RRF/Malton Herald & Sun/Text/Text0607left
By Murray Jay Suskind
As quick as five dollar whore, the Shacknews horde descended upon Malton, and set a path of destruction the likes of which Malton had never seen. But as quickly as they appeared, they vanished -- seemingly into thin air -- and left Malton, idled out of the game.
The times were great while they lasted, and Malton Herald & Sun recently had a chance to sit down with Chronolith, one of the Shacknews Generals to find out more about this powerful, if historic horde.
MH&S: Glad you could take some time off during the holidays to talk to us.
CL: Well, Malton has some excellent publications; as a zombie, though, I have some difficulty reading them all. Particularly, the ones with words in them... I usually just look at the pictures. For purely educational reasons, of course.
MH&S: Much like the retirement of Shacknews, your initial appearence was very swift. Just how did Shacknews pop up so quickly?
CL: Shacknews is a gaming website that's been around since 1996 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shacknews). We're a fairly tight-knit community of several thousand people, so the potential for what became the Shacknews Horde had always been there.
I first discovered Urban Dead in September 2006 after our Horde founder and general, ZeroDPX, posted about it; being a huge horror-film buff, I signed up right away. One of the most frustrating things about playing as a zombie is finding humans -- most of them hide inside barricaded buildings, which makes leveling up fairly difficult and somewhat discouraging to new players. Not to be deterred, Zero and I continued posting info on the Shacknews forums a few times each day: listing where easily-accessible humans could be found, telling new players what skills they should buy once they leveled up, and so on ( example -- http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?id=12836353 ).
Existing players got the idea and started participating in these discussion threads, and over time, the description of our nightly activities closely resembled stories. More people got interested enough in what they saw to create new characters, and that's how it snowballed. At the height of our power at Caiger Mall, we had ~250 active raiders participating each night; as of last night, when we officially retired the Horde, just under 300 people were on our nightly raiding instructions list.
Thank you for a job well done.
MH&S: What do you think was the greater triumph: Finally taking down Caiger or routing the PTT?
CL: Caiger Mall, without question. Most of the big groups, including the Big Bash and the RRF, were so discouraged by previous incidents of barricade-zerging at Caiger Mall that they refused to return there. We knew what we were up against, but we felt we had both the numbers and the strategy to get the job done. Succeeding where none others had, and in the face of all naysayers, was a very gratifying experience.
As far as the PTT (at Stickling Mall) are concerned, they defeated themselves. Our siege of the Whippey Building -- the Necrotech facility closest to Stickling Mall -- was the hardest battle we've ever fought, Caiger Mall included, and the PTT and their allies were relentless in their defense of it. However, once we ransacked Whippey after 9 nights of siege, there was zero resistance when we attacked the mall - nothing. We ransacked one of the corners of Stickling Mall six hours after our first attempt at directly attacking the mall. Once inside, we hardly saw any of the PTTers that we saw nightly inside Whippey -- they were gone. So routing the PTT turned out to be a non-issue for us.
MH&S: What are Shacknews' plans for Nexus War?
CL: We're taking it easy right now. Nexus War is far more complex than Urban Dead, so it'll take some time before our players become familiar with the game and its intricacies. And after spending 3-5 hours each day, 7 days a week, for 4+ months helping to organize the Shacknews Horde in UD, I've resumed the role of a soldier in Nexus War. I need the rest. :)
The potential is there for Shacknews to become another power-player in Nexus War. But in the end, we play games to have fun, not necessarily to win for the sake of winning. If Shacknews never grows beyond a small group of dedicated or even casual players, that's OK, too. Having fun is Priority One.
MH&S: You've mentioned that while the Shacknews horde will depart from the game, many of the members will still stick around. Will Chronolith continue playing Urban Dead? If so, what are your plans for him?
CL: Last night, the Shacknews Horde travelled to the Brain Museum in Rhodenbank, where most of us will remain for the foreseeable future. That includes Chronolith: I owe that much to my fellow raiders.
MH&S: Way to go out on top. On a more serious note: Is it true that you were once caught wearing pants?
CL: Not only is it true, but it's also not false! What kind of a leader would I be if I chose to wear pants?
MH&S: What, precisely, is appleflappin?
CL: Like the term "barhah", "appelflappen" is not something that can be easily defined. What can be explained is that our patron saint, Maarten, is the sole purveyor appelflappen. It is -- was -- the hope of every raider to bring greater glory to Maarten by their own actions. And in doing so, increase their chances of Maarten bestowing appelflappen upon them.
MH&S: I see. Final question... The RRF: Great zombie horde or greatest zombie horde?
CL: Great zombie Horde, but not the greatest. With the promise of greatness comes the possibility of failure; and by declaring a moratorium against Caiger Mall, the RRF limited not only their capacity for failure, but greatness as well.
MH&S: Ouch. Don't know a way to counter that one. Thank you for your time.
