EPTI won't write anything ER related today, even though I have a few stories to tell about the subject, so I'm sorry if you came into this blog seeking for such content. But it won't be an uninteresting blog, regardless.
This is the story of who I am as a gamer. Of how I've become the gamer I am today. And why today is such a nostalgic day for me.
1.- The early days...
I first got into gaming in 1997 with Doom2 MP. Didn't play much as it scared me shitless very quickly and I was just a kid back then (LOL). Also, Quake 2 came along, changing the multiplayer scene forever. And that's when things got really, really serious for me.
It was january 1998. My folks gave me my 1st game ever. I got a copy of Quake2. A rare luxury back in the day.
I quickly got into a few mods, namely D-Day Normandy (Chile had a pretty large community back then), and I begun playing the 3.2 beta in 1999 if I'm not mistaken. I was only 13-14 years old. I was then known as "WinterS".
I used to be really good at D-Day, regarded as one of the best HMGs in the scene. Competed in a few online tournaments and a couple LANs; nothing big though, since gaming in south america was still in diapers.
I then became involved with server administration. I've always been the little geek, quickly learning my way around computers, operating systems and so on. At age 16 I was in charge of the chilean D-Day community servers.
Then, StarCraft came along and I was FASCINATED by it.
But back in 2003, everything changed...
Video - +=EC=+ vs >CdL< showmatch
This is D-Day, for those not familiar with it.
The video depicts what was my clan on a showmatch, +=EC=+ (Easy Company), on a match against my former clan, >CdL< (Clan D-Day La Union)
This is D-Day, for those not familiar with it.
The video depicts what was my clan on a showmatch, +=EC=+ (Easy Company), on a match against my former clan, >CdL< (Clan D-Day La Union)
2.- 2003 - The CoD revolution
First, Band Of Brothers came on air, and my rather unusual nickname was not that unusual anymore. LOL.
Also, Call of Duty arrived... And that changed everything.
D-Day wasn't cool anymore. Chunky graphics that could not compete with CoD's crisp (at that time) graphics and playability. So the community started melting away, even though we made efforts to keep people playing.
My clanmates dispersed, some of them going to college and not having enough time to play. I went into CoD, evolving with the times... I was an OK player, not as good as I was in Quake, but some of the folks running the community had heard of me and I was quickly back in the community staff, this time running the anti-cheat division and modding the forums. I got a rather... excessive notoriety with my harsh moderation style. I've always been quite keen to order and discipline, and I ran the community forums at Zoomby.net accordingly.
Times were changing though, and in 2004 United Offensive came in. The community grew, and Zoomby.net couldn't provide housing for us no more. We migrated to One.cl, probably the largest latin american gaming community at the time. There I caught the attention of the main staff, and was swiftly put in charge of the CoD series forums and servers.
Time passed, my UO clan [506th] was getting really big in the local scene.
We went into CoD2. We were pretty damn good. We went into BroodWar, but not all of the guys liked so only 3 of us remained there, playing solo or some 3v3s.
Also tried D-Day, which had this weird thing that attracted people back to it. The community had somehow revived and the game was being massively played.
![[image loading]](http://www.modbase.be/images/maps/american/carentan/loadscreen_mp_carentan.jpg)
Carentan, everyone's favorite CoD:UO map back in the day :D
3.- The mid days - When communities fall
Back in 2007, with CoD2 running, and CoD4 coming in, I was put in charge of the whole FPS area, running CoD series servers, TF2 servers, Operation Flashpoint servers, FEAR servers, Quake servers for lots of mods, Quake 3 servers, the IRC channel for FPSs, a myriad of underlings in the lower ranks of the staff... With that tireless, everworking team, we quickly got to build the largest latin american gaming community of the time, with over 250.000 gamers.
Then somehow, One.cl lost its funding and went bankrupt.
The website was lost. Years of history, useful threads and lots of data were lost forever, since only the main administrators got the power to back the content up, and they just ran from the justice for inmense debts contracted with telecom companies and a scam related to one of the sponsors.
We lost the communities. We moved back to NoD.cl, which sort of replaced One but wasn't as big.
By then I was at 5th year of medschool and things begun to get really tense for me. College was getting harder, I had broke up with my girlfriend, had an ongoing depression, and I wasn't able to keep up with everything.
I dropped gaming. I had to focus on college.
The dark gaming age came for me...
![[image loading]](http://dlcache.com/thumbs/107/one.cl.gif)
One.cl, the crown jewel of latin american gaming back in the mid 2000's.
4.- The latter days - SC2 and beyond
At 2010, lots of good games arrived. SC2. Then on 2011, BF3.
I was sort of better from my depression and had sorted everything out on college, passing with flying honors. But I had dropped the hardcore gamer life. I wasn't handling communities, I wasn't running around my screens checking if all servers were OK, wasn't lending servers for ladder matches... I was just chilling, doing my internship in the hospital, and casually gaming.
When SC2 came, everything changed again.
Changed my handle to UmbraaeternuS.
I begun making videos about strategy. I got together a couple of friends and made a clan.
I begun streaming.
Then we got another division for BF3.
Then we got another division for DOTA2.
Then we got another division for streaming and churring out content.
Got a DayZ server and ran it.
Got a couple of TeamSpeak servers.
And now here I am, years after I begun my gaming spree, beginning to get myself involved again...
5.- Why the nostalgia?...
Today, January 31st, 2013, I have just had my 15th gaming birthday. The day I got my copy of Quake2 and set on a journey that subsequently has made me a lot of friends, brought me to TeamLiquid, and now has me telling you this story.
I am a bit nostalgic.
D-Day is no more here in Chile.
CoD is dead also.
Many friends I made along these years have gone away and I've lost contact with them, not ever finding them again.
But the history behind all of this and the things I've gone through make me the gamer I am today.
15 years of fun, rage, discussion, friendships and experience.
Happy G-day to me...
...
