Name: Jake
Age: 14
Location: Missouri
About Me: Five things: I'm dedicated to what I do, I like to kid around, I like CoD [4] too (don't hate), I love computrar games, and
never give me Mountain Dew. To elaborate: I'm a long-time eGO supporter, even during my hardships with certain members. I was previously banned from the servers, and let me tell you, it wasn't a fun experience at all. Second, I'm a jokester. They aren't always good, funny, or appropriate, but I absolutely LOVE to mess with my friends. If I've offended you (and on some occasions I've gone just a little too far), please forgive me. My infatuation with shooters such as BF or CoD actually started with CoD:WaW, so you can either 1) learn to agree, 2) agree to disagree, or 3) curse the game for my presence.
Since a young age I've been exposed to computers, and I enjoy finding out more about them and being the "nerd" of my class. Last of all, I warn you, do NOT feed me Mountain Dew. The results vary, and can be mixed; usually, however, you end up with an extremely happy, hyper PBJ that has some crazy reflexes in video games. If you do give me some, watch out!
My Gaming History:
Early Years (- 2007)
In early 2006, I played Club Penguin with a number a friends, but I’m really going to shirk that since it was extremely juvenile and you really did NOTHING. Then, in 2007, I became an extremely avid gamer (wasting HOURS each day). Back in late August of that year, a classmate discovered something that completely changed my life – FOREVER. That “thing” was RuneScape…again, still a little juvenile, but its improving. For days and nights, I sat by my faithful desktop, leveling “Festery” (as was my handle at the time), and chatting with my classmates.
Community Development (2008 - 2009)
Eventually, in mid-2008, I got bored of being in the small group at school. That’s when I first expanded, and joined a number of communities dedicated to RuneScape. Of course, one thing led to another, and I expanded to joining a full-fledged clan dedicated to leveling up each skill (different ones on a monthly basis). Nova Skillers Clan (hereinafter referred to as NSC) was much like MiT is now – a small player base, close ties within, and a great community dedicated to everyone’s success. Of course, there were also differences – the leadership also had a council to advise them, and also some just barely lower-ranked advisors. I was an active member, and soon became interested in moderating a forum. Since there were no player-owned servers, that’s how adminning worked: along with assistants, you got to head a forum. With this goal in mind, I contacted one of the leaders, who prompted me with a form to fill out and ask which forum I’d like to moderate. When I received the PM, I filled out the form as fast as I possibly could, and asked to be assigned wherever help was needed. With my first great achievement (as I’ve come to call it) in my sight, I hit “send” with a great burst of excitement. Now, let’s skip ahead into early 2009. Everything had seemed dandy, no big changes had occurred to cause tumult, but a number of us members were noticing that the forums were slowing. With a slight note of concern, we contacted the two head leadership members…only to find out that, with deep sadness, they themselves were planning on resigning because of the general disinterest and the fact that their real lives were picking up. Though I myself was shocked, nothing was going to stand in my way of keeping this community around. I immediately tried starting a revival, but soon it was clear that wasn’t going to work without more interest. Again, I felt tears welling as NSC was about to fall apart. In desperation, I created what came to be known as Atlas’s Retribution (originally The Fearless Knights, abbreviated AR from now on). A number of my old NSC friends hopped on as honorary members, at the least. Two of my real life friends, Ben and Gavin, stood in to help me lead this reincarnation of NSC. Eventually, with permission, we were given the code from the NSC site to make this clan even better – the format of my other site, at the time known as Cloud Nine (now Base 13, included in my signature), just wasn’t working; to be honest, it WAS pretty ugly. Two or three high council members of NSC came over to become our advisors, and it was going great for a time. Then, website URLs were banned in-game and on the RuneScape forums, because of sites selling in-game items for money. This destroyed ALL hopes of recruiting, and we just had to advertise and hope to get lucky with people wanting to join a fresh, hip clan. As time passed, Ben lapsed away, and it just became Gavin and I, with our advisors at our sides. By now, we hadn’t gotten many new members – it was just like NSC…the clan was dying. We freshened it with the new name (AR) and made a few modifications. Again, for a while it went great; we merged with a few other smaller clans that had fallen victim to leadership resignations and needed somewhere to take them in. Then, over time, I started losing interest. I rarely got a level anymore, and the quests were becoming long and drawn out. I tried joining another clan and asking for us members of AR to get rank there, like we had previously merged, but no one went for it…eventually the dissension and leadership troubles of this clan led me to return to AR full-time. However, with some friends of mine [Kevin (nonme; registered member of MiT) and Trace (ducks108) – both met on Zybez Ventrilo] I started another clan on the side (Divine Minions) that was set to merge with AR in the future. This is where it got really messy – my real life was busting with activities, and I was losing time and interest in RuneScape. To be honest, I just quit. I disappeared. No one knew where I was that summer, though I occasionally talked to Trace or Kevin in Skype about the progress of DM. Over time, the project died without me…I had been the leader and the one driving the others to strive for their best, but without a leader – well, we know what happens. Gavin tried keeping AR alive into 2010, and DM just died and Trace took down the site. Meanwhile, I talked to Kevin ALL the time, and one day he encouraged me to get Steam to try out AudioSurf. Back a while, my dad had made me an account and given me his extra HL2 copy when he got the Orange Box. When I mentioned AudioSurf and Steam to him, we got back onto that account and I got HOOKED on Half Life. I asked for the Orange Box for Christmas 2009, and indeed got it. However, this time I registered it to my new account, so I'd have central account for everything.
eGO and Other Communities
Then, as in RuneScape, I got lonely in the random servers I always joined in TF2…so Kevin introduced me to eGO on February 28, 2010. At first, I was shell-shocked by the size of the community. Then, I got my bearings, but as is typical with me, got my computer taken away. When I returned from my Mexico vacation, I got it back and started playing Counter Strike: Source. That game was one that I REALLY enjoyed, and I played for hours every day. That led to a quick eG when back-to-school promotions went on. The short version of the story is, I made a mistake a got perma banned for it. I went on the another community, where I clashed with a member of leadership, which led to my returning here. I'm back with renewed love for this group, and this time I'm not budging, even if you have to force me out. <3
Why I Joined eGO: I joined eGO to find like-minded gamers. A friend of mine (details above) recommended me, and I signed up for TF2. Soon, I bought CS:S, and switched divisions. Despite my young age, I found I fit in well for the most part and got along with many other people. In addition, it was nice to have a community who didn't care about your age, sex, race, or other criteria. Here, its about having fun, which is what games are meant to be. I enjoy that.
Where Do I See Myself in 5 Years? In 5 years I hope to be off to one of the more renowned US colleges, preferably one in the Northeast. I have family that traces back to PA, and I'd like to experience the difference in life there. In addition, if I continue my school career as I have always led it, I do have a chance to achieve those goals. I'd like to believe I'm a hard worker, inspirational writer, and excellent mathematician when I want to be. In the gaming world, I hope to continue my eGO membership for many years to come, exceeding even 5.
and Battlefield 3 / eGO crossed my mind. It dawned on me that while I know many of my fellow division members by their voice/name, I really don't know them. 
