I declare this board

dorTrus · Post by **dorTrus** » 21 Feb 2008, 10:43

I love such topics)
BarTek, grats for this philosophical rant!

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 21 Feb 2008, 17:38

Dying Scene

Yes. In a sense this board is dead. Much less people than years ago are checking this board daily. The epicentre of this forum is enclosing and the small group of people who actually discuss here, hardly read long posts and answer to short posts with minimal effort. Once in a while someone comes up with a longer thread, and relatively much people take it on as a challenge to give props to the threadstarter for making time to write a long post. Long as in longer than five lines.

I appreciate these threads. They're as much as the only good thing to find here on this board (besides the scarcely found humour - igge, jaytea, sierra) and make it live as something really useful instead of a timewaster first class.

The scene, it's constantly evolving. Merely the word scene applies to an everchanging group of people, with a hard core of people who are, face it, addicted. If the addiction is real, people stick around for ages, contributing with various things; WR's, contests, moposite, belma. In this view, addiction can be seen as something positive.

Addiction is something we tend to use as a heavy term. I dislike namecalling, but I can address zweq for being addicted to playing battles nowadays, as for adi, etc. There are some who are addicted to starting battle levels. Yes, once I open up elma for killing some time, I seem to never succeed in sticking to my promise - one level, not more. Some people were addicted to chatting in #across.

Above-mentioned chat addiction was an antic that described this scene as thorough as possible: the scene as an all-encompassing umbrella that sucked up all our activity into it. We would do everything together, meet up in real life, compete forever, burried at the same cemetary. Nowadays, this view is fading away. The scene's been refreshed by a wave of new people, which calls for a redefining of the scene. Old people finally feel too much, and we can say we're yet again in the next generation of elma.

This board, for one, does not really fit in the next generation. That's why this board is dead as dust. Sure, it will remain exist. But it's former relevance is definitely gone. We're now trying to cover it up by filling the gap that the lack of interesting input has left behind with senseless stuff. Mainly the testing forum is a proof of that. Even the administration acknowledges this redefining by standing on the sidelines and leaving the children play. In my honest opinion this is a natural course of action, but not a preferable one.

Yes, milagros did well for giving us new elma experiences. It brought us back to elma, I think. The scene's shrinking, but the amount of people actually playing elma remained the same. In conclusion, one might say that this board is dead, the scene's not been what it was before, that old people won't really come back, and that this game will die. It won't die anytime soon though, as long as the server for belma activities will be stable.

Nostalgia

As for nostalgia, yes, I can add some things. I feel good watching back on my own team MK, back in the "days". We were huge, and we were active. We had a fair amount of skill within us. But sadly, easygijs, squip, mullvad and more among them left. They went on to more meaningful things in life perhaps. Also, I can watch back on some short periods of time where I had the greatest time possible with JAMES. Nice humour, nice guy and freaking skilled. Then he quite literally showcased how this scene can die, by succumbing himself through brain hemmorrage.

Elma meetings then. I had a couple myself, where I went on and met up with the danish hard core (half of it, since the other half wasn't present; rigger, raider, vandmand, h202manden), some swedish skilled and sociable guys (one not so talkative and skilled, but very kind and funny nevertheless - zworqy), and many more, at their homes, or mine. They were great fun, and added something to my elma experience. Actually they meant more to me than my whole experience on this forum.

Nowadays, even my interest is fading. Nowadays I actively seek to spend more time into useful things in life. A quest in which I have to admit that elma has been soaking up too much resources. Belma at first wasn't helping, because it is addicting as hell. Though, the moment is there that I can approach elma as a mere small hobby of mine, instead of a lifestyle. Whenever I feel nostalgic about the passed years, I realise that this is a logic that is present in every preserved memory; nostalgia is inherent in recalling memories (most of them, at least).

Epilogue

This is what I had to add to your opening post. I felt that you needed a little more input than the occasional "wow you so long writed LOL". I do foresee people to discard this as pseudo-intellectual bullshit, because I chose to express myself in hard words, but this is just how I think I should write something meaningful. I added the boldings so people could find at least some structure, though I expect only BarTek to read this thoroughly.

John · Post by **John** » 21 Feb 2008, 18:03

Too many p12's running around on this forum imo, i think the ban-button should be used waaay more often. Then unfortunately the quality of posts has decreased last few years too, duno if this is some effect of all p12 spamming the shit out of their keyboards, "can they can I" and all mopolauta turns into some wild west shit. Seriously i suck at expressing my opinions so that they come out right, but to SveinR: BAN BAN BAN

zebra · Post by **zebra** » 21 Feb 2008, 20:33

This is not the first time ppl are making thread of "the scene is dying". The ppl come and go, new people are mainly in belma, old ones maybe more active at lauta, but I wouldn't consider this as a dead scene: I think the average battler amount in belma is still over 20, and if you think about cups, in our TEC01 there were totally 87 players, more than in mastercup first level couple of years ago.

If you think the scene is dead, maybe think yourself: have you been advertising belma/elma to your non-elma-friends lately? Or do you think that we don't need anymore n00bs?

One thing which might play a role in the feeling of dead scene is the dying of moposite and lazyness of its updaters, i mean Abula. When Abula was more active, there were every day (or at least week) something new in the moposite. Nowadays ppl doesn't even bother to open moposite anymore. This creates an big black hole to the center of the elma scene. Likewise as there is a big black hole in the center of the milky way.

All I'm saying, enjoy this scene, the ppl who are left of it. Play belma, it wasn't available few years ago. Gather new ppl and convince n00bs to stay longer in the scene. Stop thinking that this scene is dying, because (of the addiction), i think, it isn't!

oh, still one thing: Maybe ppl will soon start to respect this kind of skill games, when they have realised you can't get good game only with good graphics. Instead, usually graphics are emphasized too much and the playability and the whole game is then full crap (like nearly all the new games are).

John · Post by **John** » 21 Feb 2008, 22:38

this isnt the most noobfriendly scene around either, to be honest im nat surprised noobs doesnt stick for long

Zweq · Post by **Zweq** » 21 Feb 2008, 22:39

didnt read those first 2 super long posts, are you fucking retarded or something to not be capable to express yourself as short as possible, just like finns almost always do. Saw words death and elma anyway, that's overdramatized as fck.

spam isnt problem, there has always been that. the active ppl come from russia and they have their own scenes, is it hard to imagine moposite might suddenly not be the main elmasite in the future?

have you totally missed the one thousand and one new players from russia? they're having their own little scene, which could be much greater than lauta, if real humans just could read russian language.

but cant argue that huge problem for elma in general is old core ppl quitting one after one (yet I still believe in comebacks), such as abula, karlis and apparently soon skint0r. That ppl cant be replaced, ever.

Mawane · Post by **Mawane** » 21 Feb 2008, 23:13

I never thought to it Zweq, you got some good points, I totally agree.

The_BoneLESS · Post by **The_BoneLESS** » 21 Feb 2008, 23:27

Zweq wrote:have you totally missed the one thousand and one new players from russia? they're having their own little scene, which could be much greater than lauta, if real humans just could read russian language.

I would have to say this, why do russians keep their distances so much? Is it only because they don't speak a word of english or is it all in their mentality?

I mean, i've learnt english, as for pretty much every other kuski in the actual scene. Why wouldn't they?

And for the question of the decreasing activity on Lauta, i would have to blame belma. People can finally talk to each others without this forum, why wouldn't they do so?

zebra · Post by **zebra** » 22 Feb 2008, 00:45

Zweq wrote:but cant argue that huge problem for elma in general is old core ppl quitting one after one (yet I still believe in comebacks), such as abula, karlis and apparently soon skint0r. That ppl cant be replaced, ever.

No-one is irreplaceable, not even me. The new guys should just to be triggered off and encouraged to continue in the footsteps of the 'ancients'. In a more concrete level, I mean that new guys should for example start to update moposite and make things to it, and if skint0r is out, someone else should set up a new server for belma, make the stats and so on.

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 22 Feb 2008, 11:21

Zweq just proved my stance on his addiction by ensuring he wouldn't spend time more on lauta to read long posts instead of sticking in belma to play more battles.

sierra · Post by **sierra** » 23 Feb 2008, 20:53

Whether or not the scene is 'dead', whatever that means, it is certain that the Golden Era has passed. I think BarTek's 'life support' analogy is very appropriate; the supporting mechanism being only the fond memories of how it used to be, and a vague hope that it will somehow all happen again. At Zweq's request, I'll exercise parsimony, and say simply that it won't.

8-ball · Post by **8-ball** » 24 Feb 2008, 12:43

sierra · Post by **sierra** » 24 Feb 2008, 16:10

jaytea · Post by **jaytea** » 24 Feb 2008, 18:15

fuck you sierra

A.K.B. · Post by **A.K.B.** » 25 Feb 2008, 09:19

typical post by jaytea here, telling us to fuck a man, i think we should ban this loser now

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 25 Feb 2008, 11:20

those 3 like... circle the forum swearing at each other or something?

i agree, this Forum is dying - as i posted some weeks back, only really AKB, Sierra, Jt, Igge, sex-retro post nowadays, Abula hasn't posted anything valuable for months - if i recall - his last post i saw had 4 letters in it and didn't make sense.

the quality of the posts is crap - this is one of the best topics i've seen for ages.

and also - the quitting people - what happened to T0r? hell... ALL OF ICE? how about people like Karlis, Abula, Petsen, Dynamo, Napol, etc?

ALL GONE AWAY FROM THE SPAM!

tyvm.

jaytea · Post by **jaytea** » 25 Feb 2008, 18:56

i don't do much circling, i go where i please and AKB just follows me around like a petri-dish. hope, for his sake, this obsession doesn't escalate any further. at first i was a bit confused, now it's getting a little tiresome... but i've had my share of diehard fans in this little community over the years

it's nice to see bartek back and reminiscing though. hi bartek!

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 25 Feb 2008, 22:56

Live was good in 2004. Sierra was a guy who had proudness in photos of his biceps and jaytea didn't play elma but was rather some subversive force with mirc coding skills, something sierra bragged about. Jaytea on the other hand bragged about Sierra's guitar skills.

Also sierra took my nab wr on tricks by 6 hundreds then (55,96 to 55,90).

Zweq · Post by **Zweq** » 25 Feb 2008, 23:26

ppl are bored and spam shit, like this, post gayporn pics and throw invisible pies at eachother. and whenever noob x has spent 1000hours to achieve 39tt everyone does their best to scare him off by saying 39 tt sucks and anyone can achieve it

that's how I see 2008

voidak · Post by **voidak** » 26 Feb 2008, 00:56

throw invisible pies at eachother

Sla · Post by **Sla** » 26 Feb 2008, 01:26

Zweq wrote:ppl are bored and spam shit, like this, post gayporn pics and throw invisible pies at eachother. and whenever noob x has spent 1000hours to achieve 39tt everyone does their best to scare him off by saying 39 tt sucks and anyone can achieve it

that's how I see 2008

wise words man. :*

sierra · Post by **sierra** » 26 Feb 2008, 01:54

tijsjoris wrote:Live was good in 2004. Sierra was a guy who had proudness in photos of his biceps and jaytea didn't play elma but was rather some subversive force with mirc coding skills, something sierra bragged about. Jaytea on the other hand bragged about Sierra's guitar skills.

Also sierra took my nab wr on tricks by 6 hundreds then (55,96 to 55,90).

Yeah, was one of teh most exciting records I've ever taken. First TR!

Bismuth · Post by **Bismuth** » 26 Feb 2008, 08:03

Just look at the News forum: 12 Dec 2006.

I mean... that's more than a year, I'm right?

wjelo · Post by **wjelo** » 26 Feb 2008, 15:30

wrang

Xratio · Post by **Xratio** » 26 Feb 2008, 18:08

voidak wrote:throw invisible pies at eachother

Great! -Chucks a big invisible pie-

FW · Post by FW » 6 Mar 2008, 01:22

tijsjoris wrote: This board, for one, does not really fit in the next generation. That's why this board is dead as dust. Sure, it will remain exist. But it's former relevance is definitely gone.

Very much agreed.

With all this attention pointed at belma, there is no reason for either #IRC chatrooms or, just as unfortunate, Mopolauta. I might just be bragging about the "good old days", but really, when I think of Elma, I can't help thinking about IRC as well.

Now, with just about everything compressed into one single .exe file - there is no reason to browse anything external - its all in one piece. And it's so easy. Just a click on a button - and the level is automaticly downloaded. Just another click - your replay is uploaded. So, is this a good thing? Well, yeah, I guess so, but the whole deal about belma has made so much different. There is no reason at all to waste countless hours on doing level packs - people wont play them. Not at all. There is a barely a reason for doing cups either, sure we have the base of players, playing all cups, but its fewer than before - and its the same old who does it.

So, yeah, I think I'll draw the conclusion that Mopolauta is dead. It is, because attention is somewhere else. And not only Mopolauta is suffering, as stated earlier. I guess we just have to accept, that there's more people entering the scene, and that their impression of it is way different than what our impression were (well, atleast mine, for one) - I think the picture of this "close and great community" is fading, more and more for each day going. Its unfortunate, but everything comes to an end. This game will not. Not today, not in a week, not in a year, or two. I guess elma will keep evolving.
But this part of the community, is living it's final times. I'm sure of it.

I think the reason why we reflect so strong about this progress, is because the community has had an influence on our lifes, to some point. It may sound stupid, but just think about it! How many days, NIGHTS, hell, even friday and saturday nights have you been playing this game, or just chatting about random stuff at IRC? The amount is nothing but countless. Now, the addiction is taking off, very slowly, and we all know on the inside, and I for one keep asking myself the question "why?".

The simple answer is - The only thing that kept us addicted was the community. And now, where the community is taking form like any other online game (yeah, i'm even reffering to elma as an online game now), people just don't get that "community" feeling anymore. Atleast I don't.

The_BoneLESS · Post by **The_BoneLESS** » 6 Mar 2008, 03:16

I very much agree with what FW just said.

Still, makes me angry that oldschool players (mostly) are all talking about the "death" of elma and such.

Can't you distinguish progression from death?

But clearly, a part of the scene did die along with the disappearance of Abula.

PS: Still waiting for that Paprika to be finished...

Luther · Post by **Luther** » 6 Mar 2008, 08:49

It is still lovely to see so many well known names writing long posts. :*

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 9 Mar 2008, 12:41

I Have to Agree with Tijs, it's not the death of Elma, merely the Evolution of it.

but hell, even me (being 14 years old now) still reminisce about the times when #battle was around, before Belma, before Mawane and Xratio, when all kuski's pretty much were active.

i guess everyone comes and goes however - list goes on for Ages, all the Way from people like Dr_luni to MP to Ollie to Leeland to Goofu, eventually we'll all leave and the scene will be dominated by new super players with 35tt and amazing levelmaking skills lolz.

i mean... i've been here since end of 2005 and it's a quarter of way through 2008 - i can remember being "Happy 12th Birthday jaksta!" tagged by people like petsen and AnPDaD - but i guess all that is over now.

dz · Post by dz » 14 Mar 2008, 22:24

Heh, it simply shocks me every time I realize about 90% of the casual daily players are new players that I don't know pretty much anything about.

That's the evolution of the scene. Come on, it's almost 2010, and elma came out in 2000! That's a heck of a long time.