Happy Birthday, SHP!

[Collector]

Today, the 6th of October, is the one year anniversary of SHP on its own domain. Some of you may remember that SHP started out being hosted on Tawm's site, tawmis.com. It started as a means of preserving a lot of the information that was about to be lost on the old WebX boards when VU shut down the old Sierra boards and moved the community over to the awful Jive boards, sans all of the history and information. Many of the sierra community was never heard from again.

Though I had been thinking about it for quite awhile, SHP was moved to its own domain when it was announced that the Jive boards were closing as most here should know. It has allowed me to dramatically expand SHP and made it a little easier for those outside of the community to find technical support for their Sierra games, since there is no official support for these games, anymore. We, the fans, had been that support for the past several years, anyway.

The 7th is the one year anniversary of the SHP Forums. I feel that it, along with some of the other Gateway boards, has helped hold some of the Sierra community together. Rudy's Sierra Chest's one year anniversary will be coming up soon, too. It is good that the established fan boards have also been part of this. QfMG, the GK4 Campaign with its forum and the venerable SQ.net have all contributed to keeping the community alive. Some of the boards have been quiet, lately, but they are still around. This is the nature of forums. Traffic ebbs and flows on most boards.

Let's post our thoughts and or memories of the Sierra community; past incarnations and the present day status.

[DeadPoolX]

Personal
I never would have met Maia without the Sierra community. I don't know if that's a "thought or memory" per se, but it's a damn good reason (in my not-so-humble opinion) for the community existing.

Starsiege
The SS community no longer exists (although some of us still keep in touch) and the game itself is rarely played nowadays. That has less to do with the official servers going offline than a general lack of support and waning interest. Action-oriented games don't age too well and SS was released in 1999. I'd still play it if the SS community somehow got back together.

Gabriel Knight
I recall my first foray into an Adventure-based board. For some reason or another (I still don't know why) I decided to start posting in the GK board. I received a less-than-warm welcome, some of which was undoubtedly my fault.

One of the largest misunderstandings -- which eventually led to a full scale argument -- developed from my suggestion of using the then-modern Max Payne engine to make a new GK game. Most people on the GK boards went berserk and starting shouting: "You can't give Gabriel guns and make him an action hero!" I never suggested that at all. Unfortunately, very few posters could get past their kneejerk reaction of "action games are stupid!" to understand my idea.

WebX
Most people complained about WebX. It definitely had its problems (such as the file size limitation on tags), but it was much better than the later-used Jive boards. I still miss WebX to some degree. Sure, it looks rather silly now (in fact, it somewhat resembled an EZ Board), but it was still fun. Nostalgia plays a huge factor as well. That's why we can play a 16-color AGI game and not immediately cringe in horror at the graphics, extremely basic story lines and overall interface limitations.

[Tawmis]

*Sniffles about LarryLaffer.net not being mentioned in Collector's post!*

Well, obviously for a past memory - I have met some incredible people thanks to the Sierra forums originally. And never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would have met some of them in person - like when I met Jules! Thanks to the Sierra forums, I have met so many people who have come to mean quite a bit to me!

The irony is, my first experience on the official Sierra forums was not... favorable. I can't recall what I did - maybe post links to a Sierra site I was making, that had walk thrus and the like - or something. But a moderator (I wish I could remember) came down VERY hard on me for it. So I actually took a MASSIVE hiatus from the Sierra forums, and eventually came back as Vaprakgruumsh. (Wow, the memory...) And was far more aware of the rules (since they had previously been hammered down my throat!) - and just went there to talk about Sierra games and my love for them.

It was at this point I had met a lot of people. A handful of them joined me on my own silly forum at tawmis.com (which by the way, you guys are welcomed to - there's no theme there - just talk about anything under the sun, really! - if you use a different user name than you do here, just let me know! - which I know won't be an issue for DPX! - since he's sure to use the same one if he came over there also!) - ahem - where was I before the random side note? Oh yes, a handful joined me on my forum as well, and here's where I really got to know a lot of people because my forum is pretty much free reign to talk (just no political and/or religious discussions that might lead to a debate - because it's often too personal!) - and I got to know so many people because they just freely talked...

I am so thankful for the Sierra Community. For Sierra. Because without Sierra, I would have probably never delved into games. Without Sierra, there would be no Imagination/The Sierra Network, which is where I met my wife. Without the Sierra Community, I would have never met some very amazing people.

And the beauty of it - because of everyone's passion for Sierra, and the classic games, and the community it once had - I continue to meet new people, or at least get to know them far better than I did on the Sierra forums!

I want to thank Collector for inviting me to be a part of the revival and survival of said community. <3

[AndreaDraco]

This is a pretty emotional moment. Not only I remember the old days of yore on the Gabriel Knight forum, the only one I visited back then, but I also remember our first days here, just a few of us, when the people kept coming and we invented many threads like 'Your favorite moment' (for each series), 'The meaning of your nicknames' and so on, just to get to know each other. And one thing I love about this and many of the other Gateway boards is that the never loose the cozy feeling of a family living room, where everyone chats freely and respectfully. It was a pleasure back then, and now it's even more pleasing to be part of such a great community!

[Datadog]

Happy Birthday, SHP! I appreciated your helping to keep the classics alive, as well as remind me that I'm not alone in my unhealthy obsession with these games. It's also a nice break from all the SQ boards I've been frequenting for the last ten years.

I used to be one of the head-mods on the Virtual Broomcloset, until the Admin disappeared, the spam-bots took over, and I was forced to close the darn thing down because we didn't have the password to fix the forum. Then I moved over to the Janitorial Times for a bit, where the SHP eventually came along. So I hitched a ride over this forum instead. The next year was a bit of a blur (I don't even remember what I had for breakfast this morning) but I mostly remember pirates and a dog named Odin. And then I started a tournament and here I am!

Group hug!

[Tawmis]

but I mostly remember pirates and a dog named Odin. And then I started a tournament and here I am!

Have I mentioned you rock my socks sometimes, Data?

[Datadog]

No, you haven't! By all means, please do!

[Jules]

*squeezes in the middle of the group hug*

I wouldn't have met Patrick if it weren't for Sierra. We met on Ken's site, sierragamers.com, while making a game together. He lived in Louisiana and I lived in Pennsylvania at the time. By moving here to LA, I definitely wouldn't have known my favorite poopie dog, Milo, experienced New Orleans, and definitely wouldn't have been able to meet Tawm in real life.

I first joined the community after playing Gabriel Knight, which led me to Ken's site, then the WebX boards, then Vivendi's forums, then here. A few other sites were Almirena's questformoreglory.com, Tawm's tawmis.com, Nico's Cort-X site (Gray Matter), and a few others. Along the way, I've met some genuine people that actually have the same obsession with Sierra! How wonderful it is to find other Sierra freaks out in internet land! *g*

[Rudy]

Collector, I've got this very nice bullet for my eBay sniper rifle. I was planning to use it on an equally beautiful auction. But instead of using it on that auction, i prefer giving that bullet to you. Why, you ask? I could give many many reasons. Because of you, i could run the XP collections, because of you i could run Colonel's Bequest with 3 midi channels, because of you i could remove the horizontal lines in GK2 videos, because of you i could run Hunter Hunted again,... i can go on for a long time, and i'm sure many MANY other people can say the same. That's why i'm giving you my bullet, and I hope it will help you to continue this unique site, because this place should never disappear.

And yes, the Sierra Chest will have its first anniversary in 4 days aswell. There will in fact be a special newsletter, covering lots of background stories about the site, information about the Gateway and the future of the Chest, some things which may be quite a surprise for you all. This first year was just the beginning.

[BBP]

Congrats SHP! Happy anniversary!
If my memory serves me correctly, I first came to the Vivendi forum when I'd just acquired Phantasmagoria, and it soon helped me draw some lines. I played a lot of Sierra (and family) games (Leisure Suit Larry, Gold Rush, Sid & Al's Incredible Toons) when I was younger. The forums stimulated me to get other games (like Shivers), and it helped me at making some nice trades. The trades with Rudy also gave some nice additions to my stamp collection.
I just wish I was more into Gabriel Knight when that forum was going so strong... it's my favourite series now.

[Collector]

Collector, I've got this very nice bullet for my eBay sniper rifle. I was planning to use it on an equally beautiful auction. But instead of using it on that auction, i prefer giving that bullet to you. Why, you ask? I could give many many reasons. Because of you, i could run the XP collections, because of you i could run Colonel's Bequest with 3 midi channels, because of you i could remove the horizontal lines in GK2 videos, because of you i could run Hunter Hunted again,... i can go on for a long time, and i'm sure many MANY other people can say the same. That's why i'm giving you my bullet, and I hope it will help you to continue this unique site, because this place should never disappear.

Thanks, Rudy! Your donation will be spent on new Sierra games to develop yet more of the installers.

[Rudy]

You're welcome

[Collector]

And just for you, since you mentioned Hunter Hunted, a new installer for it. I'll have it uploaded sometime this weekend.

[Rudy]

Thank you for the Hunter Hunted installer. Will try it out for sure since it's one of the next games to be inserted in the Chest. Also, today is the Sierra Chest's first anniversary . I'm finalizing a special and extra large newsletter, covering the Gateway and... well... a LOT of more stuff. Will provide the link when it's done in about 2 hours.

[Rath Darkblade]

Group hug! *jumps in the middle*

Happy 1st birthday, SHP!

*stands on the chair and plays the piano - to the tune of "A Very Happy Un-birthday" from "Alice in Wonderland"*
A very marvelous birthday -
To you!
To you!
A very marvelous birthday -
To you!
To you!
Let's drink a cup of tea
and then sing this song with glee
A very marvelous birthday -
To you!!!

*finishes with a flourish and runs away*

Don't mind me. I just felt like being silly for a change.