Where are the rest of the AK

[Pancito]

Where are the rest of the AK's?i been reading a lot of old posts to get a feeling of the "good old days" and i see a lot of names that i havent seen here ever.

Guess you guys where big on T2...

[[AK]Devil_Dog]

Your question my son is most worthy....
The answer lies in the existing members that are active...
Creating this post is proof of your dedication to the fold.
However, it will be interesting to see how the Knights respond to this post....

Can they face the truth? Or will they just turn away?

[[AK]Abaddon]

Hi Pancito,

Here's my take on it ...

I have strayed from online gaming for a while. I was never able to hold up with the schedule and skills required for serious competition on the ladders ... I play games for fun, when I have the time. I joined AK to play games with a good group of people who don't TK, don't cheat, and act with honor and high personal standards. But at some point it seemd like AK began just meeting for practices, or scrimmages, or matches ... never just to get on the AK server and kick ass on all takers any more. That level of structure both bores me and stresses me out. I have enough obligations in Real Life.

AK was founded during the days of Interstate 76, and I had the most fun during I-76 and Tribes I. Then it got a little too focused on the ladders for me after Tribes II came out ... and I never had enough time to practice and be a benefit to the team in those competitions. At the same time, I moved farther away from the AK servers, and my ping became around 200+. I could not play Tribes II at all like that ... since I was used to a ping of around 75-80 tops.

I kind of drifted away during the competition days in Tribes II, and was never infected with the Everquest or Dark Age of Camelot virii, which drew off quite a number of AK to arcane pay-per-month realms. (I have religious objections to games with monthly price tags - after you pay through the nose for the game itself).

And for some of us, real life has also intervened. I can't stay on the computer for 8 hours a day anymore. :-( Heck, I'm getting too old to stay up until midnight most nights.

Anyway, that's my ramblings.

[AK]Abaddon

[Pancito]

Yes i have seen a few names that where very active in the past, and guess being on ladders or playing for real does take a toll on a few members. And of course i started with you guys playing BF1942 maybe the AK will then move to another game in the future i'm not to happy about and my playing hours will go down.

Guess i can't really imagine the "big picture" of having a lot of things to do in real life, family,job and all that and still be able to be competetive. I always ask my self how am i going to balance the "family","work", with the "Me" time.

Right now i'm not going to worry when is time to be "forever and ever, in good and in bad" guess i will figure it out.

[[AK]StitchJones]

After reading what both Pancito said and Abaddon put up here. I can see both sides to everything. I'm also new to the knights and I share the same feeling as Pancito. A new game or style of play may come along that I might not be interested in and lose some interest. That is to be expected with most any group or genre.
Abaddon put it very well with the structure and fun factor. I can see that it looks like the knights were more fun based early on and it has worked it's way into a more oil/planned machine. Again being new to this I haven't seen any issues or have any complaints to bring to light. Maybe within a year or two I may have my own issues and have less time to put into this sort of thing. Also keeping up with the Jones as far as computer parts and the newest games may become a issue down the road (hopefully not for me :-))
What I can say is that Abaddon from the posts that I have read by you, you have put up some good information on various things, and I do hope to see you in some fashion in the Multiplayer gaming world that involves other AK members. I also want to bow my head to everyone else in this group. Your friendships and companionship for this "clan" has been a very rewarding experience for me. And I look forward to continuing growth with the August Knights, both old and new members.


"Live to fly, Fly to live, Aces High"

[[AK]Squidly]

IMO, there's room for all types of players in AK... those interested in Ladder matches, and those who aren't (those who enjoy games like Everquest, which doesn't lend itself to being played on a ladder.)

[[AK]Abaddon]

Yes ... this is a great organization. I have yet to meet a Knight I didn't like. (Or a squire, for that matter).

I was not trying to be harsh in my previous email, just explaining my own point of view.

And as far as ladders go ... I will try to join in some BF 1942 games. I have been practicing for the past couple of weeks. The joystick makes a HUGE difference when piloting planes. I think that I am a good pilot and tank driver now (and a truly dangerous jeep driver - that is, to myself and any occupants of the Jeep).

Those jeeps remind me of Interstate 76, particularly when playing Gazala. If only they had driver-controlled machine guns and a WP mortar on the back.

[AK]Abaddon

[Slaughter]

Originally posted by [AK]Abaddon
Those jeeps remind me of Interstate 76, particularly when playing Gazala. If only they had driver-controlled machine guns and a WP mortar on the back.

[AK]Abaddon

That would be the day that I started playing BF42 everyday...

[[AK]Palooka]

I agree with most everything Ab said. AK has, over the past couple years, become more formal and less obliging to people who just want to have casual meetings on servers with like-minded people for a bit of fun on a fairly regular basis. This is the way AK was way back in the I'76 days. We just got together and battled eachother for hours on end almost every day. The August Knights have had a lot of good times, but the hours of I'76 with Wid, Zorro, Ab, Moon, abnormaL (who was our very first recruit), and others I can't remember off the top of my head, seem to stand out.

I think we started getting back to this recently when we started casually meeting for UT2003. I would like to see more of this. For most of us (like myself), gaming every day is just out of the question, but the more we play together, the longer we'll stay together. I think this was Moon's motto on the first Web site or something. (The family that plays together stays together.)

I know I've been promising a new Web site for a long time, but believe it or not, it will be here eventually. One of its components will be an events calendar that will allow any member to create an event (like a UT2003 night) with the time, game, server, etc. I think this will be a great tool for getting us together for casual play on a more regular basis. We DO have members who are not interested in ladder play, and I hate to see them left behind with no way of participating in AK short of posting in the forums.

[[AK]Squidly]

We've been doing the same sort of thing in Counter-strike recently. The ability to do this has never gone away... it's that people haven't tried much.

Simply post the game you're going to play and the time and then get on team speak and hook up with like-minded AK'ers...

Or just pop on TS. Rocks, Gunny and I played Counterstrike last night until 11:30 or so. Stitch and I played BF1942 for over an hour today...just goofing off.

[Slaughter]

We should make UT2k3/CS a weekly thing.

[[AK]Squidly]

Absolutely... I'll be on for a little CS tonite around 9ish.

[Slaughter]

bah, and I only have EQ on this computer.. Gotta love the parents computer at home..

[[AK]Rocks]

To help the cause I can set up any game you guys want. I have a DED server on the Net 24/7. Theres not much Bandwidth since it cable attached, but it seems to hold it own. It used for UT2k3/CS or it mostly used for Americas Army. Just got to let me know. It always on the Net and help my electric bill to reach new Heights.

[[AK]Squidly]

It seems to do pretty well until we get up to around 10 people. More than sufficient for our "grudge matches"

I'm shocked that we get such a good playable game on a cable-hosted server.