Gumby Death Clan: Gumby Fests 1, 2 and 3
Gumby Fest Numero Uno: September 1998 – Albuquerque, New Mexico
One night while the fragging was slow on Gumby Death, Sixxgunn and I started talking about how much we hated the lag, and it would be cool if we could play on a LAN. One thing led to another and one of us said “Well, let’s do it!”. After a little planning with da boyz up in Albuquerque, we had ourselves a partay! Here are the humble beginnings of Gumby Fest. We ain’t pretty but we’re dedicated =8′) Just click on the pictures to see larger images suitable for framing…
The Group: Sixxgunn, X-Factor, Muscles, dwelch, Mikey-D, Soul Ripper, Horicus
The Game Room
https://web.archive.org/web/20010531195403/http://www.mike-d.com:80/gumbyfest/gf1/
GumbyFest ’99, February 1999 – Las Cruces, New Mexico
Gumbyfest not for the weak and Pokey, by Rob Sharp
The halls of the Las Cruces Hilton reverberated with the concussions of countless shotgun blasts, machine gun fire and exploding grenades the weekend before last in what officials are describing as one of the most singularly violent events in Las Cruces history. Of course, these were the kinder, gentler armaments of the computer-generated kind, and the event wasn’t some sort of armed insurrection against room service, it was Gumby Fest ’99.
To understand exactly what Gumby Fest was all about and its significance is to understand yet another impact the Internet is having on the world around us. Gumby Fest is a gathering of Internet game players who usually play each other from widely seperated locations: by assembling in one room, they eliminate any advantages caused to individual players by communication delays. Thus, this dedicated bunch of gamers assembled from points as remote as Pueblo, Colorado, at the Hilton this weekend in a melee of shrapnel, explosions and escalating body counts.
Mike Dowell of Las Cruces, computer programmer and digital overlord, sponsors the Internet server (cyber-playground, if you will) named Gumby Death, combining two passions of his: the little green clay figurine with the squeaky voice and on-like Quake, a computer game that has no real point other than eliminating other players in violent fashion. As the host of Gumby Death, Dowell organized Gumby Fest ’99 at the Hilton and invited the most frequent players to Las Cruces for, as Quake players call it, a frag fest.
I attended the opening night of Gumby Fest on Friday. Along with my trusty Gateway PC, I brought along a few coupons for delivered pizza and an ice chest of long necks and tequila sunrises. Upon arrival, there were already about 10 participants set up and playing, their blanched faces illuminated by the soft cathode glow of their monitors. After meeting them individually and learning their screen names (Bishop, Firestorm, Sixxgun and the like), I hooked into the network and began playing.
There are two types of people in the world: people who play video games and those who don’t. Although familiar with Quake, I don’t play nearly enough to achieve the level of ability of the other players. My participation mainly consisted of being killed a lot and attracting various types of ammunition from the discharging end of the other players’ guns. Quake is played in a 3-D environment, with wonderfully realistic walls, explosions, skies and moving machinery. It is a far cry from the earlier days of video games, where you would chase little blue ghosts with a ravenous Pac Man character. You can run, crouch, jump, and move about as you wish in this environment, but another player will always put a rocket in the back of your cyber-skull when you least expect it. It’s the details that make Quake so much fun to play: the sound of wet flesh splattering about, the vivid realism of globs of red meat on the floor, the screams of players dying on the business end of a four-barrel shotgun. Definitely not a game for the squeamish.
Gumby Fest continued throughout the weekend, with the fusillade stopped only for mandatory sleep cycles and bathroom breaks. Sunday evening saw participants logging off the network and shutting down their computers, their fingertips aching from keyboard pounding and their eyes bloodshot and droopy. There were no winners or losers at Gumby Fest ’99, only a collection of blood-thirsty cyber-warriors who slaked their thirst at a communal water wheel of violence. Organizer Dowell anticipates a third annual Gumby Fest next year at an undecided location, so if you wish to see for yourself what Gumby Death is all about, visit Mike’s web site at http://www.mike-d.com, and prepare to lose sleep.
The Bulletin: News, Opinion, Arts and Entertainment in the Mesilla Valley, Week of February 18-24, 1999, Vol. 31. No. 7. Las Cruces, New Mexico, 1999
Comments About GumbyFest, by Bimbo: “It was an honor just to be nominated…” Oops, wait, that wasn’t it. Gosh!! That was fun. When is the next one? Boys sure are funny when they’re gaming. Quit shooting me the with the @#$#! rail gun, Mikey and Sixx!
Bink, Bishop, dwelch
Comments About GumbyFest, by ePiC: The party was great, lots of frags and tags. The only bad part was almost being arrested by border patrol on my way home. (long story)
Comments About GumbyFest, by Fett: It was awesome….definitely have to do it again…..
FireStorm
Comments About gumbyFest, by Hannibal: we came, we saw, we passed out
Comments About GumbyFest, by Horicus: I came I saw I fragged I almost got arrested by border patrol (long story)
Mikey-D, Muscles, SixxGunn, and Snip (aka Mr. Bimbo)
Group and Misc Photos
New pics! The whole gang! Our name in lights (sort of.) The room o’ fun. Clayton and Maria. Melissa and Mike. Bimbo, Bink, Snip and Mikey-D model the fine Gumby fest action wear. Sonic, the supplier of most of our meals… Quake 2 at 12 feet by 10 feet…oh ya! What a bunch of great looking geeks we are :)
Screenshots
https://web.archive.org/web/20010714112910/http://www.mike-d.com:80/gumbyfest/gf2.html
Merchandise
Woo hoo! We got t-shirts baby! These turned out better than I expected and I know you wanna dress your fraggin’ self up in one of these. They have the www.gumbydeath.com addy on the front and the Gumby Fest mascot on the back.
Here is a chance to support the inner workings of the servers and get yourself decked in the hippest wardrobe since Vans!
They are 100% preshrunk cotton available in Large and X-Large in goth black or summer white. They’ll set you back $15 bucks a piece or choose the special internet price of 2-for-$30 bones + shipping.
I have quite a few of the keychains left from previous Gumby Fests. Attendees of previous partys were given this state of the art, industrial strength, all around kick butt keychain. I was a little over zealous and bought quite a few of these collector’s items so I need to offload a few :)
If you are interested in owning a little piece of that which is Gumby Fest please drop me a line. For $5 dollars + shipping you too can be the envy of your clan and become the alpha geek in no time!
Thank Yous from Mikey-D
Well Gumby Fest ’99 was an absolute blast and I think a success. For those of you that didn’t make it…what can I say….you missed one heckuva party!! Everything ran so smooth that I kept waiting for something bad to happen, but it never did. It was great to put a couple more faces to the people we play with all the time.
Here are a few heart felt “thank you’s” in no particular order:
- Bink for making a killer banner that made the Super Bowl commercials look like refrigerator art…
- dwelch for making the trip, setting us all up with internet access, and defending our CTF base like a beast…
- Sixxgunn and the Colorado boys (Horicus, ePiC, Muscles, Fett) for making a long boring trip cross country, bringing a server and tons of net cable, and providing us with a ton of “archival backup” files…
- ePiC for creating a kick butt web page…
- FireStorm for bringing the vid camera so we could get those cool advanced pics up…
- Bimbo for being the sole BWA and female player and putting up with a room full of stinky competitive boys, you are a doll…
- Bishop and Hannibal for representing VIO, and making the trip down south to join us even after a bit of “drama”…
- Hue for getting us the projection system so we could see what Quake at 12 foot by 10 foot looks like….
- Gldnboy, Muddier Dog, Stephanie, Beck, Ichabod, Vic, Shannon, Chito, Ben, Don, Yvonne, and everyone else that stopped by to say “howdy”…
- and Melissa for being there and not getting scared off by my game playing dark side….
THANKS TO YOU ALL and I’ll see you at the next one!!!
https://web.archive.org/web/20020317114638fw_/http://www.mike-d.com:80/gumbyfest/thanks.html
Gumby Fest 3, Pueblo, Colorado – July 1999
Gumby Fest 3 Photos
Gumby Fest 3 Screen Shots
CTF Stats – 16 Players and 3155 Deaths
Brutality Leader: Sixxgunn <BdCo> with 615 frags
Mortality Leader: {BWA}Bimbo with 440 deaths
Harakiri Leader: {BWA}Bimbo with 30 suicides
No Life Leader: {BWA}Bimbo with 6.09 hours
DM Stats – 15 Players and 1661 Deaths
Brutality Leader: Mikey-D <BdCo> with 412 frags
Mortality Leader: {BWA}Bimbo with 336 deaths
Harakiri Leader: {BWA}Bimbo with 26 suicides
No Life Leader: Mikey-D <BdCo> with 4.29 hours
For all 10 of the amazing Gumby Fests please check out Mike-D’s fantastic archive (which I finally discovered about a half way through the post :-D) http://www.gumbyfest.com
Donde Quake 2? 