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Wars have been started by it. Thousands have died for it. Films have been made about it, TV dramas have been based around it, it is the cause of all pain and suffering but at the very same instant it is all that we live for, it is our reason for existence, the meaning of life. It is Game A Day.
In the beginning, there was nothing. A few beings stirred into consciousness, and a tight-knit community was born. Many left, but a few select men and women stayed, and became the SR Forum Members. Some have gone on to become Notables, others have nothing to remind others of their legacy but a place in the Top Posters list...but all were there for the start of GAD. It was not always how it is in these current days of battles, squabbles and scraps, oh no: it was FAD back then, Film A Day. As the hallowed name implies, a film a day was one and all were so happy and gay. Especially Grix. Anyway, what was FAD progressed into GAD. Back then, of course, not many were vying for the title and so life was much simpler. No bad mouthing of topics, no whining to schroeder about missing hints and tips, just all the common folk helping each other, posting topics and writing reviews. Some people began to build their reputations, like pb and Meka Dragon. Others started their falls from grace, such as Shaneo and Sniper. Everyone was an SR forum member, though. There were no boundaries, no regulars, no newbies, just the people of Special Reserve. They were blissful times, ones that may never be recaptured.
For Special Reserve did what many creatures have done before it, and evolved. The enticing prospect of Turok Rage Wars for free when buying a year's membership hooked in many customers, and soon enough business was booming. Instead of GAD being a local competition for local people, it became a great accolade, one that people from all over Britain wanted to claim for themselves. Often, people tried for a week and gave up. Others were in for the long haul, winning the odd prize but integrating themselves as 'us' rather than 'them', gaining trust and free games. Time passed, and soon you could win three games a day, with reviews, posts or cheats/hints/tips/walkthroughs/kettles. What had once been a family was now a huge conglomerate, and as such the aged heirloom was sold to make way for a widescreen TV with teletext. The influx of new users grew larger than ever, the SR server always baulking but never submitting to wave after wave of n00b posting three line attacks on Nintendo.
Time passed. Hours. Days. Months. Bimonths. Years. Two years. Game after game, film after film was sent second class through Royal Mail to SR users, as the GAD Leader Board began to take shape. Every day, more users came in search of the GAD, and every day competition grew fiercer. Where once it was simple, now it was tricky. Little did the SR users know that one day it would take a balance of timing, ability and a pinch of fairy dust to claim a prize of your choice up to £50 (or £25). To try and cope with demand, extra GADs were set up. Designing things, drawing pretty pictures, creating a web persona as a grandma...mindless busy work to occupy the never ending surge of new members. Time passed, and GADs were handed out until finally, the day came. The day that changed Special Reserve, and its website, forever...swander87 signed up. At first it was for the glory, for the GADs. A mediocre Tony Hawk's 3 review, a scathing Smackdown 3 attack...but then, a lengthy, thoughtful Championship Manager critique and it was his. swander87's name was on the prize winners list.
swander87 chose Max Payne. It arrived promptly, and with complete, gushing delight the package was opened and disc put in. The game was rubbish and soon traded in for cash off at GAME, but that's not the point. swander87's name may have changed, to 87swanders to El Swandre through to El Blokey, but he has always remembered his first time. The day he was broken in to GAD, and SR. Soon after swander87 began visiting the forums. He seemed nice enough, occasionally hostile, always anally retentive about posts being in the right forums but overall a decent chap. After a few months he won his first Prize 1, and it was like his first time all over again...except for one big twist. You see, for a month Special Reserve had tried something. A gamble of sorts, to either gain more members or scare off new GAD seekers, nobody is sure. Either way, for a month Special Reserve only let SR members win GAD. Non-members won a year's membership and a free gift. Many were outraged, including swander87, or 87swanders, or whatever he was called at that particular moment in time. Anyhow, after the trial period SR made it permanent, to mixed results. Many went on to win GADs and use them for memberships, once again including swander87. Some pretended to strike, but they all returned in the end, their insatiable thirst for freebies causing them to be drawn to SR like flies are to...those light things that kill flies.
So now he was a member. A proper, upstanding card-holding member, with a free PS2 DVD remote control. But what now? Well, to win more games, probably. But of course, this was a tricky business. Winning with a review was harder than ever, with the amount of new users flooding in. Winning with a post, even more so, but not neccessarily because there was so much competition. On the main page of UKChatForums.co.uk it warns of possible harassment of blatant GAD-attempt makers. It seems that, during the time between the establishment of FAD and the present day, GAD winners have become resented by the masses. Teased for long posts, no matter what their quality or content. Heaven forbid you reveal your post to be an attempt at winning something for nothing. The very word was explicit, discussion of winning GAD a taboo. Was this what SR wanted? I don't think so, not for a second. GAD was intended to be a light in this crazy world of fog, a beacon of hope, in this land of such sleaze and suspicion. Now the very things GAD was created to combat were taking over.
People posted in Prime, knowing that their attempts were safe in there because nobody ever reads or replies to the forum. Chat was filled with n00bs, and idle chatter. The other forums were just discussion of the subject at hand, be it Microsoft or the PS2. More time has passed, more extra GADs have been concocted, two going on right now as we speak...and thankfully, the situation is improving. People can win in Chat, in the Sony forum, even in Life, The Universe and All That Jazz. Hope is returning, people even discussing their wins in topics. Meka Dragon is no longer detested and quietly envied, but celebrated and openly, extravagantly envied. Winners are congratulated, posts are commented on, not written off as rantings of a game crazed moron. GAD has retained its dignity, and brought back unity to the people of SR.
There are still thousands of hits every day, hundreds of new members logging on each week to see if they've grasped the holy grail of GAD...but now, we have learned to live with GAD as part of our lives. Granted, we have still not yet reached the stage where positive answers to "are you only here for GAD" aren't regarded as legitimate reasons for campaigns of hate, but we are getting there. It is a great thing to win a GAD, something everyone should experience at least once. I am lucky, and have won it 15 times...and would like to thank SR for each and every one. Congratulations to all past, present and future GAD winners, and congratulations to those who bothered to sit down and read this post. Oh, and sorry to Grix. Thank you all for reading.
-El Blokey
In the beginning, there was nothing. A few beings stirred into consciousness, and a tight-knit community was born. Many left, but a few select men and women stayed, and became the SR Forum Members. Some have gone on to become Notables, others have nothing to remind others of their legacy but a place in the Top Posters list...but all were there for the start of GAD. It was not always how it is in these current days of battles, squabbles and scraps, oh no: it was FAD back then, Film A Day. As the hallowed name implies, a film a day was one and all were so happy and gay. Especially Grix. Anyway, what was FAD progressed into GAD. Back then, of course, not many were vying for the title and so life was much simpler. No bad mouthing of topics, no whining to schroeder about missing hints and tips, just all the common folk helping each other, posting topics and writing reviews. Some people began to build their reputations, like pb and Meka Dragon. Others started their falls from grace, such as Shaneo and Sniper. Everyone was an SR forum member, though. There were no boundaries, no regulars, no newbies, just the people of Special Reserve. They were blissful times, ones that may never be recaptured.
For Special Reserve did what many creatures have done before it, and evolved. The enticing prospect of Turok Rage Wars for free when buying a year's membership hooked in many customers, and soon enough business was booming. Instead of GAD being a local competition for local people, it became a great accolade, one that people from all over Britain wanted to claim for themselves. Often, people tried for a week and gave up. Others were in for the long haul, winning the odd prize but integrating themselves as 'us' rather than 'them', gaining trust and free games. Time passed, and soon you could win three games a day, with reviews, posts or cheats/hints/tips/walkthroughs/kettles. What had once been a family was now a huge conglomerate, and as such the aged heirloom was sold to make way for a widescreen TV with teletext. The influx of new users grew larger than ever, the SR server always baulking but never submitting to wave after wave of n00b posting three line attacks on Nintendo.
Time passed. Hours. Days. Months. Bimonths. Years. Two years. Game after game, film after film was sent second class through Royal Mail to SR users, as the GAD Leader Board began to take shape. Every day, more users came in search of the GAD, and every day competition grew fiercer. Where once it was simple, now it was tricky. Little did the SR users know that one day it would take a balance of timing, ability and a pinch of fairy dust to claim a prize of your choice up to £50 (or £25). To try and cope with demand, extra GADs were set up. Designing things, drawing pretty pictures, creating a web persona as a grandma...mindless busy work to occupy the never ending surge of new members. Time passed, and GADs were handed out until finally, the day came. The day that changed Special Reserve, and its website, forever...swander87 signed up. At first it was for the glory, for the GADs. A mediocre Tony Hawk's 3 review, a scathing Smackdown 3 attack...but then, a lengthy, thoughtful Championship Manager critique and it was his. swander87's name was on the prize winners list.
swander87 chose Max Payne. It arrived promptly, and with complete, gushing delight the package was opened and disc put in. The game was rubbish and soon traded in for cash off at GAME, but that's not the point. swander87's name may have changed, to 87swanders to El Swandre through to El Blokey, but he has always remembered his first time. The day he was broken in to GAD, and SR. Soon after swander87 began visiting the forums. He seemed nice enough, occasionally hostile, always anally retentive about posts being in the right forums but overall a decent chap. After a few months he won his first Prize 1, and it was like his first time all over again...except for one big twist. You see, for a month Special Reserve had tried something. A gamble of sorts, to either gain more members or scare off new GAD seekers, nobody is sure. Either way, for a month Special Reserve only let SR members win GAD. Non-members won a year's membership and a free gift. Many were outraged, including swander87, or 87swanders, or whatever he was called at that particular moment in time. Anyhow, after the trial period SR made it permanent, to mixed results. Many went on to win GADs and use them for memberships, once again including swander87. Some pretended to strike, but they all returned in the end, their insatiable thirst for freebies causing them to be drawn to SR like flies are to...those light things that kill flies.
So now he was a member. A proper, upstanding card-holding member, with a free PS2 DVD remote control. But what now? Well, to win more games, probably. But of course, this was a tricky business. Winning with a review was harder than ever, with the amount of new users flooding in. Winning with a post, even more so, but not neccessarily because there was so much competition. On the main page of UKChatForums.co.uk it warns of possible harassment of blatant GAD-attempt makers. It seems that, during the time between the establishment of FAD and the present day, GAD winners have become resented by the masses. Teased for long posts, no matter what their quality or content. Heaven forbid you reveal your post to be an attempt at winning something for nothing. The very word was explicit, discussion of winning GAD a taboo. Was this what SR wanted? I don't think so, not for a second. GAD was intended to be a light in this crazy world of fog, a beacon of hope, in this land of such sleaze and suspicion. Now the very things GAD was created to combat were taking over.
People posted in Prime, knowing that their attempts were safe in there because nobody ever reads or replies to the forum. Chat was filled with n00bs, and idle chatter. The other forums were just discussion of the subject at hand, be it Microsoft or the PS2. More time has passed, more extra GADs have been concocted, two going on right now as we speak...and thankfully, the situation is improving. People can win in Chat, in the Sony forum, even in Life, The Universe and All That Jazz. Hope is returning, people even discussing their wins in topics. Meka Dragon is no longer detested and quietly envied, but celebrated and openly, extravagantly envied. Winners are congratulated, posts are commented on, not written off as rantings of a game crazed moron. GAD has retained its dignity, and brought back unity to the people of SR.
There are still thousands of hits every day, hundreds of new members logging on each week to see if they've grasped the holy grail of GAD...but now, we have learned to live with GAD as part of our lives. Granted, we have still not yet reached the stage where positive answers to "are you only here for GAD" aren't regarded as legitimate reasons for campaigns of hate, but we are getting there. It is a great thing to win a GAD, something everyone should experience at least once. I am lucky, and have won it 15 times...and would like to thank SR for each and every one. Congratulations to all past, present and future GAD winners, and congratulations to those who bothered to sit down and read this post. Oh, and sorry to Grix. Thank you all for reading.
-El Blokey
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El Blokey wrote:
> Thanks chips. As soon as the Notable elections end I start doing good
> posts that people like. Typical.
Dont worry, you had about as much or a chance of getting notability or Bin Laden does of getting citizenship in the USA.
> Thanks chips. As soon as the Notable elections end I start doing good
> posts that people like. Typical.
Dont worry, you had about as much or a chance of getting notability or Bin Laden does of getting citizenship in the USA.
Thanks chips. As soon as the Notable elections end I start doing good posts that people like. Typical.
And shut up Joe.
And shut up Joe.
Heh, that was long, but good. Some funny parts, but well written.
Nicely done EB. Your posts are great at the moment!
:D
Nicely done EB. Your posts are great at the moment!
:D
No.. I did read the post, but el blokey is my friend in real life, and I know his style. Hes a tight bas*ard and lazy, so he will only write long things for money or games. Nevertheless, it was a good post.
Ooh, thanks SR, very much. I just saw I won Prize 2 :-D
Torticollis you obviously didnt read this post, its not a GAD attempt and I doubt El Blokey will get a GAD for this, its a remeniscence of his time here and should really be read. I read it and learnt alot about the history of SR, dont criticise people when you dont hear what they have to say.
Thats £5 you owe me EB ;-)
Thats £5 you owe me EB ;-)
I hope that was a joke, and you read the post...
El blokey obviously wants a new game.
Shh.
Just to correct you, Film A Day and Game A Day were both around at the start, and FAD didn't come first or anything. Ah well.
Still, good stuff. :-)
Still, good stuff. :-)
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