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<Note from a moderator: This thread has been revived from a couple of months ago. Do not assume that everything said herein represents Gonmon's current feelings>
It seems like I have been putting this off for quite some time, but oddly enough, I started to think a little bit deeper of this moment last night while I was lying in my bed. Strangely enough, as much as I have wanted, no... needed to do this, it seems as if something was holding me back. I guess it could be due to the strange yet wonderful friendships and bonds I have made during these past 4 years.
Yes my friends, in case you haven't guessed it, I am now writing my farewell post. I am leaving the community of Graal, in hope that I might be able to pick up my online work status elsewhere, and hope I can find just as good a community of players and staff. Yes, there have been quite a few incidents that may have caused problems, and other various things, but I must say that the time I have spent here have not been too much of a waste.
I'd like to start out by introducing (and taking a trip down memory lane), of how I came to be who I am, or was, in Graal.
I guess it all started a while back, 4 years and a few months to be exact, when I had been searching the internet for some Zelda stuff, when I landed upon a particular fan site that had a link to the original Cyber Jouex website, where there were many internet based games. One that caught my interest was a small Java based game called Graal. Not taking too much to heart, I was introduced to a small world, not unlike Zelda for the SNES. I enjoyed the limited ammount I could play, interacting with few others that happened to be on the Java game as well. Eventually, I was searching again for some more Zelda related things, and somehow, I'm not sure if by accident or perhaps fate, the first link to be listed was Graal Online. Since I had a little bit of experience with the Java based version, I decided to test my luck and see what the full version was like.
And so, I registered my original account (Gonmon), and downloaded the version available, which at that time was below the 2.0 level. Yes yes... the versions way back when you actually had to put in the server adress, name and account information when you first started it up. Back then, you could also choose a pre-destined look from a nifty tool that allowed you to make custom costumes. Soon, I was online and wandering aimlessly with the other 10 people online. Back then, 10 people was a stagering ammount to be playing during the "off hours" of the internet.
Needless to say, I was hooked and began rushing home from school each day to waste another few hours of my life running around and doing absolutely nothing but exploring levels and interacting with people. Hackers roamed the land, including the infamous Pachuka, and soon Da Cheetas. I'm sorry to admit it, but I was actually involved in hacking a little bit myself. This is why you see my account name as evilive instead of the original Gonmon. I was caught warping levels and banned (not to mention I had lost my password), and a nice guy name Unknown Evil, who ran a website, let me use his from then on. So, life was good at that point, and things seemed to go well. Some of you may remember the town I had made. I believe it was called Armos. I doubt it's online anymore, due to the small weapon I had hidden within the town. Ah yes... many memories happened upon me while there.
It was also around this time that I happened by chance to meet a strange administrator named Antago. He seemed to be a little bit misunderstood at first, but was none the less absolutely one of the creative types. He ran around updating levels here and there with his own creative touches. I soon picked up interest and followed him on his little adventures, talking to him a little bit and enjoying some other small parts of life, such as PKing just for the fun of it. (Another thing I forgot to mention: PK tags were still in existance when I first came about) I never really understood why people hated him so much. Perhaps I will never really will.
Antago left a little while later, only to turn up in an E-Mail adressed to me concerning artwork. It turned out that Antago was quite interested with my work and wanted me to work with him on a project that was a sort of spin-off of Graal. I was glad and decided to work with him. Not knowing exactly what would come of it, I fequently went online just to talk of ideas and new artwork with him. Well, in July of 2000, something very strange happened. Antago had recently created a creature that was seemingly at first very insignificant. He called it a "Bomy BoPot", and it was thought nothing more than a small creature for the game. Being the only other at first who knew of this, I didn't seem that interested.
But then, something very interesting happened. Antago began to work on a project with the now missing Kyle0654. They had begun to work with the Graal interface to create a morph of sorts with the bomies. Taking enjoyment of it, I created a Bomy of my own: Nero. Being the first, it wasn't that good. Strangely enough, it became one of the most popular bomies ever created. Eventually, I became aware of the new secret project that Stefan was working on called Graal2001. Interested to get in, I created some more bomies, including Draktha, and Xen.
Not going into too much detail, I become involved in bomies quite a bit more, creating the some of the most popular bomies online: Baibai, Nex, Zal, Alma, and Nephi as well.
I seem to be running this longer than I should, so I might as well end this with a few thank-yous to those who made Graal memorable in it's own sort of way.
First, to Stefan Knorr, for creating the game on a whole and making the past 4 years of my life a very enjoyable one while online. Try not to get too carried away with what you do with the rest of Graal's future!
To NightLord, being the first admin I really ever saw in the world of Graal, and seemingly inspiring me to try to be one. Also, you were a good friend, although we didn't know eachother for very long.
To Antago, for pulling me dirrectly into the mess of running an MMORPG. And where ever you are, good luck, Brian!
To Dante, for just being a regular old nifty oldbie.
To Ghost Pirate, for just being crazy and supportive.
To Zach, for being one of my assistants and helping to create the crazy world that was the Happy Brothers.
To Er1c, for being the sneaky cool type that helped with the later years of my Graal career.
To BirdBird, for being a secret enemy when I first met you, making me want to do better and more, and eventually becoming zany friends.
To GodSpeed, for being a nifty programmer and pulling me into the unfortunately abandoned ToT project.
To those who actually supported the Bomy BoPots even after they became under used and appriciated. It is you guys who kept my inspiration running around and helping me create more interesting bomies just to keep you guys happy. I'd also like to thank you for being supportive of my possistion of Bomy Admin. I doubt there will ever be another one, for it was too much of a one timer job for anyone else to pick up.
To TrueHeat, although an enemy towards the end of your life with Graal, I appreciated some of your support and graphics making.
To Butz, fur (lol) being a fellow artistic friend of sorts. I still remember the first art thread here that got removed due to the vastness of it (100+ pages I believe?).
And to all the others who I wanted to mention but have forgotten. You may know who you are, but I'd like to say for one that I'm sorry that I didn't mention your names. I am a bit short on time as I am writing this, and would also like to say thanks for supporting me in this.
Once again, I'd like to say good-bye (for real this time), and thank you for a interesting, if not wonderful, 4 years of online gaming. I will continue to visit the boards until my account runs dry here. As a last request, I would like to have the Zalactic Labs quest on Graal2001 closed down, or at least be shortened to a memory as it originally was.
"...And the young man walked away from it all, leaving nothing but a bandaged sword, and fading foot steps in the snow of Mt. Antora..." |
01-21-2003, 11:44 PM
The Moment of Parting.
Hybrid Mode
