Who is still around?




Posted by Strike

Looking around at posts over the last year, some of the greatest of the vets have made small re-appearances that make it apparent that, once in awhile, we all have this tendency to check up on the boards even if we don't have time in our lives to sim. I hadn't simmed in years, and I happen to be heavy into it at the moment, and out of curiosity I'd love to know who else pops their heads in... say hello! Let us catch up and all that. =)

Random Topic; Remember the old days when we used to actually NAME each and every attack before we did it, like a cheesy fighting game or anime? Awesomeness. I think I could pinpoint the time when we stopped doing that; it was when our boards began to mingle with other simming boards (all dead now) and we even scheduled tournaments and set up rules and judges.

Suddenly our little "Sim-battle" game turned into more of a writing stunt. Instead of naming our attacks, we focused more on their descriptions, defining them by the senses. The names themselves altogether vanished, although we ourselves might have named the attacks for purposes of dialogue or reference, they were not a pre-requisite to using the technique itself.

Odd how much we evolved since then eh? I think I'd die laughing if I saw some of my first and most noobish battles, before I got a lot of practice fighting Nido, Necro, Arwon, Elec, Guru, JLC, EF, X-halo, DK, Lunairetic, and countless other regulars and irregulars, and also a good heavy amount of total noobs.




Posted by S

I've got all my early battles saved. They're horrible. And I came much after the sim arena had established itself and fallen apart, so can't say I recall. :/

I still name my attacks though!




Posted by Strike

Hehe, I name all mine as well... I just don't have my character shouting them as a requisite to casting. =P




Posted by S

[color=black]I went through a phase where I did that for awhile. I'm through with it now though. The only requisite to cast is Sar's




Posted by Strike

Aaah, talking about spell-naming reminds me of Arwon... old-school all the way, and totally kick-*** while he was at it.




Posted by PaintItBlack

I miss the days when i used to sim and writing was a daily part of my life, even if it was just making up absurd dragon ball z inspired attacks and naming them. the thing is the sport evolved and grew and so did its participants and that was great to watch and be a part of. it's great to see some people lingering around so long since these boards could be considered "active."

simming inspired me to take writing a little more seriously and appreciate the art and that's something that even though i might not find the time to do it often anymore, it always keeps me coming back here to check up on things. I would really like to get a fight or two going, with short posts, just to get back into the habit of daily writing and reaction, the sudden creation of an unquantifiable piece of art. I wonder if anybody would be willing to appease this desire?




Posted by UncleYaris

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][COLOR="Yellow"]For me its different, since I used to battle back in the day years ago under another alias, then stopped for a good near decade, and picked it up again recently. to say im rusty is a bit of an understatement to be perfectly honest.[/COLOR][/FONT]




Posted by Breakman

i remember way back when i was all over sim battling...

i'm just not sure if i'd have it in me anymore if you guys really don't name your attacks like street fighter anymore and i wouldn't have my good pal zero omega to help me tag-team all the cool kids `-'

after I stopped sim battling at vgc/vgs I actually joined this thing called the Megaman MUSH which was actually pretty awesome but I wasn't attentive enough to keep my characters on there; it was basically a huge megaman roleplay that had a heavy focus on sim battling with its own little coded 'combat system' that supplemented the rp

sometimes i think about rping and crap again but boy am i lazy




Posted by Strike


Quoting PaintItBlack: I miss the days when i used to sim and writing was a daily part of my life, even if it was just making up absurd dragon ball z inspired attacks and naming them. the thing is the sport evolved and grew and so did its participants and that was great to watch and be a part of. it's great to see some people lingering around so long since these boards could be considered "active."

simming inspired me to take writing a little more seriously and appreciate the art and that's something that even though i might not find the time to do it often anymore, it always keeps me coming back here to check up on things. I would really like to get a fight or two going, with short posts, just to get back into the habit of daily writing and reaction, the sudden creation of an unquantifiable piece of art. I wonder if anybody would be willing to appease this desire?


I'm up for anything nowadays, shorter posts, longer posts, you name it and I'm in. =)



Posted by Strike

Now all of you returnees that used to Sim under another alias... would you be willing to let us know who you are, by telling us who you were? lol




Posted by PaintItBlack

i think my signature should reveal my identity if it's unclear. although this username is pretty old itself




Posted by UncleYaris

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][COLOR="Yellow"]Prof. Cranky Kong, The Black Ninja primarily. I think I had a few other accounts somewhere in there too.[/COLOR][/FONT]




Posted by Breakman

i've been breakman since like april 2000

i remember you strike but i prolly didn't sim nearly as much as you




Posted by Strike

Ah, well Breakman - don't compare yourself with ME, we all know I'm a freak that can't let this place alone for more than a couple months at most. =P




Posted by KluE

So, coming back from a year of absence, and about 4 years of absence before my brief return, I think I figured it out. Its been bugging me for some time, that this sim battling thing has all but died out, because whenever I have introduced someone I know to it, they're very interested in it and want to become part of it.

Unfortunately, not a single one of the people has ever followed through on their desire to try it. At first I thought it was the geek factor (don't deny, this IS pretty geeky from someone else's viewpoint, and I proudly proclaim my dorkdom), but then, after not a single one of the countless people I introduced to it followed through, I decided that probably wasn't the reason.

Now, looking at the battles that are up right now, the people that still check the boards, and this conversation, the real reason has definitely been staring me in the face this whole time! As Strike said, the old style of battle was basically announcing an attack, and the posts would just be description posts of said attacks. Once we stopped doing this, and actually focused more on the writing, it became less of a leisurely pastime that anyone could pop in and out of and just join up and try it out, and elevated our little sport into almost an art form. And, as with any art form, Simming has turned its focus from where it was when I originally started, which was almost solely the creative aspect, with very little focus on writing prowess, as long as the grammar was decodable (dont make fun of me, I know the grammar on this particular post is terrible :-P), it was more about the ideas. Now, the only people we have left here are the writers, the ones that helped push this pastime into an artform, and all we have left are a few people with incredible talent, and who know what they're talking about, regularly discussing someone's writing style's in terms of prose and rythym, and there is absolutely NO learning curve in this game, if any new people would even want to join, we've progressed to the point that they're only options are the incredibly talented and incredibly intimidating writers that are left wandering around this board.

And this isnt because the quality of the writers has improved dramatically, I can attest to that, because I was introduced to these boards and sim-battling by Divine Dragon (Major Mike, Ditto, whatever moniker he was last known as) and Necro, and my first battle was against Nido, back when he had first changed his name to Chiaro and no one had realized they were the same person. The fact is, I think, that we've progressed so far that its completely inaccessible for anyone to start now.

I think it would still be possible to revive this board... we'd just have to be able to focus it more on the idea's behind it and cultivate that aspect with new members, and reserve the really in depth writing and battles for the few veterans that are left...




Posted by Echo

I think KluE pretty much hit the nail on the head. Simming turned from just a fun little thing to do to an art form. I joined just before this change, and to be honest it was terribly intimidating. I distinctly remember there being regular simmers who sucked right along with those who were really great and those who were in-between. Now that middle ground doesn't really exist. You're either completely new, or you're one of the vets. That really kills the ability for the art/sport/game to grow. Hell, I've been out of the simming scene for so long that I'm sure I'm terrible now, and the thought of jumping back in is quite intimidating.

It's a sad thing, really, because I've always considered this to really be one of the greater forms of writing. Being able to write well not just with your own concepts but cooperatively and competitively is really impressive.

My personal reasons for leaving were mostly related to my own free time. I quit simming more or less when I went to college. My free time filled up quickly, so I just didn't have the time to make a good post. I'm also very critical of myself, so if it isn't a good post I have trouble making a post at all. Getting back into the game is something I'd like to do, but I honestly don't know if I have the time, and I'm certain that I don't have the skill anymore.


Also, /wave to everybody. I don't know how many of you remember me (Luna and Crono had better remember me!), but I certainly remember all of you. Good memories.




Posted by KluE

Thanks for the support, Echo. I think if we all make a concerted effort to start sim battle style fights in active RP boards, we may be able to revive our board a little bit. At the moment I've joined a couple of other very active RP boards where i've found some writers that have some potential, and Im attempting to spark some interest in our little artform, but I think we may be able to breathe some life into this board yet, if everyone does it, everyone puts VGC in their signatures in the other boards, and we make some new rules on this board, like stating at the beginning of the battle what type of writing it will consist of.

If we were to enact a different style of battle, as well as the kind we (kind of, when its active) do now, called unorthodox, if im not mistaken, we may be able to cultivate a sort of newbie, walk-through type style that could attract more people. Maybe keeping our own style, and stating we're fighting unortho, or "free-style," and having the other style be a more strictly structured type of unorthodox, where the new people here would have a chance to write with some of the veterans, and the battle wouldnt be so much judged on the actual writing of the battles, which seems to be the unwritten rule as it is, but more based on the attacks, and the basic idea of the attacks, and the willingness to convert away from the draw of the battle being the actual writing style and prowess of the battlers, but a more general outlook of telling a good story of a battle, which, from an objective viewpoint, seems like it may attract more people.

Basically, create a middle ground on our boards between the incredibly structured style of RP and the completely free flowing style that our board has, so we can start people looking at sim battle with some interest, breathe some life into our boards, and start converting people that are interested in the Writing aspect of the RP's that they normally do. Anyway, its just an idea, and I dont think I have the Clout here, or the basic idea of RP's to make it happen, but if anyone here wants to take up the mantle and help me make this happen by actually making a set of rules for a more RP style of battle, and help me recruit new members, please do!

I'd hate for our boards to remain dead, as they seem to have been for years now, because I love doing this, and I'd love to be able to continue doing this, even if its just sporadically. Unfortunately, at the moment, that isnt possible, so I'm going to try to commit to getting a community started here that will keep our board alive, and that has the ability to actively cultivate new members and bring them up to our standards, because I know most of my progress and writing came from reading what other writers were doing. If I did it, Im sure others can, we just need to give them the opportunity to by creating a system that will walk them through it and help them grow into their own writing style!




Posted by KluE

Thanks for the support, Echo. I think if we all make a concerted effort to start sim battle style fights in active RP boards, we may be able to revive our board a little bit. At the moment I've joined a couple of other very active RP boards where i've found some writers that have some potential, and Im attempting to spark some interest in our little artform, but I think we may be able to breathe some life into this board yet, if everyone does it, everyone puts VGC in their signatures in the other boards, and we make some new rules on this board, like stating at the beginning of the battle what type of writing it will consist of.

If we were to enact a different style of battle, as well as the kind we (kind of, when its active) do now, called unorthodox, if im not mistaken, we may be able to cultivate a sort of newbie, walk-through type style that could attract more people. Maybe keeping our own style, and stating we're fighting unortho, or "free-style," and having the other style be a more strictly structured type of unorthodox, where the new people here would have a chance to write with some of the veterans, and the battle wouldnt be so much judged on the actual writing of the battles, which seems to be the unwritten rule as it is, but more based on the attacks, and the basic idea of the attacks, and the willingness to convert away from the draw of the battle being the actual writing style and prowess of the battlers, but a more general outlook of telling a good story of a battle, which, from an objective viewpoint, seems like it may attract more people.

Basically, create a middle ground on our boards between the incredibly structured style of RP and the completely free flowing style that our board has, so we can start people looking at sim battle with some interest, breathe some life into our boards, and start converting people that are interested in the Writing aspect of the RP's that they normally do. Anyway, its just an idea, and I dont think I have the Clout here, or the basic idea of RP's to make it happen, but if anyone here wants to take up the mantle and help me make this happen by actually making a set of rules for a more RP style of battle, and help me recruit new members, please do!

I'd hate for our boards to remain dead, as they seem to have been for years now, because I love doing this, and I'd love to be able to continue doing this, even if its just sporadically. Unfortunately, at the moment, that isnt possible, so I'm going to try to commit to getting a community started here that will keep our board alive, and that has the ability to actively cultivate new members and bring them up to our standards, because I know most of my progress and writing came from reading what other writers were doing. If I did it, Im sure others can, we just need to give them the opportunity to by creating a system that will walk them through it and help them grow into their own writing style!