Stalking Gidgette
A Love Story
A Feature News Article By: BIRD
Photo’s and Layout By: Padgette
Part Two: Time Enough for Love
In-between Battlefield, Call of Duty and the missed opportunities of MOH:AA the other great game out there was DOD - Day of Defeat.
Day of Defeat for me remains shrouded from clan mates as my own guilty pleasure, a personal delight and a bane because I missed the boat. There's a real sincere regret that I never got to enjoy DOD at a competitive level, it pangs every few months in-between that current fan boy title that's hotshot its way onto the scene. Mostly what's kept me and this game apart from one another is largely because no one I've played games with from either clan I was a part of really likes this game like I do.
I've met a couple of gamers that have been able to appreciate what was going on with this game and recognise why it deserved the support of a community. The thing that they all say is DOD 1.3 is better than DOD Source, some even say DOD Beta was best because of the features it had over the final version that was sold by Valve, such as bleed out. I originally played one of the early DOD beta's on my AMD Duron 800mhz when I scored the Half Life 1 pack from the local pawnshop for $25.
The slick pawnbroker turbanite didn't even know what he had on his shelf, Team Fortress, Counter Strike, Half Life and Half Life Blue shift. This was around 2000 or maybe as late as 2001, I was still living above Percy's Bar in Carlton then, so maybe $25 was allot of money back then but I still say... he got ripped.
I bought the Half Life pack not just to find out what was so special about Half Life, but from the recent games news I'd picked up on about this terrific WW2 mod called Day of Defeat. While I only had dial up back then, courtesy of iPrimus's $25 a month unlimited plan, the first map I recall actually playing was 'Beach', it was in one of the early DOD beta's and I'm pretty certain it wasn't the finished version as such but some earlier version was a prelude to everything else I'd play later.
I remember how dark it was, the beach was almost set at night time or dusk, that's how I remember it, I remember how graphically pleasing it was with my new Geforce 2. I liked the idea's it represented and I needn't wait too long for something else just like it.
And not too long after along comes Medal of Honour Allied Assault, I'd play this first in Single Player before moving from the hotel and getting a decent internet connection. I played MOH:AA every night after work until I completed the SP game and then in midst of moving house PC Power Play runs this article on Battlefield 1942. My jaw dropped, I called my gamer buddy - Straka, fortunately for him he had Optus cable and he downloaded the demo map - Wake Island.
A week after moving into Moonee Ponds I got a deal with iGreen for a shiny new DSL connection at a whopping 256Kb that included a modem and a 4Gb per month plan.
I played only a couple of MOH:AA MP maps and was amazed at the skill level everyone possessed, I had trouble just aiming with mouse and keyboard to a slight degree but I quickly got over this by going to internet cafe's every weekend to play Counter Strike.
Counter Strike had me prepped for more and within just a few months I literally forgot all about MOH:AA as all Straka and I could talk about was this new game called Battlefield:1942.
We even joined a clan for Battlefield, see *AUS* (Australian Universal Soldiers) and that worked out great.
For the time we were both at *AUS* we played the living shit our of Battlefield 1942, the clan even had divisions were your role was based, we had a Marines, Army, Air force groups.
The Marines would double as Navy, that's where I met Clintcom and Morden. Rev was in Air force and together all three divisions began working well together under the command of ST (Sexual Termite) and his older brother DSL's leadership.
All this time MOH:AA hardly got a look in, another chapter within *AUS* had a MOH:AA team, but after a year of operations more than half the team left, scattered some joined CAS (Curahee Assault Squad) and other great MOH:AA clans. The chapter leader whose name I forget tried to org pub sessions with me and pracs, but in the face of Battlefield 1942 it just couldn't compare.
I tracked the development of DOD in-between playing another Battlefield mods like CIS (Conflict in Somalia) and the best mod ever produced for BF1942 - DC (Desert Combat) who's dev team would work on BF2. For almost a fortnight the guys at *AUS* got the new Wolfenstein:Enemy Territory download, we couldn't believe that iD games would release this game for free and we soaked it up for a good 2 weeks before eventually winding our way back to playing more Battlefield and Battlefield mods than anything else.
MOH:AA MP didn't get played by me, neither did DOD beta or Wolfenstein:ET. I regret it but BF1942 was such an awesome game you just couldn't put it down, it really put the hook in me and no other game besides Call of Duty has affected me in that way since.
While Battlefield was already taking up so much of my time so were its mods.
After leaving *AUS* Straka and I got together with a bunch of cool guys and formed Drunkards in Combat. There was some conformity issues at *AUS* with not being able to play mods. It sounds weird to me now but that's what DSL wanted. From my position as a Lt. Officer in the clan he seemed so committed to us. Later we'd learn it was bluff. He told us he was going to prepare strats for every map out there and come next season, this would be GA season #2, we'd break into the top twenty for sure.Instead DSL was off beta testing Star Wars Galaxies the lying shit, he left Straka to run the clan with me and a few others.
Some people got the shits and started playing Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six.
I know everyone had just about had enough of the bullshit when DSL did return, he started by fucking up all the good social networking Straka had been doing in-between, Straka had even organised the first *AUS* Melbourne LAN party. DSL and Straka fought and their different ideas clashed and in the end some of us left the clan to form DIC. We grabbed Jamo in the last of the recruit/pledge posts and we were in business.
I won't go too much into the oral history of DIC other than to say we wanted to play Battlefield first and foremost and we also wanted to be able to play whatever the fuck we wanted, especially the Battlefield mods. The cornerstone of what made DIC so great for its early years remains in my memory Battlefield mods like EOD (Eve of Destruction) and FH (Forgotten Hope) and of course DC (Desert Combat).
There was some fierce competition back then, you really had to know the game really well, it took some serious skill, Oh and the clans in the GA league were pretty fuckin amazing back then, I remember the first ladder winners were from "1st" clan. They seemed to have come out of nowhere or perhaps they were purposefully formed, I don't know the exact details, but they were like Ninja's on the Battlefield, they deserved their name sake and they earnt my respect by winning the first ever Aussie ladder. As we progressed as a clan a new game caught everyone's attention, it was Call of Duty.
Some people in DIC, veteran members and such might have you believe that Call of Duty ruined everything. Depending on your perspective I'd use the term 'changed' everything and to add to that, for the better. For me it was the start of a love affair that would change me as much as it did the clans and people I played games with.
As stated earlier I regret missing the boat on MOH:AA, I didn't make the same mistake with Call of Duty, I got in on ground floor on day one. Call of Duty was an amazing piece of work, a beefed up Quake 3 engine built game and a really decent MP with good netcode, good hit box detection and weaps that shot straight. The first seasons on GA (Game Arena) were amazing, they organised 8v8 ladder competitions and each man had two nades, the format stayed this way until much later into season 2# when they started a 6v6 ladder. I'm pretty certain that there were at least 2-3 seasons of both 8v8 and 6v6 before GA adopted the international rule set of 5v5 and one nade.
COD saw some amazing teams come together during its heyday, with instalments back then at least 2 years apart, you could form a decent clan and the Aussie/NZ scene thrived. There were ladders everywhere, bush leagues mostly, but GA was the centrepiece on before CG (Cyber Gamers) was conceived. The teams I remember were X-Squad. CAS. Rcon. MN. 3M. AE. *R* RiF. GEN. VcW. VvV. RB. ADF. ANZAC. RQ. ASR. NA. AUS. PRAE. TEA. SASR. 506th. 82nd. and our mates from TOG.
TUB came along later in one of the 5v5 seasons, I can't remember which, but when DIC began to move into the Battlefield 2 I left for a time and went on to play my last competitive vanilla COD with them.
It's always fascinated me about the similarity between the three letter naming of graffiti crews and gamer clans, this too is similar in the sense of a tag and the name we play under.The reputation of a team was equally important and to be honest in the early days The Drunkards had a rough start, most of us didn't play MOH:AA and were avid BF1942 players.
What happened as we were learning the game those amongst that learnt it more quickly and became more skilful left either due to ego or internal clan politics. I was only ever Capt. for the briefest of periods, instead my role became oversight to the division as at our height we had two teams.
Two teams never work, they always become the good teams the shit team. Overseeing the teams I saw many people become Capt.'s and some even lead walk outs due to bullshit we should have straighten out early on. I've never been bitter about it though, I remained close to players even after they left and they still have my respect. It's funny how things come full circle the majority of COD1 players that I started gaming with have made their way back to DIC. DIC, as a community, remains a lighthouse for those that have left and we have an open door policy nowadays, come play, have fun, feel free to leave whenever and you're free to return whenever.
For those old school or veteran COD players it was a combination of things that made the Aussie community so great. For me it was the pubs. The good times being had in TDM on the 3FL server where Herr Frick and Hitler in a G-String were regular players. The trouble makers like Kenji who was universally hated ( a former DIC member) and the shit fights between DIC and the 506th.
And it wasn't all smooth sailing The Drunkards COD teams were rebuilt almost 3 times due to 2 walks out's, entire teams and individual players who felt they were wasting their time here.
It's the inherit struggle in this clan where we play for fun, shit's n' giggles, and we don't get too serious about competition all that often.
Despite the walk out's there's people I need to thank for their time here at DIC, first there's the Capt.'s I'd like to thank first - Ultramarine who lead one of second most successful teams in the history of DIC in COD who would go on to take the first walk out team to the finals as RQ (Rage Quit), Ultra didn't bail when individuals from the first team line up left, he stayed with it and made the team his own. Then I'd like to thanks Cupcake & cRy, these guys took their turns at being Captains and helped return DIC to being a competitive squad. cRy would go on to lead another walk out and go on to form nA (New Allegiance) who would later compete in vCOD finals.
These people made considerable efforts both as Drunkards and as other clans who have made the Aussie COD side what it was.
In-between the bullshit and fights there's some people from the past and early days of vCOD and CODUO who stayed with it I need to thank out of respect for those happy times.
My respect goes out to - Rookie (always watching Cafe). Warface. Moo. MasterJDoggy. Cannon Fodder. Ninja. Beno. Cry. Cuppy. Ironside. Padgo. Marge. There's more names too, they know who they are and I'd like to thank you all for your considerable input over the years.
Between vCOD and the arrival of BF2 the Drunkards would also play Call of Duty: United Offensive.
Master-J-Doggy would lead the COD:UO team through a mostly successful first season of COD:UO.
Along the way we managed to pick up Drunkards like Cannon Fodder, Ironside and the ever wonderful salty prick - Bitec and last but not least Sniper aka Gorgeous Phil.
These people would form the backbone of the clan in my missing years and it's the early experiences I had with them in COD:UO that mean so much to me.
COD:UO, like it or hate it was played by the majority of DIC COD players at one point or another and together we really turned some heads. We fought hard against 506th who we hated as their sphere of influence caused us to miss finals. We never forgot that. And perhaps it was hate that sustained us. But the glue that bound us all together was definitely Master-J-Doggy who in successive years, between himself and Cannon Fodder were the reason why DIC continued to have a Call of Duty division. My hat goes off to you both.
There's obviously more to say on the subject of COD teams from way back when to the COD teams of today. You can't and shouldn't compare the two but what I can say after being there is that they're both equally great in their respect for one another. It's a topic that's close to my heart and I could drone on about here some more given the time and I'm sure I will in future blogs.
What I've attempted to make apparent here is the relationship that a group of players all share to a game and the community that surrounds it.
For The Drunkards Battlefield and Call of Duty changed everything about who we are and have made everything that has happened since possible.
As Battlefield and Call of Duty remain cornerstones of the clan, The Drunkards as a community remain as a lighthouse to those of us that are elsewhere, forever welcoming back our mates to come play soldier and to drink a few along the way.
Please stay tuned for Part Three of this blog where I'll talk more on Regrets and Compromises.