A Message from Defiant

Dear visitor,

I apologize in advance for the length of this letter, but I have some things that have to be said. This story and message is not one of sadness, but one of another rebirth. I have been witness to the X-Wing community's ability to survive and evolve against the odds, and I do believe that it has a future. Unfortunately, that the future is not here. Since I'm fairly sure that only a few people from the really early days are left, I want to share the story of the XvT/XWA community's best sites...at least, from my point of view.

A long time ago, on a server far far away, (1996, Geocities) Talon's XvT site was the place to be for fans of the X-Wing series. Well, that and XvT Scorched, but they were jerks anyway (I was a webmaster there briefly, ask me to tell you the story sometime. ;-) Talon's site had constant news and feature updates, a nice look, comprehensive organization, and a great community. It also had an annoying JavaScript bug that would tease visitors from time to time by mangling whatever page it deemed food. =p

At the time, I was working on a web site to organize battles for the upcoming game, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter. Groups were forming into squadrons, and a particularly enthusiastic (but often self-conscious and sometimes picky) fellow approached me during a chat. Over time, I got to know him a bit better, and he eventually started experimenting with HTML himself. His first project, though quaint in its nomenclature, undoubtedly grew far beyond his original expectations.

The big change came when Datamaster moved the site over to his ISP, EmpireONE, and added forums. The forums were actually moderated (unlike some other site's) and a small community of regulars began to form. Scorched got abandoned--Sabatelli'd, if you will--and many of its visitors began to explore Datamaster's. In fact, most sites died off fairly soon after the release of XvT. It sucked, but Datamaster's was our life boat. By 1998, Datamaster had brought Durron aboard to update news and help out. As the site grew, others were brought aboard. Argath, Sheldon Sr., Jesse, Woodzy, and myself were at one time or another on staff in the history of this site.

And then, a paradigm shift of editing the X-Wing series occurred. Before that, it had always just been missions, along with some hex cut-and-paste jobs by members of the Emperor's Hammer. But Lt. Hag, a very friendly Australian fellow, began to research the mysterious OPT--the 3D file format used by XvT. Immediately excited by this, I e-mailed Hag and began to assist him in whatever ways I could find. I've still got my original e-mails archived somewhere, and I look back and realized that I've learned so much since then. A few people had formed a new project--an equally quaintly named OPT Project. After Balance of Power came out, we had more information to compare OPT files with, and it sped up editing efforts. Little by little, we were deciphering the format. Word got around, and even Totally Games posted some stuff on the boards. I remember, with such pride, that one of them was about the development team discussing XvTED over lunch... I didn't personally help Troy much, but I felt proud to be part of a community that was making a difference in some way.

It was about then when I was brought onto staff to manage the business of the OPT Project. To make a long story short, Stealth of the Code Alliance brought breakthroughs to the project. Hag and Stealth were right on par with each other, and the speed and efficiency with which they worked caused me to get out of sync with the latest in OPT research. In September, X-Wing Alliance was announced, putting more drive into our efforts to decode the format. During October, Datamaster's moved over to a new host, GamesNET. This offered us much more capabilities than before, and we no longer had to crunch space on free web accounts and EmpireONE. In November, the hit counter had reached 100,000, and by the end of the year, we knew enough to make the first OPT files from scratch.

In 1999, new sites for X-Wing Alliance popped up all over the web. Datamaster's continued on its merry way, doing what it had always done best. Personally, I felt something was lacking with the navigation, but that was me. Anyway, the Code Alliance, with Lt. Hag now amongst its ranks, was relentless in pursuing the research, and cracked the new changes to the XWA OPT format, as well as some of the other formats. But something was lurking, pecking at me for the longest time. I felt cold...death. Time passed by, and Datamaster was going off to college. Staff members left, and before long it was just Sheldon and I, with an occasional pop in from Datamaster. Death grew nearer, and I felt it.

And now it is inevitable. As I am apparently the sole remaining staff member, I'm going to put an end to this here and now. If/when Datamaster sees this, I'm almost sure he'll judge it as yet another rash act by Defiant. My side? With all of these people who play it safe no matter what the cost, someone's got to do something. I've seen sites just grow old and decay long after their users have abandoned it. I remember laughing with pity when XvT Scorched was still announcing XvT's 3D patch well after XWA had been released. I'm not going to let that happen here. This site, and its contents, have been completely backed up to my drive. I want to preserve the dignity it has left. It is a part of my history, and of the community's, and we should cherish it.

When this web site was very young, and Talon was leaving to pursue other interests, he posted a message on his site for all to see. It was a message of thanks, and of remembrance of the good times, not of the bad. He also did something that's been on my mind for a while now. He said that he'd seen the sites out there, and had determined that Datamaster's was the future of the community, and referred all of his visitors there. Now it's my turn to pass the torch. It's my opinion (and I think everyone's going to agree with me on this one, for once) that Eliminator's X-Wing: Legacy, for once an appropriately named site, is the ideal site to browse during your downtime. To our regular visitors, I can only say this: remember the lessons you've learned here. It will make the community a better place. I will always remember you all with respect and admiration, regardless of any differences we've had, and my ever-active e-mail box and web site are always open, should you wish to reminisce. I'm often on irc.holonet.org as well, in channel #Errant_Venture.

May the Force (and the Source) be with you,
   Defiant

"But...it was so artistically done." -- Grand Admiral Thrawn