[Maquisard]

Ah, Tamz. The girl every teenage boy in the forums used to have a crush on. I was around during the early days of the forums, and grew to love them because of people like you, jaf, james & others--people who post very rarely now, probably because of the same reasons you cite. When life happened and I moved on, it was remembering people like you that got me to pop back in once in a while and check how the old crowd is doing. But ever since the forums crashed a couple of times I never signed-up again until now. Makes me sad I never used ICQ or the like & got to participate in those relationships you oldschoolers developed outside the forums. It's good to return & be welcomed back by you guys though, thanks Tamz, I'd love to drop you a line from time to time, see how you're doing in Netherlands etc. if that's alright with you

[James]

Marek,this is nothing you can market or protect against. It's just the passage of time. AG is my home page, and has been since I saw it review Grim Fandango, which was then, and is now my favourite adventure game. I read the articles, and was eager to know others when the forums first opened. Indeed, Phil and I raced one another to 1000 posts, back in the days when chitchat posts counted for something (accumalatively, not substantively ).

The times when I don't post on the forum, I always read it, or at least the topics. These are times when I'm particularly low, and don't want to subject you all to another "help james try and mend his broken heart" thread; see the archives for plenty of those. A second time when I don't post is in repetitive threads. It's nothing bad, and it's great to see new people here, it's just as an old head, one can only take so many Grant25-esque posts. [INJOKE ALERT]

This is still my home of sorts, and it will be a personal defeat and failing if this changes. I will pass into shadow. There's a girl in the top left corner of my screen holding a flame - that's a fire of spirit, of community, of togetherness. Let's not let it go out.

[Erwin_Br]

Nothing lives without the rains;
Fate constrains Man, his soul to grow.
Universal law proclaims
All things change, evolve and go.

That is the land of lost content
I see it shining plain.
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again...

By John B. Johnson

--Erwin

[Kingzjester]

What the hell? WHat the hell?! WHAT THE HELL, LOVE?! What is up with all this pathos?!

[Ninja Dodo]

Being relatively new I never really got to know you much, but I enjoyed reading your thoughts in the various discussions in the time I've been here. I'm sorry to see you leave... I wonder though if me and my heated debates with BJ and Bastich are one of the contributing factors to your leaving. I certainly hope not.

I'm studying in England at the moment but I can kinda still live in Holland and I will definitely be around there for the summer, possibly even for a placement all through next year. It would be cool to meet up with you and all the other AGers sometime.

[Ninja Dodo]

Just thinking about it a bit, I used to frequent the Lionhead forums in the past and back then there tended to be some rather interesting discussions there. I didn't go there for a while and when I came back it was all "how do I sell my idea to Lionhead", "I want to be a games designer, but I can't draw or write" or "I have an idea for a wargame with millions of units"... thread upon thread of the same stuff. A guy who also used to go there said: "Those guys are me a couple of years back."

Probably it's not so much the forum that changes, but the people that visited from back in the old days... Then when some newbie comes in and posts a link to Samarost or starts a discussion about whether Broken Sword 3 is really an adventure game, it all seems a bit redundant. Like, newbies, first stop... the search tool. Use it and use it well.

You've been there, done that, got the post count.

[mycroft]

As the resident Stupid Newbie(tm) here, I'm sorry we didn't get the oppurtunity to get well-acquianted. I just hope that CoMI review incident has nothing to do with your departure. If so, I sincerely apologise. I'll be wary of what I write in my posts from now on.

Goodbye, fair maiden.

[Kingzjester]

Get your freakin' ass back over here, lass! You can't just LEAVE! Especially not after writing a farewell address this vague. I want reasons, I want names! Who the hell writes farewell addresses for forums anyway?

Aw, fuck! I give up! I quit! This is the last fucking straw! Good bye everyone!

[Dervish]

"NO!"



"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

[HaiDang]

Thanks Dervish, you cracked up a smile on my saddened face

As I read on Tamz's post, I kept having a sinking feeling inside. I recognized I had virtually left the forum during the last two years, as I left home for university. And I did come back at times, each to see new faces and old ones, which were in the trend of vanishing too. Maybe I'm not covering enough threads, but I can see less and less of Phil or Jaf or the likes' posts. The forum is really changing and I could unconciously feel it, but what Tamz said put a shocking feeling in me to actually wake up and rub my eyes and see it.

Have we all contributed to the change, even without our own notice? Everyone thinks "Oh I'm a little busy, maybe I'll just lurk around and the forum will not be much different without my presence". The problem may be that EVERYONE is thinking that. OK, just a guess, but it's my case anyway.


I miss the old days, and I miss you too, dear Tamz. This place is not the same without you.

[Maquisard]

My thoughts/experience exactly, Haidang.

[GreenJeanz]

Goodbye Tamara..although I feel like you told ME goodbye a long time ago..
I agree with Marek..the vague harshness of the post is not helpful in the least nor does it explain a thing...

I also agree with Dang's sentiment..I miss mostly the individual relationships I had with people here..people who were like family to me, who I loved, and who gave me some relief from my pain, gave me room to vent..then just gave up, seemingly. I've said already how disappointed and hurt I have been that nobody contacted me in the time I was too busy to come. I have been worse than ever lately, and have not had anyone there for me.
To me, that is why the forum feels different, is because I feel like nobody gives a damn. If I posted one of my ye olde sad venting posts, I feel like I would recieve apathy or even someone telling me to quit whining. I no longer feel safe.
It is of no fault of Marek's or anyone else in charge, but because my relationships with most of the people here have deteriorated. I am not leaving though. I refuse to give up. I am more than ready to renew relationships.
I want my friends back...

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by GreenJeanz

I want my friends back...

I guess that's the main issue here. People in this forum have changed. I don't think it's for the bad, not do I think it's for the good. People just grow tired of the forum for their own reasons (boredom, business, shifting of interest, etc...) and leave, leaving their friends behind. Now of course old timers will find something is amiss, when most of the people they knew are gone.
But then, we newbies aren't so bad, aren't we?
I feel like this forum is a great place to discuss and meet people, and honestly I can't help feeling slighted each time time someone complains about the good old days.

EDIT: Not that everything I said hasn't been said already by Marek or Emma or others. Serves me right for not reading the first page thoroughly .

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by GreenJeanz

If I posted one of my ye olde sad venting posts, I feel like I would recieve apathy or even someone telling me to quit whining. I no longer feel safe.

Everything I've seen in this forum for the past 9 months or so leads me to believe otherwise.

[Starflux]

Well, I understand tamz's en everyone else's view on this. Apart from the first year, I've never been an active poster, but I always check here a couple of times per week. And I see it all the time, on all forums I visit, that things change. The beginning is always the most fun part, new and exciting. And over time, others come and things don't feel the same anymore, and nostalgia kicks in. It's just the circle of internetlife, nothing to be sad about

[Kolzig]

Well, I've been a active member of the AG forum for about a year and checking on/off the forums as non-member for over a year before that. I understand that people come and go as the time passes, but it's still sad for me that many people I've gotten used to seeing in the forums are leaving or have left maybe forever...

[GreenJeanz]

Originally Posted by Ninth

I feel like this forum is a great place to discuss and meet people, and honestly I can't help feeling slighted each time time someone complains about the good old days.

You need not feel slighted, there's nothing wrong with you new gents and ladies.

PS: Fluxy, the "Suntory" mentioned in the quote in your sig made me grin because I've drunk Suntory brand soda before, CC Lemon specifically.

[Mattsius]

I've been here since early January 2003 and out of all the people who have posted here during that time I would say that you, Tamz, is the one who was the glue that kept the community together. Although I respect your decision and somewhat understand the reasons behind it, I feel that you are, at least a bit, overreacting when it comes to this forums current state.
Okay, it might not be as cosy as it ones was, but I still feel that we here at AG have the warmest and most welcoming community on the whole Internet, at least of the ones that I've stumbled upon. So your reasons for leaving us are, at least for me, a bit unclear.

Still, I wish you the best and although I won't have the opportunity to go to the Netherlands next summer, I hope that everyone who will be there will have a great time and hopefully sometime in the future I'll be able to participate in one of these meetings also.
Take care Tamz and do visit from time to time, if only to say hello.


To the one who takes care of buying groceries and the like around here, you know who you are: Remember to put glue on the list...

[jaf]

Originally Posted by Marek

for a while it was Jaf, and now it's probably Remixor.

Then it's clear, Remixor killed the forums!!!




I feel pretty much like you Tamzie, but I'm not sure what it is, i dont think there's somebody to blame, the community has changed just because we've changed, because everybody changes, life changes, and even more if you're between 14 and 30 y/o (that doesnt apply to megsandcurt of course!)!!

Anyway I know we'll keep in touch sweeto!


...

[Jake]

So basically, Tams is saying that she is leaving because most of her friends have already left, but she's phrased it in a way that puts the blame on everyone who has decided not to leave? I'm confused...

I can feel that there are changes here too, but a lot of things are still the same for better or for worse. I'm sure the forum was always changing when you were a more active participant, Tams, but since you were a part of the changes you probably didn't notice them as much. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems like since I've been actively posting here (and for the long while before that when I lurked a bit and occasionally posted), things have always been in a constant slow state of change -- not some sort of slow downhill change to crappiness, but just a slow change from one thing to the next. Maybe your and your friends intentional decision to become less involved is all that's really made it "worse." There have always been occasional weird newbies, random bigoted idiots and dumb arguments, but thats always been secondary, at least from what I've seen, to a supportive group of decently aware people who are actually interested in talking to, discussing things with, and supporting each other.

I guess that might be slightly diminished at the moment, but maybe its temporary, or... maybe its because all you guys decided to leave by way of little parting blows like your initial post in this thread.

And really, if you want a certain feeling or attitude in posts around here, whats stopping you from posting like that? All the time spent moping about the good old days could instead be spent posting the kind of posts you'd like to see.