Deus Ex Machina
Prologue: My UT2004 Story
For the sake of easy recollection, this entire historical account will be written from my (Jesse "epitaph" Amundsen) own personal point of view. This prologue is my own personal story in UT2004 alone.
At the end of UT2003, the community saw a rapid re-organization with newly opened community channels and draft leagues. During the time before the announcement of the UT2004 demo, there were so few servers in the game that both of the old Point of View servers were turned into pure public duel and TDM servers and saw very high levels of usage. With the resurging community came new servers and a returning player base. Everyone was excited about what UT2004 could be, seeing as how UT2003 never really "caught on" as everyone expected it would.
The UT2004 demo was released and I was one of the first people to have a demo server up on this continent. Immediately it became the pickup game server for #utcommunity, a then popular community channel aimed at uniting different gametypes. The demo played out, and eventually it came time for the retail game to be released. It was available a day early at a funcoland gameshop near me, so three friends and I all went out and purchased it. Myself, TheKoV, bworld and meZo. At first onslaught seemed fun, but once Point of View played a few TWL league matches it wasn't so fun anymore. Point of View had shifted its focus primarily to Enemy Territory and I was the only one left who cared about UT2004 at all, with the exception being TheKoV's feigned interest. I removed Point of View from the ladders we were on.
Still being deeply interested in playing UT2004, and playing for a very high level team, I took the chance of messaging [xeno]Frenzy. At the time, xeno was still a strong force in the competitive scenes of many games. At first reluctance was expressed, but after playing a few practice matches, I was taken aboard. Being on a team where I wasn't the best player was the best experience I ever had. Being able to progress is the most rewarding thing in a game, not being the one that wins all the time. It was in this time that I progressed into the player that I am now. The xeno team was split into west and east due to the large number of players and their varying geographic location. Teams never last, and quickly players like Bor, TheMadOne and GiMiX all jumped ship to other teams such as High Voltage or even continuance. Frenzy was the main administrative figure and with his energy and resources being devoted to the organization of xeno.west it somehow fell upon me to assume responsibility for xeno.east. One of the reasons I was excited about joining another team, and a respected high-level one at that, was that I would no longer be the main bearer of responsibility. Things get hazy, but all I remember is that there was not a strong drive toward achievement or excellence in the xeno.east squad.
Prior to CPL Summer '04, xeno.west left xeno to become Check-six's TDM squad. Being very close to Frenzy, myself and GiMiX were brought along since xeno was eroding quickly and falling apart internally. I was excited to be on such a team, but the community went so stagnant after CPL that everyone stopped wearing tags and the only activity in Check-six I can remember was idling in the main and private IRC channels.
Time passed, nothing happened. Eventually Americup was announced and I was eager to get back into the swing of things. Much to my dismay, the new Check-six roster was announced nearly immediately -- an absorbtion of Kaizen and the acquirement of elix while keeping GiMiX as a player and Frenzy as primarily an organizational figure. With xeno completely dead, Check-six changing rosters and Gravity forming without my knowing, I didn't know what to do. As Gravity was announced (of which I knew and was relatively close to many members on the team) I was even more desperate. It was in this time Deus ex Machina was formed (see entire writeup for further reading). Ironically, xspain was actually one of the first people contacted about joining Machina, but when his old friend from Demise (Lotus) appeared on the Gravity roster, he naturally chose his close friend instead.
Despite skepticism and without aid, Machina finished in the money in Americup. I really must express my gratitude to MxX and zyth, who are amazing TDM players if they want to be. To UZi I have the utmost respect -- a true sportsman and a legend in my eyes. Without people like TheKoV, thrice and DamageD we never would have been able to keep it up.
My journey in UT2004 has brought me through a social group of real life friends (Point of View), a once-top multi-gaming team (xeno), a now-top multi-gaming team (Check-six) and a team that has given me the opportunity to enjoy this game despite the other teams' paths (Deus ex Machina). We're all hoping UT3 will be the land of opportunity, but remember that it is what we make of it. We made UT2004 what it is (whether you see it as poor or great), we can make UT3 what we want it to be.
The Primordial Soup
In a community abandoned after the Cyber Athlete Professional (CPL) Summer 2004 Unreal Tournament 2004 (UT2004) team deathmatch (TDM) event, there was little interest and even less activity. It was in this time that Jesse "epitaph" Amundsen along with Alex "TheKoV" Povkov first encountered Pierre-Luc "zyth" Mailloux and Martin "MxX" Simard. In a community with no true TDM activity, two on two was the best anyone could manage. Everyone crowded into the laggy Factory, Fractionary and Purgatory five versus five weaponstay on skill-less spamfests as usual, but finding people to play in an actual TDM scenario was difficult at best. As time passed, myself, TheKoV, zyth and MxX grew closer to eachother and a mutual feeling of respect was present between everyone. As the community spiraled further into a completely stagnant stupor, it became increasingly more challenging to locate teams to play, thus it became customary for the original four to play together regularly.
As the situation grew more dire, everyone hoped for something to rebound the community and provide a renewed sense of vitality and involvement. This wish was granted when the Global Gaming League (GGL) announced it's first ever Americup event. Teams began to reform, old players returned and the community began to have a semblance of unity. Upon the announcement of this event, my first instinct was to return to my last known team (please referr to my prologue) Check-six but that was not meant to be. Gravity announced their lineup, which contained other people I was close to also. Upon the arrival of a serious competition, I was without a team.
After getting over the initial shock of rejection, I realized that the window of opportunity was still open. As One Last Bang (OLB) was announced (who knows which last one this was) zyth came into contact with me and we decided to play together for the OLB event. Originally, DamageD was brought on as an extra to cover cases in which someone else could not be present. During the OLB event, the team grew closer and it was decided that, with slight roster changes, we would enter Americup under the name "Deus ex Machina" or "Machina" for short.
A Big Bang
The community was thriving again, practice matches were readily available and new teams were constantly crawling out of the woodwork. Rosters changed daily and drama played out nightly. Gabriel "UZi" Montpetit replaced DamageD and our roster was strengthened. With a strong french-canadian presence Deus ex Machina became the premiere Canadian team deathmatch team in the wake of the death and dissolution of No Escape. Of course I was the outlier, but with the replacement of TheKoV with Jonathan "thrice" Debeau, putting the roster at four french canadians and one redneck Kentuckian, it was safe to say the team was Canadian (at least at heart). The Machina team deathmatch squad consisted of epitaph, UZi, zyth and MxX with thrice as the official backup.
Initial impressions of the team were primarily negative from the rest of the community. Predictions by staff writers for GGL and GameAmp both placed the newly formed Machina squad below an 8th place finish in Americup. On the team, we all knew this was complete bunk. One of the aspects of Machina that makes it so unique is the respect it garnered from the community. No one in Machina made inflammatory posts on forums, we didn't have an aura of arrogance following us into servers and all the original members were generally well-liked by the community.
Team Deathmatch: Boom and Bust (A GGL Americup Adventure)
As Americup progressed, the team proved itself time and time again. Suffering only one defeat in normal season play to the tournament favorites: Check-six. Following the dramatic conclusion of the three way tie between sbp (short bus passengers), LcD (leading cause of death) and DTS (defthreats), playoffs were imminent. Machina entered the playoffs with the goal of finishing in the money. By now, the community had realized the teams potential and it was highly expected we would finish at least fourth. Advancing through the brackets, we first handily defeated Defthreats, then the short bus passengers. We were then forced into the lower bracket due to Gravity's solid squad. Due to poor timing, the final matches were delayed a long time. We were already guaranteed a fourth place finish and had achieved our goal, but now we wanted more. After a long hiatus, the tournament resumed. The winner of Machina and Continuance would progress on to contend with the two favored teams: Gravity (who was forced into the lower bracket by Check-six) and Check-six. Out of practice due to the communities inactivity and the long pause between the rounds of the tournament, Machina underperformed in the match versus Continuance and was eliminated from the tournament.
Having met our goal, we left the tournament with a sense of accomplishment. We had the respect of the community, a few more dollars to spend and most of all we had a lot of fun together while playing through the event. When all of this began, I never thought it was possible to take this group so far. Love of the game, respect for eachother and unrelentless determination fueled our teams rise to the top and drove us toward our goal. With the conclusion of Americup, an era ended.
Black Hole: Community Woes
There were high hopes for Americup2 for many in the UT2004 community. It was not meant to be. The event was delayed further and further, and once again the community returned to a poor state. When Americup2 was finally announced, Quake4 had already debuted and was chosen as the primary First Person Shooter. Americup was out of the picture, yet Machina still had deep interests in competitive UT2004.
So what does a competitive team do when there's no competitions? Go to another gametype. Conveniently, the 3SPN team arena master tournament had been announced and everyone in Machina agreed that we could dedicate the time. Many TDM teams participated, such as Gravity (who ended up winning). Much to our dismay, the tournament format was teams of five instead of four. So we brought thrice in. With a roster of five, it was clear we would run into problems. It was in this time we first acquired Evan "sidefx" Horn and Greg "cherry" Margau. No one on the team really enjoyed the arena master gametype, but we did enjoy playing as a team and the competitive aspect of the tournament. The acquisition of sidefx and cherry turned out to be a poorly calculated decision, as both played in one match and were never seen again. Machina played over half of their matches four versus five, still managing to enter playoffs and win two matches down a man. Eventually we were handed two losses in playoffs while down a man and still finished high enough to receive gift cerificates to amazon. The experience ended on a sour note, and with that, most of Machina fell into inactivity.
As it became apparent to many of the team deathmatch teams playing the team arena master gametype, it was not capable of providing the same level of fair, high-level competition that team deathmatch had. Most teams ceased playing it competitively other than in for-fun scrimmages. Once again, the bust team deathmatch economy had arrived and activity plummeted back into the abyss.
Death and Rebirth
Time passed, I grew more and more detached from the community as I spent more and more time doing classwork for college. The most I did was participate in the always-packed public spamfests earning the title of pubstar. It was in this time that Wolfgang "legioN" Mandler crossed the pond over into north america. Over half a year of absolutely nothing passed, progressing through the beginning of spring until the end of summer. If anything, dueling is always the first mode to see a spike in activity when the community is in a rebound. A dueling tourney by digital speed surfaced, then dawgpound from Gravity/Horizon hosted one, another was run by KevinR. Things were on the up and up, and it was time to take advantage of that. Bringing back an old name, tdm.open was reborn as myself, Cursive and ra pitched in to try to revitalize a lost community. Much to my dismay, things change. UZi did not come back, he had grown up, graduated from college and moved on. The team consisted of myself, legioN, MxX and zyth with TheKoV playing backup again. After successfully garnering sixteen teams to signup, it looked like team deathmatch had the potential to return.
Running another tdm.open with Cursive in two versus two format yielded less success. Never completely finished, Machina Salat (myself, legioN) was poised to take the title. It overlapped when most participants were going back to school and class and it made it difficult to play matches and administrate.
More time passed and 2006 neared completion. On the horizon was something fresh and new, something called purepressure. From the same group that brought about 3SPN came a new kind of effort. The promise of automated high-level tournaments seems closer and closer, as the test tournaments have run smoothly and a money tournament was already held. Perhaps purepressure can bring back a spark to UT2004 in its final days. Machina was unable to participate in the first ever purepressure money tournament due to sidefx unfortunately breaking his arm, UZi's announcement of his complete and utter retirement and DaytonLanfest being the same day. With Unreal Tournament 3 in the future and everyones eyes upon it, we will see the ups and downs of the community once again played out in yet another release. For now, the community will have to make do with smaller events held by individual people or limited groups of concerned community members.
But with this new age of automated tourney systems and small hand-made tournaments by concerned players comes the new face of Deus ex Machina. With the return of sidefx and the partial return of zyth and MxX, Machina is aiming to once again earn respect in the TDM community.
Epilogue: The Future (Catastrophe and the Cure)
Unreal Tournament 3 was a disappointment for not only Unreal players, but all deathmatch players that long for a rejuvenation of the genre. Unfortunately, the gaming atmosphere will, in all likelihood, no longer support such a pure mode of gaming due to the investment in other game styles such as tactical shooters and MMORPG's. The development of computer games is also starting to lose it's potency, with the focus on consoles becoming greater as time continues. I used to think that the PC would be the end-all of gaming, media and of information gathering. I was wrong. Consoles seem to be poised to take the gaming torch within the next four or five years, relegating the PC gaming market to a few stubborn thoroughbred old-schoolers who simply will refuse to let go.
While Deus Ex Machina may be done formally with Unreal Tournament 3, many of us continue to play competitively in other games while some still play recreationally. There is much interest in Challenge Promode Arena (see the SoCo button on the right) for deathmatch and I (epitaph) have begun to play Call of Duty 4 competitively. Perhaps the day will come when Deus Ex Machina will expand into Call of Duty 4, giving a new birth to the now defunct and lifeless team.
Soon, I will decommission the only remaining Unreal Tournament 3 server and uninstall the game from my desktop. Many already have, but I hold on if only for the memories and thoughts of how things were. It's hard to let go of Unreal; I've been playing it for nearly 8 years now. Life without Unreal is a new thing for many people, but reality is now upon us and it is clear: Unreal is gone and most likely never will be again (at least not in the respect we'd imagine). Unreal Tournament 3 is a console game and whatever games come out in the future sporting the Unreal tag will be a console game at heart also.
To end this, I would like to comment lightly on the North American Unreal community. There is no nice way to address the NA Unreal community because it is the embodiment of failure and only contributed to the downward trend of Unreal in general. Without doubt, there will continue to be completely trivial people who cling to UT3 for the sole reason of "because it's Unreal" but moreso since they most likely refuse to either move on or play other games. Enjoy your 26 person community, your puny competitions run by incompetent administrators and your console games ported to the PC.
Epitaph's epitaph for Machina
I thought it prudent to at least share some final words about Deus Ex Machina as it is officially cast into the shadows of e-history. Machina was slowly approaching death ever since the conclusion of UT2004's GGL Americup and it's end was inevitable despite my best efforts. The monumental disappointment that UT3 revealed itself to be was a slap in the face for the effort I had put into the creation of a highly functional site and the monetary investment I hade made in supporting the team and general UT community.
Out of deep respect for the memory of the team itself, I supported it through the later years of UT2004 and intended to invest heavily in it when UT3 was released. Now that the Unreal series is perceivably rendered meaningless to most competitive gamers the time has come to finally end my commitment. Much like I did for my previous team (Point of View) the final step is to remove the site. Goodbye, Machina, and goodbye to my closest gaming friends. I wish you all the best of luck in all of your endeavors, perhaps we can play on another team in the future.
For myself, the end of Deus Ex Machina marks the end of a discernable timeframe in my life. I no longer hold any aspirations with regards to "competitive gaming" as a means for accomplishing anything of meaningful proportion in my life. Thus, I continue to play other games only with the intent to satisfy my own competitive nature. Never again do I intend to get so caught up in an online world of smoke and mirrors that serves to distract me from what really matters and what is truly gratifying. Nonetheless, the experience as a whole is far from regrettable; there is not one moment or one day I would seek to retract. The culmination of the countless weeks spent gaming and the ideals that it requires a player to maintain helped convince and educate me of a few simple truths that I would be less of a person not knowing.