The Story of No Nonsense Gamers - A timeline of not tolerating bullshit.

Discussion in 'Main' started by GhostSheets, Sep 7, 2014.

The Story of No Nonsense Gamers - A timeline of not tolerating bullshit.

Discussion in 'Main' started by GhostSheets, Sep 7, 2014.

  1. GhostSheets

    GhostSheets Opus Eponymous

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    Grab a coffee or a fine cognac dipped cigar and get ready for a read :)

    This is a post to serve as a reminder for those of you who have been here for some time and also to serve as a source of direction and inspiration for those of you who are new and would like a little bit of history on No Nonsense Gamers. The timing of this post is not coincidentail and is aimed to bring back some stability to the community and to restore your faith in the people who have spent countless days and nights trying to keep this place alive and well. I'm posting this because of yet another iterative cycle that NNG is going through. It won't be the first. It won't be the last.

    I've never been a fan of reinventing the wheel so a lot of the text you're about to peruse has been written in the past. This will #1: Make it easier for me to show you that this isn't the first time NNG has gone through evolution and #2: So that you can see that what was written in the past which represented NNG's core values hasn't changed much.


    The original mission statement and core rules of NNG as seen on our website:

    BACKGROUND

    The No Nonsense Gamers community was founded in 2011 with the goal of bringing like minded gamers together under one roof. Gamers who enjoy playing as a team, having fun together and most importantly, gamers who don’t tolerate the nonsense that takes place on other servers and in other communities.

    We have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to racism, discrimination, cheating, griefing or spoiling the enjoyment of our members or public players who enjoy our servers. NNG is comprised of hundreds of people who have sought after a community where they can play the games they love with other mature, but driven and objective focused gamers.

    Our number one goal is to have fun. All of the other rules and standards we put in place that accompany our no nonsense attitude are merely designed to protect that goal.

    WHY CHOOSE US
    • We have zero tolerance for racism or discrimination of any kind.
    • Cheating, hacking, scripting, glitching or use of macros are instant perm bans.
    • Greifing, chat spamming, harrassing or doing anything to disrupt gamers will result in a ban.
    • Teamkilling, baseraping or destroying friendly assets in any game will lead to your removal.
    • Our server administrators sign and agree to a server rule-set before they are given access.
    • We do not ban blindly for every cry wolf we see about “hacking”. All players are innocent until proven guilty.
    • We apply standards and strategy to everything we do.
    IN FINAL

    We put a lot of time and effort into maintaining our community and keeping things positive. If you can’t adhere to the above rules, we will remove you.

    "In 2011 while playing in a Battlefield Bad Company 2 game, I noticed someone aim-botting on the enemy team. I brought it to the admin’s attention and asked him to spectate the player. The admin proceeded to ban me and told me to screw myself. I decided at that very moment that I was going to start my own community."
    GhostSheets - Joint Community Leader



    The remainder of this thread will serve as a timeline for important events in the history of NNG:



    Forum Thread #1:
    http://www.nononsensegamers.com/forums/threads/test-thread.1/




    December 2011 - @GhostSheets proposes that people start wearing the [NNG] tag:
    http://www.nononsensegamers.com/forums/threads/wearing-the-nng-tag.31/
    This was when shit started to get really official!
    "I stem from the Battlefieldo community which is excellent in itself but was growing too big for my own personal tastes. With clans/communities of that size sometimes you can get lost in the shuffle, and let's be honest, everybody wants to be a part of something, but they also want to be seen and known for being a part of something."




    December 2011 - @Bluepike Creates "The RL Thread"
    http://www.nononsensegamers.com/forums/threads/the-rl-thread.82/
    A post dedicated to new members for their introductions to help build community mindedness and to introduce us to each other. Having an understanding of who we game with, what people do for work, what they drive, what their hobbies are, etc. all helped to create a bond between NNG gamers. At 450 replies this is one of the oldest yet most popular threads on the forum and is a great indicator of the diversity that NNG has attracted over the years.




    September 2012 - NNG Role Call:
    http://www.nononsensegamers.com/forums/threads/roll-call-active-nngers-please-check-in.592/
    You'll see a lot of names you've probably never seen here before. Periods of low activity are common in NNG and are to be expected. /coffee




    September 2012 - NNG PS2 Division Launches:
    http://www.nononsensegamers.com/forums/threads/jaamaw-heading-nng-planet-side-2-division.595/




    September 2012 - BF3 Division Contemplates Competitive Gameplay:
    http://www.nononsensegamers.com/forums/threads/any-interest-in-competitive-league-entry.804/
    There are some very relevant posts in this thread regarding different member's take on competition:
    Example: http://www.nononsensegamers.com/for...st-in-competitive-league-entry.804/#post-6489




    December 2012 - BF3 Division PhotoOp Goes Horribly Wrong: :ROFL:
    http://bit.ly/1CG7BXL
    She still got the pic though :) http://i.imgur.com/kaO2h.jpg




    February 2013 - NNG Welcomes 30 New Recruits:
    http://www.nononsensegamers.com/forums/threads/nng-welcomes-30-new-members.1718/
    Some names you'll recognize as being very significant members of the community, some you'll have never seen before. This goes to show that we have both long time members, and others who come and go very quickly. This is normal.




    March 2013 - Boone Shows off his No Nonsense Socks :
    http://www.nononsensegamers.com/forums/threads/socks.1839/
    :laugh:




    September 2013 - NNG Forums Reaches 1000 Members:
    http://www.nononsensegamers.com/forums/threads/1000-members.3334/
    In the early days, I remember telling @Franko , @CrazyKillerCat , @Jonathan Magnus and @Booneman42 that I wanted them to patrol the BF forums, reddit, other gaming communities to actively recruit to help us hit the 50 member mark. So you can see from the beginning that NNG always took on the goal of recruiting more and more people. We've done recruiting really well, and at times we've done it really shitty. The main purpose of constant recruiting is to make sure we have enough people to keep the NNG dream alive. To sustain. And to bring together people who share the same community ideals as us. It took FOREVER, but we eventually hit 50 MEMBERS!!! Months later we hit 100. The Battlefield division grew. We hit 200! Not going to lie probably 30% of the accounts were of people begging us to unban them from our Massive Warfare Battlefield 3 server :inlove: . We weren't kidding when we said no bullshit. Later, @Jaamaw launched the PS2 division with approval from myself and our member counts skyrocketed to the 700 range within 3-4 months, I was blown away! :O




    May 2013 - NNG Raises Funds to Send Jaamaw to SOE LIVE:
    http://www.nononsensegamers.com/forums/threads/launched-send-jaamaw-to-soe-live-2013.2562/ I believe we raised over $1500 dollars. When I received my first NNG donation in December 2011, it was for $50 from a guy named @DubTx . I couldn't believe someone was happy enough with what we were doing as community that they'd actually send me their hard earned money. From the get go I was extremely transparent in how raised funds were spent. All the money went straight to forum or server costs.




    June 2013 - @Linchpinn Leads our WarThunder Division to the Skies!:
    http://www.nononsensegamers.com/forums/threads/nng-war-thunder-division.2680/
    Linch was one of the most balanced, approachable and understanding guys I've ever met in the online gaming community. When he asked me if he could lead up a War Thunder division, I saw it as a no brainer. The division is still growing and has an excellent group of pilots who've extended their personal time to training other pilots for simulator battles. This was our last active division created. We've formed the Star Citizen division, but we're still a ways off on that division becoming, truly in game active.




    January 2014 - NNG Launches Star Citizen Organization:

    https://robertsspaceindustries.com/orgs/NNG
    http://www.nononsensegamers.com/for...nng-star-citizen-player-and-ship-roster.3879/




    GhostSheets Steps Down as Leader of NNG:
    http://www.nononsensegamers.com/forums/threads/i-am-happy-to-leave-nng-in-capable-hands.4427/ /brilliant
    Running NNG has been one of the most amazing things I've ever done in my live. I started with a small handful of guys who liked what I was doing and it grew to what it is today. It would not be possible without all of you:


    NNG is iterative. Over time it will change. But the core values should always remain. NNG is not strictly casual or strictly competitive. But NNG should be whatever it needs to be to keep the majority of its members interested, engaged and feeling at home. This won't be easy. Especially for large divisions where it will be impossible to please everyone. But we must work together to keep the NNG values strong. There will be misses, communication failures, quitting, joining, victories, frustration, and times when everything comes together perfectly, but it's all part of the cycle. We should not up and leave during failures or changes that are not accepted or approved of by all, but instead strive to get in sync, and work together in meaningful ways to get on the same page.




    I hope this has given you some insight into No Nonsense Gamers. Your division leaders need your support. Things change. Things break. People come and people go. But we roll with it. The division leads were not selected randomly. They obtain the values that NNG seeks in all its members, but they take on the challenge of riding out the storm in tough times or periods of inactivity to try to keep the movie rolling. Some of their and their delegates attempts to keep their divisions strong and active may be unconventional or something that hasn't been done before. They may be misperceived or misconstrued. Please do not discredit them. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Especially Jaamaw who is trying to keep the PS2 division active in a way that is respectively beneficial for all who wish to partake in it and at different levels of investment. Work with him and his officers in a constructive, NNG oriented way to make this a place that you continue to want to be a part of. And if it doesn't work, duke it out. Figure it out. Make your opinions known but be open to the idea that you may not know best.




    Over the next couple weeks I will be working to build a set of 10-15 NNG Principles that define and give guidance to how NNG should operate. This will remove confusion, word spinning, lack of understanding to what NNG is while serving as a foundation for what NNG will be in the coming years. These principles will be basic and transparent and will be made available for all members to see prior to their instatement. The principles will cover everything from how to be open and honest in communication, how to effectively recruit, who to recruit to what powers division leads have and how they make decisions that drive NNG. They will contain elements of our core values to serve as an example of what good looks like when it comes to the operation of everything and anything NNG.



    Highlevel NNG Timeline from our website:
    http://nononsensegamers.com/about-us/nng_timeline/



    Thanks for being an NNG member! When I started this community I had no idea it would turn into something so meaningful to this many people. Never lose site of what brought you here and never give up on the NNG way. It has lead to hundreds of thousands of hours of enjoyable game time that simply will not be experienced in many other gaming communities.



    Seriously, Thank you ALL!
    /coffee
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2014
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  2. GhostSheets

    GhostSheets Opus Eponymous

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    Also, I'd like this thread to be an ongoing work in progress. So if there are events or milestones that you'd like me to include, send me an event and I will include it in the timeline. I'm sure there is tons of stuff that I have missed!
     
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  3. Hospiwhater

    Hospiwhater .

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    Looking through the links I'm sad that I didn't get to join up before you took your well earned retirement. I even played the crap out of BF3 and never joined anything serious. Thank you for this, it shows how proud you are of this place and even though you said you have retired, you still care very deeply for it.
     
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  4. GhostSheets

    GhostSheets Opus Eponymous

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    I've empowered Jaam, Sotet and Nraged (now Highlander and Ernst) to run this community in my absence. I don't want to be involved in day to day activities because I flat out don't have the time anymore but do still care very deeply about this community and will step in to help whenever I can. Please continue to give these guys the support they need :)
     
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  5. CrazyKillerCat

    CrazyKillerCat Admin & Graphics Designer

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    NNG has been a big part of my life for sure, skipping the IFVs in BF3 on gulf of oman feels like a lifetime ago, so many hours of fun with ya'll.
     
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  6. GhostSheets

    GhostSheets Opus Eponymous

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    Those were good times. Does feel like forever ago though! /yawn
     
  7. Torqameda

    Torqameda .

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    You forgot the most important event in the last six months: the Arrival of the Blumpkin. It'ls okay that you missed it though. :D
     
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  8. Nraged

    Nraged I fly things

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    We love you Ghost!
     
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  9. WargruntVS

    WargruntVS .

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    <3 man Joining this community has been one of the best decisions in my gaming life can't wait to start recruiting on Star Citizen and get us even more awesome members.
     
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