Difference between revisions of "A RPGWW History: Miscellany"

Latest revision as of 15:35, 29 October 2008

A RPGWW History

The first segment of this article can be found here.

Our website

Hosting

A (partially reconstructed) screenshot of the website from while it was hosted at topcities.

Originally, Chrono_Catfish emailed his RPGWW comic to interested parties. When pdrydia learned about the comic she requested the backlog. The comic author kindly forwarded the comics to her; however, he was missing a few comics and had to get copies from his email list. pdrydia, whose had webspace on her brother's computer, offered to create a website for the RPGWW comic----somewhere the whole forum could easily access, and coincidentally a place to store backups. C_C was agreeable to this idea.

The first RPGWW website was opened several subfolders down at [zeke.tzo.com]. The length of the URL was intimidating, which encouraged Dia to later move the site to [rpgww.topcities.com]. At some point in time, the topcities site automatically moved to [rpgww.50megs.com].

While the 50megs site had an address that was much easier to remember, it also came with advertisements. So, when pdrydia met GreatDave, a fellow Final Fantasy IV fan with webspace to spare, she was happy to accept his offer of webhosting. RPGWW moved once again, this time to www.davidr.com/rpgww. At some point in time, Dave's rent of the domain name davidr.com ended, and the domain changed to greatdave.org--thus, www.greatdave.org/rpgww.

Later, GreatDave decided to take leave of the internet. RPGWW moved back to zeke, this time at the shorter URL zeke.tzo.com/rpgww.

When the forums moved from ezB to phpBB, Idran also moved the RPGWW website to rpgww.org, where it now resides.

Contents

The original, modest intent of the RPGWW website was to host C_C's webcomics.

Damientobin would be the first forumer to draw fanart (Two Monarchs and a Bird, which showed KingOfDoma, Rydia, and Vulture). This apparently seemed like a neat idea, for more art followed. So did fancomics and any number of other artistic expressions. The website came to host this "fanstuff."

In the later life of the zeke.tzo.com/rpgww, RPGWW's convoluted fanstuff section was stripped down to the directories. This decision was made and executed by pdrydia, under the premise that such a bare-bones approach made updating the fanstuff section much easier than before. Updating became as simple as correctly renaming files and uploading them to the correct directory, cutting out the time-consuming task of editing, uploading, and checking HTML files. As RPing became more popular and important to the community, it too found a place on the website. Copies of RPs were uploaded to the website and a crude archives section opened. Phil-dog's Philsys was added to the website, Character sheets uploaded and RP etiquette explained.

There remain HTML pages containing RP information at rpgww.org today but much of this information is now defunct. All relevant RP information has been transferred, in full, to this wiki, where it can be updated and corrected by members of the community as needed.

Other sections of the site include Yalogank (see below) and archives of RPGWWcon meetings.

pdrydia has done a great deal of the work of the RPGWW website, particularly the early. Other important contributors include Archmage, Nekogami, Kai, Idran, and GreatDave. Enabling general access might be a future possibility, which would allow for others to update the fanstuff and RP archive sections.

Comic evolution

A special Valentine's Day episode of RPGWW Manga!

After the end of RPGWW's sprite comic, Chrono_Catfish worked with ChancellorSmartz to create a new comic for the RPGWW website. This comic was called Undestined and featured a story independent of RPGWW affairs.

The successor to Undestined was based around canon RP events and was drawn by Nekogami. Like Undestined, Idle had a short run.

The most recent comic for the site was Capntastic's RPGWW MANGA, a series of MSPaint (and occasional multimedia) shorts.

Yalogank

The original image posted to "YALOGANK".

Yalogank, located rpgww.org/yalogank, began as a personal project of pdrydia's. pdrydia generated the name yalogank from the phrase royal backlog gankery, which referred to the project's aims--that is, to go through the backlogs of RPGWW threads and chats and take (gank) screenshots of humorous moments. This was a massive (royal) undertaking. However, accomplishing the task would save moments of humor from accidental and intentional deletion. It would also allow these images to be uploaded to a single access point, from which anyone could browse them.

The yalogank project grew in scale as it was being worked on. Screenshots were taken from related forums, such as the RPG World and ADV! comic forums. Also, pdrydia used the wayback machine to capture screenshots of the forum at different points in its history. Other directories began to form as pdrydia decided to save amusing images from old threads (many of these directories were later deleted or significantly trimmed prior to the move to rpgww.org).

On 2 December 2004, yalogank was presented to the forum at large when pdrydia posted the thread YALOGANK in Kotoki's Bar and Inn.

Chat

RPGW/W's first venture into AIM started during the era of the UBB board. There was a thread--several threads, actually, as each successive thread got bogged in spam and then fell to the bottom of the thread heap--requesting AIM screennames. As screennames appeared, they were added to buddylists and invited into chats when RPGW/Wers were online.

A fairly accurate representation of the average early chat.

Originally, RPGWW chats had spontaneous names and all chatters had to be invited. A gathering of 6 chatters was a momentous occasion and necessitated the involvement of all chatters present, for it might not happen again for quite some time.

During this time, RPs tended to occur spontaneously from normal chats. A normal discussion would turn to spam, the spam to spammy RPing, and the spammy RPing to serious RPing. Older characters often have backgrounds which have links to spammy origins and events because of this.

Sometimes the RP would move to a different chat at some point, but only if there were enough people in the chat who wanted to just talk. Starting RPs intentionally, mind, was difficult for most chatters. One would say, "I want to RP," get the entire chat to agree, and wait as everyone did and said nothing, not knowing what to do to initiate an RP.

The tradition of naming RPGWW chats "RPGWW Chat" and of keeping RP chats distinct from the main chat was cemented with the RPGWW website. At one point in time, FlamingDeth told pdrydia of an HTML code--it made a link which, when clicked, would take an AIM user directly to a chat of the coder's choosing. The ability for RPGWWers to invite themselves to chat sounded pretty neat--it just necessitated a static chat room name. As RPGWW Chat had been used for a bit of time already, RPGWW Chat (aim:GoChat?RoomName=RPGWW+Chat) was decided upon.

RPGWW Chat had grown stagnant, RPGWWers having been accustomed to being invited to chat; inviting oneself to chat took some getting used to. The link made things easier, certainly. Still, today, some RPGWWers generally will not enter chat unless invited--how else to know the chat is active? It's not terribly uncommon for RPGWW Chat to host up to 20+ chatters at once, all of whom are doing things other than chatting.

MUSH

See RPGWW MUSH.

Wiki

On 14 Mar 2006, RedEye Dragon89 posted the thread RPGWWWiki, beginning a discussion about the possibility of a wiki for the community. On 16 Mar 2006, Idran posted that he had set up a RPGWW Wiki at mysidia.org/rpgww.

The Wiki is intended as a be-all-end-all information dump for all things RPGWW. As of now information is of two primary types: Community- and RP-related. All such relevant information formerly contained on the RPGWW website has been copied to the wiki and is updated here. However, the RPGWW website is still the residence of large image directories for comics, fanwork, RPGWWcon, and yalogank. Also, a number of older RPs remain archived at rpgww.org.

Idran and other sysops can arrange a user account for you, which you will need in order to edit articles. When editing an article, only some HTML works. It is best to use wikicode when possible. For help with wikicode, see http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Editing. If you ever become lost or need help on the finer details of editing, Idran--our resident Wikigami--can help you.

Related forums

ADV!

ADV! signs of the apocalypse--think about it.

ADV! is shorthand for Adventurers!, a webcomic in a similar vein to RPG World--that is to say, a comic which spoofs RPG cliches. ADV!'s author is Mark Shallow, or Webrunner ("Webby") on forums.

Without great surprise, there's some overlap between the readership of RPG World and Adventurers! While the forums at first kept distinct populations, some forumers began to visit and post in the other's forum; pdrydia to ADV!, for instance, and DMSCV to RPG World. It was a bit sporadic, but it occurred.

The real jumpstart to the mingling of the communities began with the "forum invasion." ADV! forumers had raided other forums in the past, and had a jolly good time of it--especially when others were a good sport about it. A few ADV!ers decided that it was time for another go, and set their sites on RPG World's forum.

Lord McBastard IMed pdrydia over AIM, explaining this, and asked permission to 'kidnap' EmpressRydia as an instigation to the raid. Tickled by the ludicrousness of the idea, pdrydia gave the go-ahead. What ensued was In the darkness of the night, as well as general spamming of the RPG World forums and goofiness.

This occurred on the UBB forums, which experienced trouble during the raid. It was decided, then, to move the raid to ADV!'s forum--that is, the counter the raid with a counter-raid! Thus, it was so.

• ADV!ers involved include: DMSCV, Eidolon X, Excal, Ganonfro, Gold Zeo Cabbit (LiquidX), Lord McBastard, lDarkwolfl
• RPGWWers involved include: Archmage, Ash Fanrico, Choark, DoomseekerIshida, EmpressRydia, FFFanatic, FlamingDeth, glu_glu, GreatDave, Grimly, JediAl11, Jester_Jinx, KingOfDoma, LadyDragonClawsEDW, Molokidan, Shinigori, SuperRube

ADV! RPing being differently structured, and RPG World spam being of a different type, there were some ego clashes and arguments. Some people left convinced that their community was, certainly, the best. Others, however, got out of it what was intended--a bit of light-hearted fun.

Some results from the forum invasion have become RP canon. For instance, for their efforts on behalf of the kingdom of Doma, Archmage and Ash Fanrico were made generals, while FFFanatic was given a castle. In Gaera Main, Daniel Hyral and family has this castle, while Hakaril Silvar and Ash Fanrico are indeed generals--the reasons are, however, different, as no forums were raided in Gaera Main. Also, no EmpressRydia existed in Gaera Main. Ever.

The ADV! forums has had some shiftings of its own, both in terms of webhosting and in terms of social dynamics. Some time after RPGWW had become RPGWW and moved to ezBoard--the same service which hosted the ADV! forums at the time--a number of ADV! posters began to post on RPGWW more regularly, and then made the switch complete. Amongst such notables are--aside from the recognizable names amongst the invaders--Brainwalker, Banjooie, Divinegon, NebulaQueen, Priam, Reako, UnclePervy, and XaqShenor.

The Phantom Lord's OT Board

This board deserves note for being one of the previous targets of ADV! forum raiding, prior to the RPGW/W Raid. From here, a few posters came to post regularly on ADV! and later at RPGWW. Kelne and Zemyla are two such notables.

Abstract Magic

Abstract Magic was the name of an ezB forum whose ezOp--creator--was Brainwalker. At a time when subscription to Gold services ran out for the ezB RPGWW, the Powers that Be looked at the cost of renewing. It was a lot.

Not entirely unreasonably, gold subscription costs are based on page views over a certain time period. RPGWW, now, had a lot of page views. The idea was proposed to let the page views fall to the point where Gold became affordable. Brainwalker had the aforementioned forum--Abstract Magic--for which a very cheap subscription was purchased and a temporary shift was made.

To prevent numerous page views, all forums of RPGWW had posting privileges locked to admins and moderators only. An explanatory thread and link was left in both Kotoki's Inn and in Discussion.

It should be noted that Gold services include the lack of popup ads and, today, incredibly large, obnoxiously-placed, often-animated ads throughout the forum. Most image customization are also Gold features, as were stickies at some point in time. Additionally, ezB only makes backups of their Gold forums. This would come into play during the Great ezFluke of June 2005.

The move to and from Abstract Magic, in May 2003, saw a noticeable drop in forum activity.

The Brotherhood of Elitist Bastards

The Brotherhood of Elitist Bastards was an ezB established by SuperRube. The name of the forum may have been inspired by popular criticisms of RPGWW being elitist.

The stated purpose of this board was to serve as a forum for people to be jackasses, preferably in an entertaining fashion. While originally attracting a good number of its regulars from the pool of RPGWW posters, the Brotherhood didn't receive a great deal of traffic and has since fallen into disuse. The most prominent lamer of the forum had the user name Jebus Christ and seemed to be associated with Chatalot, a former ezB community with which RPGWW clashed.

Female posters to the Brotherhood were instructed to carefully hide their gender by posting with fake mustaches.

Chatalot

Chatalot came to the notice of RPGWW during its ezBoard era. It garnered instant ridicule from many forumers due its garish color scheme, use of numerous animated images and embedded music. It also gained disdain for its loose RP structure and the perceived zealotry of the forum administration. When some RPGWW forumers made harassing posts over at Catalot's forum, Chatalot responded in what seemed--to RPGWW culture--an extreme fashion. The Chatalot administration deleted posts, banned all RPGWW-linked visiting accounts, and blocked their forum to non-members.

Much like RPGWW, Chatalot has moved to a php Bulletin Board, perhaps also influenced by the Great ezFluke of June 2005.

The RP Bootcamp

The RP Bootcamp was an ezB forum separate from RPGWW. Originally associated with a Hogwarts roleplay board, ownership was lended to RPGWW when the original owners transferred to phpbb.

The RP Bootcamp was intended to be a forum for training and polishing RPing and GMing skills. There were a few lessons regarding this posted by RPGWWer veteran RPers and GMs. Notably, to gain confidence in his GMing skills, MechanistoX ran an RP at the bootcamp using the Risus system: Operation Starblade: Bloody Elves!. It was well-done and sequelled over at the ezB RPGWW.

Unfortunately, the entire Bootcamp forum was eaten during the Great ezFluke of June 2005. No backups were had from ezB as the forum's gold subscription had recently run out. The forum has since run defunct.