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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
To get here...:
People have played this game for a very long time. But very few have played it for as long as I. In fact, I wager nobody around these days has. I beta tested SC over 10 years ago. A friend worked for Blizzard and knew that I was a gamer, so the connection was made and the game entered my life. Entered and dominated that is, I would play on average 3 hours a day for 10 years. I took maybe 2 or 3 breaks that would span a couple months but other than that this game has always been a part of me. Starting out playing the Bnet ladder back when it meant something going 1 hatch mutalisks to guards and covering ramps with sunken colonies whilst sitting out the other non expanding player for hours on end.
The game was slow to adapt. With no replays and few sites that organized bw information everything was word of mouth or observation based. SKELTON, LOVE_BOAT, YellOw, {PH}PePe!, Kain-the-Feared, X'Ds~Insane (Grrr), SoSo and others were the players of the era innovating and dominating. Nobody was so above somebody else that they would deny games. X17 was the premier clan where players went to get good. Hacking was non existant and disconnecting in ladder games was the big problem of the time. It was here that I spent most of my time laddering and gaming with my clans DA-, [X] and eventually IN clan.
An Agent changed it all
Agent911 was playing some ladder games and was around my rank, so we played. My friend watched over my shoulder and I did my best to keep up with him. He expanded all over the place, covering the map in zerg creep before I could even make a move. At the time expanding was a last ditch thing done after attacks werent working. I was impressed by the viability of expanding and still being able to match my forces. I asked him for more friendly games and we ended up doing as much. Through these games and his good nature he taught me alot about the higher levels of the game. Agent911 changed the game forever for me, after much training with him and a decent friendship I became a good player in that day.
EnlargedTestie
It was around this time I got to know some chick named "EnlargedTestie." She was considered the best girl gamer in SC and very nice / flirty (as all girls are on bnet). Well it turns out this player was none other than Testie (Nick) himself posing as a girl. Yes Nick first got popular pretending to be a girl. It is in these days Nick would like his decisions to be forgotten, and generally that is ok 
We gamed a lot and chatted it up. He was always in opposing clans but always willing to game with me. It has been that way for a very long time. I have been pretty close (as close as bnet allows) to nick for nearly 8 years now. Kinda odd throwing those big of numbers around when I am only 21. Playing consistantly with one of the best gamers at that time also exposed me to the higher levels of the game and helped to conintually elevate my game / experience.
IN the IN crowd
I am of course skipping a lot because not everything is important / interesting. But by about year 2 joined a clan named IN clan. INcinerate, INqqqq, INQwerty, INAgent911 were a few of the members to name. At the time I used id's like Overmind99 and DA-DarkSwarM etc. Needing a name for the clan I went with INcontrol hence the name now. Again more developing as being a part of such a high profile clan helped me to mold myself into a more sound player. The game was also changing around this time significantly. Websites started to emmerge and replays were introduced. The game grew in popularity and more and more players were coming to the great game.IN went to a private server named "Kali" and had their own channel called "Mavens." I frequented it sometimes but was more tied to bnet so the split was natural. I kept the name but not the tag out of respect, becomming iNcontroL.
{88}
I decided to start my own clan. Me and a player named Stranix brainstormed a tag and came up {88} because it was simply a cool number (my favorite) and a nice tag (no the racist / nazi shit was not known to us). We had some friends who were pretty good and willing to go in with us, Loki, Cedim, O_O, Poison, Sindread and a fellow by the name of Lurker (later changed to Rekrul). The clan quickly rose to dominance with exceptional players and an odd loyalty unlike other clans. Most of these guys stayed in the clan for over a year with no money/website or anything aside from tons of inner clan gaming and some leagues.
I believe it was here that my obsession/love for SC/BW would fully materialize. I had already been a near addict playing it all the time over lan/online but with my baby being received so well I was hook-line and sinker(ed) with this game.
History at this point for me goes into a middle stage, the clan 88 in its later years was very different from its manifestation. More organized and recognized as possibly the greatest NA clan for its time. I will elaborate in my next blog entry.
  
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LOL rly?
Wow, I didn't know 88 was your clan.
I also didn't know Inc was part of IN.
Damn.... You are seriously old school huh?
As much as a lamer as you are, I can tip my hat off once to the American Fish.
Hats off old timer.
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Haha, EnlargedTestie, can't stop laughing.
Good and interesting post, I read it all.
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man, the old times were so fun =[. I never betaed, but I hopped a little while after sc came out by playing at my friends and then got my own copy when BW rolled out. But shit man, I remember all these names. The old clans were the best... 88, @ss@ssins, $playaz$, 1st~, IN, xds~, ]....[.
As much as replays have helped the game develop, it was almost more fun generating your own style without the help of replays.
anyway, thanks for the flashback =]
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that was pretty interesting to read tho you still ignore me i still have respect for you !:-D nice write up;-) <3 when is next blog coming? i want to read the end!~ T.T
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United States5262 Posts
Sweet.
Interesting blog. How old was Testie when you first met him on B.net? Hahaha Enlarged Testie. Hahahaha.
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Great read inc. Looking forward to your next entry!
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Haha, lolz, Enlarged Testie, lolllllll..-___--;;;;
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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
response I am not ignoring you I am just not in a big rush to do anything. We will do NW's during the school year and if we get anything going I will add you and a couple others actually before hand alright? I do need your MSN though so send me that.
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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
On August 16 2007 03:32 jkillashark wrote:
Sweet.
Interesting blog. How old was Testie when you first met him on B.net? Hahaha Enlarged Testie. Hahahaha.
I dunno nick is like 22 or 23 now I think. So -10 years hehe.
Thanks all for nice comments btw. I am going to be doing middle and present blogs as well soon.
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Wo you old school dog. I had no idea SC:BW was that good of a game until after a friend with the LiZarD clan introduced me to it in I think '99. I still remember the statis probe Kane-the-feared pulled on :+:jolly:+: ahh memories.. i remember some of the players you mentioned along with the texan maynard, tillerman
jolly, sVEN, CrazyJim and others.
players like you are proof just how damn good sc:bw is, sticking with it for 10 years.
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wow, nice one. EnlargedTestie, LOL!
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some people had awesome illies and weird names back then too.
[_]D mug was a good one.
so was the alligator ='',==,===
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United States20661 Posts
I tip my hat to you, sir.
An honor, tawt incontrol.
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United States42685 Posts
Cool story iNc. Game now? I want some sexy reps for my blog.
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Ah, I envy you having been around in older days. Must've been tons of fun.
Hmm. I'm probably just very out of the loop, but what's a "NA clan"?
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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
NA=North American
Again thanks guys Any thing I should delve more deeply in the next 2 entries? Or I can elaborate on here? I am proud to share the past.
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Make sure you mention the hungarian squad of {88} ! And yeah, the nazi thing is a stupid coincidence (although I didn't know about it either until I got some flames - at least I learned a new thing ).
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What were 1v1 games like back in the day? you mentioned there werent much expanding back in the day was it mainly just rush attack and one player would come out ahead and win? or were players much more diversly skilled so the one player could usually always beat the other player easily
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Oh, and if you would tell me your MSN adress, I'd love to play a few games with you again for the sake of ol' times!
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gOgO incontrol, always a great USA player, always will be.
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United States24680 Posts
Thanks for writing this stuff down. Many stories like these get lost to the ages when not recorded.
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On August 16 2007 04:43 GoSuPlAyEr wrote:
What were 1v1 games like back in the day? you mentioned there werent much expanding back in the day was it mainly just rush attack and one player would come out ahead and win? or were players much more diversly skilled so the one player could usually always beat the other player easily
i thought you were an older player too?
I remember getting up too high 300s doing the same old 1base muta rush game after game =p
i also remember when reps first came out and the first big hacker to get caught was tae-z, that was hilarious ;p
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United States37500 Posts
Kain-The-Feared
Minor correction. Good overview of personal history.
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If you really wanna reminisce about the old days, I'd like to hear how you experienced the major swings in play styles a little more in depth. Beyond 1 base zerg into mass expo zerg, also talk about unit popularity and strategy/timing. For example: When did you first see X build or Y unit being used and what was that experience like? Any revelations, like "omg, I didn't know Y unit could change the outcome of the battle so significantly!" It might be a hassle to cover, so sorry if I'm asking too much, but maybe just cover the trends for your main race.
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is awesome32274 Posts
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On August 16 2007 05:07 Hawk wrote:Show nested quote +On August 16 2007 04:43 GoSuPlAyEr wrote:
What were 1v1 games like back in the day? you mentioned there werent much expanding back in the day was it mainly just rush attack and one player would come out ahead and win? or were players much more diversly skilled so the one player could usually always beat the other player easily i thought you were an older player too? I remember getting up too high 300s doing the same old 1base muta rush game after game =p i also remember when reps first came out and the first big hacker to get caught was tae-z, that was hilarious ;p
I've played since about 2000 but i only played 3v3 bgh and 3v3 fastest map possible until about 2003 when i found wgtour or something. But all the information iNc is giving seems to be back from when i first was introduced to SC so its interesting to me to read about what other players were doing while i was playing fastest map possible (on a side not i originally found sc on the nintendo 64 and thought it was the coolest game ever...imagine my excitement about 4 months later when i found it on the computer without all the really slow gameplay on the N64 :p)
*edit* oh and i forgot I also played the ever popular "3v3 no rush 20 games" for a long time
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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
On August 16 2007 04:43 GoSuPlAyEr wrote:
What were 1v1 games like back in the day? you mentioned there werent much expanding back in the day was it mainly just rush attack and one player would come out ahead and win? or were players much more diversly skilled so the one player could usually always beat the other player easily
1v1 was very different. EARLY on it was extremely slow and clumsy. Nobody expanded unless they ran out of minerals. People focused on defense and fortifying the base then moving out with 1 group of some unit they like (usually at a time). Storms were considered imba and thrashed everything but fortunately p players didnt use them very well. Micro was non existant and macro was a theory players had thoughts on basically lool.
After about a year or two the game evolved into more standard early versions of sc/bw today. Strategies and unit combos emmerged. TvZ was very tank pushy. T's sat back and defended tanks as they shelled a Z base. TvP was first and second tier units going at it much like today only less thought. No mine dragging or d ship drops. 2 gate was the only bo for a P to do. It was powerful too. Even with spawning pools costing 150 the lack of micro made p's able to do a bit more typically.
my memory is a bit shady of this period I just remember that it wasnt uncommon for a game to go 1 hour or more just due to the fact that both players were so slow to build anything really offensive and maps were huge (Remote Outpost anyone?).
Games were fairly rushy. 1 hatch muta or 2 gate rushing or terrans tank pushing meant the idea was to catch the other guy fast and early unprepared (at the high level of gaming).
Tazi00 I will post to yours later, good question though.
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Dont know why, but I find this interesting.. Gonna read the next post for sure.
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Interesting read, I like to hear how gamers got started.
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teehee *giggle*
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Lol @ Testie's post.
It's nice that you remember those days, being 11 at the time as well I can't remember crap of the first year of SC, except for maybe mass hydras and wraiths. BW is a different story tho, I tried to follow the patching and figure out how the changes would affect gameplay.
And yeah, 'rushy' doesn't do it justice. Games tended to last much less on average.
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Your experience is similar to mine, except you are much much better than I ever was :D
Fun read, took me back^^
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United States20661 Posts
hahaahah
I was a pure BGH/Fastest/UMS player in 1999-2006
>>; /shifty eyes.
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nice story.
i started BW in 1998 when i was 8, so i didnt get to experience any real competition, but of course 3v3 BGH was my favorite thing to do as a kid.
some old school clans i remember were MoH (Makers of Hell, not that Makers of Heaven bs you see now), D]{ (dk187) mostly the warring clans.
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did you try to hit on enlargedtestie?
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On August 16 2007 05:31 {88}iNcontroL wrote:
1v1 was very different. EARLY on it was extremely slow and clumsy. Nobody expanded unless they ran out of minerals. People focused on defense and fortifying the base then moving out with 1 group of some unit they like (usually at a time). Storms were considered imba and thrashed everything but fortunately p players didnt use them very well. Micro was non existant and macro was a theory players had thoughts on basically lool.
That sounds like my kind of Starcraft!
BTW - that was a very interesting read. I bought this game around the time of Agent911, but I never really played it that much (maybe 10 times a year). Online, I've played a total of about 70 games in the span of about 9 years (yeah, I know my math didn't add up just then).
After seeing you guys play at the WCG recently, though, I decided to re-install the good old SC/BW.
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Whatt, Testie going to Korea or what did I understand wrong now?
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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
well you didnt read it in this blog.. thats for sure. So yeah, you are wrong on several accounts and should delve deeper in the actual relevent threads!
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EPT
