]

I started out somewhere half way round 3 with only knowing my brother in PA. As a total n00b i knew nothing about allies and started to look for allies on the boards. Was hard to choose between all the allies but decided to join Black Sigma (still love ya C00T, Selissa,Silk,Libraius and other GREAT m8s). After talking a lot with them i fastly started to know the PA tactics and got more skilled in it. R4 i got bigger and made to Wing commander and even HC when BS decided to merge with Karma. I loved it at the time to teach newbies the game and so i stayed with them. In r5 after a few weeks when most of our memberbase was gone i decided with some others to also go to Karma. Was a pretty nice ally but they died at the end of round 5, so had to move to a different ally and that became Virus. But onfortunately i coudlnt play round 6 so was only in it for 2 weeks. In r7 i got back allianceless and my GC got me into Myth Tuba's junior ally, but since tuba decided not to continue we merged with TPS. This ally was the ally that died the fastest after i joined it. luckily some tps members got me into a battlegroup called Vision. They decided to become an allaince this round and as i love the people in it i decided to go with them and i still love it there! Finally an allaince that stays alive and kicking
So except for my 2 weeks in virus i havent been in any othe Major alliance and i didnt want to really, i liked it in the smaller ones helping people to learn the game, but the disadvantage of course is they leave your allaince leaving you with half active members and the alliance eventually dies. Except for Vision now, its a great ally with lovely people in it (/me fluffles all Vision Pe0ns)

[Barrow|Pony]

I'm an ND man. I've been an ND man since r4, and I'll be an ND man until the Atlantic goes dry.

It seems worthless sometimes, when both I and my Ely gal mate get incoming, its a struggle to get me 50k def, and he can get 150k in a pinch...but i remember the few times where we've surprised people, and the times we've stuck together through the slow days, and the changes that have taken place since I've started paying attention...and I realize why I'm here.

Tough to describe

[Jurgen]

I started in the end of round 1 and was part of finnish groups in quakenet. Round2 I was asked to join alliance as hc so round 2 and 3 I was hc of alliances called karhu and kettu was also in army so able to play only weekends. End of round 3 I saw this alliance I just had to join Wolfpack. Ive had my cwp (clan Wolfpack) for almost 6 years and it has made me a bit wolfhearted. After that Ive been there with uphills and downhills. Ive had numerous offers to join pretty much everyalliance. I think only alliance that hasnt officially or unofficially asked me to join is NoS they still hate me. heh (do they)
So Wolfpack it is, others come and go, I stay.

[rnd|One]

I've always been Elysium. Never had the need for another alliance as none could have made me a better player nor give any better protection than I already enjoyed (r4 VeX, r6 XeTa, r8 WE). A victory was seldom claimed by a single alliance and at such 'blocks' kept certain alliances strong in the game. Selling out to another alliance due to the block nature of PA for me just was never an option - no gain.

It was disheartening to see alliances like VtS, Fury, Xanadu and lately Adelante take away a portion of our players, but in the end the Core of Elysium was so strong it kept the alliance flying high round after round while many others crumbled.


- cheerios / Elysium HC
([Ely] from round4 to round8)

#R2 - No alliance - Suddenly I'm in hirr

Stayed there ever since, I mean, how can you leave hirr?

Lotsa great people, been in big and small gals, even tho my planetscore has always been so so(heh)

Never had much fleet at the end of the round tho(Oh, I wonder whyyy?)

[Bongdage]

started playing r4, joined para alliance which was mostly ICD dominated, so i joined them and all was good.. until they disbanded.
joined prae and hobbie's gal r6 and joined iliad, stayed there and was promoted to bc, joined legion until it disbanded, then was invited to titans by scoose.

i couldnt be bothered changing alliance, i had friends and galmates in them so no reason to change.

[cbk100]

Originally posted by Duke Leto
Over the 8 rounds of playing planetarion, 6 of those being in a command position for a smaller alliance, I have the ability to comment on one of the grating realities of PA.

It seems no matter how a round progresses, planetarion players are usually in it for themselves. PA players who have large scores compared to their alliances often gravitate to the larger alliances, creating a vacuum between the small and the large.

This has been the case over the last 6 rounds of pa that I have seen. Players who do well seem to use the small alliances as a launching pad to get into more elite and competitive larger alliances... and thus the world of PA often ends up revolving around maybe 4-6 large alliances, as they suck in all the best players.

Some alliances have resisted this pull, but even hirr has lost many of its best and brightest to the likes of Fury, Legion, Xanadu and others...

Myself I have no regrets for staying where I have been all my career... hirr forever...

What are your roots? Why did you make the leap? Do any of you have regrets over leaving comrades and friends in smaller alliances?


Leto

lo Leto

What you are saying is true and it will always be like that, cause when you grow big its most likely because you put a lot of effort into the game. You don't get there without a lot of very hard work and when you put hard work into the game you want to be around other ppl who put much work into it too and who are big enogh to safe you from the incomings that you might get. You want to be around ppl who are online as much as you so they are always there to serve you when you need it like you are when they need it.

If you take my situation this round I was by far the biggest Madcow this round and without saying to much I was the one who put by far the most work into MadcowS, but with time I got so sick of all of that work when some of the other ppl who should be doing just as much as I did simply didn't do a ****.

Ofc. I left MadCowS... why shouldn't I?

All I'm saying is that you find the ppl that match you, the ppl who do as much as you, cause they are often the ppl you like to be with... just like in the real world...

This is not just a game... This is often a mirror of the real world and that is just one of the things you have to realise Duke...

cbk

[burmel]

---------------------------------------

Hugs CBK

---------------------------------------

[ruxu]

When I started playing PA (after struggling against for awhile), it was middle-rnd2. I joined some Angels (?) alliance late of the round, but it was crapy organisation, everyone was getting bashed by large alliances and only few were even active. When round 3 started I had strggle for GC spot against one certain HC member of hirr, and during and after that we became friends and he recruited me.

After that there hasn't been any other choice. It's hirr all the way, good or bad, and it's 99,99% good. It's true that it relies much on playing style and personality if you're alliance-hopper or not. But some factor also is the alliance(s) you're in. For me, even tho been searching for personal success and ranking, it's always been alliance-first. And that cannot be only because of my personality as that kind of person

Ruxu

[Tesla]

hmm...this question is kinda hard for me.. where are my alliance roots ? Normally it would be an easy answer but since im such an alliance hopper (yes..its undeniable)...lemme just sum up my alliance history for ya:

r1. No alliance..though had lots of mates playing + #planetarion chan at another irc server...
r2. Alliances I was in: TE, BlueTubas, 1337crew, Tsunami HC, Sedition, Cosmic Chaos (or whatever it was named...Zokum and crew), Peace through Power (PTP) and prolly more tis all I can remember anyway...
r3. Alliances I was in: ReBorn, Tsunami, ViX, 1337crew
r4. Alliances I was in: Legion (VtS) and Ministry
r5. Alliances I was in: Karma HC => Ministry HC => Xanadu HC
r6. Alliances I was in: Xanadu HC/Ministry HC
r7. Alliances I was in: Xanadu HC/Ministry HC (though quit after 3 weeks)
r8. Alliances I was in: Ministry

So I guess Ministry would be the place im loyal to, but its not my roots... And since I had so many roots I honestly cant debate why I left, I prolly left cuz they either got twatted or I wasnt defended properly or just dont fit in..

Tesla

[xanadu zip]

Duke, not sure why you posted this except to find out that there are people who think differently than yourself which you already knew.

Everyone is motiviated differently. If you are looking for a friend and community, you may stay with an alliance till it dies, if you are looking for a competitive game, then you'll go to the alliance who has the most to offer you. If you are overly competetive you may screw your alliance for the promise of a better deal.

It's basically very simple, you will follow your morals, values and need to win. This mix is different for everyone.

I really think this is a silly question as you already know the answers here and it's not much different than real life and ambition in real life.

Maybe this is what you mean by "sad but true".

My overall comment would be ... if you don't understand the motivations of others to succeed and the fact that everyone is motiviated differently, then you should participate in r/l more regularly.

[ruxu]

Originally posted by xanadu zip
Duke, not sure why you posted this except to find out that there are people who think differently than yourself which you already knew.

Everyone is motiviated differently. If you are looking for a friend and community, you may stay with an alliance till it dies, if you are looking for a competitive game, then you'll go to the alliance who has the most to offer you. If you are overly competetive you may screw your alliance for the promise of a better deal.

It's basically very simple, you will follow your morals, values and need to win. This mix is different for everyone.

I really think this is a silly question as you already know the answers here and it's not much different than real life and ambition in real life.

Maybe this is what you mean by "sad but true".

My overall comment would be ... if you don't understand the motivations of others to succeed and the fact that everyone is motiviated differently, then you should participate in r/l more regularly.

Rofl.

You tell him. You tell Leto now. :-D

Anyway, let's step away from sarcasm and all Thing is that everyone acts like their moral and values are put, usually. That usually shows what they are made of, and very so often shows their friends/acquaintainces(sp?) whether they are to be trusted or not and so on. No one in this world manages to get it all by total selfishness, nor total following justice (just IMHO, reminder).

But as we can tell alot by someone's personality by how he/she acts on certain impulses. That quite much decides that certain persons future in _our_ eyes, in case he/she is coming in front of us in some day

Ruxu

[Fist]

In round 2 I joined [ICD] but hardly ever joined their chans so it wasnt hard to leave as I knew noone there. Then I quit pa, kinda.

I started playing again in round 4 and idled somewhere in p19. I joined [TGS] and [p19a]. Ive still got my friends from [TGS] (hi catwoman, caliban and all u others ) Left cos I didnt have a internet con. [p19a] reformed into ROCK but I didnt keep contact with those people as I left pa again and didnt know them to well.

I played the last weeks of round 5, but I needed no allie.

In round 6 bananana fixed me a legion galaxy. During the round Slinkee contacted me and wondered if I wanted into [iliad]. So I joined. I left [iliad] as the round ended, but keept contact with the nice people there and got signed up for a legion galaxy for round 7 aswell.

In the begining of round 7 I joined [Blackice] for cluster politics, but as things moved on and war broke out I had to leave. So I rejoined [iliad] and got promoted to [VtS]. Sadly Legion disbanded as a pa alliance and I had to look for a new home for round 8.

I joined [Adelante] before round 8 cos of frieds and family joining there. After joining there I got invited to [DTA]. But as things wasnt to well in ade DTA decided to leave. Leaving with DTA wasnt a hard choise. My old Legion people were there and even my own brother.
Im currently [DTA] and [ETY] and having fun there.

Call me a alliance jumper or what you want, but Ive mostly gone to alliances where I have friends. I kinda followed my friend as they got into bigger and better alliances.

In the future Im prolly gonna join SS and maybe cut pa. If I join SS Im goin to a alliance where I have friends. Im atm concidering to join a alliance where some of the old people from [TGS] are atm.

I was introduced to the game when i saw some1 from my class play it (Hi DrHive ). At that point R3 was in full effect. I signed up and ended up in Rumad's galaxy. At that point i met the people of a defensive initiative "DEFCON". I helped them out with defending Guarddog with my tiny fleet hehe. I also joined a small alliance called [Elite].

R4 i signed up again in a full DEFCON galaxy. Main reason for me was that this initiative was very loyal to it's members and had top class players. I left [elite] because of the arrogancy that was overwhelming the alliance. Played the whole round being Defcon and met lot's of legionplayers and i wanted to join legion.

So R5 i played in a galaxy set up by a former [Quha] galaxy in R4's para. Jent asked me to play in his galaxy and again there were "defcon" mates of me in there. We were NOCEX in the beginning. I applied for Legion first time but was declined bacause of the NOCEX influence. Then i got into Wrath and more and more members of my galaxy became Wrath. We ended up 12th i believe. Still no chance of becoming legion hehe.

R6 i left planetarion to graduate. Nothing much to say about it only that i graduated hehe.

R7 was already started and i managed to get on IRC again. Talked to Jent again and he got me to sign up again. I got into the gloria victis galaxy. Too bad there were some arguements in the gal which kinda breached our gal into two sides. Strengthened my bands with my former defcon mates again.

Then R8 i asigned up again because of last round and my so-loved random galaxies . I knew Preach from R7 and applied for Titans because mated that were in legion left to become Titans and i followed them. I got into Titans and joined Plush. I had great fun being in them. Now Titans disbanded and i feel bad about it. Though i didn't have much big ally experience i think Titans is one of the best PA ever had. Ah well i think most agree with me.

R9 perhaps homeless. Most likely not.

end of story

[Draki]

r3 started my own alliance with serveral Forum friends of another game..
at the end for r3 i joined Templar where i felt really at home....
stayed there till midround r5 when NoCeX was badly bashed and some inalliance war started...
joined Xanadu at the beginning of r6...
there i first realist i can do better then rank ~ 500
well then Xeta lost war against FoS and i joined nG ... another pretty good community and good alliance..
before r7 nG merged with FA creating FAnG .... r7 FAnG was supreme community was good and gamewise we have done very well. ending with my personal sucess of beeing #9 universe
r8 i stayed FAnG until i got deleted a fang lost war against Titans/LDK..

After all i felt at home most in Templar and in nG
Beeing in Xanadu was ok but not what i wanted..
FAnG was my best alliance for personal success so far and community _was_ quite good.

After all this i still have contacts to the most persons i tend to like back in the old days

still #templar is my home on IRC

--> friends stay ... alliances not


Draki

[Draki]

r3 started my own alliance with serveral Forum friends of another game..
at the end for r3 i joined Templar where i felt really at home....
stayed there till midround r5 when NoCeX was badly bashed and some inalliance war started...
joined Xanadu at the beginning of r6...
there i first realist i can do better then rank ~ 500
well then Xeta lost war against FoS and i joined nG ... another pretty good community and good alliance..
before r7 nG merged with FA creating FAnG .... r7 FAnG was supreme community was good and gamewise we have done very well. ending with my personal sucess of beeing #9 universe
r8 i stayed FAnG until i got deleted a fang lost war against Titans/LDK..

After all i felt at home most in Templar and in nG
Beeing in Xanadu was ok but not what i wanted..
FAnG was my best alliance for personal success so far and community _was_ quite good.

After all this i still have contacts to the most persons i tend to like back in the old days

still #templar is my home on IRC

--> friends stay ... alliances not


Draki

[Domin]

Originally posted by Kjeldoran
The Baron, he's my best RL friend

yes we started it together

the merging with Fx9 was the reason why I left, he quit playing abit later aswell.

and we BOTH founded TI, though we didn't stay together that long

nway it amazes me pple still remember that hehe

rgds Kj

Hehe well i didn't rember it very good did i?

Anyway it was my first and only hc job and i sucked so i only play not dooing hc thingies because i suck at it

[WildCardz]

Originally posted by Duke Leto
Over the 8 rounds of playing planetarion, 6 of those being in a command position for a smaller alliance, I have the ability to comment on one of the grating realities of PA.

It seems no matter how a round progresses, planetarion players are usually in it for themselves. PA players who have large scores compared to their alliances often gravitate to the larger alliances, creating a vacuum between the small and the large.

This has been the case over the last 6 rounds of pa that I have seen. Players who do well seem to use the small alliances as a launching pad to get into more elite and competitive larger alliances... and thus the world of PA often ends up revolving around maybe 4-6 large alliances, as they suck in all the best players.

Some alliances have resisted this pull, but even hirr has lost many of its best and brightest to the likes of Fury, Legion, Xanadu and others...

Myself I have no regrets for staying where I have been all my career... hirr forever...

What are your roots? Why did you make the leap? Do any of you have regrets over leaving comrades and friends in smaller alliances?


Leto

As I clicked on this thread and waited for the page to load with my l33t 56k connection, I expected a thread about how we are all doomed.
However, this turned out to be a rather pleasant surprise, you bring up a very good point.
PA players are humans, and as humans we have a natural tendency to "be in it for ourselves". I think PA alliances reflect what goes on in life, there is nothing sad about it.
Everyone must start out somewhere and is constantly trying to move up. However, it IS sad when people try to forget their roots and even scrutinize their old rooted comrades for not being quite as successful.

Personally, my roots are with LOST.... one of the oldest existing alliance on PA. I have no regrets about leaving because I was pretty much "forced out" heh. My attitude and behavior towards LOST since then have been nothing but encouraging and positive. Therefore, there is nothing really "sad" about my truth.

[LORD-NIKO]

the most fun i had in PA
was when i was a TC peon!
we were bad... but i loved them...
well the most were small...
but they sacrificed their little ships to defend me..
thats what i call honor..
some call it stupidity
hehe

+ when i was in Olympus (command)

i had a HECK of a good time...

do what u want was the word..

and then i formed it... and im proud of it 2
hehe

[QazokRouge5]

The biggest mistake i ever made was leaving my comrades in ETY.

[Yeggstry]

I was in a little-known alliance (Armada) at the start of R5. During this time, we were a reasonably active group, some of our players doing well, but our numbers dwindled (probably mostly due to the inactives) and we decided to merge with a couple of other alliances (can't remember their names) and we became stronger....

that was, until the old Armada ppl started questioning the ppl that had been promoted to HC from the other alliances. There were a couple of ppl that did not do very well as HC (inactive, giving out allied targets etc.) and we finally all quit Armada towards the end of R5.

I drifted off into IRC oblivion, and was very close to quitting PA completely, when I came across an old m8 that I had met one day on IRC.

He said that they needed one more person for the gal he was in, and he said that they were big and experienced guys. I trusted him and joined the gal.

Dougal (my saviour ) introduced me to eagle and subotai, two ViruS members. Within a week I was in Vx and was on my way to great things in ViruS ( tho meeting Irvine in i10 helped a LOT, although it was a traumatic experience ), I was promoted to Infection LT just after easter '02, helping with both defence and attacks for our recruitment wing for most of R7 (and even getting a top 350 score myself - 52 mil ).

By mid-way through R7 I had taken control of the website from Viper, and the rest they say is history

btw, great idea for a thread, one of the better threads I have seen on forums.....