Page 1

Going to the Forums
By Gregor 'Gecko' Veble

The sims are a wonderful thing. We all know that. I've been an addict since my first simulated flight experience on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. I think it was called Flight Simulation, but I will have to ask Migman about it. Actually, there were a couple of us, still in primary school, who were into computers at that time. We all loved flight sims, at least that's what I told those other guys. Until one of them told me, in a lowered voice, something like: 'Well, I enjoy sims and such, but I do like to play some simple games from time to time, you know what I mean.'

Of course I didn't. Yet I realized at that point that my hobby is really somewhat special and only appreciated by people who built more than ten plastic models when they were kids and who probably still do it. There were not many people in my town who did this, or at least I never met them. Thus I lurked in my little, dark room, playing sims, being misunderstood. I sort of grew up, girls came and girls went, but none of them managed to permanently get me away from my secret love, my love for sims. A love I could barely talk about to anyone without being ridiculed, a love so pure that, when consummated, one only yearns for it being more and more intense and real.

Fig. 1. Games are full of fun and errors.

Then came the university years. The years of partying, finding oneself and enjoying the life on your own for the first time, and, oh, I think I managed to get a degree during that time as well. It was also the time I first heard the magic word Internet.

It was really an amazing concept to hear about. I was astonished to see that you can link to any, and I mean any computer in the world if someone decides to connect it to the web. You can get info on anything you desire, pictures, movies, music, you name it! As with any new technical thing to learn I was at first intimidated by it and had to convince myself to sit down at one of those magnificent and outrageously expensive new Pentium 90 machines that we had at the faculty and to start that internet thingy up. After the first few minutes of familiarization I was hooked, especially upon seeing how easy it all is.

It was not long before I started to look for info on sims. Not much was there at first, or at least I was unable to find it. But as the whole thing grew, many interesting sites started to blossom, and I was able to get reviews of the newest releases, previews on things to come, interviews with the half-deities that are sim developers. This was the first time I started to feel like a part of the community. Jonathan Seagull was not alone in his cravings anymore!

There was still one thing missing, though. While I could read other people's articles, there was still no interactivity. I missed that, but then again I never dared to click one of those 'Forums' links. I mastered the art of clicking the hypertext, but this would be something new to learn and I didn't even know what it was. Of course, at a point curiosity won over the fear of unknown, I gave in and followed the link to one of the forums (fori ?), and the rest is history.