History of NMA

[welsh]

Ok, I found NMA because I had just gotten into Fallout 1, mostly because a friend had said the game was great. He was right but I wanted more info.

I think I found NMA from the links at interplay's official site. I have floated around the other boards a bit (UV, Vault 0 and a few of the others). Being interested in roleplay I have spent much of my time there as well as on GD.

I remember getting roasted by Rosh once or twice on the old boards. So new folks, remember, getting roasted by Rosh is something of a right of passage.

I stayed here because I thought then, and still do, that this is the best of the fallout fan sites. I became a moderator, then got to be a mod on some of the forums, before coming to GD. Then I got the bump up to moderator and then Admin. This has becomes a much gentler and friendly site over the years. Which is probably for the best.

I have not been here as long as some of the others, but the regular poster I miss most- probably the recently departed Ugly John.

 

[Per]

For the average visitor, what brought you to NMA, what makes you stay?

My recollection is a bit hazy (we're talking five years back), but I think I was so impressed with Fallout 2 that for the first time I found a reason to actually go further than just playing the game. As for how I found NMA, I think I simply identified it as the top Fallout site as I hunted around for walkthroughs. I stay because I'm still dedicated to the games (and have quite a lot of work invested in them), because NMA is still the #1 Fallout site with no competition to speak of, because my long-time primary socializing spot on the net sort of went stale in the last couple of years, and because I realized there's some pretty funny and smart people here (yes, I mean YOU! No, not you).

For the old timers, the same questions but further. How has the site changed since you first came here?

Do I count as an old-timer? Honestly I can't say how the board has changed in terms of mood and attitude, since my first and second sojourns were spent entirely or almost entirely in the game help forums (back then there were separate ones for Fo1 and Fo2), saying things like "No, there is no Sulik's sister. No, there is no Holy Hand Grenade. NO, GODDAMMIT, THERE IS NO HYDROGEN BOMB". Oh yeah, that's one thing that changed gameplay/tech pretty much: we now have infinitely more certain knowledge of game scripts and functions than we did back then. (Heck, we've got a modding revolution going on before our eyes with the advent of dude_obj and others.)

What role have you played in making the site what it is?

Probably my greatest contribution is that whenever someone asks a noob question in the help forum, people throw my walkthroughs in their face. Gratifying.

Any fond memories?

At the risk of coming off as an asslicker, the one constant through my sessions on NMA has been Rosh butchering stupid and/or obnoxious people, which I've found refreshing especially when contrasted with other venues where stupidity and 1337ness were either allowed to run rampant or else the usual state of things. Bit controversial topic to say the least and I'm not saying that everyone deserved everything, but it always seemed that you could get by just fine with common sense and common courtesy - or at least I did.

Who do you remember being incredibly active that is now gone?

Well, there was a whole other crew a few years back. Some random names I remember: Shadowman, Saboteur, Rock-in-a-sock, Torr, APTYP, JR Jansen, whitechocobo666, Starseeker... About the only people I can think of at a moment's notice who are here now that were here then are Welsh, Briosa and of course Rosh. Don't really miss anyone in particular since the forum didn't fill a social function for me then.

 

[Sytxferryman]

I have bee coming here for I'de say the last year regularly. Came here origionaly waaaaaaaaaaaay back when F1 came out (looking for a walkthru for the Glow and radiation avoidance I can remember as it kept killin me when playing chess with the computer below ) and I dont remember where excatialy but I think I got the tip of extended gameplay by editing your action points to a high lvl so you can kill the vault overseer and then run away from teh vault before combat ends to keep playin but I think it was here, that one helped me alot)

The forums though, I tried to register a couple of times... starting a a bit over a year ago but my e-mail is such that I cant get in (what can I say I move a bit and this is the easiest way for me to keep one basic easy to remember e-mail, totaly understandable though as yahoo is a f2p e-mail service) Unfornutaly it didnt hit me to e-mail a couple high-up moderators until lately (nice as they are ) so here I am now And verry glad to be here.

 

[Jebus]

I had NMA bookmarked for news for a long time, but hadn't really posted untill a year ago. I might have done some roleplaying in a very, very distant past - although that might as well have been on DAC. Don't remember.

When I went to live 'on my own' in Gent - where I study - I felt kinda lonely at times. You can only go out that many nights a week, and you can only bother your neighbours that much - so I discovered the internet. 'T wasn't long before I joined NMA.

 

[SkynetV4]

Hmm, I am not ancient. I think I first started visiting this website a little after Fallout 2 was released. I remember a few people because of the threads they spawned: Max (for that shit-slinging fest where they kept calling each other names and ignoring each other's points which ended with Rosh losing moderator status because Shadowman got pissed off because Max's account was deleted and he thought Rosh had done it), APTYP (his infamous You Suck! thread where he essentially told every one to go fuck ourselves and gave us the shaft only to return a few months later), Katja (she kept saying she's not attractive until she posted her picture.....not attractive, my ass. She is grade-A beautiful woman. ), Joe's Cafe (nasty one, a silly thread about Fallout multiplayer ended up with Rosh dissecting Joe's life (Joe wanted to study military journalism and Rosh suggested he study engineering instead. Joe came back a bit later thanking Rosh (the first case of sodomy where the sodomized thanks the sodomizer), Xotor (very knowledgeable and even-headed, didn't remember him roasting anybody, rather he was a philosopher flame warrior who educated people.) and Doyle (that horrible thread where he offered gay buttsecks to whomever could buy him a new monitor). Damn, I feel old.

 

[Per]

Katja (she kept saying she's not attractive until she posted her picture

Where? Where? Where?

 

[KQX]

Katja (she kept saying she's not attractive until she posted her picture

Where? Where? Where?

It use to be here, but image is gone. Maybe you can fap to the replies to her pic.


But that post wasn't too ancient. I was more interested in that ARTYR post Skynet described, since i did have some vague recollection about it. So here, i dug it up:

ARTYR's goodbye

I think we should all try digging in the archives for lost treasure. It'll elicit more memories...precious NMA memories.

 

[Starseeker]

LOL


Ahhh..., the memories..., or the lack thereof...

*waves to older member of the board*


I believe I joined around late 98.

I bought the bundle pack of FO1 & 2 and decided to learn more about such a unique game.

I think I joined NMA first, then V13 a quick while later.

UV was hosted at V13 at the time, and that's when I dive into the abyss of madness. Of course, it's a lot more NMAish now, since new members are rare, and the villagers became a bit more cynical than I remembered.

Anyway.

The reason I stayed ...., I am not really sure, I guess it's because I've made some friends and enjoyed the conversations/discussions here. The members here seemed more witty, polite(compare to the Cloud 1337 RPG boards which was comprised of - you suck, no you suck..), and mature.

V13 was more active than the NMA at the time, and it was more of a place to talk about random things, and rant. It was the biggest site for FO information, and people can talk about the latest development or the lack thereof. And it did contain a lot of younger members who stayed away from NMA because they were either ignored or roasted here.

UV was the only "clan" that had the highest percentage of female members. I was intrigue by this, because this game clearly had a male audience in mind. I wanted to find out who and why they played the game. I ended up staying.

V13 split after a while because of a deep argument between some older members, and they were not to be talked into changing their minds.

After the split, the refugees fled everywhere, some drifted here, others go to other sites. The only name I can recall from there is Kotario (and another guy name The comic book guy?)and(I am not sure about whether Briosfreak and Ozy is from that time any more) Tank. Kotario went to the Knights of the Command(not sure of the name), and Tank ended up to DAC.

I joined DAC at the time, but I didn't post much until Tank talked me into starting a psycho counsel board in the DAC. My memories are hazy at that period since I don't remember if I was a mod or was Tank the one in charge or was it someone else? I became active there, since psy was my major, and tried to help out with some of the fellow player's suffering.

The board didn't last very long, since lots of the younger members in DAC keeps going in to mock other's sincere pain/anguish with stuff like you should commit sucide and such. After a major case on my part, the board was deleted from DAC. And I left.

I can't remember, but UV got hosted by either NMA or DAC for a short while before one of the member decide to provide a space. I followed that as well. But another argument ensued over a villager with the owner of the board, and he decided to pull the plug. We are now self hosted through donation by ourselves.

NMA went through some big changes. But the only 2 I can recall is the time when V13 just got shutted down, and lots of refugees came here, resulting in a flood of new members. And the second time is the time when the board rolled over to the new host.

After the host changed, I got a bit lazy, and didn't really try very hard to register. Briosfreak dragged me back, promising veteran treatment, and free dental. I didn't get the free dental, so I am still hanging that over his head. After I came back, life got busy and I got a bit lazy to check the posts. So most of the new members don't really know me. I just lurked most of the time, and only came out for a bit comment and such.

And now here we are.

What role did I play...?

Not sure. I remember I was the only other token Canadian along with Ugly John. And I was the only Asian on the board for a long while. Other Asians came in from time to time, but due to language difficulties, they never stayed long. Mr. Bhass(not sure) was the only other committed member, and he was from Indoesnia. We had interesting talks with other people about the difference between the east and west. So I guess I played the a role that tried to provide different perspectives on discussions here.

I recall that I was the one of the few that battled through some of the earlier version of Per's FO2 guide. Since this was before we had a lot of tools to work with, lots of discussions and trials ensued. I also tried to encourage him and constantly market his guide to people who asks in-depth help. I don't think I ever properly thanked him for the superb job he did, and all the time he spent on experimenting because I made a counter point to his hypothesis. I recall the discussion on the caravan, the lingual enhancer, the fade out bug, the too many items bug, the shadow who walks quest, the sharpshooter and living anatomy, and lots of others.

I should thank Per for the excellent job he did, and his persistance even though not a lot of people visited his in-depth discussion posts during the construction of the guide.

Fond memories?

LOL I recall the time when welsh and per were still whipper snappers. I recall Rosh speaking Japanese at one time to my utter shock and amazement. I recall having some nice discussion in the fan fic board with the Illuminati ( can't recall if this was a person or a clan of sort). I recall some good discussions about the situation about Taiwan, China and the ASEAN area. I recall the often missed "what new perks would you like to see in FO3" thread. The infamous sex addict trait/perk was amusing. I don't recall who said it, but I rememeber those words well, "Cock Rocket! FIRE!"

Oldies who are now gone?

Most are already mentioned. APTYP, JR Jansen, whitechocobo666, Xotor, Shadowman, and of course Miro. I kinda enjoyed the discussion we had with Mr. Bhass. I did Not know Ugly John had left. I am sad to hear he is gone.

For the old ones who are now gone, I bid you adiu. I wish you luck and success for whatever you may pertake in your life, and I hope you come back to see us once a while.

For the new ones who aren't here for very long, I welcome you. I hope you enjoy this place as much I as I do, and hopefully you can last long enough to write a memoire like us.

For the oldies who are still here, I should say thank you, for putting up with me and endured me for so long. And tolerated my English after my car crash even though I don't write so well any more. Your virtual companionship is well appreciated.

A toast to all that was, is and will be, may us have many more.

ps: I have a pic of kat, if someone is willing to host it, I'll post it. Since per is so interested, it's bad to let him down.


8)

Edit: sorry, didn't mean to confuse anyone in the names.

 

[Per]

Maybe you can fap to the replies to her pic.

Hmm, I think there is perhaps better fapping material than that... on the Internet.

Not sure but maybe!

I think we should all try digging in the archives for lost treasure. It'll elicit more memories...precious NMA memories.

Here's one thread on the honourable pastime of rock collecting.

and where exactly pray tell do thou keep all thouse rocks?

In the boot of my car. Geez, what are you, some kind of non-rock collector?

I liked those last words so much I immortalized them in my guide. I also like R-i-a-s's sig.

Here's a guy that started three threads in one day, subtly changing the subject line depending on the answers he got. However did people get by without the Vats?

And here's another thread I found to be funny.

 

[The Vault Dweller]

Wow...this history is like a post-apocalyptic drama! I love reading this!

@ Per: Ya know...I actually did notice that each special encounter had a rock. I began to collect them after that as well as the uranium, gold, and anything special I could find. I just love hoarding things both in real life and in role-play.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller

 

[Shadowbird]

ps: I have a pic of kat, if someone is willing to host it, I'll post it.

http://imageshack.us?

 

[Tannhauser]

After the split, the refugees fled everywhere, some drifted here, others go to other sites. The only name I can recall from there is Kotario (The comic book guy?)and(I am not sure about whether Briosfreak and Ozy is from that time any more) Tank. Kotario went to the Knights of the Command(not sure of the name), and Tank ended up to DAC.

So nice to be remembered! Nice to see you again Starseeker. By the way, if you want to host an image, I've found ImageShack works well. (Edit: Well, I see it was suggested while I was posting.)

Comic Book Guy was someone else, I think he just disappeared once Vault13 shut down. I wonder what happened to him?

If anyone is interested in my history...
Well, I lurked for over a year before becoming active anywhere in the Fallout community. I believe I first found the Fallout fansites in 1999, but I don't remember quite when I started posting. On No Mutant's Allowed old boards I must have posted less than a dozen times, I ignored Duck and Cover while it was GameSpy, and was most active on Vault13.

When Vault13 shut down, I went over to Duck and Cover (after it distanced itself from Gamespy), and helped in Feelings Online, with Tank, K~G~T, Haplo, Starseeker, and a few other key members. Eventually, when it became obvious that the Duck and Cover administration really wasn't going to support Feelings Online, but had not yet deleted the forum, Haplo created his own website for the Feelings Online group; Knight Command Post. After a year and a half (I think), it became obvious that KCP would never take off, Haplo didn't pay for keeping the site up. After that, I came here, and have been active ever since. I've been active in one place or another rather constantly (with a few months hiatus when switching forums at some points).

In addition, parallel to all this, I've been a member of the Fan Made Fallout team. From the very beginnings on Vault13, to it's move to KCP and then it's own website. That's been three years now on that project.

One interesting thing I remember was on Vault13. Fan Made Fallout had it's own private forum, but the permissions were messed up. I was given access to the secret Moderators forum on Vault13. I made a post there pointing out this error, and was told to keep quite about it and not post there again, no one ever bothered trying to sort out the permissions so I didn't have access to that forum.

 

[Starseeker]

Here is a pic of Kat.

Don't go bothering that quiet girl now, she had enough problems as it is.

Thanks for the recommendation.

Sorry about the confusion Kotario. I meant that as another name that popped into my head. I couldn't really forget one of the few actual anime fan in V13 now, could I?


I remember now, some of the stuff came back after you mentioned the name feelings online. And K~G~T.

I recall I had a space called the Cafe' of Dreams(instead of broken dreams).

I remember after we split from DAC, you (Kotario) tried to get me to join KCP. I did join, but I don't think I posted at all, a few posts at best.

I am sorry to hear it got shut down. I apologize for any problems I might have caused when I wasn't able to contribute that much. I was suppose to be one of its founding members and all, but alas, life got busy, and shitzuku keeps happening at the time. That was actually a really great idea, and we did so well at begining. I recall I was able to help someone overcome a severe depression, which was a really great feeling. I should have saved those discussions, and used it as an example for the new site.

I also seem to recall I left suddenly just after I picked up a case in KCP. I am really sorry about that. Kotario, if you ever see the old band again, tell them that much.

I wonder if we can do that here. I recall a general discussion thread where everyone was talking about their hopes and ideas, and welsh made another thread asking why there are so much members having similar problems.

Life, even virtual ones, seen strangely real from time to time, since in a way, that was a record and a part of my life.

Peace.

 

[Per]

UV was the only "clan" that had the highest percentage of female members.

Or allegedly female members...

And I was the only Asian on the board for a long while.

We had Pennyliu123 from China here in October, but he/she has posted very sporadically since then.

I don't think I ever properly thanked him for the superb job he did

Where's my free dental work?

Where?

ps: I have a pic of kat, if someone is willing to host it, I'll post it. Since per is so interested, it's bad to let him down.

Thanks for the pic, she looks perfectly fine. She also looks like she might not think so herself. But that's none of my business etc.

 

[clercqer]

ps: I have a pic of kat, if someone is willing to host it, I'll post it. Since per is so interested, it's bad to let him down.

I noticed she hasn't posted for a while... Is she one of the goners too then?

 

[calculon000]

I'm going to reveal something about myself, up until around 2002/2003, I didn't know about forums. I mean I used the internet, and didn't know what they were. (I didn't even use any chat program until around 2002) I used the internet for game cheats, game demos, and game info, and that's pretty much it. For me, everything before 2004 is a blur, I'm not sure when I started using the internet, or first found NMA. If I want to see what year I first did something, if there is no written/digital record of it, then I have to put the few memories I do have clearly together and figure it out:.
-So I think that I first found NMA in 1998 or 1997, because I remember buying Vampire: Masquerade Redemption when it came out in 2000 and Homeworld when it came out in 1999, and this was after I remember playing Fallout and going to sites about it.
That being said, here goes:

When did you first come to NMA?

Back around 1998 or 1997, I used the internet for game cheats, game demos, and game info, and that's pretty much it. I would go to Pcgameworld.com and Happypuppy.com and download random game demos because I wanted new games but my parents wouldn't buy then for me. (I'm only about 13-14 years old at this point, so no money of my own. Born 1986.)

NMA was one of several sites I went to when I wanted info for Fallout, others included DAC and a couple others I think. For a while I read all the easter eggs they had listed about the game, and visited the humor section. (And even submitted a few items for the "You are a Fallout junkie if" list, which never got posted. )

I can't really remember when I first learned about forums, but I think it was around 2003. (I was a noob until very recently, I know.) I know it was around 2003 because when I was 16, in the summer of 2003, I got an account on Newgrounds.com and my first BBS post is dated 6/19/03 04:48 PM. This was the first post I ever posted on any internet forum. I know I had tried several times to join the NMA forum, but with no success because I only had a hotmail E-mail account. Sometime in late 2003/early 2004, I got a Canada.com account, which I used the next time I attempted to join NMA in feb 2004. That was when I registered.

What is your history in NMA?

I had a huge gap in posting that ran from Tue, 30 Mar 2004, to Wed, 6 Oct 2004 (Gogo gadget digital records!)
Starting in the summer of 2003, I became a little obsessed with Newgrounds.com and it literally became my start page. I started making flash movies during the summer, then games around the new year of 2004. I made a little game during Christmas break, 2003 where you just run over random people in a car. Next, I started work on a game where you are a stickman and you shoot people called Sudden Attack 2. This obsession with Newgrounds.com ceased when I joined NMA and I eventually switched my start page to it.

The story of Fallout Tycoon Rebirth:
I had somehow found out about a game called Fallout Tycoon made by some Polish guy. It was still in development and the basic premise was Simcity meets Fallout. This was like the combination of my two favorite games and so I started checking the site regularly for the next set of screenies or a demo and eventually, the final product. I finally did play it and I thought it was kind of fun, but the fact that most of the text in the English version was in either polish or badly translated English made me want to scream. This game could be so fun if you could just figure out what the hell was going on.

So I tried to do better. I started Fallout Tycoon 2 and posted a thread about it in NMA, VDHP hosted media about it, so I’d like to thank them for that. Originally, the game was going to be made in macromedia flash. (A animation program to make a city simulator, durr) At this point, flash was the only program which I knew how you get to display graphics on the screen, and so it was what I was going to use. Later, the people who had made Fallout Tycoon E-mailed me and told me that they were making Fallout Tycoon 2 as well, and requested me to change the name of my project. I thought that since they pretty much came up with the idea of Fallout Tycoon, I should accommodate them. I asked people in the Fallout Tycoon 2 thread what I should change the name to, and among a few other suggestions, a guy named Thorgrimm suggested the name “Fallout Tycoon: Rebirth”, citing how it was kind of like the rebirth of civilization. I agreed and that became the new name. Later he told me that that he got the name from his Civ3 mod, “Rebirth of Civilization” (Which back then he had not told anyone about).

Now I need to sidetrack again. You see, when I first started playing computer games around 1994, there was this one game called Dreamweb that I used to play. It was a Cyberpunk Adventure game set in the near future (Which for all I know could have been 2004 or something). It was THE most atmospheric game ever made, period, and I think that’s what made me drawn to play it again years later. Since about 2002, I had been trying, unsuccessfully, to play it on a modern computer using windows XP. Finally, in 2003, I convinced one of my friends, Graham, to give me an old dell made in 1996 that was sitting in his closet, unused. I set it up in my room and installed windows 98 on there and it finally ran Dreamweb, but without sound. I had to have sound, I just had to, and this is where I resume my story.

I continued working on Fallout Tycoon: Rebirth (FTR) until mid March 2004, which at that point I decided that Dreamweb might run with sound on my new computer if I installed win98 on a dual boot menu. Thing is, I used the dos6.2 fdisk for resize the partition on my hard drive, which deleted everything I had. I had backed everything up on a backup partition, but not on CD’s. I lost everything and was pretty much given up on the idea of continuing FTR. People who really wanted this game to see the light of day convinced me to continue working on it, and since it was all gone anyway, I decided to start it over in C++ instead.

At the end of March, I realized that I wasn’t getting any work done at all on Sudden Attack 2, and so I switched back to Newgrounds obsession mode, thus began my 7-month lapse in posting. (I only posted 4 posts during this time).

I returned in October when I read that people thought I had bailed on FTR. Life got in the way, I WILL get to it guys, as soon as I’m done Sudden Attack 2.
[/story about FTR]

Since then, I’ve basically been working on Sudden Attack 2 (Still) on and off, and as soon as that’s done, it’s on to FTR. I sometimes participate in debates and discussions, but never get too deeply involved, because by debating skills are pure shit compared to some of the people here, and I have a fear of being intellectually humiliated. (Don't hurt me Rosh!)

How I joined the order:
In my time at NMA, I’ve always been tempted to post in the order, but I thought it was against the rules if you weren’t an orderite. Once I saw other non-orderites (Known as “straight” people to a lot of people in NMA ) I began posting there. I eventually joined the order on Jan 11, 2005.

Why do you stay at NMA?

99% of people on the internet are dumbasses, NMA is part of the other 1%. The people here have discussions more intellegent then any other forum I've been to.

And that’s that.

 

[Briosafreak]

This is getting better than i thought

I`ll post tomorrow then, i`m too tired now

 

[Dove]

ps: I have a pic of kat, if someone is willing to host it, I'll post it. Since per is so interested, it's bad to let him down.

I noticed she hasn't posted for a while... Is she one of the goners too then?

Yes. She never plans to post here again. I think I may be one of the few people she can still tolerate from NMA, the Order especially.

My history. I remember posting something on a website shortly after Fallout 1 was released. Possibly was NMA, it was somewhat a familiar name when I returned here.

I came back, while buying a computer, after not having one for a long, long time. I was looking for patches, and help getting Fallout 2 to run correctly on windows XP. Found a link here on the Interplay site, saw the Order, and applied. Seeing as how I'm one of the original Fallout fans, and quite an attractive man, the Order accepted me as one of their own.

My first post was very entertaining, apparently someone was confused and thought I was female, and a lot of fun was had by all.

 

[Tannhauser]

Here is a pic of Kat.

Intriguing, she looks extremely similar to my cousin.

I am sorry to hear it got shut down. I apologize for any problems I might have caused when I wasn't able to contribute that much. I was suppose to be one of its founding members and all, but alas, life got busy, and shitzuku keeps happening at the time. That was actually a really great idea, and we did so well at begining. I recall I was able to help someone overcome a severe depression, which was a really great feeling. I should have saved those discussions, and used it as an example for the new site.

Don't worry about KCP, it went down it's own path, and to use a trite phrase, for better or worse. Feelings Online on it's own had a good run, Duck and Cover rather simply was not really the place for it, especially when things started to change. There was a very brief revival over at Duck and Cover not to long ago, but the key user base of Duck and Cover was unfriendly to the idea, and the new Feelings Online didn't last a month.

I've heard from Haplo, but I wasn't able to reply to his message, and it was accidentally deleted. Tank is around infrequently on Duck and Cover, Doc Hill and the Guardian are over there as well. Ganymedes I catch online now and again. As far as I can remember, everyone else from Feelings Online has drifted off.

I wonder if we can do that here. I recall a general discussion thread where everyone was talking about their hopes and ideas, and welsh made another thread asking why there are so much members having similar problems.

Perhaps, have to see what the men upstairs think of the idea.

 

[SimpleMinded]

keep em coming guys... Come on odin, Rosh... and Briosa! Quit saying tommorow and post it gawd damn it .