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Staring at my phone
An IGRMT Memoir
What you are about to read is a personal account of my history here in IGRMT. Throughout the last ~4 years I've had my ups and downs, much like this section, and I'd like to share some of my experiences with all of you. No, I'm not leaving for good, just a while.*
My SppF career started in Competitive, not too long after the release of the 4th gen games. Being an avid player since the release of R/B, I felt I had a pretty decent handle on what was going on. I was wrong, very wrong. After some awful threads, and a couple of decent ones, I figured that the seriousness of competitive wasn't what I was looking for. It was at this time that I decided to take my skills elsewhere, and that's when I stumbled upon IGRMT.*
I lurked around for a few weeks, which I recommend to everyone btw, just to see where I could squeeze in. With some prior knowledge of competitive, I found it easy to jump in and give my 2 cents, and honestly I was pretty well received. Unlike most noobs, I literally dove into rating, trying to improve as I went and absorbing any information I could. After some time, some of the sections regulars whom you all may know (Ampy, Alcario, Eon Master etc.) began conversing with me. I eventually formed close relationships with the raters in the section, and from that came one of the greatest eras in IGRMT history.*
I like to think that our group of old raters first started to build around a very special group, one which earned us all the title of "Elitists". This group was/is known as Project: New World. Most of you have no idea what this is, and I'm not going to explain it in any great detail, but we were a group dedicated to everything Battle Frontier. There were tier lists, theorymon-ing and all sorts of stuff outsiders would never get to see. This group planted the love of the BF in me, and led me to keep pushing the envelope with teams and movesets. To some of you, the term "Elitist" may seem a little derogatory, but we embraced it. After all, there's nothing wrong with striving for success and perfection.*
In an attempt to keep this in some sort of order, I have to mention Terry. Terry T was one of the most hard-headed people ever to grace the section. His reign as head IGRMT troll was in full swing at this point in my history. He'd been around for a while, irritating everyone to no end, which led to the trolling. Terry wasn't stupid, just young, and naive. He was eventually trolled off the forums by Alcario and Ampy, but has recently returned. Looking back, Terry was good for IGRMT, as he gave us something to fight for as a community, to get him the hell out.*
After this, things were business as usual for quite a while. Alex, Ampy, Bossk, Alcario, Eon, Ungulateman, Jordan, Steph and I (and a few others) went on rating as usual, without much bother. Our small community had come to be respected and well known around the section, leading me to my next venture, a clan.*
Team Meal-Ticket was my brainchild, and my biggest success up to that point. The whole IGRMT crew was on the members list, as well as some new found friends. TMT saw the rise of members like Soroft, Kerech and YOOMTAH! in the IGRMT history book. At its end, TMT was the longest lived clan in the section, despite our problem of never being able to finish anything. (lol)
After the clan dissolved, things were quite for a time around the section. The raters (myself included) were getting increasingly angry at noobs posting bad threads/rates and never taking good advice. Some of the regulars were even at odds, making the section a bit volatile.*
Times had been worse for all of us, but what was to come would put our little rating community to the test. Magnets. Magnets popped onto the scene around the time that Archangel started modding IGRMT, so later in 2010 iirc. He came onto the scene as a somewhat good rater, and quickly caught the eyes of myself and a few other regulars. It wasn't long before his posts became arrogant and rude, causing an uproar among the regulars. A notorious troll, he eventually became the most hated user in IGRMT. After many a flame war it eventually came to light that it was none other than Alcario. His reasons for deciding to troll the section were never fully explained, as he was perma'd along with his alt, but he, like Terry, brought us closer as a community.*
Shortly after Alcario's banning, I became a mod. This was/is a great point of pride for me, a true story of hard work paying off. I had served my time rating teams and made a place for myself in the community, and it all came to fruition. It's also probably good to point out that it was at this time I had my name changed to Shuckle. This point in time brought me one of my most memorable moments in IGRMT history. Some of you may remember a thread of Eon's called "Strive: 594 Days to the Top of the World". This was a big thread for him, due to the fact that it was another dedication team, but it wasn't all gumdrops and rainbows. Alcario would make his return as "Insane Clown Posse" and blow the doors off of elitism in IGRMT. The thread eventually spiraled into flaming and arguing, and was closed.*
Things went downhill from there, many of the regulars eventually tapered into inactivity and the group was a shadow of it's former self. I, seeing the need for some community resurgence, tried several futile gimmicks to bring us all back together. The first was Team Meal-Ticket 1.2. Very short lived, it was cursed with inactivity, and ofc noobs. The second venture ended up being a great idea, The In-Game Raters Union. The brainchild of Alex and myself, the Union was a fun place for us all to discuss strategies, make interesting movesets and create tiers for in-game use. This too was short lived, as social groups were phased out of the forums.*
By this point in my story, it's now 2011 and most of the raters are long gone, leaving myself, Alex, Ampy, Bossk, Kerech, Final and Soroft as the only ones left that still rated somewhat regularly. Over the year, people faded out, basically bringing us to where we are today.*
Back in the day I always thought of this as "my section". Not mine in the sense that I ran the place, but in the sense that it was my home here. I had a family here, we strived for greatness together, fought together and collaborated together. Today, I still think of this as "my section", but now I can say that it really is. Over the past 2 years, I've tried to keep this place neat, clean and incident free, which I'd have to say I've done well. Whether or not it's been good for the section, I can't say for sure. IGRMT has always had periods of instability, which is what made it interesting. People would stand up for what they believed, and wouldn't hesitate to correct someone if they were wrong. IGRMT as a whole these days has come a long way from the hectic, small community controlled section that I was part of back in the day. Things are much more relaxed and regular raters still populate the threads, but it's a new era here, one that I have helped mold, and for that I am very proud.*
I'm not posting this for any kind of recognition or to glorify myself/anyone, I just feel that it's my time to share my experience with a community that I hold in high regards. I've made many memories here, and I hope that IGRMT treats you all as well as it has me.*
As I said before, I'm not leaving for good, just a few months. In conclusion, I just want to say thank you to my friends here and gone that made this place special, you know who you are. Please try not to let the place go to shit while I'm gone!*
With warm regards,
Joe: aka Grumpy Snorlax: aka Shuckle
A quick disclaimer: Some of my timelineis may be out of order. Don't get all butthurt if something's not in the right place, I've been here quite a while, and my memory is shit.
What you are about to read is a personal account of my history here in IGRMT. Throughout the last ~4 years I've had my ups and downs, much like this section, and I'd like to share some of my experiences with all of you. No, I'm not leaving for good, just a while.*
My SppF career started in Competitive, not too long after the release of the 4th gen games. Being an avid player since the release of R/B, I felt I had a pretty decent handle on what was going on. I was wrong, very wrong. After some awful threads, and a couple of decent ones, I figured that the seriousness of competitive wasn't what I was looking for. It was at this time that I decided to take my skills elsewhere, and that's when I stumbled upon IGRMT.*
I lurked around for a few weeks, which I recommend to everyone btw, just to see where I could squeeze in. With some prior knowledge of competitive, I found it easy to jump in and give my 2 cents, and honestly I was pretty well received. Unlike most noobs, I literally dove into rating, trying to improve as I went and absorbing any information I could. After some time, some of the sections regulars whom you all may know (Ampy, Alcario, Eon Master etc.) began conversing with me. I eventually formed close relationships with the raters in the section, and from that came one of the greatest eras in IGRMT history.*
I like to think that our group of old raters first started to build around a very special group, one which earned us all the title of "Elitists". This group was/is known as Project: New World. Most of you have no idea what this is, and I'm not going to explain it in any great detail, but we were a group dedicated to everything Battle Frontier. There were tier lists, theorymon-ing and all sorts of stuff outsiders would never get to see. This group planted the love of the BF in me, and led me to keep pushing the envelope with teams and movesets. To some of you, the term "Elitist" may seem a little derogatory, but we embraced it. After all, there's nothing wrong with striving for success and perfection.*
In an attempt to keep this in some sort of order, I have to mention Terry. Terry T was one of the most hard-headed people ever to grace the section. His reign as head IGRMT troll was in full swing at this point in my history. He'd been around for a while, irritating everyone to no end, which led to the trolling. Terry wasn't stupid, just young, and naive. He was eventually trolled off the forums by Alcario and Ampy, but has recently returned. Looking back, Terry was good for IGRMT, as he gave us something to fight for as a community, to get him the hell out.*
After this, things were business as usual for quite a while. Alex, Ampy, Bossk, Alcario, Eon, Ungulateman, Jordan, Steph and I (and a few others) went on rating as usual, without much bother. Our small community had come to be respected and well known around the section, leading me to my next venture, a clan.*
Team Meal-Ticket was my brainchild, and my biggest success up to that point. The whole IGRMT crew was on the members list, as well as some new found friends. TMT saw the rise of members like Soroft, Kerech and YOOMTAH! in the IGRMT history book. At its end, TMT was the longest lived clan in the section, despite our problem of never being able to finish anything. (lol)
After the clan dissolved, things were quite for a time around the section. The raters (myself included) were getting increasingly angry at noobs posting bad threads/rates and never taking good advice. Some of the regulars were even at odds, making the section a bit volatile.*
Times had been worse for all of us, but what was to come would put our little rating community to the test. Magnets. Magnets popped onto the scene around the time that Archangel started modding IGRMT, so later in 2010 iirc. He came onto the scene as a somewhat good rater, and quickly caught the eyes of myself and a few other regulars. It wasn't long before his posts became arrogant and rude, causing an uproar among the regulars. A notorious troll, he eventually became the most hated user in IGRMT. After many a flame war it eventually came to light that it was none other than Alcario. His reasons for deciding to troll the section were never fully explained, as he was perma'd along with his alt, but he, like Terry, brought us closer as a community.*
Shortly after Alcario's banning, I became a mod. This was/is a great point of pride for me, a true story of hard work paying off. I had served my time rating teams and made a place for myself in the community, and it all came to fruition. It's also probably good to point out that it was at this time I had my name changed to Shuckle. This point in time brought me one of my most memorable moments in IGRMT history. Some of you may remember a thread of Eon's called "Strive: 594 Days to the Top of the World". This was a big thread for him, due to the fact that it was another dedication team, but it wasn't all gumdrops and rainbows. Alcario would make his return as "Insane Clown Posse" and blow the doors off of elitism in IGRMT. The thread eventually spiraled into flaming and arguing, and was closed.*
Things went downhill from there, many of the regulars eventually tapered into inactivity and the group was a shadow of it's former self. I, seeing the need for some community resurgence, tried several futile gimmicks to bring us all back together. The first was Team Meal-Ticket 1.2. Very short lived, it was cursed with inactivity, and ofc noobs. The second venture ended up being a great idea, The In-Game Raters Union. The brainchild of Alex and myself, the Union was a fun place for us all to discuss strategies, make interesting movesets and create tiers for in-game use. This too was short lived, as social groups were phased out of the forums.*
By this point in my story, it's now 2011 and most of the raters are long gone, leaving myself, Alex, Ampy, Bossk, Kerech, Final and Soroft as the only ones left that still rated somewhat regularly. Over the year, people faded out, basically bringing us to where we are today.*
Back in the day I always thought of this as "my section". Not mine in the sense that I ran the place, but in the sense that it was my home here. I had a family here, we strived for greatness together, fought together and collaborated together. Today, I still think of this as "my section", but now I can say that it really is. Over the past 2 years, I've tried to keep this place neat, clean and incident free, which I'd have to say I've done well. Whether or not it's been good for the section, I can't say for sure. IGRMT has always had periods of instability, which is what made it interesting. People would stand up for what they believed, and wouldn't hesitate to correct someone if they were wrong. IGRMT as a whole these days has come a long way from the hectic, small community controlled section that I was part of back in the day. Things are much more relaxed and regular raters still populate the threads, but it's a new era here, one that I have helped mold, and for that I am very proud.*
I'm not posting this for any kind of recognition or to glorify myself/anyone, I just feel that it's my time to share my experience with a community that I hold in high regards. I've made many memories here, and I hope that IGRMT treats you all as well as it has me.*
As I said before, I'm not leaving for good, just a few months. In conclusion, I just want to say thank you to my friends here and gone that made this place special, you know who you are. Please try not to let the place go to shit while I'm gone!*
With warm regards,
Joe: aka Grumpy Snorlax: aka Shuckle
A quick disclaimer: Some of my timeline
