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#Post#: 55--------------------------------------------------
The History of Snipers [COMPLETE]
By: Tom Date: December 15, 2012, 3:13 am
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Preface – Just sayin’
Before I start, I will preface my story by letting you all know
that it’s exactly that: a story. There will be a lot of facts in
this story, but some of it will be my interpretation of what has
happened and some of it will be my opinion. Thank you for
reading!
Chapter 1 – The Beginnings of Greatness
The basic game of Snipers, in its roughest form, has humble
beginnings. I have heard some claim that the game existed as far
back as Warcraft II, but since I cannot confirm this, I will
begin by sharing where modern Snipers on Warcraft III
originated, which was StarCraft. StarCraft Snipers was extremely
simple and crude. There were no items and no abilities, such as
windwalk and far sight. There was also no ability to attack walk
in the game. The only way to get kills then, was pure locking
speed. There was also an anti-hack used in the map. Clearly much
has changed since then, but the terrain of the map lives on; the
middle of our modern Warcraft III Snipers map is modeled after
the middle of the StarCraft map, and in fact remains nearly
identical. Snipers on StarCraft was not extremely popular, but
it with its creation on Warcraft III, it would soon become one
of the most popular custom games ever made.
I didn’t play StarCraft Snipers that much, since I preferred the
campaign, and the game itself was my brother’s. I started
playing it more and more as the release of Warcraft III
approached, and eventually most people that played StarCraft had
preordered WC3, including myself. A week or two into
simultaneously playing StarCraft and WC3, one of the players
from StarCraft had finally finished creating a Snipers map for
the new game. His account name was Elite, which is obviously
where the “Elite” in “Elite Snipers” comes from. If my memory
serves, I believe Elite Snipers was the 4th custom game created
on WC3, behind Footmen Frenzy, which I can positively tell you
was the first.
Chapter 2 – The First Generation
The time period of the first generation took place between the
last year of StarCraft Snipers and the first year of Elite
Snipers on Warcraft III.
Who were the first snipers? I consider the first generation of
snipers to be the ones who came from StarCraft, as well as those
who were a part of the creation of Snipers on Warcraft III.
Elite quickly emerged as our leader, which was an easy
transition, since he was extremely skilled at StarCraft snipers,
as well as the creator of the WC3 map. Elite quickly organized a
clan, the first clan exclusively for Snipers. A theme was
carried over from StarCraft, and the clan was called Clan AzN,
with the tags [NiNjA]. This clan has been remade twice since,
once at East (Clan NNJA) and once at Europe. Unfortunately Elite
did not play Snipers long. He was sucked into the thrill of
laddering and stopped WC3 all together after about a year, but
his influence on the game would be great. The first snipers were
very few in comparison with the following generations, and on
average stuck with the game for the least amount of time. Most
of them disliked the new version of Snipers, and their
resistance to change would be shared by many generations to
come. One of the greatest traditions the first generation of
snipers started was the act of mentorship. All but a very few of
the first snipers took new players as students and taught them
about the game. This great tradition was carried on fairly well
by the second generation, but began to die out with the third
(and largest) generation of snipers, which has unfortunately led
to the declining level of skill we see today.
The first generation was forced to figure out the nuances of the
game by themselves, since they were the first to play Snipers on
Warcraft III. This made them dangerous and savvy, but left them
stubborn to any new ideas, including the ones that the second
generation would bring forth. The first snipers were extremely
skilled team players, since that was the basis of StarCraft
Snipers. Having played most of their time without windwalk or
any items, the first snipers were also supreme lockers. Snipers
may seem like a simple game to most, but to these veterans,
Snipers was a very complex game that was constantly changing.
The way they saw how a game unfolded was matched by few, and
fewer could predict an enemies’ next move as well as them.
I would describe the first snipers as proud, intelligent,
unique, and disciplined.
The most influential person from this generation was easily
Elite.
Chapter 3 – The Second Generation
The time period of the second generation was the years 2003 and
the first half of 2004. I consider all who began playing Snipers
about a year after the game was released, until about a year
after that (mid 2004) second generation snipers.
The second generation of snipers was by far the most talented.
Having the benefit of being trained by the first snipers paired
with the fact that they “grew up” using all the tools that
Warcraft III Snipers had to offer made them lethal opponents.
Many of the early second generation players adopted the
stubbornness of their mentors. This included a zero tolerance of
pending and pubbing. However, much of the second generation
opposed those unwritten rules, and their opposition would end up
revolutionizing the way Snipers was played forever.
True legends forged their names in these years, and the iconic
clans, EsA, TeN, Pimp, DF, and DS ruled and shaped the Snipers
landscape. Another great tradition was started in these days:
clan warfare. Clan wars would end up being the single most
anticipated event in Elite Snipers history. A clan would feature
its best five or six players against a rival clan’s squad in a
true test of all-around team skill. The winner, normally
claiming simple bragging rights, would then become a clan that
new players wanted to join and be associated with. While those
were some of the most historic and memorable moments in this
game’s history, a revolution of greater magnitude occurred at
about this same time.
As far as gameplay, the second generation’s talent level was
unmatched. They standardized teamwork in regular games, and laid
the framework of how a game of Snipers should be won for future
generations of snipers. The revolution that I hinted at earlier
came with a sniper known as Anima. Before leading Clan DF, Anima
tried out to join Clan Pimp, which at the time was the clan to
be in. Pimp had a very old school approach and frowned upon
those who used pendants. In his tryout to join Pimp, Anima
scored about 79-8 (correct me if I’m wrong, Dan). As impressive
as that score was, Anima was the one who pioneered pending with
windwalk in regular games, and Clan Pimp turned him down as a
result of his playing style. Clan Pimp, like older players,
viewed warding as the best way to win a Snipers game, because it
gave your entire team sight of an area. And they were extremely
good at defending their wards, and each other. It was a perfect
way for them to play, and nobody did it better. But that was not
how Anima wanted to play, and so he quickly formed Clan DF. Thus
began a series of great wars between these clans, and Anima was
looked up to by some as arguably the greatest sniper of all
time. Because of his influence, Snipers became less about the
team and more about individual scores, mostly achieved through
pending. As great as Anima was, few have been able to match how
effective he was at the windwalk pending style, and as a result,
many clan wars were lost because a team thought that pending
with windwalk was a better way to win than pubbing. I maintain
that the best way to win is a combination of teamwork and all of
the available skills.
I would describe the second generation of snipers as legendary,
arrogant, talented, and competitive.
The most influential person of the second generation was
probably Anima. Game is also worthy of mention, as he is
considered the best team player ever.
At the beginning of 2003, most snipers played on the West
server, as this is the default server for Warcraft III when you
first install it. It was a shock to many snipers that there was
even a possibility to switch servers, and as this knowledge
grew, so did the game of Snipers. The game of Warcraft III
itself had immense success, and an expansion was released (July,
2004) one year after its original release. Ironically, this was
right around the time when most snipers had recently discovered
that there were multiple servers, and the Snipers playerbase
spiked dramatically. Those events were the beginning of what I
consider to be the third generation of snipers.
All of those things combined to create the Golden Age of Elite
Snipers.
Chapter 4 – The Third Generation and the Golden Age
This time period began a year after the release of The Frozen
Throne expansion (July, 2004) and finishes at the end of 2006,
totaling about two and a half years. If a sniper was still a
newer player around this time, I consider him or her a part of
the third generation.
The third generation of snipers was by far the largest in
number, for the reasons I gave earlier. Snipers was booming.
Games were played on every server (yes, even Asia) and on both
games, RoC and TFT. So in total, there were 8 servers with
dedicated Snipers players. It was possible to play Elite Snipers
for 24 hours straight and not be waiting for more than a few
minutes to start a game by switching servers, and some did just
that. At the peak of its golden age, Snipers was as popular as
TFT DotA is today. There were 10-15 games up at one time, all of
them filled instantly with pros during primetime. If you’re a
numbers person, perhaps you’ll appreciate these statistics. You
may say, “Snipers was not as popular as DotA. 10-15 games at
once is not that many.” But think about it. In a game of DotA, a
full house is 10 people. In Snipers, a full house is 12. In
addition, a game of DotA on average lasts twice as long as a
game of Snipers. Thousands of players came and went, and many of
them would never meet one another. During this time, however,
the best players knew each other quite well. Clan warfare was
still the big event everyone wanted in on, but as the number of
players grew, the level of respect people had for one another
declined rapidly. It makes sense, considering you could talk
trash to someone and never see them again. Unfortunately, the
third generation of snipers took full advantage of this. Being
younger than their legendary leaders of past generations, they
came to resent having to constantly look up to the older
snipers.
Even though the third generation was taught by some of the
greatest snipers to ever play, their skill level did not match
their elders. As a result, many of them resorted to hacking.
Obviously there is no way to be certain who started hacking in
Snipers first, but the first big named player to be identified
as a hacker was named Arcadian. Arcadian was proud of his
newfound “skill”, and was not afraid to display it. Before I
continue, I need to point out that hacking did NOT originate
with the third generation. There had always been a few hackers
since the beginning, but the difference now was that more and
more players turned to hacking as a way of closing the gap
between them, and the “legends”, and many third gen snipers
believed hacking was an acceptable means to win. The word
“legend” became a widely used term to describe the best snipers,
and the third generation wanted in on what they felt was
deserved acclaim. These young snipers even created a clan named
after their goal, Clan Lgnd. It was also during this time that
young players would remake an older, retired sniper’s account,
and pretend they were him. This action was aptly named “posing”.
Posing was not a serious issue until the act of “Clan Killing”
came into play shortly after.
Some young snipers hated the “oldies” (that is, older snipers)
and wanted them to be lesser than themselves. So they posed as
one of them, joined a clan and became shaman (and the only way
they were good enough was by use of maphack) and once they were
a shaman, the poser would kick all of the members in the clan.
This was clan killing. For quite some time, though, the older
players became guarded against such underhanded tactics and
Snipers continued to thrive.
I would describe the third generation as rebellious, arrogant,
charismatic, and overdramatic.
The most influential person from this generation was hard to
pick since there were so many snipers during this time who did
great things (along with terrible things), but I chose ESi, who
was an outstanding leader, extremely friendly, and a very
skilled sniper. ESi was one of the few third generation players
that never hacked, and was an accomplished clan leader (Clan
GuNz).
Chapter 5 – The Fall of Snipers
This period begins in 2006, and ends in 2008.
So as you can see, the third generation focused on trying to
make themselves legends, but they went about it the wrong way.
Don’t get me wrong. The third generation was not all bad. In
fact, some of them would go on to become as skilled as their
predecessors. Many third gens were adept leaders, and during
this time there were dozens of Snipers clans, filled with pros.
But it was the third generation’s apathy and selfishness that
would lead to the downfall of Snipers itself.
One sniper emerged from the pack of rebels, with a heart filled
with hatred more so than any before. His name was Max. Max, more
commonly known as Gem, Evacide, or Rox, was much like many of
his peers. Not being very skilled at Snipers, he resorted to
blatant maphacking. To Gem’s dismay, the clan leaders of the
time saw that he hacked, and would not let him join their clans.
Gem grew angrier as time passed, and plotted a dark plan to
destroy the game of Elite Snipers itself. Ironically, Gem’s map
making ability was supreme, and his maps are still used today
due to their excellence.
Gem, playing TFT East at the time, took up posing and clan
killing as a hobby. To exact his “revenge” in fuller force
though, Gem would also try to convince some players to open
emails containing Trojan viruses, or a program that would hack
their computer to give Gem their password. He became a dangerous
adversary, and as time passed, more and more clans fell to his
wrath. He was a gifted liar and convinced several players to
join his cause. Together they formed the first Clan Gem, and
their mission was to kill every Snipers clan on Warcraft III.
Sadly, this devious plot was carried out to near perfection.
Nearly every TFT Snipers clan on East and West was killed by
Gem. He killed clans until the day he quit WC3 for the first
time in 2008 (later quitting for good in 2009), and this is the
main reason that TFT Snipers is virtually dead today.
Thankfully, Gem’s reach did not ever come to RoC or Europe, and
this is predominantly where Snipers is played today.
I need to note though, Gem was not the only reason Snipers is as
dead as it is today. Obviously, life takes us to new places and
that was a main reason for most snipers’ departures. The release
of World of Warcraft also led many snipers to retire, and the
popularity of DotA at this time was rising quickly. People also
left Snipers because of the amount of drama that was constantly
started by the young players, and as more oldies left, these new
leaders were unequipped to deal with the rising challenges of
leadership.
I would describe the Fall of Snipers as extremely sad!
The most influential player during this time period was clearly
Gem, for some good reasons, but mainly horrific ones.
Chapter 6 – The Fourth Generation, aka The Lost Generation
This time period is very blurred because a lot of it overlaps
with the Fall of Snipers. I consider the Lost Generation snipers
to be anyone who did not experience Snipers in its true form,
yet still played while Snipers was very popular.
What do I mean by “true form”? The third generation of snipers
was so focused on becoming “legends” that they failed at their
duty to teach the next generation. As a result, the skill level
of the average sniper has been declining ever since. Like the
first snipers on Warcraft III, the fourth generation had to
figure the game out themselves. This made many of them
headstrong, but unlike the first generation, the majority of
their leaders (the third generation) hacked and were very
arrogant. These new snipers did not have any real legends to
look up to, only fake ones. Time had taken its toll on the
Snipers playerbase, and most of the second generation had quit
sniping by 2009. So, what I mean by true form is that these new
snipers never got to experience playing against true skill; they
were never taught how to be great; the only clans they could
join were not nearly as talented as the clans of old; and the
old sentiment of honor in Snipers had been replaced by accepting
hacking as the norm. More than half of the players that played
Snipers at this time used a maphack regularly.
It is truly a shame that these players started playing when they
did. If they had started playing earlier, they would have gotten
to see the reason why the game of Elite Snipers was so great. If
they had started playing later, at least they would have played
when Snipers was not as popular. Instead I am sure many of them
often wondered why Snipers was so popular, since it was filled
with needless drama and negativity.
Due to the vast number of snipers still playing at this time,
someone could assume that the fourth generation was fairly
large, but that was not the case. The number of players that
picked up Snipers and actually stuck with it for a decent span
of time were few. In fact, I would estimate that the second
generation was actually larger than the fourth. However, by the
end of Gem’s killing spree less than half of the third
generation remained, and even fewer true legends.
There is a reason I have named the fourth generation the Lost
Generation. I can’t think of anyone who was influential enough
to even mention. There were plenty of good players and a few
good leaders, but no name sticks out to me right now. Hopefully
I will think of someone eventually, and if I do I will write
them in later.
Chapter 7 – A New Generation, and a New Hope
If you have started playing Snipers within the past 2-3 years,
you are the fifth and new generation.
As of right now, Snipers is as close to dead as it has ever
been. The game might have a hundred players, but half of that is
relatively active. So don’t take it for granted, and don’t take
each other for granted. One day you might wake up and wish they
were still around. As I write this, there are two Snipers clans.
Clan 3xS at RoC Europe, and Clan RG at RoC East.
Most of the new generation has no clue who Anima is. They have
never fought in a clan war. They don’t view the game of Snipers
as a team game, and for most it would never be considered their
main game on WC3. Many do not even possess the most basic of
skills needed to be a pro sniper. But that is okay. How could
they know these things unless someone told them? It is the
reason I am writing this, and the reason I am still around
teaching. I want you to know that this game is worth playing. To
know that it’s worth fighting for. In all likelihood, Elite
Snipers will never be the game it once was. But there is hope.
To the person reading this: you are that hope. You are a hope
that will be fulfilled not if you become the next legend, or if
you bring Snipers back to glory, but if you simply become the
best sniper you can be. Play the game the right way and respect
your peers, even if they do not respect you. Make yourself an
example worth modeling after, and you will be a success no
matter how “pro” you are.
Appreciate the past, enjoy the present, and look forward to the
future. I have written this in dedication to everyone who has
ever played the game of Elite Snipers on Warcraft III. You all
rock!
Especially to my old friends: Elite, Game, Apathetic, Steve,
Anima, ESi, Kflan, Jubei, Sean, Mike, Puffy, LilPuffy, Krazie,
Eagles, Blitz, SeC, Volcom, Helvetia, Skul, Values, Kayla, PoR,
Matt, Arfoo, DoA, mybrodro, ZoNo, Estonian, Dethbringa, Psycho,
ReKoT, and the hundred or so I can’t even think of right now.
You know who you are though.
Also thanks to all my newer people. Keep up the good work! And
to everyone who listened to me teach or learned anything from me
about Snipers, thank you.
I am, and always will be, Snipers.
Tom
#Post#: 61--------------------------------------------------
Re: The History of Snipers [COMPLETE]
By: SniPerr Date: December 16, 2012, 12:54 pm
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Dude u Inspire me bro
#Post#: 62--------------------------------------------------
Re: The History of Snipers [COMPLETE]
By: RaPeDmAN Date: December 16, 2012, 2:38 pm
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I came at the end of the Golden age and beginn of the trash one
tz tz
#Post#: 65--------------------------------------------------
Re: The History of Snipers [COMPLETE]
By: Tom Date: December 16, 2012, 11:51 pm
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Haha thanks sniperr. Yeah Raped it's a real shame how far
Snipers has dropped but hopefully we'll get a few wars/scrimages
going soon!
#Post#: 67--------------------------------------------------
Re: The History of Snipers [COMPLETE]
By: SniPerr Date: December 17, 2012, 10:00 am
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haha np Tom, y guys i hope too, i want to play in a war :P
#Post#: 71--------------------------------------------------
Re: The History of Snipers [COMPLETE]
By: RaPeDmAN Date: December 19, 2012, 1:55 pm
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I hope so too, really :)
#Post#: 82--------------------------------------------------
Re: The History of Snipers [COMPLETE]
By: Hidden. Date: December 24, 2012, 4:56 pm
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Nice work bro, love the fact you actually took the time to word
it 'sophisticatedly' ;) Hopefully we can keep recruiting and
training new gen! sniping numbers are definately on the increase
though
#Post#: 87--------------------------------------------------
Re: The History of Snipers [COMPLETE]
By: SniPerr Date: December 25, 2012, 7:03 am
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Well spoken hidden :D
#Post#: 90--------------------------------------------------
Re: The History of Snipers [COMPLETE]
By: Tom Date: December 25, 2012, 10:20 am
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Haha yeah thanks Hidden! 3xS continues to grow, slowly but
surely.
#Post#: 92--------------------------------------------------
Re: The History of Snipers [COMPLETE]
By: IaM Date: December 25, 2012, 5:38 pm
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"Slowly" ? We have more than 55 members! ^^
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