Nearly 8 years

This is the place to discuss our friends who have been taken away from us.
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Zork Nemesis
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Nearly 8 years

Post by Zork Nemesis » Fri Feb 24, 2012 11:18 am

First off, I want to say that I had no idea where to put this, if mods feel this is better in ramblings or elsewhere, go ahead and move it, but I put it here as I believe it's relevant.

So I've found myself researching Ville history for a few of my College Composition essays, nothing major, just for topical ideas. I realize that in May of this year, it will have been 8 years since the passing of Blue Ruler. It will be a time of reflection yet again when May rolls around and for that, I'd like to put together a project of sorts to honor his memory.

For College Comp, the essay topic this time around is a Literary Journalism topic, a topic that interests the writer (me) that can be researched personally (i.e. me personally interviewing people). I've been looking at a lot of the historical posts and I can't seem to find a whole lot about Blue Ruler other than he was one of the most well known and respected members of TheVille. While this section of the forum holds a lot of rememberance and honor toward him, many questions I have remain unanswered.

What I'd like to do is this, I'd like to collect information from people here about Blue Ruler, about what he did, how he affected people both on a personal and community scale. How did Blue Ruler affect your experience at TheVille? I'd like responses from people who knew him before his passing, as well as people who didn't know him but feel connected to him in some way or another. If anyone has an objection to this project (in the event that perhaps it is disrespectful or otherwise not in good memory), let me know and I will be willing to abandon this topic in favor of something else.

Having joined the community nearly six years after his passing, I did not of know him at all until I took a few minutes to read over this section of the boards. Based on what I've seen here, I can tell that he was a very popular individual and his actions will be remembered around TheVille for some time, enough so that he is remembered on many locations throughout TheVille, including the TF2 server welcome screen and the Meleemania championship belts. I can't help but feel a connection to the man who I never knew simply by being a member of the community, as if a part of him lives on in all of us, veteran members and newer members.

So that's what I'm asking for, if you have a few minutes to spare, I would like to know how Blue Ruler has affected your experience at TheVille in any way, be it during his time or after.

I will post the final essay later on as sort of a collective rememberance post. The class ends partway through May so it will likely be put up sometime then.
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Re: Nearly 8 years

Post by Peahats » Fri Feb 24, 2012 1:29 pm

I never knew him, but I read one quote from either JD or KRG. It read "He treated us a people first, gamers second." I always wondered how we can treat other as people first and gamers second in a gaming community. It wasn't until I saw an example of and participated in Non-Villun behaviors when we were arguing about the use of creative mode on TV10. People were focusing about how they wanted to play their game rather than how to treat others. Even though I never knew him, I think I saw a glimpse of what he was all about and why he was so important.

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Re: Nearly 8 years

Post by spm97 » Tue Feb 28, 2012 11:58 pm

Zork,

Lots of good info in the old forums. Lots!

http://www.thevilluns.org/2002-2006

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Re: Nearly 8 years

Post by Zork Nemesis » Wed Feb 29, 2012 2:52 am

spm97 wrote:Zork,

Lots of good info in the old forums. Lots!

http://www.thevilluns.org/2002-2006

Spam
I appreciate the link, wasn't aware that info still existed. Would be nice to get some fresh opinions though, what he means to individuals this day. While it's nice to know what he meant to people 7+ years ago, how are people holding up after this time?
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Re: Nearly 8 years

Post by BitterBeerFace » Sat Mar 03, 2012 1:03 am

I hope some of the other old timers chime in. I also hope some might have PM'd you... you could try getting more assertive and contacting old timers... tell 'em I sent you :twisted:

I was a regular for a couple years when BR was around. I didn't really get to know him well on a personal level... mostly "just" a person on the Ville servers. (for that matter, I didn't really get to know many on a personal level--like back in the good old days of ICQ... I'd chat with Frag or KRG on there... ah, memories...) Anyway, I knew he was somewhat older than most of the punk kids the rest of us were, but not like he was 94... it's always a shock when someone who's only in their 50s dies. I think for a lot of people the fact that he was a little older made him somewhat of a natural authority figure over and above his server admin status.

He was online alot, always friendly, helpful and communicative... so you remember people like him more than the regulars who show up but never say anything. Then on the forums, he was very active... I went back to the archives and sorted the roster by total posts... #12 overall, and he left us 2 years before everyone else on that list. Compare that to now, and it would be like KRG just disappeared. (I definitely don't want that happening!)

Thinking about it, I'll try to equate it to something more familiar: Figure it like someone you see every day at work. He always stops by, says hi, helps when you need help, shares stupid stories about weekend shennigans or whatever... after 3 years, suddenly he's dead. Even if you're not sure how many kids he had, you feel that a welcome and familiar part of your world just disappeared.

In the end, for me, his passing reinforced that The Ville is actual people in an actual community--with all the positives and negatives communities bring. (with positives generally outweighing negatives--like "real life"--people leave negative communities, but Villuns stick around) People like Blue were why you stuck around.

*edit*
Re-reading this, I think it's good to give some historical perspective too--remember that The Ville back in 2001-2004 is fairly early in terms of "the internet". It's quite possible that The Ville was one of the first places people became "regulars" at... so it's sort of a formative experience, and Blue's death is one of the major events in that formative experience.

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Re: Nearly 8 years

Post by vTEC » Sat Apr 21, 2012 9:40 pm

I didnt know Blue personally, but i knew him in game. I played with him back in the old dod days. He would host these "kill blue" contests where the person who whacked him the most (whacked him) lol would win a silver membership with theville. It was great, fun days.
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Re: Nearly 8 years

Post by three_gunn » Thu Jun 27, 2013 12:55 am

BitterBeerFace wrote: ...his passing reinforced that The Ville is actual people in an actual community--with all the positives and negatives communities bring. (with positives generally outweighing negatives--like "real life"--people leave negative communities, but Villuns stick around) People like Blue were why you stuck around.
...this.

Yeah this post from BBF is a year old but I can't help re-reading/thinking about it every time I miss Blue and Trigger--which is always.
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