My memoir

First things first, you don't have to care about this at all.. I realise I will probably get flamed because I'm not a top player, my writing skills aren't very good, and no one probably cares but neither do I :D I have no idea why I'm about to write this, but I will say this as a sort of introduction:

Gaming has played a massive role in my life since I was about 10 years of age. It has changed my life and my whole attitude as a person, for better and worse. I have met some amazing people, be it at LAN parties, or just sitting on vent chatting away to people until 4 AM. The point is, I would be a completely different person now if my dad had never bought our first computer back in 1999. Here's my memoir..
Year 2000

So by 2000, my dad and I had already started getting into our computer. I was only 8 at the time, so didn't REALLY understand any of it. Of course my dad knew what he was talking about. He had read an article somewhere that a new game had recently come out, a game that is still played to this day. On Christmas day 2000, I ran downstairs, opened my presents, only to find a copy of Counter-Strike! I couldn't wait to play it! We installed it on the shitty computer and gamed for a few hours, getting really into it. This sort of marks the beginning of my life as a gamer. A few of my real life friends already had the game, and we sort of had a clan going.. We never really played and clan wars or anything, it was more owning noobs on pubs, but we felt like kings at the time.

Year 2001/2002

So after about a year of solid counter-strike ownage and the occasional Quake multiplayer game, my dad comes home from work one day with a new game in his hand. I'm sure it's obvious that the game he had in his hand was Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which, however daft it may sound to you guys, changed my life completely. I sat and played the single for a few hours, making it to the crypt level, at which point I was to terrified to continue playing :D so I fired up the multiplayer, confident my skills in CS wouldn't let me down! How wrong I was! I still remember the first class/map I ever played, was Engineer on mp_Assault. It was pretty much the most fun I'd ever had on the computer to date. The game was so different from CS, but I loved it. The thrill of winning as a team rather than just killing was something that I really enjoyed.(and in fact, still do to this day) Anyway, I eventually met some people on RTCW and we formed a clan called Alice's Restaurant (I was watching the film the night before :P)

WolfTV

So one night my dad was sitting playing the computer, watching a game of RTCW with his clan Funksters. He was speccing someone on Base in jail room, owning people. He said "Do you believe this guy is the same age as you?" Of course I didn't believe it.. But it turns out he actually was! His name was Squirrel, otherwise known these days as sqzz.

Year 2003

10th June. The first time I ever played Enemy Territory. I 1remember this date because it was my Uncle Rab's birthday. The map was Fueldump, and all I remember doing is sitting on the tank owning noobs trying to build that damn bridge! My favourite class was Engineer, and the weapon of my choice was the Rifle Grenade, but back then the rifle only had 8 bullets! For a while I played on random servers. My favourites where [fP] Demolition and SNL! They were always heavily populated and just fun to play on, but for some reason one day they were not full, so I hunted for another server. I landed on {TibeT} where I became a local. Eventually I was inducted into the {TibeT} Young Gunz under the name Ma$teR.

I had a great time on the {Tibet} team speak channel, I had never been on one before. It was a great experience. Later on that same night a young lad around the same age as me came on. I can't for the life of me remember his nick name.. all I remember is that his nickname now, is SkyD. We played on the {TibeT} server for ages one evening, owning noobs and winning valiantly! It was all pretty good, but sadly came to an abrupt end when the {Tibet} guys decided we were useless and were no longer part of the clan. So alas, the hunt for a clan went on.

Year 2003 - Million2one

Playing on the [fP] Demolition and SNL! servers more and more, being a silly curious kid, I openly asked in the chat box, "Is anyone here scottish? I am" to which my first "clan leader' Scranman replied. We got chatting, and eventually he invited me to join his clan on teamspeak for a chat. The lot of them sounded very surprised when a squeaky voiced, 10 year old DeMeNtEd uttered the words "Hiya guys am demented." The rest is history! I eventually joined m2one, and for some reason when I was younger, I was apparently amazing at shooting. I really really can't remember this at all, but anyway, we played a LOT of clan wars. I had never played a clan war before. I was still used to publics! All I knew was killing. But I was very good at it.

Quote by andyF1

Another attack and D3m3nt3d took out 3 of MmF instantly, leaving the tank open for M2O

Quote by Angrykid

TB#2 D3m3nt3d went on the rampage taking down 5 players, giving M2O the opportunity to take control

Quote by andyF1

despite MmF putting up an initial fight they were pushed back by another Rambo run from D3m3nt3d with 3 kills in 6secs.

Quote by Nuke

on the attack to claim victory in the match, their first attacks were stopped short by M2O with D3m3nt3d and Slicky claiming the majority on initial kills.

We experienced a lot of success in million2one only really losing around 5 games total. And then the Guild Wars beta came out. We played that game for HOURS for weeks on end, missing clan prac and games. Eventually the clan just faded away, everyone left for other clans or Guild Wars.

million2one Final lineup
Scranman
Nunners
DeMeNtEd
Angrykid
Wesjanson
Slicky
NickeL
Piranha
Daishi
blakes7
Raptor


Year 2004: -IoS- and Shane.

So by now, I had a lot of experience in 6on6, AND 3on3, having met Mintuz. We formed our own little 3on3 clan on the side called Xenon gaming. We were never very good, losing every single official bar one or two. We met Shane on the -=RAW=- clan server one day, and asked him to join. Shane and I got on very well together. Eventally we had an offer from ex rVc clan leader Chelskill. He had remember me from Million2one, and said his clan -IOS- were looking for two players. Enthusiastic at the opportunity to play 6on6 again, we whole-heartedly accepted his offer and were welcome warmly into the clan.

IoS starting Lineup

Chelskill
SaveAbullet4me
quest
Harris
DeMeNtEd
Shane

w0bber


Being around 12/13 at the time, you can imagine I was pretty immature. Flaming, saying stupid things, acting the goat etc. Well Chelskill was having none of it. He sat me down on teamspeak one night and we had a massive chat about life and how to go about it. He spoke from experience as he had been in trouble when he was a kid. I learned a lot from Chelskill, and as silly as it sounds, he made me a better person. I genuinely wouldn't be who I am today if I hadn't met these guys.

Another good clan, as far as I remember anyway. We played a LOT, and practices were taken VERY seriously. We got better and better as a team, but sadly Shane had fallen subject to a nasty WoW addiction, and [flag=uk quest left the clan. Chelskill was quick to find new players. Our new lineup looked like this

IoS second Lineup
Chelskill
SaveAbullet4me
Harris
DeMeNtEd
`SoD
dilko_
Sniper`
Brody

We tore our enemies apart, making it to 5th place in the clanbase 6on6 ladder. Granted we only lasted there about a week, but that was pretty high for us.

Later that year, team stoner [flag=uk Sniper stabbed us in the back to join our arch nemesis clan, Goon Squad. Having none of it, we challenged them to a war to finish our silly quarrel. -IoS- absolutely smashed Goon Squad 4-0. And of course they whined about it, but we didn't care, we owned them so badly! gS.rch was to become the worst hit from their clan, as his girlfriend Rachel attened the -IoS- LAN party. Good times! :D

As our last official victory, -IoS- sadly went our separate ways.


IoS 2004-2007Lineup
Chelskill
Saveabullet4me
Harris
Kryten
DeMeNtEd
Shane
quest`
w0bber
frodee
deggy
Mix3r
dilko_
`SoD
Sniper
????(Brody)
maverick888
Kapel


End of an era and World of Warcraft

By this time I was heavily addicted to World of Warcraft. I was never quite as bad as Shane as I had a passion for Enemy Territory like he never had. The fall of -IoS- meant that I had no where else to go. ET was becoming home to more and more cheaters and I just didn't care anymore, so I became a full time WoW addict. Leveling up on Vashj was a LOT of fun in 2006. As soon as I hit level 30 on my Rogue, the guys I was playing with took me to Stranglethorn Vale. You could not have as much fun playing WoW as I did leveling in Stranglethorn Vale. World PvP was at the highest it's ever been.. Massive 50on50 battles taking up the whole zone. I feel like a nerd for saying it, but I had the most fun I'd had playing that game. Then of course, the grind was over and I hit level 60. I joined Shane's raiding guild, Origin. We raided Molten Core pretty much every night until eventually I had full Nightslayer and Bloodfang legs/head. We tore Blackwing Lair apart. My character was looking pretty sexy in full bloodfang, and my two swords, Maladath and Chromatically Tempered Sword. We managed to kill C'thun just before The Burning Crusade came out.

The Burning Crusade and back to ET

The Burning Crusade was released. I came home from school and installed it to find that Shane had already played and was level 61. He asked to level up together, which was a great idea because Vashj was in absolute chaos. Any person leveling up on his own would be ganked and dead within minutes, his mobs stolen, and corpse camped for half an hour at least. Of course, there were posts and posts of raging alliance players whining that the mighty horde were taking it too far. Somehow there was an agreement that people would not gank. We laughed in the face of those people, and ganked anyway!

By the time we hit level 70, Origin had completely died away. Me and Shane decided to start our own guild called Aquila. We recruited members for our 10 man team, but couldn't find a decent healer, so I dropped my rogue as main character, and took to my Shaman. We stormed Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, Serpent Shrine Cavern, Tempest Keep and most of Mount Hyjal. Sadly, out guild died due to inactivity in some of the members. Shane one of them. He decided to quit the game for good, and stuck to it. I went on to join a guild called Prodigy, with whom I completed the game, by downing Illidan.

I was becoming increasingly bored with WoW. All I really done was run around Orgrimmar on my Fiery War Horse. So I turned back to Enemy Territory. I had no idea what the scene was like, having been gone for 2 years. I met R3xim and eventually join him and other scottish guys to start the clan R3spect

R3spect Lineup
R3xim
intox
k!lty
Rob
demented
skillboost
Pigeon

The short live R3spect had meant that I was in contact with Pigeon, and Spie. We played many 3on3s together. Eventually Spie stopped playing with us, and Pigeon and I met reAliZe_, who played under MANY names before landing on that one. We rolled in 3on3(not so much :p) and eventually started up a 5on5 clan with a few dutch guys, and a german!

versatile Gaming first Lineup
DeMeNtEd
Pigeon
reAliZe_
qUERY
[flag=n] bEARBOY
LeAN

We were average skilled I suppose, nothing special. We had a lot of laughs on vent with Pigeon, [flag=n] bEARBOY and LeAN taking the piss out of reAliZe_ constantly. We played a lot of games, cups and OpenCup and never really achieved much, and alas we broke up.

versatile Gaming Final team
DeMeNtEd
reAliZe__
Pigeon
qUERY
MLO
owzo
LeAN
sebi
deggy

LAN party ownage and Anexis

CIC7 was announced. reAliZe_, Pigeon and I had decided we would start a LAN team. We had many different lineups, including of course the infamous Jinosta, who dodged, tyyrd who.. just couldn't be arsed I think, and Kolibri who also didn't make it. We eventually made it to Schiphol Airport, where Team Validus met and shook hands for the first time!

Team Validus LAN Lineup
DeMeNtEd
reAliZe_
Pigeon
rolst
CoCo

We never really experienced much success at LAN. We bet one team and lost to the rest. But I like to think I got the better of Blight by satchel charging Matias, knifing Night and feruS!

After LAN, we returned home where reAliZe_ told me about a team he was putting together, and he asked me to join with him. I accepted of course after I saw the line up.

Anexis OC Prem Line-up
demented
Jinosta
reAliZe_
kolibri
Slarti

I still to this day feel we had the potential to be a successful team, if we had only sorted out silly little mistakes the people kept making. We played OC Prem played pretty well up until the end, which is when I started seeing my now girlfriend and I left which is obviously why they performed so badly after my leaving the clan.



Well that's about it, I realised sort of why I had the urge to write this. My gaming career is slowly but surely coming to and end. I am not particularly active in any game any more and I am enjoying life outside of the game more than I ever did before. I will never completely stop playing games, I plan to attend every upcoming LAN, whenever they might be, and I am looking for a clan at the moment in fact. But how long that will last, I have no idea. I'd like to say thank you to everyone I have met in gaming so far, even though most of them will never read this. Looking forward to meeting loads more people whenever I get the chance.