Why did you play Era?

[Ramsfan]

What is it that got you hooked to Era?

Originally Posted by natchez416

You know what really made era great back in the day were these exclusive clubs, the privilege and corruption. I mean, I guess it's a double edged sword because people say this was the sort of thing that kept new players from playing the game. But honestly as a new player in the early 2000s, I remember feeling intrigued by the mystery of all these different exclusive organizations. Also, the privilege that was bestowed on select players really seemed to promote a hierarchical sort of environment which really made for a much more interesting game. Perhaps this is part of the reason gangs have gone downhill? They're no longer exclusive and there's no real hierarchy within them. It's so bad that gag raids aren't even organized or led by anyone in particular. Just sort of egalitarian, apathetic masses throwing themselves mindlessly at one another.

I started playing Era in 2006 when I was 11. I bought an account because my friend, Spike, told me Era was a computer version of Grand Theft Auto and I was currently banned on Runescape so I needed something to play. But anyway, what hooked me to start playing this silly game? Gangs.

I wanted to join a gang. Problem was, whenever I walked into a base, everybody murdered me. So it motivated me to keep playing, get better, and get my revenge. One of the biggest challenges I overcame as a new player was practicing at the sparring complex. It was almost always full of way more experienced PKers than I was. And I had to walk from the hospital back to the spar complex each time I died, because I was poor and couldn't afford the revives - talk about struggle. But, every time I walked back it gave me motivation to win the next one, to improve, and start beating some of the gang members.

Finally, after several weeks of grinding, BB added me. SHOUT OUT TO BLAZIAN BANDITS. I felt like such a badass. One year later, I was leading the gang myself. Gangs are what motivated me to continue playing Era for as long as I have. What about you?

*Pic Related - BB in 07*

[shrimps]

Economy, buying,selling,trading and building my empire and also the aspect of owning a business, which I've almost always had possession of one. These are the things that brought me to Era.

[Supaman771]

Originally Posted by Ramsfan

I was currently banned on Runescape

What about you?

*Pic Related - BB in 07*

Laming with the only flak on the server like a true PK master.
How do you even manage to get banned on (what was at the time) beta runescape.
---------

I started Graal in 04' when I was 10. I had gotten my account hacked/scammed on Diablo for the umpteenth time and I decided to aol search for 'online games'.

I started playing runescape on mini-clip but it was just too boring so I searched deep into the depths of the web and I found 'Zone'. I played Zone for awhile as a blue-bandit named xXRougeKillerXx (yes I spelt it wrong); this is where I met my first Graalm8 Nick (xAzerothx) who made me my first email account and got me hooked on Warcraft; as well as some other notable Graalm8s like Sean, Zombeh, Icey, BFs, etc. Zone lasted a couple months but my player would reset daily so I eventually got annoyed of getting photon'd and tried the other gun server Era.

I spent my first days digging shells and buying pizzas; then following around gangs and giving them pizzas (I wore a green outfit and named myself 'piza boy' of which I later did a parody for some time with Blaze; running around with pizza peels screaming 'piza' and axing people). I eventually found myself aligned with and only giving pizzas to BB to which Sia (an overseer of the gang) began to *temp* me whenever I logged on. I worked for a day in the BB mines with Sales and some others (I specifically remember Sales because he got a 5-diamond drop from the rock machine) to purchase an AK and I would bury it 10 paces left of the eggroll shack for when my player reset daily.

I eventually stopped spending time on pizzas and started PKing with BB and helping stock SP with BB and essentially doing everything with this gang. Since my stats weren't recording Sia then gave me a classic account to play on as-long as I helped him earn 50k to buy a DR. I used this account to play some dev servers too; where on one particular server Alfonso and Bloo used a random-stick to change my outfit thousands of times. Out of this I saved two; one of a Duck and one of a Cat. Back on Era however I was given the rank Rogue in BB based on my original nickname... but I usually had no nickname on (trying to hide behind trees) so people would just refer to me as 'rogue' since nobody else had the rank.

And bam.. I played for a year or so until my PC died in the summer of 06'. When I got a new PC I mostly played WoW or D2: LoD since it could run those games much smoother. But I eventually stumbled back onto Graal -- however since I was using my original account (not Sia's) nobody knew me and I was never able to get a Classic subscription on this account. I played Utopia, Ol' West, GK, Zod, Zone, UN... and learned to Dev under the Alias Rogue using my Duck outfit. This is where I met most of (shout-outs) my other Graalm8s like Chris (cbk)/Tehpuppy (deathofra)/Alex & Romain on GK, Kale/Lev/Mage/Smogy/Meph on OW, Alf/Vet/Shiori/Dan/too many people here on Utopia, Rog/Torque/Aly & Friends on Zod, Kev on UN... many others.

I eventually came back to Era to claim my throne (meeting most of you scrubs in the process, like Nate who made this stupid throwbaq-thread); but since the player-count was much larger than my Dev servers some random guy was using a duck outfit... thus I used the Cat one and GGWP I was born.

tl;dr Graal is really ****ing hard to find. Era is a **** server unless theres a ton of community/gang interaction.

R.I.P. Graal

[Tim_Rocks]

I enjoyed developing on Era, that's what kept me around for so long. Now I get paid to develop for a real company, rather than just a fun hobby.

[ooger]

Made this account in like 2003? or somewhere around when i was in 5th grade because a friend recommended it. Basically only played when I could all-nighter with friends and we would swap off on zone or something because the pking was so fun (would just change my head to the bunny and mass out on comms 'here comes peter cotton pimp' got disconnected a lot)
Started playing Era in like 2011, stick around to chat with the friends I've made and to collect pink hats.

[BlueMelon]

Started a while back, not too sure when. I was your typical poor newbie trying to find a good way to make money. I wouldn't get hired anywhere until one day someone said I should change my nickname from "unknown" to something better. I went by the name "~Donut Tester~" (in hopes of getting hired at DD, which I did soon after). After a year or two, I released how noobie that looked so I changed it to "~DT~" soon after I removed the ~ because wtf was I thinking. My first gang was BB, but I enjoyed the good gang of players we had at LS (Lethal Securities). I remember ranking up and being able to wear that hat and save up and buy a glock. I quit for a while because I was interested in other things and started working. When I came back, I had development skills from previous work experience and was curious how it worked on graal. That's when moondeath showed me some stuff and Tim and MD added me to Era Dev.

What got me hooked was the players and the raiding, even if it was a laggy mess from hell.

[Kohola_KinG]

I first started playing era around 03/04. I was harassed in school by friends, snow etc to play this awesome game they had found. I always declined and told myself I'd never be a nerd and start playing pc games. I eventually decided to check it out and loved it. However, my pc was a piece of trash and would FPS every 2 seconds which effected me raiding and sparing and probably never got a kill. I always wanted to get involved in the raids and sparing and of course become one of the best players on the game.

I could never achieve this because of my trashy PC. So i stuck to merching items which i ended up getting good at and getting some guns scammed off me including my p90 and black lotus from Sebastien. I then used the same tricks on savage to get my stuff back. Good times. I then got sick of the FPS problems i was facing and due to real life things i quit.

I came back in 07/08 and been here ever since and my skill level had tripled for some weird reason. Main reasons for playing was gangs and sparing. Nothing else ever mattered to me.

The game has went downhill so much from the first days of playing to now. So many new faces and the development has never really progressed. Pitty. I feel like my time is up now on era and that i am now moving on again. I doubt i'd ever be active again but i would never say never.

Great game during my childhood days.

[Ramsfan]

Originally Posted by Supaman771

Laming with the only flak on the server like a true PK master.

Good times. It was the KoTH MVP Prize.

Originally Posted by Supaman771

How do you even manage to get banned on (what was at the time) beta runescape.

I was a little **** on runescape, and ended up getting reported to mods for scamming. Not very ironic, as I was a huge scammer on Era before the reset took place.

Originally Posted by Supaman771

I eventually found myself aligned with and only giving pizzas to BB to which Sia (an overseer of the gang) began to *temp* me whenever I logged on. I worked for a day in the BB mines with Sales and some others.

I remember mining with you in the BB mines, didn’t know you were the pizza noob until now.

Originally Posted by Supaman771

I eventually came back to Era to claim my throne (meeting most of you scrubs in the process, like Nate who made this stupid throwbaq-thread)

Too bad you cant PK as good as you made pizzas for SP and Dominoes. /burn

Originally Posted by Tim_Rocks

I enjoyed developing on Era, that's what kept me around for so long. Now I get paid to develop for a real company, rather than just a fun hobby.

You had the coolest house in SR.

[Tim_Rocks]

I tried to recreate the outside, it just didn't feel the same.

[natchez416]

I think that's pretty cool that Tim got his start as a developer on graal. I picked up pixel art on graal and I know a number of others that can say the same.

Anyone remember the kuraiittou mansion on SR? All the different secret passageways. That's what I mean by corruption and exclusive clubs. Along with PPA, PI, and of course gangs.

[cbk1994]

Originally Posted by natchez416

I think that's pretty cool that Tim got his start as a developer on graal. I picked up pixel art on graal and I know a number of others that can say the same.

I think this is true for a lot more Graal developers than is generally recognized. I definitely don't regret the ridiculous amount of hours I put into Graal as a kid. They've already more than paid off in real-life opportunities based on the skills I acquired.

(Although I do kind of regret all the drama I participated in, and being a **** to a lot of people.)

[Godzilla]

I have too many memories on this game, even till this day Graal has been a good companion to come back to.

Shout-out to Skyline and his crew for leaving his house open one night where I stumbled upon the highly priced Browning Automatic Rifle in the later stages when there were a ton of guns.

[Supaman771]

Originally Posted by Ramsfan

Too bad you cant PK as good as you made pizzas for SP and Dominoes. /burn

Oh that's why you asked me, fk u.

[WillaWonka]

started in 2007 was i was 12, mainly visited the Zone server, went on Era every once in a while, didnt stay long because of the OBS mode, but it seemed harder and more violent then zone, so after a few sabbaticals from playing Graal, I finally decided to try and get a gun on Era, and that was the end of the beginning. Now the game is ***** footed and politically correct, not a threatening game anymore, guess it was just age that grew me apart.

[Sinkler]

I started around 2003. My brother (JEM) and his friend played so I decided to join in. They played a boring server called Valikorlia - I think it's still barely in existence. I predominantly played Era. It was fun. Then I became FAQ in October of 2008 and since then I had been a staff member on many servers culminating to PWA in 2012.

[Reddy548]

I started era 2005? i dont remember , but it was in trial reset time. My acc were renandoido and all i did was getting a uzi and follow tim's sister all arround map pking, it was for about a month then i quit, comming back to zodiac at 2007 when observe mode were active , man i glitched so many bosses on zodiac even dropped a sword of the trees, but i got reseted for that!!
Came back to era arround 2010 when some BR friends at zodiac called me to try it, started to enjoy it when my friend gave me a bar and i got invited to a gang.
GANGs are the most important thing on this game and is what keep me arround.

[salesman]

I did it to meet babes

[Tim_Rocks]

Originally Posted by salesman

I did it to meet babes

The odds are so against you though. There's a chance this babe was actually a dude.

[Ramsfan]

Originally Posted by salesman

I did it to meet babes

[ilovegirlzz]

cuz 2nd best thing to zone.

[TheLinkMan2002]

Originally Posted by Supaman771

How do you even manage to get banned on (what was at the time) beta runescape.

Back then it wasn't beta runescape, it was just a 2d game and not a 3d game. When 3d runescape came out it was called runescape 2 for a bit. And tbh, I think runescape 2 was already out in 06? I don't think i was still playing it when i was 16, so it had to have been.

I bet if i dug deep enough i could find me some old 2d runescape pictures.

[Spikedude]

I started playing because I was young and not a lot of cool MMOs even existed and I had irl friends who played. I thought it was a cool concept; back then it was SO simple - you'd pick flowers or mine, you had an ak, uzi, shotgun, handgun, eventually neorifle and metal storm, and then some core electronics guns came later. Then you'd try desperately to avoid getting PK'd long enough to afford the 1k you'd need for like the second or third best guns.

But a lot of things kept the atmosphere fun then. People were more laid back in general and took it as just a video game - probably BECAUSE it was less complicated. Back then it was just part of the game if you got scammed. And people found staff abuse funny and entertaining. It's so different these days - now people think their items have real life value because of the gralat shop, and so many people are USDing, and everyone just gets so worked up about everything that happens.

Honestly, the death of the unofficial forums sort of coincided with the death of that atmosphere. That was where everyone went to say the things that the forum moderators here just delete. The staff -> player relationship used to be a lot less...serious and professional.

My interest in dev sort of grew out of my interest in the community, but it ended up keeping me around. graalscript was the first language I tried to learn, and now I'm a business software developer irl, so it definitely had an impact. But culture and community dissolve with more players, so that's not really an "expandable" asset of Graal.

I agree gangs are the main focal point of Era, but there's no such thing as fixing gangs without fixing our identity crisis.

[k_killar]

crying at how similiar some of u ***s graal stories are to mine

[Logababy]

When I was young and had my Runescape account hacked somehow (I swear it was one of my friends) I was lost and had to find a new MMORPG game. I googled and looked through lists of 100s of different games. Somehow I found Graal and gave it a go. Looking at all the servers, Era had the coolest emblem so I decided to click on that one. The exclusiveness of everything intrigued me to become apart of it. Even though I lost everything when I logged off and couldn't play for more than 4 hours due to observer mode, I just couldn't stop playing. My first aim was to get a gun so I followed this gang that was having a meeting in the hospital at the time (they were planning for their raid) and I begged this guy for hours until he finally gave me a shotgun. I was so happy because it seemed so hard to get things in this game, I had no idea how to buy off players and didn't want to afraid I was just going to ripped off.

Anyways, hopefully in 10 years there's a thread like this and everyone claims they're from iEra.

[Scoper]

A long time ago, I found Graal because I was doing research on Zelda ALTTP, as it was my favorite game of the series (and still is, stay strong ALTTP). Graal popped up, and I spent a good year and a half playing as a trial, just having goofy adventures on UN, Shaded Legend, and Maloria. Eventually I bought a p2p with my best friend irl at the time, and we played together for a good while. He got bored of the game and quit, but around that time I discovered CST/CGT and was hooked on being a black-market item dealer across multiple servers and games.

Era of course had a market for that kind of thing, so I was heavily vested into trading around things for perceived profit.
On Era specifically, I had a deal that went really south and I lost pretty much everything I had, so I got out of Graal and trading for a while. When I came back, I tried to actually play the game.

For me, the big sellers were the economy (I tried my best to dominate the housing market, at one time I had 11 before Alf said never again), the events, and the players themselves. PKing is ok, sparring is fun but I was never good at it

Nowadays I'm just here because I know everyone and I'd be lost without someone to yell at/be yelled to

[shrimps]

Damnit scoper!

[papajchris]

damn alf ruining everyone's fun

[WillaWonka]

scoper is a poor soul

[Eclipse]

Originally Posted by Spikedude

But a lot of things kept the atmosphere fun then. People were more laid back in general and took it as just a video game - probably BECAUSE it was less complicated. Back then it was just part of the game if you got scammed. And people found staff abuse funny and entertaining. It's so different these days - now people think their items have real life value because of the gralat shop, and so many people are USDing, and everyone just gets so worked up about everything that happens.

Honestly, the death of the unofficial forums sort of coincided with the death of that atmosphere. That was where everyone went to say the things that the forum moderators here just delete. The staff -> player relationship used to be a lot less...serious and professional.

real recognizes real
OG

[Xavious7]

2003? 2004? Back when the basket system was in Era. Black Lotus anyone? I remember downing supers like candy with sewers and blowing everything up with 999 p4s and trip mines. I had the only Crizen Laser? on the server at the time, wasn't even out. Gas shelling entire gangs by myself. Was a lot of fun, Era has never really been the same since the reset they did with the silly stats and inventory system.

A trip down nostalgia lane for sure. I haven't played in over ten years.

Also, metal storm was just a generic weapon it cost about $1000? back then, and people rarely used it. lol.

Edit: I was also an FAQ admin during that first reset, but then they reset it like 2-3 times within that year and lost interest quickly afterwards.

[Elk]

i didnt play, i was just staff there

[Gambet1337]

Any of you guys still play?

[Cubical]

/fart

[Gambet1337]

/zsnap

[Eclipse]

/piss

[Cubical]

/shart

[Ramsfan]

I am disappointed in the turn out from this thread -come on, lets hear it.

[Cubical]

i play era because i like all the lag

[Cubical]

and the nookie, cannot forget the nookie

[Ramsfan]

Originally Posted by Cubical

i play era because i like all the lag