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Yimmy
[?] Karma: +4 | Quote - Link
Thursday, September 26 2019, 9:59 pm EST
Resident Goody two-shoes

Karma: 72
Posts: 1625
Location: Climbing In Your Windows
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Introduction


The Interguild was a fantastic website with it's own culture, diverse community, and an exciting, storied, history... but I don't know all too much about that because by the time I joined most all of that had already happened. When I joined in ye olde 2013 the Interguild had maybe 15 active members and another few who popped on periodically. It was well past the Interguild's peak, after most of it's users had no longer come for Hannah and the Pirate Caves, but instead for the community.
In contrast, I joined specifically for HATPC. I was a Neopets member for a little while when I was 10 and I enjoyed most of the flash games, especially HATPC. I'd like to think it's because it's a good well designed game, but realistically it was likely because it had cool explosions and boulders. Unfortunately for me, it ran through Shockwave which had always been buggy on my computers, so I could only rarely play HATPC. After some years we finally got a computer that HATPC consistently worked on and I was ecstatic. I played it fora bit and soon noticed there was a way to play custom levels. I immediately decided it was my duty to play every single level that existed, so I had to find a catalog of every single level that existed. A quick Google search lead me to the Interguild cavelist. (I soon noticed that most of those levels were bad or impossible)


Pre-account (Early 2013)


The cavelist was cool, but I was soon curious of the background of it. What even was the Interguild? I clicked around and every new page was full of excitement and adventure! I first noticed that there were other games each with their own level editors and uploaded levels and immediately decided it was my duty to play every single level for all of those games as well. I went through each game, figured out if I could play it easily, and then systematically completed all the levels for that given game. I also noticed the comments, where people gave in-depth reviews and talked to each other and that was also exciting and new. Then I was distracted by the guides, full of interesting game mechanics and advanced techniques. Those lead to the blogs, specifically the Interguild history blogs, where I clicked on every link and read every post in every linked thread, but that was only the beginning. I had recently moved to a different state, so I had very few friends and very much free time, and the blog had showed me that the forum was interesting and exciting. So I immediately decided it was my duty to read every single post that existed. I became engrossed in all the past culture and drama of the Interguild, such as karma disputes, random events, (like Neezles going for record) and other such level-making antics. I absorbed all the knowledge I could (except for the "The Interguild" subforum. That one was boring)


First Impressions (2013)


After literally half a year of lurking and soaking up every single word on the Interguild I became so attached to the forum I decided to do the unthinkable... make an account. I asked for my mom's email, signed up, and immediately made a thread introducing myself (this is the only link im putting in this post because everything i said for my first year or so is still a little embarassing). I tried to integrate myself, but I was in an uniquely awkward position because I knew everything about the forum and everyone here but I wasn't a part of any of it, and on top of that I was a sheltered homeschooler with little social skills and less internet skills. In my first year I embarrassed myself repeatedly with my ignorance, rudeness, and confusion. I vividly remember making it as low as -26 karma, a score rivaled only by trolls and banned members (i remember this due to the deep and painful emotional scar).

Being dumb and annoying sucked at the time but it did teach me all kinds of social cues that were practically helpful out in the real world. At one point Darvince said something along the lines of "yimmy thinks we are mean but he doesn't realize that most other forums would not put up with his crap" (paraphrase) which I just assumed was wrong at the time, but nowadays I'm forced to admit there is some truth to it. I'm thankful to all who dealt with me during my first experience with the real world (especially quirvy. i pestered him specifically for a while and he was frequently the one to teach me in plain and blunt words why i was annoying and how to stop).


Growing Up (2014)


Sometime before June 2014 there was a period where the ThomJorDar clique ran rampant. It's unfortunately not well recorded and my memory is very fuzzy (at least we have this thread to show for it. What I do remember is that Thomas, Jorster, and Darvince banded together to tear down the establishment and cause all kinds of general chaos, culminating in Thomas abusing security exploits to hack into accounts and make thousands of spambots. This is relevant to me personally because I was a very easy target for general chaos, seeing as I was s annoying, rude, and dumb . This manifested especially on April Fools day where they acted like me and, mocking my many poor posts and behaviors that I had during that period. They had been picking on me for a while so I nearly ignored this and blew it off as bullying but I remember some members outside the clique commenting on how it was, in fact, a little funny. It was at this point that I realized that maybe these people didn't treat me like I was a nuisance because they were big ol' meany heads, but because I was a nuisance. I had finally become somewhat self-aware, and through the following year that grew little by little until I was finally a functioning member of society.


The Rest (2015-Today)


Without a silly ten year old wreaking havoc every other week, the Interguild started to become less exciting. The Interguild as it's own site was ten years old, and the group originated before even that. It rarely got new members seeing as it was based around a fifteen year old flash game (I was the last new member to stick around for a meaningful amount of time) and  It's old members were growing old and becoming busy with jobs and other such adult things, so they weren't all too interested in making custom levels for fifteen year old flash games either. People started checking in less and less, and then not at all, until we've reached our current point where we get two or so posts a month. (not all too much to say about myself during this portion because being a decent member is much less notable)

I was originally making this post because I thought it might entertain others but after I started it became a little more personal. The Interguild is on it's last legs and it's pretty sad to see it in this state, especially since it was the root of so much personal growth for myself. So this is somewhat just to jog my memory and remind myself of what great things this website and community (yes, that means you!! [probably]) has done for me so that in the end I remember it as fondly as it deserves. I'm thankful to all the members here for putting up with me and, to some extent, instructing me. And I'm sure many of you have been impacted by the Interguild seeing as most of you have been here for many more years than me.

goodness will I look silly if the Interguild somehow doesn't die


Spoiler:

Interguild discord!! People use it!!
atvelonis
[?] Karma: +1 | Quote - Link
Wednesday, October 2 2019, 12:17 am EST
Apocryphal Ruminator

Karma: 160
Posts: 1642
Gender: Male
Location: An antique land
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A really nice retrospective, Yimmy. It's still a little incredible to me that you were able to find the site to begin with, completely on your own and so long after most others had joined. The only reason I'm here is because of Krotomo, whom I've known for something like 14 years now. Although I have a great amount of love for HatPC, I really came for Minecraft, and like you stuck around because of the community.

To be completely honest, the way you characterize yourself in this thread is really not so different from how I was at the same age. I'm glad that I was hardly active in 2011 and 2012, only getting deep into MC in middle school, because I was not a very sharp child. Nearly every post of mine on this site dating earlier than 2015 is pure cringe material, and much/most of the slightly more recent stuff is weird in ways that are harder for me to articulate; it's faux-intellectual, presumptuous, insecure, or just generally representative of internal confusion. I was really immature for most of my time here, and grew up as the Interguild did. I'd be willing to bet that many or most IG members have gone through the same thing.

Quote:
The Interguild is on it's last legs and it's pretty sad to see it in this state, especially since it was the root of so much personal growth for myself.

If you'll allow me some optimism: the Interguild has slowed down, indeed, but I think that you're mistaken to imply that this necessarily precedes an eventual "death" of the site, at least in the foreseeable future. A lot of us are at a point where we're way busier than we used to be; Kro and I are in college, Jorster has a kid, Livio's becoming a lawyer... but I don't think that I'm ever going to really "move on" from this place. I know that sounds naïve, but it's too integral to my childhood to be left behind. This is the internet; there's actually nothing stopping us from continuing to stop by indefinitely, even though chances are it will never reach the zenith of activity that it had when its original members were all in high school. If you make the effort, other people will make the effort too.


'jellsprout' said:
As a kid I always thought tennisballs looked delicious and I liked biting them. I still remember the feel of the fuzz on my teeth and tongue.
Rocketguy2
[?] Karma: 0 | Quote - Link
Wednesday, October 2 2019, 2:12 pm EST
God wishes he was me

Age: 21
Karma: 38
Posts: 850
Location: Clinging to the last whispers of life in my decaying body
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Not going to lie, I found the interguild through a video about the glitch that stopped water taps from flowing. It showed a link at the end and me and bang_jan followed it. After which we proceeded to make the interguild a worse place for the next 10 (wow) years


Can you feel your heart burning?
Can you feel the struggle within?
The fear within me is beyond anything your soul can make, you cannot kill me in a way that matters
jebby
[?] Karma: +5 | Quote - Link
Sunday, October 13 2019, 4:08 pm EST
Interguild Founder

Age: 32
Karma: 233
Posts: 968
Gender: Male
Location: United Kingdom
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To be quite honest with you all, I originally started the Interguild as a kind of teenage power fantasy. I was 15 years old, slowly working my way up the HATPCG ranks. I think I got up to the 3rd highest admin rank in that guild, which to a socially awkward teenager with little sense of power in the real world was like being made Vice President of the United States.

I noticed there were a few other HATPC-related guilds and figured that if I could get them to unite into one super guild, I would be crowned Emperor of all things HATPC. This probably wouldn't have gone very far if I hadn't met Livio that same week, the leader of the PCCA, which was a healthy upcoming guild that was rivalling the dying HATPCG in terms of activity and level-making. I invited Livio into the "Interguild" and he suggested using his website-building skills to make a website for it.

One thing led to another and Livio built the first Interguild website. I think the activity was split between the website and the Neopets guilds at first, with at least two other guilds getting involved. But the website really blew up and, thanks to Livio's care and attention, was brimming with content, levels and discussion.

Livio was always a better community manager than I was and it's to him you all owe the existence of this community today. Without him, the Interguild would have sunk into obscurity along with the Neopets guilds.

The Interguild is a fascinating thing to me. It's such a niche community, a snapshot of a small group of young people 12 years ago that has been fossilised in this unknown corner of the Internet. It's more or less the same people that were making HATPC levels all those years ago. To each of us, I think it's like an echo of our childhood, one that keeps reverberating in the background, giving us a gentle reminder of who we used to be, of times gone by.

Based on the retrospectives above, I think the Interguild also serves as a reminder of how each of us have developed in the time we've been a part of it. I'm glad I evolved from the person I was when I posted on those guilds. I'm even more glad to read comments by others about personal growth and self-awareness. If the Interguild was the catalyst of even 5% of that, then it's been a good thing indeed.

Hannah and the Pirate Caves is a really cool game. I love the booby trap concept and the scope for creativity. I wish it was open to a wider audience so that I could see more people share and discuss their levels. Maybe one day DroidFreak and I will return to Reborn and CaveGen to make "cavemaking" more accessible. Or maybe it'll forever remain the Interguild's secret.
Quirvy
[?] Karma: 0 | Quote - Link
Sunday, March 29 2020, 4:24 pm EST
  

Karma: 655
Posts: 7753
Gender: Male
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Quote:
I'm thankful to all who dealt with me during my first experience with the real world (especially quirvy. i pestered him specifically for a while and he was frequently the one to teach me in plain and blunt words why i was annoying and how to stop).
Aww, it's stuff like this that actually makes me really proud. I'm not sure the type of person I was 5-10 years ago, but nowadays I place a lot of value in helping improve situations like that, so I'm glad to hear I was able to help you enough to stick out, even if at the time I was more impatient than I would be today.

Quote:
Livio's becoming a lawyer...
Huh? I totally missed this development...



spooky secret
shos
[?] Karma: +2 | Quote - Link
Monday, April 13 2020, 9:49 am EST
~Jack of all trades~

Age: 31
Karma: 389
Posts: 8273
Gender: Male
Location: Israel
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I'd like to point out that something makes this site very special to me, above and beyond everything that was spoken here. The fact that - well, you cannot explain it to "outsiders". If you tell people that there's a community of random people that ages ago really loved a game and brpke hell out of it, it's ok I guess, but it'll never communicate the *feels* that come with this site. We've spent here much of our teenage years and people form their grownup qualities in those years, and apart from gaming we've had loads of discussions here about whatever topics. I wish I had the time and burning desire to make another cave as I once did, and not because there's any profit of that - there's plenty of better games and achievements to be had even in your fun times - but for the feeling that DAYUM, this is going for yeeeeaaaaarrrs.



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