"This shrine is a more complex creation than we might like to think. It does not only give us sanctuary, away from the harsh world. It does not only give us a place to converse with those like ourselves. The shrine, is a magical place, with a history all its own. No creation of man deserves to exist without having its entire life kept forever in our hearts, archived by data that will last forever. Come now, and witness the events, sights, and sounds, that made the shrine what it is."
April 1, 1997
"On this date, the first version of this forum opened, bearing the name 'The Electronic RPG Forum' and greeting visitors with the following message."
Hello, and welcome to the inception of the Electronic RPG Forum! This page is an open forum dedicated to one of my favorite obsess...er, pasttimes: video role-playing games, whether they be PSX, Super Famicom, PC, single-player, multiplayer, wonderful, banal, or merely the figment of someone's imagination!
The background behind this page:
Having a whole host of better things to do during this wonderful Spring Break, I decided to ignore them and surf the Web instead. Cheerfully atropyhing my muscles and mortgaging my future browsing some of the videogaming boards, I began to get annoyed by the fact that the boards I was reading looked a little like this:
(Note: NOT my real board! =)
So I got an idea. Secure in the knowledge (laboring under the misconception?) that your average RP-gamer is usually fairly mature, or at least not a wild flamer, I decided to start a board dedicated to electronic RPG's! And, after a number of false starts and missteps relating to servers, learning HTML (sort of), CGI scripts, and general ignorance, here's the board.
A few simple rules:
Other than that, feel free to write about almost anything RPG-related. I've posted a few of my latest observations, gripes, and questions below; respond to those, or post one of your own. And most importantly, have fun!
"Despite such an auspicious natal day, the forum soon found a core of regular posters. But Anders, as he was then known, increasingly became dissatisfied with the plain, simple look of the page..."
April 27, 1997
"A few weeks after the opening of the forum, visitors to the forum were surprised to find me welcoming them to a blue, calming page bearing the name 'The Aqua Demesne,', instead of the once-bland forum they had come to know. A links page was added, and I was created to guide posters around the site."
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"But after several months, chaos began to invade the sanctuary with the release of a game called Wild ARMs. A steady stream of wanderers began to pour in, defeaning all with their cries for help. And so then-Anders decided changes must be made to keep this refuge as pristine and soothing as possible..."
July 13, 1997
"During the week immediately prior to this day, Anders had secretly begun constructing the framework for a new site at a secret location. On the 11th of July, he shut down the Demesne and teleported everything to that location - the depths of space. The next two days were times of frantic work for the site's keeper, as he rushed to prepare the new halls for the return of visitors."
"Finally, Anders opened this OtherWorlds Shrine to all comers with a new layout, a new script, and a new name for himself - Mental. It featured the use of frames to make navigation easier, split the site into two forums to keep the cries for help from deafening intellectual discussion, and added a number of new features to the forums' script, such as making messages viewable before posting, adding a no-text message feature, and providing an easy way to inform others of plot spoilers in messages - and, of course, the site was given the usual reorganization and graphical facelift.
"With this framework in place, Mental was able to turn his attention to something entirely new..."
October 28, 1997
"Unfortunately, the twin demons of Apathy and Part-Time Job, always present, assaulted Mental viciously with their hordes soon after the opening of the Shrine, and so caught up was he in battling their foul minions that rarely was he even able to escape and visit his sanctuary, much less improve it. At long last he triumphed over the spectres, first one, then the other...only to be suddenly catapulted into a strange new realm, the likes of which he had never seen before, bearing the sinister name of UNIVERSITY. As he fought a pitched battle for the survival of his very soul, it seemed for weeks that the Shrine might never see its creator again...but gradually, bit by bit, Mental learned how to survive in the new and fearsome world, and even how to escape and find time to return to his sanctuary. And finally, having learned that the best way to cope with the monsters Problem-Set, Paper, and Midterm is simply to ignore them, Mental was able to add the Mini-Biographies section that he had long promised. And soon, perhaps, something of real significance would be forthcoming..."
December 18, 1997
"With the combination of a newly installed forum script, courtesy of SineSwiper, and refugees from an inflamed PSX gamers' forum, the shrine experienced a flood of popularity that surpassed even 'The Great Wild ARMs Days'. Only this time it was not the cries for help that filled the shrine; it was threads of intelligent conversation that reached 200 posts a day! While Mental liked the newcomers and increased popularity of the shrine, he was really worried about the limited space available to it."
"It was then that Mental gave the go-ahead for SineSwiper to move the forum over to his section of cyperspace, Supreme Intelligence Software, which had more than enough space for both to thrive in. While the old shrine continued its function, SineSwiper reworked the message script and created a new and better shrine. Crono stepped in and painted the halls of the shrine, using his talents of graphics design. He added the Game Thought forum as well, to ease the tension of the messages. And Mental...well, Mental, with his sword in hand, was battling the evil monster called Midterm which refused to be ignored, but soon returned to see the improved shrine. With the new shrine in place, future plans were in the making..."
January 10, 1998
"With a renewed interest in sharing our gaming opinions with people, the Game Reviews forum was created. This gave the shrine's members a chance to voice their opinions, be they negative or positive. With the amount of daily messages slowly increasing, pressure was on for the shrine's maintainers, Mental, Sine, and Crono. Nevertheless, they persevered through tough times, and cluterred message boards, and all of our long time friends remained part of the forum. Little did they know that the previous problems were only a sign of things to come."
March 11, 1998
"The forums were booming, popular as ever. Unfortunately, the large size was also attributed to a certain few people who enjoyed using the board for their own personal speaking box. In a truly sad event, Mental left the lofty position of 'shrine maintainer' in the hands of others, signing the place over to be maintained by Crono and Sineswiper. Though he shall be missed, his reasons for departure were not a mystery. The Shrine was created for a purpose, and after a while it was so incorrectly used that it became a place of sadness. In an attempt to alleviate the problem, the accused main cause of the trouble was banned, the first banning of a regular poster in the Shrine's history. In order to bring back the peace we once knew, Crono vowed to lay down rules that would be enforced if needed. On top of this, even more forums were added to calm the recently awakened desires of the posters. A forum for questionaires, and a forum for daily discussion. Certainly this could help keep the Ruminations board at a decent size, though only time will tell..."
April 1, 1998
"Well, what a year it has been. The shrine celebrates its first anniversary today. So many memories have been shared among our countless, beloved members, and they are truly the items that make this place so special. It seems like aeons ago, that we first stepped into this uncharted section of the great world wide web. A brave man, with a dream, set out to create a refuge for roleplayers of all kinds. He dreamed of a place where intellectual discussion ruled supreme, and the joy of discussion was shared in a peaceful environment. On this joyous day, a message will be created to look back on the days that preceded, and it shall be forever inscribed into the walls of the shrine. There have been some tough times, but we persevered, and have accomplished what no other forum could before us, establishing a feeling of balance. It is rare that friendships can survive in this mysterious new digital frontier we call the internet. Andrew's friends shall keep the shrine alive, in his name, for eternity if needed. So many games have been released into our world, so many topics have come and gone, but one thing remains... our friendship. Here is wishing for health, happiness, and many great years of friendship to come."
June 1, 1998
"The shrine has been a joyous place of late. The new rules layed down months ago were difficult at first, but everyone picked them up quickly, and the place has been brighter ever since. The worst things to complain of have been small squabbles, which have all been resolved with no hurt feelings. In the tradition of keeping everything orderly, Crono decided to hold the first annual summer overhaul of the shrine. The forum descriptions were all revamped, as well as all the separate smaller pages. The index and main pages were revamped as well, along with the frames system. The graphics were refreshed to make them all nice and neat."
"Also, Sine greatly helped out by making a new and even better version of the message script. Two new forums are being added, as well. The Creations forum finally arrives, as well as the Magus Dawn forum, brought on by large interest in the upcoming RPG."