Stone Cold Crazy
This forum has been a social rollercoaster ride from day one, and what started as occasional online banter has seen me meet 2 members, and speak to another four on the telephone.

This is my truth. Please read it.

(Self indulgence alert).

I've been doing a bit of detective work, in order to dig out my oldest threads, because, to be honest, I don't remember when I joined.

Y'see, the forum's been pretty timeless to me. It's been a consistency since I first arrived. Having it change like this is, admittedly, rather strange. I'll still be on the new forum, and Lost, though I'll post a bit less, as UBB scares me. I fear being trapped in a big grey frame, and poked by the PCG staff, before being put into Matt's sandwich and eaten.

I'm not quite sure why I first looked at the forum. I guess I was bored. I popped over, and it seemed interesting enough. I was debating buying Ultima Online, so I figured that the best thing to do was ask fellow gamers, my peers, what their opinions of it were, and so I joined up to Delphi, and started my first thread on 29/06/2000:

http://forums.prospero.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=pcgamer&msg=3079.1 (see here)

I flitted around the forum, watching trends, and posting habits. I really didn't want to become just another newbie. I tried to keep out of the way of the PCG team, but still ask them the odd question. I figured they'd be busy a lot of the time. Observant people may have noticed that I was polite during this period, even curteous. At first, I tried to be brief, and perhaps poncy with a few posts. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but let my personality slip through. Many people were damaged.

I wanted to contribute something that everyone could enjoy, not just myself, so I decided to stick up the 'Short Quiz For The PCG Crew'. To my utter surprise, just about everyone responded. It was a damn interesting thread too, getting lot of crosstalk going... I was glad my 'Hotel PCGamer' parody was well recieved too.

Daytime chats absorbed my free time, featuring Dire Wolf, Dark King, and Patricia. Possibly the 3 earliest people to form a big impression on me. This was shortly followed by Owen, too, who got muchos respectos from me early on. I also got to flirt with the PCG team in aforementioned chatroom.

There was also another guy, hideously underrated, who used to pop into chats with me and be incredibly nice. That was Danny G. Everyone forgets about him too much. I cuss them bad.

I guess what I'm getting at is over summer, and especially since Xmas, I've had 'issues' and problems, of many types. I've suffered 'issues' on and off through school years, which once resulted in me taking excessive amounts of paracetamol, and having to go through counselling. Once again, I find myself in counselling now, and my situation in life not as rosy as I would like. Nevertheless, the PCGamer forum peeps, and friends made here and in Lost, have been an invaluable sounding board, morale booster, gentle shoulder and welcoming smile to me.

Since having a letter in In Short, in PCG, I've also been in BOF several times, won a spanky* webcam, played with*** the PCG team online, spoken to KG and KL on the phone, and generally got the feeling people give a shit about me. This has been an incredible morale booster to me.

I've been out drinking with Lord Thrawn, who's surprisingly nice and easy going. I've also called Avv and Patricia. Both are great.

I've slept in the same bed as Kaminskaite. Who I met here.

I haven't recently gotten angry with a packet of mints.

I have started one of the abysmal in-jokes, the 'euphemism'. Every single day of my life I will have this returned to me like a custard pie in the face. I also made a rather good Haiku thread, which I think got Haiku_Whore invented.

I feel proud of myself, I even think I've made a few people smile here. That makes me feel good. I hope I haven't been too elitist.

Basically, I should be grateful to everyone who's been so good to me. I'll be on the UBB board, bouncing around, making a fool of myself. I'll also still be writing short stories, CvP, music, and other bits on YourLost, some of which will be on www.whackme.co.uk. I also hope to do a 'zine with Avv over summer, somehow. He's very talented. I will also grace Everything Is Wrong and We Love Owen occasionally.

I can't remember to thank everyone, but, I feel I should thank (no order) Owen, Cerebus, Haymarket, Danny G. Avv, Roy W, Patricia, Lord Thrawn, Kamikins, Somniaty, Floyd, Red, Jess and Bobsy.

I also (s)extend muchos Koudos to those I feel I don't know quite so well, but still adore - Tim Ward, Tim E and Annabeth, The PCG Team, Dr Barnowl, Dark King, Beardboy, Visible Choirboy, Dire Wolf, Rob Medlock, DK-Mech, Red Avatar and Jaldo Dron.

Yes, if you aren't down here, and you should be, it's because I'm a tit.

If you want to send me money, email me and I'll give you my address.

Okay, that's it, sod off, I've said my piece. Take care. I'll see you on the new forums. Future's what you make it, etc etc.

Oh, and finally, for all you who wanted it so, here is Kate Little's phone number 0(Snip! - Ed).

*Not spunky. Was not used to photograph sexual acts.**

**Not yet.

***But we didn't have virtual sex. Although me and Kieron did have phonesex.

SCC

avv
Things I have loved.

Hello! Or perhaps more appropriately, goodbye! This is my farewell message: not to any
of the people who I care about most, because I shall be hounding them with in-jokes
well into the next few years, but to Delphi, which has facilitated these meetings -
meetings which have shaped my thinking, shaped my sense of humour. And my
increased fascination with bumming. Naturally. Delphi, we salute you.

This community is probably the most intense and dynamic I will ever take part in, and
the bringing together of "us" is something to cherish. Rarely do such a group of
like-minded people get to share what we have, and even though this is perhaps
uncharacteristically sentimental, and most probably an extremely wanky thing to say, I
genuinely hope that people take something away from this experience. Most certainly, I
will remember you lot for... ohh, at least a couple of years. Er, your gay.

Perhaps "things" is slightly misleading in the title, as I mean more "people". People have
made the threads, people have built this community. And this is a thankyou, more than
anything.

Thankyou for putting up with me, for tolerating what I find funny, and for not pointing
out too regularly the sources of all my jokes. Thankyou for not judging me on my
sexuality, thankyou for pointing out when I was full of myself. Thankyou for laughing
when I nudge you, and being nice even when you don't have to.

Special thanks to Stone Cold Crazy. I stop several times a day (okay, well not that
many times) so that I may wish to be more like you - I wish I had your compassion,
intelligence, humour and writing talent. I envy your conviction, ability to relate to people
and the fact that you have Kate Little's phone number. Thankyou for being able to suck
up three hours of my life in a telephone conversation without me even noticing that
they've gone.

Thanks to Owen, for making me realise that philosophy is what I want to do at
university, and showing me that people who look like Jude Law and have the brains to
match really do exist in real life. There is hope!

Thanks to Tim Ward. You have shown me what it is to be stupid.

Thanks to Bobsy. You are a brilliant person, and more talented than everyone I know in
real life put together (exclusing myself, naturally). Your consistant good demeanour and
optimistic outlook is exemplary for us all. "Do not turn shit", as Ste would say.

Thankyou to Oblong. You are, if not quite the voice of reason, the voice of contrary. If
anyone has prevented us disappearing up our arses (metaphorically, natch, as we are
naturally having gay bum sex all the time), it is you.

Thankyou Kieron. You're an arrogant, self-important rationalist, but I've never met
someone who is more right. I apologise for all the bad things I have ever said of you,
and I hope we will find a special place in the new forum where we can have virtual sex
whenever we like. Dicker!

Thankyou to Ste, for being my style mentor, and have met more famous people than
anyone else I know. I mean it when I say that I wish you were gay.

Thanks for accepting me, even though I posted all those anti-PC threads. Thankyou for
humouring my attempts to express complex, half-formed ideas. Thankyou for showing
me that a friendship over the internet can be strong. I have a dream, that in four years
time, we will all be sharing a house together in Bath. It's a happy dream.

avv

Sinkywinky (That would be an ecumenical matter)
I'll make my contribution despite the fact that I've been on Gamer for ages yet no one seems to ever remember me...

I'll miss the beards, sighs, your gays, smiting sticks, chubb chubbs, saluts, Oingy Boingys, euphemisms, dys's, arf's, faps, sarcasm and all the other bizzare stuff that has went on over the past months.

-Sinkywinky

Jez
I miss PCGF already. The final chat was manic and fucking brilliant. I cried when I refreshed the main screen and it came up 'closed for replies'. I'll miss it, but I'll be at the new place.

My lasting legacy is a series of (sometimes) connected words/sentences that got to 10,017 before Kieron closed it/put it out of its misery.

I'd like to thank eveyone who participated, especially Judderman and Jay, who made it reach important milestones without having the 'major' posts themselves. Thanks, guys.

And on a less selfish note, thanks to everyone, especially the daytime regs, for putting up with me. I love you all. See you in the new place.

Jez

James H
Well, bye PCG.

It's been shit, wicked, hilarious, but primarily fucking odd.

And goodbye to all those bitches on PCG who I won't see now I've quit Lost.
Thanks to 'da crew' for (finally, eh) pulling the forum up and getting rid
of most of the newbie bollocks.

Been real, guys.

Oh, before I go :
YOUR ALL GAY.

Cerebus Absentia (while drunk, natch)
Well its goodbye to PCG. Some would say its about time. Was it really a newbie infested scumpit or one of Delphi's finest creations? Will we ever know? Will we ever care? All I know is thaty as one of the oldest surviving members of PCG (kills castrator) I ought to say a few words. I joined a forum. I posted in the vilence and comp games thread. I avoided the Monstroooooooo thread. I watched, I waited. I finally began to post more, and got into chats with people. Most notably being one of Stone's first sexual partners, interupted only by the arrival of Annabeth, sweet girl (not as sweet as Jess though). And so things went on. My first thread was "violent golden oldies" trying to sing the praises of Quarantine, a fine game, as yet unsurpassed in terms of sheer violence and depravity. It made 4 posts (dies). And then, I kept my head down. Posting regularly, if not excelling. But then, then came KOPJ. It made me the man I am today. Or something. I went to the MaxBS forum and told them about KOPJ. I got banned from Delphi. I was not best pleased. Being told "Free Speech does not exist" motivated me in a way as yet unseen. I would go into chats religiously to tell poeple my account has been disabled. www.whackme.co.uk (yes that's www.whackme.co.uk) became a haven for the oppressed, I got into chats, telling them to add their names to my list, to protest at Delphi's draconian attitude. I met Floyd the Barber, explaining to him how I'd rule PCG with an Iron Fist given the chance. I met Haymarket, Boringman, D1skobox and Danny G. They all added their names to my ever growing list (77 at the last count). I made friends, good friends. Danbny G and I chased Floyd for miles to get the phone number of Jess, which I got in the end, through other means. I loved PCG. Then came the newbies. Lured like moths to the bright lights of the BOTF, they came. Shadowix invented the bearding, to ward off evil spirits. Little did he know he'd unleashed Pandora's box. Kennyboy3 left (I wonder who he masquarades as now....). Shadowix himself eventually slinked off like Oppenheimer. And the beardings got worse and worse (I even bearded Jess at one stage). And then, lo! I leave PCG. Lost has me in its tentacular like grasp. I am a mod! I have power! I can ban shits like Kingwalrus. Fianlly my evil master plan can come to fruition. Or something. I had my onw forum. Floyd was merely a puppet. King, a bum-servant. I stood posied to rule the world. Yet is was not to be. MY public, the losters I lusted after became abhorrant to me. Moaning whining bitches, unhapyy if someone chose to make thier sig bigger than what was deemed acceptable. And my faith crumbled. I turned to drink, and more drink and quit lost in a fury and started my own forum. Having relented and returned to the fold, I resumed my place as the puppeteer, controlling those underlings who pretend to have control. And so what comes around goes around and yet again I rule all with my iron fist and don't you forget it.

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{LOST}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{PCG}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

<bums everyone, cos you're all lovely, even kickthedog who I banned the other day>

FreeSatPal
I've just learnt of the imminent closure of PCGF, and I'm deeply saddened by this.

I first came to PC Gamer forum in December 1999, now a distant memory, but I remember how glad I was to have found this small internet community. I left, returning from time to time, for about half a year, then returned in Summer 2000 under the name Jet Jaguar, which was when I first really began to make my presence known. I soon became a "regular", and started to get along with the warm, friendly locals: people like Haymarket Martyr, who caused me to become an anarchist following his replies to my favorite thread of all time, "Communism is great"; Bobsy, who at the time was in his element as bearding really began to gain popularity; avv, who introduced me to "YOUR GAY"; Owen and Lord Thrawn who gave me a very kind welcome after my long absence. There were many others, many of whom are no longer with us... Kennyboy, Hull Fire et al.

Under various aliases I saw PC Gamer through good times and bad... the "Golden age" of July and August 2000, when debates about every subject under the sun raged between people like Haymarket and Tim W... the reign of Sootyfighter, KingWalrus, Biotech and some of Ugly Ho's many incarnations... the infamous KOPJ incident. Even when things felt bad, they was still a great sense of community and friendship, and even "newbies" were treated with quite a bit of respect as long as they acted sensibly (I was a member of FON at one time).

I was saddened to see the forum collapse into badness. I saw a once proud community destroyed by the mindlessness of new people and division between the old. Floyd created Lost, but it wasn't, is not, and never will be the same as it was here in the good old days. Good, but not the same.

To me, closing PCG is like bulldozing the ruins of a once-great castle. It's a tragedy. The new forum is no consolation, it's this place (albeit virtual) that I have so many memories of.

PCGF, you will not be forgotten. I salute you.

Epilogue- Since I wrote this, I've discovered that the new PCG is actually quite nice, in many ways. Go there, and make it even better. (Don't listen to him! He's mad! - Ceb)

http://forum.pcgamer.co.uk