Farewell...(not really) :-) Firstly, a little insight into how GM was first established. I write this post with no hatred (I hope), no regrets (I hope) and on good terms (I hope) with each and everyone in the GM clan. I first started playing TF2 when it was first released in October 2007. I never envisioned starting a clan, it just sort of happened one day, yes it really did. I'm the type of person that just likes to go online primarily to play games, have fun, chill out and relax. I guess I was never suited to the leadership role and at heart I never really was a competitive player. Let's go back to early this year around February or so, I used to be in a clan named "Gaming Legends" and myself and others were unhappy with the way things were run. I'm sure the original members Mextor, Alpha, Sigma, Waebi, Spitfire, etc will remember this. One day we were like, "hey, I don't like the way things are, let's start our own clan". The name Gaming Masters (I guess it was a pun at GL) was the first thing that came to mind and we just went ahead and chose it. Since it was I that recruited most of GL's players, the majority followed and we agreed to form a new clan. OK, so, we needed a domain. I was the only one capable at the time of registering the domain gamingmasters.org, so I did and as such I also host this very forum and website. Next problem, we had no TF2 server to play on. Back in March-ish, we used to have a GM leader called Spitfire who gave us a free TF2 server but after time he became somewhat greedy and terminated our server without prior notice. He wanted us to pay for our server in the end. Dark & t3rribl3on3 (an original GM leader) will know all about this. OK, so now we have no server and this is where Protantus was our guardian angel. If anyone is to thank the most, it would be Protantus. We got our first dedicated server because of his sheer generosity and from then on that's how the story goes... So now you are thinking, why am I really stepping down? -I am not suited to the leadership role, others do a much better job than I do; leadership was never really my style -I am not a competitive player at heart; I just want to play for fun -I did not envision GM to become so large; popularity can be good but also hard to control -I am tired of having the responsibility of taking care of pretty much everything with nothing really worthwhile in return; my free time can be better used -I like having no strings attached, sometimes I just want to go on steam and play in peace and not get spammed with 101 questions such as, "the server has crashed, what happened?". I guess this is to be expected as a leader, but hey, I'm only human and my patience is only good to a certain level -There is some great immaturity and great maturity in this clan which clash, like the drama bombs that exploded in the past; I do not want to be discipliner nor do I want to be like someone's father or mother -There is a great deal of tech issues behind the scenes in GM that can be extremely stressful trying to solve, I guess I'm tired of it now to be honest, seems like it's taken for granted -Having the concept of “power” is great, it makes certain people feel good or superior; I don't have any want or need for that though. I like this quote, "with great power comes great responsibility", I don’t want either of that -Finally, I just don't think I will have the time anymore in the future to successfully lead a clan and I prefer to say this and disappoint everyone now than to wait months ahead and give false hope in the meantime. So what does this mean? -Darki is the main leader for now, I will give him some initial guidance and the rest of the leaders can also help out -I will stay in the GM clan for now but won't take an active pilot-seat role. I will mostly be behind the scenes and still have a certain level of influence over matters if absolutely needed -I will still continue to play TF2 hopefully, mostly on public servers but for any matters regarding GM do not contact me any longer as I will not be directly involved -I will continue to keep the GM domain registered and website/forum hosted as needed -Darki practically now owns the dedicated server (where the TF2, ZPS & L4D servers are hosted), so GM can still continue to run of course -I've established the clan, the foundations I have built up over the months, you can take things a step further and better that I ever did -I have already assigned certain roles and increased everyone's server admin powers to further distribute the workload Shoutouts -Protantus, huge praise for supporting GM, not only that, your decision making is excellent. A friendly, fun, level-headed and sincere guy -Nomad, again thank you for supporting GM though thick and thin, and also with helping to make decisions in the clan -Pissmidget & Disco, great guys, great to have you in GM. Your help and input is much appreciated -Myke, again, thank you for the time and effort that you've put into GM ever since the start and also for taking a great initiative over the F team -Th, your ideas for this clan are great. I am sorry if I was personally not able to put them into practice -Dark, he does a lot technical-wise for GM, his coding skills are second to none, he should really get more praise. GM is really nothing without him too, he is one of GM's backbone -Fastjohn, thanks again, you've been in GM ever since the start -All the GM server administrators for helping to keep the servers free from hackers, general idiots, etc -Everyone else that is and was in the GM clan for making this place what it is -Will I miss leading GM? Somewhat. Will I miss the power and responsibility that comes with leading it? Power, I could do without it. Responsibility, I could do without it. Love me or hate me, flame me or not flame me. Go ahead, I don’t mind. Sincerely, ?Ø??>
Re: Farewell... *wow, I had a reflect back since I join here while read this* I remembered every bit. Core was and will always be a great leader, I say he is so. We won't miss you core(as you'll still be here), we will just miss you as the leader with powers-FTW You done alot in this clan(well you ownd it anyways), I stood up by you and went though with all the up and downs at GM(oh, u knw teh drama etc) thanks mate <3 John ps:oh, this feels like I'm leaving :o , but not!
Re: Farewell... I am not saying bye since you aren't leaving. GOOD! I hate goodbye's We'll just play tf2. But only more! since You've got more time. Oh and if you got something you need to know in Dutch. Just ask me! M'kay? See ya.. Euhm, everywhere where I see you around right now :> And at Darki/Alpha. Good luck taking over his position!
Re: Farewell... Good luck mate, hopefully you'll return to us fully recharged and ready to kick some arses ! Was fun having you, without you this clan would have failed on first day !
Re: Farewell... Its sad to see you step down but i'll support you in your decision ... on another note i think Darki will make a good leader
Re: Farewell... I still remember when I first met you in TF2 back in February or something in some dustbowl server with you up in that first cap exploit on the ceiling lol... then spamming typed sniper-related taunts to each other on some random 2fort server :lol: Thanks once again for inviting me into the clan mate, I hope this will give you a rest, and more free time to concentrate on your studies etc :idea:
