What has this community given you?

[Andail]

Sometimes I ponder about what I'm doing here. I try to calculate how much time I spend on creative projects and good discussions, and how much time I just kill because I don't have anything better to do.

Why is a community like this so addictive? Is it because I develop as a person? Most of the time, I highly doubt I develop anything at all. It may sound harsh, which is not my intention, I do enjoy being here. There are some benefits I can pin-point directly:
1. Improvement in English communication. This is pretty important, since I intend to teach English one day.
2. Improvement in art, as well as other specific areas. The critics lounge has been extremely valuable for me. Before the days of AGS, I was a traditional painter, quite esteemed, I might add. But my computer graphics were useless, even compared to plain n00bs in the business. People like Pessi, Igor and Geofkhan have been perfect role models, and my backgrounds are now beginning to look satisfactory (in contrast to my three first games).
3. The real life aspect of the community. The mittens meeting have all been awesome, both because I enjoy travelling and seeing new places, but mostly because the people there are all my dear friends. In Goldmnund I found a soul-mate, no less.

Apart from this, I must deem most of my activity here a mere pastime. When I chat with the mittens-people (or other AGS-friends) on irc or msn, I feel pretty indifferent afterwards. It's fun while I do it, but it doesn't make me grow in any way.

The forum itself attracts my attention in sometimes uncomfortable ways. My presence is a clear indicator on how my ordinary life is going. Not just because I'm busy and lack time during real life projects I enjoy, but simply because the inspiration it gives me, makes me forget the community. During periods when I'm very involved in the student union, or taking funny courses, or date a girl, or just meet a lot of people, the community doesn't fill any purpose for me. Again; it's not just a question of whether I have the time or not, it's more a question of inspiration and zest for life.

In the beginning of my AGS career, I sort of enjoyed the social (or should I even say hierarchical) advancement I made - just as every other member makes during their time in a community.
The sense of being gradually more recognised and respected was an incitement to be present often and really try to write good posts.

I have spent a huge amount of time on the project that is AGS. What would and could I have done instead? Would I have played computer games? Watched porn?
Sometimes I wonder if the time I spend on AGS is a buffert, to consume the computer-dedicated time I would have spent on substantially worse things. I haven't touched a computer game in years, and I think I can thank AGS for that.

Maybe I'm unusally reluctant to waste my time, and people in general don't see it as an issue at all? Is it unncesseray and fruitless to assess what you gain from everything you do?

So what has this community given you?
A sense of belonging somewhere, recognition? Improvement in specific fields, art, music etc?
Share some great moments.
Discuss the phenomenon of addiction.

[Privateer Puddin']

I came to these forums as a pretty immature CSer, i'm now a slightly more mature CSer.
My art has improved a great deal, due to the ever awesome critics lounge.
Spent way too long on a game in which i don't feel like showing in its current state.

Then theres been Sweden and Staines, 2 places i had never been to before, and all the awesome agsers i met

I do spend too much time on the forums, and in the days gone by, irc.

The best thing is finding a place where everybody likes the same games, and not just whatever is popular at the time. (Before i found these forums, i knew 3 people who knew who Guybrush was, 2 of them being my brother and sister.)

[Darth Mandarb]

It's funny you started a topic like this Andail because I was just thinking about this subject (sort of) yesterday.

I was thinking about how I spend soooo much time on these forums, but yet I still manage my personal life, and my professional life.Ã,  Now, granted, it's easier for me than for some because my job has me on the internet ALL day long so I just naturally bounce back and forth between work and AGS forums.

I think what keeps me coming back is the creative side of these forums because I love making games (working on games) and doing pixel art, and helping others, and of course the friends I've made ... but I must confess that I've learned sooo much just by visiting the GenGen and reading the random posts in there.

I've learned to tone down my sarcasm (thanks to Daniel ) and not be such a cocky ass all the time.

I've learned a lot about other cultures and ways of life.

I love seeing how other countries refer to certain things like; being drunk (in America) = being pissed (in England).Ã,  That still makes me laugh, 'cause over here being pissed means being very angry about something!

I've realized that American foreign policy has made the rest of the world pretty darn uphappy with us (which makes me sad).

I can honestly say that the AGS forums have truely made me more open minded.Ã,  They've given me the ability to see things from more than just my own angle.Ã,  I still have some strong views on certain subjects that I'm not going to change but don't we all?

This community is strong because I think most people here (obviously) have a common ground; the love of Adventure Games.Ã,  But it's more that ... I think, when a new person comes along, they see how tight the commuity here is and I think for most that's a very attractive thing ... something they want to become a part of.

I came to AGS in March of 2003, less than 2 years ago.Ã,  Yet I feel like I've been here for a lot longer than that.

There are VERY few regrets I have about my time with AGS ...

I regret bumping heads (arguing) with a few members during my first few months here.Ã,  It created some tension that I wish wasn't there.Ã,  I hold no ill feelings towards anybody here and I hope my actions in the subsequent months have erase any bad feelings they may have harboured toward me.

Not being able to attend MITTENS was really hard for me.Ã,  I had it scheduled as a 'must do' over the summer but because of my dental mishaps it wasn't financially possible for me.Ã,  I really wanted to meet all my fellow AGSers ... perhaps next year (Australia??)

And that's really it ... [end of mushiness]

[Sam.]

i came here just under a year ago and i feel really welcome. although i still dont get alot of the "in-jokes" like slippery treats, boy did i get on my high horse when that came up, only to be shot down as a n00b  ! but hey. thats the fun of it. even when i get STFU'd i know it is all light hearted and in jest. ive also learned what leetspeak is which just bemused me before. my art has improved and my coding is much better. its my coding here which helped me get into a computing course at college so AGS may have been the key to my entire future!

[Pet Terry]

During the time I've been here, my art skills have gotten better. I think I wasn't that bad at art when I joined, because I had used art programs before the time of AGS, but I've learned usage of things like perspective, lighting etc., thanks to Critics lounge. I'm also better musician now. A LOT better musician. If some of you ever want to hear my old tunes and compare them to my new ones, go on and let me know. Also, seeing how other people have got better has been a pleasure. Like custard for example, I still remember some of his earlier works when I was helping him with graphics, and now he is better than me.

I never felt that I'm bad at English, until I started high school. In Finland the grades go from 4 (worst) to 10 (best). In the beginning of high school my English grades were around 6. During high school I joined AGS. In the end of high school my English grade was 8. The AGS community gave me inspiration to study English and later on it was actually one of my favourite subjects in school.

I've got to see the British culture during the time I was at Brittens, and actually try out my English skills in real life. Earlier I had only talked few words with the exhange students. Now I had to communicate fully in English. I also got to meet lots of awesome people with same interests as I have. My parents said something along the lines that 'Are you sure you want to go there and stay with strangers?' but I didn't think like that about it. I thought it was more like going there and stay with my friends. After all I had chatted with those people in irc and MSN, I knew how they look like, what kind of persons they are etc. However, meeting people in real life is much better than chat in the internet. Also, here in Finland all my friends are about same age as me. At Brittens I think I chatted most with CJ and Mattgoble, and both of them are almost ten years (or something like that) older than me. We all were also very different, liking adventure games were the only thing that was in common with us all.

I joined the forums because I wanted to make an adventure game, the greatest adventure of them all (like most of us). Now I spend too much time with the community while I could be working on my game. Nothing wrong with chatting with community though, there are lots of interesting and helpful persons around. However, irc starts taking too much of my time so you probably won't be seeing me at #ags as much in the future. The thing is that the "discussion" is mostly just goofing around. But if you want to chat with me, I've always got MSN! And I'll be around, it's not like I'm leaving the community or something like that. Just... less irc, more games! as m0ds once said.

[Yufshter Esq]

Knowledge and sound advice.

[Pumaman]

I find myself broadly agreeing with Andail. The forums (and indeed writing AGS itself) is a kind of fall-back position when I haven't got anything else to do. Like right now, I'm home from work but too tired to really go anywhere or do anything, so I come here.

It's not a bad thing though, by any means. Making games is a creative pastime compared to watching TV, and as Darth says I've learnt a lot about other cultures and things in general from reading posts here.

Mittens is of course another thing. I have to admit, before the first Mittens I was very skeptical about the whole thing - I thought that meeting people from the internet was a 'sad', nerdy thing to do, and that it'd be awkward and embarassing. I'm happy to say, nothing could be further from the truth.

Mittens has been a great experience, and is undoubtedly the best thing I've got out of this community. It's been fantastic meeting everyone in the flesh, travelling to other countries and experiencing other cultures by meeting the real people who live there.

Finally, I must also mention all the great games that I've played that this community has produced. This place has such talented people, it's great to see what you all come up with.

[Haddas]

Ags has given me loads of new friends, improved my vocabulary, and improved my art tenfold! I'm also a LOT less immature now than I was before I joined. I've also learned many things that may come in handy later in life. I've also gained loads of friends I would NEVER have met anywhere else. And if anyone's interested I'll be moving to England in a few years, not necessarily because of this, but because I was planning on moving out of my country, and England just seemed like the logical choice. I can't say that hanging around here ALL my spare time hasn't contributed to my decision either.

[juncmodule]

Over the past year or two I've been thinking about this a lot. After finishing my first game I couldn't seem to get anything else started up so I stopped hanging out on the forums. I kind of gave up for a while. I sporadically came back sometimes for a few months while I worked on some new great idea, but always drifted away as I lost interest in the idea. I feel like I can't really leave completely though. Even if I'm not making adventure games this community offers a group of open minded (and sometimes not so open minded) people to bounce ideas off of.

My Socialism thread a while back has completely affected the way I view myself politically. I no longer call myself a socialist because of that thread. Granted, I'm ten times more confused about it now than I was then. But, I did find out that I wasn't really a socialist, which was the basic goal of the thread.

People like Timosity, c.leks, and Darth Mandarb have also gone above and beyond being "just some people on the forums". When referring to people like this in real life I tend to say "my friend". It's funny for me though because I'm not a big IRC/chat person so I don't really know any of you. Yet you all make me feel welcome and like a friend.

I think what I get out of this community is "a community". That's really it. It isn't about Adventure Games so much as it's about community. We all just so happen to share a great interest in making Adventure Games.

later,
-junc

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Fall-back. Has a funny ring to it. Heck, for me it's mostly true. Ain't got nothing better to do, log in and see what's up. Then reply. Then wait for next time.

What I like most about being here is when I actually get involved in something, though. Some discussion, some rant, some theory, whatever. The social side of this adventure game community. I frankly wish I could meet all of you, guys, and talk to you personally.

[Blackthorne]

AGS gave me passion in my life again.

I first downloaded AGS sometime in 2001, I believe the fall.  I actually have the webpage SAVED to my harddrive, because when I found it, I was so psyched!  It was SO cool!  heh.  So, anyway, I kind of forgot about it for a while after a few aborted attempts at games.  I always wanted to make Sierra-like games, even as a kid, so AGS was a dream.

After I had my kidney transplant, I had a LOT of time on my hands - so I did all kinds of research into AGS and the communities.  I've learned quite a bit about gaming, cultures, and people in general.  I've learned that there are a lot of people who share the passion for adventure games.... and that's a good thing.  I've become a better artist and writer, as well as programmer.  I've met some wonderful people, and made some really good friends that I even converse with by phone.  I started my own amateur adventure gaming company, with members from ALL across the globe.

I always wanted to make games; AGS made that a reality - and I can't praise that enough.  AGS, like I said, gave me a passion for life again.

Bt

[Nacho]

AGS gave me the possibility to spend a lovely week in Sweden, meeting a bunch of new friends, and consider me friend of people who is a thousand miles away from me, people whose I haven't seen in my life alive, like Darth, Barcik, N3TGRAPH. My English skills are still poor, though.Ã, 

But, shit! It seems that the release of my first game is doomed! It will be done... I promise... eeer...Ã,  :

EDIT: After naming some of the friends I've typed one full stop [.] My intention was to put three [...] for including the names of the friends I couldn't remember in that time, ok? 

[[Cameron]]

I know more people and I learned to act a lot less n00by. Plus hopefully when my game comes out i will get recognition.

[mätzyboy]

I've been around for pretty long, before the forum change, not posting much but reading posts and playing other peoples games. I mostly enjoy watching the development of images in the Critics Lounge, and checking out / participating in three of the comps namely PhotoshopPhridays, the SpriteJam and the MS Paint game. I also like the Background Blitz but I have still to make an entry...

Sometimes I wish I had been more active, both in discussions and in more general posting. It would be fun to be recognized as one of the regulars (which I think I qualify as by visiting the forums about 2 times a day under normal circumstances) but I rarely find myself drawn to the idea of posting unless I feel that I contribute something really interesting to the thread. Less is more, or something. 

I wish I had gone to Mittens when it was arranged here in Sweden, but the feeling of being unknown kept me from going. If this Britens thingy continues I might go, it would be fun to see some real people behind the pixelly avatars!

Arrgh, I dunno what I'm writing anymore so I think I'll stop now. Anyways I'm glad to be part of this community, and seriously enjoy that you all are so active, and write/draw such interesting things for me to read/look at. I'll keep being around watching you all!

[shbaz]

I like that there are a lot of level headed unbiased people here, I try to be that way myself and when I fail someone will say something about it.

Other than that, I'm in it for playing your games and enjoying your humor.

[AGA]

I enjoy speaking with people with like minds. Adventure gamers tend to be of a higher intelligence than your average Internet forum (although there are of course some exceptions). I also love how there are people with whom I share a lot of other, non-adventure-related, interests. Oh, and of course there's the almost-constant stream of new adventure games for me to play...

[Barbarian]

As of the time of this posting, I've been hanging around the AGS forums for just a few months (though I was a "lurker" a couple months before that, so altogether around 6 months I been nosing around here). I still haven't quite fully proven myself to the AGS community yet (though my first AGS created game will be ready soon, hopefully before the end of September), and I sometimes feel that I'm not fully a part of the community yet untill I do prove my sincerity of making an Adventure Game to share with everyone.

However, I do much appreciate all of the help, guidance, tips, suggestions that so many wonderful people here are ready to offer. I too try to give some positive input when I see someone who needs a little help or when I think I can offer something useful.

I see that there's so many intelligent and talented people on the forums here, and for a majority of the posts the people in the AGS community are mature with how they post. It's nice to see intelligent conversations and even some "debates" without it always turning into a "flame war" that you see happen with so many other forums.

I used to fool around with "making games" many long years ago (Back in the old Vic-20, C=64 days), but over the years I got away from that and got into other aspects of computers. Finding the AGS community has re-awakened my interest in making computer-games again, and as I've always enjoyed "Adventure Games" the most over the years, and always wanted to be able to really make my own Adventure Games that others could enjoy, and AGS has helped to give me that oppertunity to really do that.

Yes, there are many other ways one can "waste time", but, I'd rather use my spare time to do something constructive, something I can learn from, improve some of my skills and improve myself from, and hanging around the AGS community and learning to create a game with the help of the AGS software and also with the generous support of the people here, overall it's been a wonderful learning and growing experience.

I still make time to have many other activities in my life and to pursue many other goals, but I now also have AGS and the community here to give me some extra happiness in some of my spare time as well. And really, I think that's what it comes down to... do you feel happy with the time you spend with AGS and the community here?Ã,  I mean, you could also be happy sitting on a sofa with a big pizza, a case of beer and watching some action movie on TV perhaps... and there's still time for those kinds of things too... but I really do feel that my time with AGS overall is a constructive experience and generally a positive influence in my life.

AGS and the community here has helped to give me feelings of "re-capturing my youth" as well (I'm not saying I'm "old", but, I'm... ahhh.. 30-something, so I'm probably a lot older than the age of the average AGSer here, of course there are some exceptions). But regardless of age of the people here, most seem mature and intelligent in what they share with us, and most people I see can feel welcome and accepted regardless of thier age, nationality, etc... And most of us here share a common love/enjoyment of Adventure Games.

When nowadays, commercially, Adventure Games being released seem to be far and few between and many times seem to be lacking the "spirit" that the good-ol-classic Adventure Games had... it's a nice, welcome and refreshing thing to find an Adventure Gaming community as AGS so active to help keep that "spirit of Adventure Gaming" alive and strong. I have enjoyed many wonderful Adventure Games from so many talented people here in the AGS community, and I thank you all.

AGS and the community here has given me much happiness in my life, and I hope I can help to return some of that.

Best Regards *Salutes*

[Domino]

I found AGS awhile ago and liked what i saw, and yet i have not worked on a game.Ã,  ButÃ,  i logged on to the forums after lurking for awhile and liked the mix of people i saw here.

This community seems to be, in most part, very positive and very friendly, and everybody is so wonderful.Ã,  It's great to see so many people with an adventure game passion, and also people who have such a great sense of humor.

This may sound kind of weird, but i consider every forum member here a part of my family.Ã,  I may not have shown myself in game making yet, but you are all so great.Ã,  We all seem to get along together as well.Ã,  I have looked and also been part of a message board that no matter what you say, somebody will always rip you apart.Ã,  This is what seperates this forum from the rest.

I have to admit i check the forums every single day.Ã,  I just can't stop. It's like an addiction.Ã,  Since i signed on here in August 2003, there is probably only a couple of days where i didn't read the forums.Ã,  But i love to read what everybody here has to stay.

I hope this community remains intact, and people continue to churn out adventure games left and right, and maybe someday i will make one myself.

Your fellow AGSer

Shawn

[Duzz]

I also read the forums all the time, but I don't post very often, especially of late,Ã,  I rarely find I have anything particular to add to a conversation.Ã,  But that's just me.

Usually, if I don't work on something AGS related during a day, (unless I'm busy) I'll feel like the day's been wasted, like nothing permanent has come from it.Ã,  So I rarely watch TV because there's nothing else to do any more, and don't spend copius amounts of time playing computer games either.
Before I started using AGS, (late 2002) I wouldn't have dreamed that I could be as creative as I am now.Ã, 

[DragonRose]

This community has given me inspiration to work on my game when I feel uninspired, a deeper understanding of writing and art, and a sense that, even when I feel like I'm being ignored in real life, I can still make a contribution that someone out there will pay attention too.

Unfortunatly, it has also added the words "teh" and "poobungies" to my vocabulary, which gets me some really funny looks when I use them in real life.