DISCLAIMER

Actually, this work was conceived as the history of the Quake2 movement in Russia :). Now, for a number of reasons, the idea has changed a lot, and what you see in front of you now is the constantly updated history of our clan and Russian Q in general, not only Q2. This is mainly the history of our clan, but since it is interesting to me, I will, as far as possible, trace the history of Russian (or rather, mainly Moscow-St. Petersburg) quake as a whole :). It is clear that this story will not be given from the very beginning, but since the founding of our clan.
All reports and reports written by third parties are copied and attached to the monograph in full, but with indication of authorship and source. The author did not use links, fearing that after the death of the sites on which the sources lie, the history will lose its completeness and integrity. The request to the authors of these materials to understand and forgive me.
The reports and reports about championships and events mentioned above are most powerfully recommended for reading, because they are able to bring to the reader the real impressions of the participants in those events and convey the very spirit of those long-forgotten times :). In addition, the most interesting reports written by the best quaco writers of his time.
Due to some specifics of Quake-community, in the same reports mentioned above, informal vocabulary with idiomatic expressions is often found, in other words, swearing =). So it is not recommended for elderly people, disabled people and passengers with children to read them.
The author is not sure and does not guarantee that you will be interested in reading all this nonsense, he just liked to write all this nonsense :). Claims are not accepted, the goods sold are not subject to exchange. :).

PROLOGUE

Like, on December 9, 1997, a little-known company id software released an unnoticed toy – QUAKE 2 :). What impact it had on the gaming world, I will not tell you. Since you came here to read this 100-page nonsense, it influenced YOU :).

Eh, I don’t remember the dates, I don’t know the dates, but once, a few months after the release of Q2, in the glorious city of Tver, a certain Dark|Ice A new Quake server was opened, which was named DarkTown :).

‘And lamers ran there in great numbers, and they really liked this game, Quake2 called Quake2. So these lamers ran, gained their minds, learned to play slowly…’ :).

This server may not have been as visited as Demos, but the Quake-community on it was very sincere and close-knit, and clans began to form on the basis of this community. One of them was the SGM clan , initially consisting of three people: Shamil (and it was none other than me :) ), Misha and Mnemonic . A little later, such people as CRAZY, ViS, HaMMeR, ASA and many others joined him :). So the clan was born, which later became one of the progenitors of our legendary clan :).

And a little later on DarkTown appeared such clans asBRP and Tesis. The former included GL, AAZ and Igor1, while the latter featured players such as MC, Monster, Bratundra, Phil and Gekth. These clans did not yet know about the great fate prepared for them either :).

You can tell a lot about those times of our infancy, but I almost don’t remember anything, it was too long ago :). People played on the Internet, everyone went about their own business, occasionally met, rested together, drank beer (and what is stronger), went to visit CRAZY [SGM] in Tver… they didn’t think about any clubs and championships then… glorious there were times :).

BOOK FIRST
CHILDHOOD.

August 1998

On August 18, 1998, an epochal event takes place – the Internet clans SGM , BRP and Tesis decide to unite. After a long search for a name, the choice falls on the slogan found on the shirt of [SGM]ViS: Nobody is Perfect – I AM NOBODY! Moreover, the first part, in isolation from the second, is simply translated as ‘no one is perfect.’ We really liked this ambiguous and somewhat psychedelic name, and the decision was made – it was decided to call the new clan NiP (Nobody is Perfect).

Here is what was written in the news of the DDT clan about this association:

Recently, namely on the 18th, a new clan was created – Nobody is Perfect (I am nobody). This clan is somewhat akin to DDT, because it is a team. Here is what the guys themselves write: August 18, 1998, the following happened: the BRP, SGM and Tesis clans united with terrible force into a new clan, the name of which is NiP (Nobody Is Perfect. I am – NOBODY!!!). As part of a new clan: from BRP – gl, Igor1, Fear and Ripper; from SGM – VIS, HaMMeR, CRAZY, Shamil, Big Lizard, Misha and Kreator; from Tesis – Alex Monster and Master Cluster. Without a doubt, this will be the strongest internet clan, but I don’t think that our championship in Moscow will be seriously contested :).

So, at a noisy beer party in ViS’s office, a legend was born – a clan that at that time was not yet perceived by LAN players as a serious competitor, but which will very soon begin to push DDT off the pedestal, and in the future will become the strongest Q2- clan of Russia.

September 1998.

At this time, NiPam has no equal on the Internet, everyone is afraid of us, and we consider ourselves almost the coolest clan in Moscow :). In the Moscow club “Voodoo Zone” there is an FFA-championship in Q2:

[DDT]-InfiDel
[ DDT]-CooKiE
Nico.[QD]

So DDT reigned supreme on LAN at this time in Moscow :).

A few days after that, an epoch-making meeting took place – DDT’s arrived at the office to [NiP]-ViS, and the then-strongest duelist on the Internet (who played on the keyboard to everyone’s surprise) met with the then strongest LAN player – [DDT ]-Infidel ‘eat. The duels ended, of course, in Infidel’s favor. We have fewer fingers :), ViS decided to switch to a mouse, and quack parties in ViS’s office with the participation of the NiP and DDT clans have become traditional.

On September 26, for the first time, members of the DM4 clan – A-xa[DM4] and 3D-BUG[DM4] get to this quack party – rising stars Q2. We really liked these strong players, and we developed a sinister plan – to lure them to NiP :).

October 1998.

Our plan works, and on October 9, 2 new players appear in the NiP clan – [NiP]-Axa and [NiP]-3D-BUG After that, the NiP clan is considered the second strongest clan in Moscow (after DDT), and another strong clan is RiP tries to challenge this title. Clan war NiP vs RiP ends with a score of 1:1, and I can’t play the third game… during one of the parties, someone steals a mouse from ViS’s office, and the authorities, after the ensuing scandal, forbid outsiders to enter the office on weekends.

November 1998.

All NPCs are extremely saddened by the fact that the place where they can gather is gone, and VeS starts thinking about creating his own game club :). In Moscow, in the Neolit club, another FFA championship is taking place:

[DDT]-CooKiE
[DDT]- Crusader
[DDT]-InfiDel
[DDT]-KENGUR

As you can see, the period of DDT hegemony continues :). In the St. Petersburg club “Bunker” another tournament ends, also FFA:

GRIBNIC [PK]
RaideR [LoN]
Nazgul[BoG]

And this was one of the first victories of Gribnik, who later became a legend of St. Petersburg Quake.

December 1998.

St. Petersburg is hosting the first major duel championship in the history of Quake2. Quite a significant event, both in Moscow and in St. Petersburg before that all the championships were FFA, that is, meat for 4 people.

Gribnic[PK]
Johnny
Nico.[QD]
Karma[PKj]

Players with nicknames Ghost and PELE take 5th-6th places :). They are not mentioned by chance. Time will pass, and these two will still play their violins in the symphony of St. Petersburg and Russian quake, and their parts will not be of secondary importance :).

An equally significant event is taking place in Moscow – the DDT clan loses for the first time clan war in Quake2, clan ICE , with a score of 3:1. The first serious blow was dealt to the hegemony of DDT’s, and a competitive environment consisting of clans DDT, NiP and ICE begins to form in Moscow.

Around the same time (either before or after) there is a clan war between NiP and ICE, in which NiP wins. A new player appears in the NiP clan – NoiSe. And no one knows yet that the phrase ‘clan politics’, which he first said in a few months, will later become a cult one =). At the end of December, DDT players convincingly win a rematch against the ICE clan, but the legend of the absolute invincibility of DDT was also started anyway dispelled :).

January 1999.

The Moscow FFA-tournament in the “Virtual Club” comes to an end:

[DDT]-InfiDel
[RiP]-VogeL
[NiP]-NoiSe

At the very end of January, Formosa holds one of the most memorable Moscow championships – the Formosa Open Championship. Excellent prizes, excellent organization, and championships ‘from Formosa’ become the standard of competently held championships:

[DDT]-Crusader
[NiP]-A-xa
[NiP]-3D-BUG

A-ha fights almost equally, but Crusader, who is at the peak of his sports form, still turns out to be stronger. As you can see, nips are slowly moving to the major league of Moscow Q2.

BOOK TWO
ADOLESCENT.

February 1999.

[NiP]-ViS opens his own club AstalaVista, which has become a home for all NiPs for a long time. From that moment, with the appearance of a place where you can train regularly, NPCs begin to gain momentum and breathe in the back of DDT :). And the club itself becomes one of the most popular and respected in Moscow.

Around this time, another club opens, Nirvana. Despite the fact that several orders of magnitude more money has been invested in it, AstalaVista still remains the mecca of elite kudvakers – a club where the number of fathers per square meter exceeded all previously achieved records :). Even DDT, who were the club clan of Nirvana, still spent a huge amount of time in AstalaViSt. An FFA tournament is taking place in the St. Petersburg club ‘Orki’:

GRIBNIC [PK]
PELE [@]
RippeR [PK]
Negative ]UN[

Gribnic once again turns out to be head and shoulders above all the others, and the second place is taken by a rising PELE, Peter’s second best player. This tournament is also notable for the fact that players with the nicknames Mafia and Hacker used cheats, apparently somehow getting to the server and setting set cheats 1. The tournament was replayed, and I personally don’t know if these two unfortunate hackers were beaten up badly, although I understand that many readers are most likely interested in this :).

Another turning point in the history of Russian Quake 2 is the first TEAM championship. The organizers were the Russian Game Empire and Agmar Multimedia.

‘First pancake’ turned out to be simply disgusting in organization and indescribably rich in scandals. In particular, as far as I know, the DDT clan was humiliated by a small cheating – the draw was carried out in such a way that there were frankly weak teams in the DDT group. In addition, in the middle of the championship, it had to be transferred to another club – because of the Quakers swearing by the leadership of the Polytechnic Museum (in the building of which the club was located), the championship was put out the door. It continued at the Nirvana club.

But despite all these scandals, the championship nevertheless brought together the strongest Russian clans at that time. And DDT were then objectively the strongest in teamplay:

DDT (CooKiE, Crusader, InfiDel)
PK (RippeR, Gribnic, Hypnotic)
Alpha (QuaD, LorD, PELE

PK and Alpha , although before that they won and cemented into a loser DDT. The main reason for the failure was the complete unpreparedness for teamplay tactics in St. Petersburg, which at that time were strikingly different from Moscow ones. In particular, on many maps, St. Petersburg players played from a railgun, and not from powerful armor or megahealth, and due to their amazing accuracy, this tactic turned out to be more effective – an enemy resorting to, say, a dm5 quad just shot along with his red armor from three rails at the same time.

March 1999.

The strongest St. Petersburg player Gribnic leaves the PK clan and moves to the clan of the Alpha club. Thus, a team is formed in St. Petersburg, in which three of the strongest St. Petersburg players play – Gribnic, PELE and Ghost. Of course, such a team could not go down in history.

The Alpha clan immediately pushes PK off the pedestal of the city’s strongest clan, and a crisis begins in PK. RiPPeR[PK] is leaving the big quake, and the once mighty St. Petersburg clan, having lost two of its strongest players, is losing heavily. The first Moscow duel championship is held in the Nirvana club:

[NiP]-A-xa
[DDT]-Crusader
[ICE]Hi-JackeR
[DDT]-CooKiE / [NiP]-NoiSe-

The first victory of NiPs against DDT, and [NiP]-Axareceives the title of the strongest duelist in Moscow.

The Alpha clan comes to Moscow and wins a number of teamplay matches against NiP and DDT. Muscovites are fighting almost on equal terms, losing not on all maps, but the nuclear mixture of the three best St. Petersburg players still turns out to be stronger. Combined championship in Moscow club ‘Orki’ (FFA + Teamplay)… FFA results:

[NiP]-Noise
[NiP]-3D-BUG
[DDT] CooKiE

But in the teamplay, Alpha and DDT are still stronger than all. Teamplay results:

Alpha (Gribnic, PELE, Ghost)
DDT (CooKiE, Crusader, InfiDel)
NiP (3D-BUG, -NoiSe-, GL)

April 1999.

An extremely eventful month, another turning point in the history of Russian Q2.

[NiP]-ViS organizes a duel championship in his club AstalaVista, to which he invites the legendary and then invincible player Gribnik from St. Petersburg.
Almost no one doubts that Gribnik will win, whom everyone considers almost Russian Thresh. Instead of the question ‘what do they give for the first place’ St. Petersburg players ask WiS another question via ICQ: ‘what will Gribnik get? :)’.

But they don’t smile for long – the championship ends with a sensation. [NiP]-Axa takes out Gribnik on two maps in the final and becomes the strongest duelist in Russia.

The third place is taken by [NiP]-NoiSe, and the fourth place is completely unexpectedly taken by an unknown player under the funny nickname Polosatiy, who miraculously won the famous [DDT]-Infidel in the tournament. No one could have imagined then that this strange player, who held the keyboard on his knees (at which everyone laughed at that time), would later become a powerful champion, and many fathers, imitating his style, would put the keyboard on their knees :). Championship results:

[NiP]-Axa
A9-Gribnic
[NiP]-NoiSe
Polosatiy

Night from 6 to 7 April. While drinking at the top table in AstalaViSt, a significant historical event occurs. Two of the three strongest Moscow clans unite. DDT and ICE merge in ecstasy into a new clan – Kick. Perhaps, this clan had the largest paternal line-up in the history of Russian Quake2, immediately after the merger, Kick had 12 players of the ‘major league’. Thus, even in a 4×4 game, a clan could field up to 3 lineups. For comparison, the second record holder, the NiP clan, even in the best of times could put up a maximum of two teamplay fours.

Shortly before the formation of Kick, a player with the nickname PoWeR separated from the ICE clan. And after separating, he joined the NiP clan. Soon he will become one of the most indispensable team players in the clan.

Formosa holds its second championship, this time a team one. Teams come from all over Russia, the invincible Alpha comes from St. Petersburg again, and this championship, without any exaggeration, becomes legendary.

The championship starts unexpectedly. One of the main contenders for the victory of Kick-3 stupidly loses to another team of their own clan – Kick-1, which is objectively weaker. Other favorites, Alpha, suffer a crushing defeat from NiP-1. After that, everyone predicted the victory of NiPam, but Kick-3 unexpectedly makes its way to the final through all the losers, finally knocking out the Alpha team from the championship, and pushing NiP-2 to third place. In the final match with NiP-1, Kick wins. Championship results:

Kick-3 (CooKiE, Crusader, InfiDel)
NiP-1 (3D-BUG, A-xa, NoiSe)
NiP-2 (GL, PoWeR, ViS)

Immediately after the K3-CooKiE championship, never bothered with questions of political correctness, writes a report on the championship, where the final is described in a tone that is rather insulting to NPCs. A scandal grows, and between the NiP and Kick clans, a long period of mutual enmity begins. NPCs are ready to give everything to meet with Kiki again, but ironically, these clans are not destined to face each other again in teamplay soon.

After the championship, Formoza is organizing another event – Quake2 Formoza Mission. 3 players from NiP and 4 players from Kick, under the patronage of Formosa, they go to the big FFA championship in the city of Pyatigorsk, where the Muscovites prove their indisputable superiority over the other players, and take the first 7 places, and the NiPs take a kind of revenge for the recent defeat in the teamplay tournament, occupying the entire top three:

[NiP ]-A-xa
[NiP]-3D-BUG
[NiP]-Noise-
K7-InfiDel
K5-CooKiE
K10 -Tiger
K1-Baron

May 1999.

Moscow hosts the first (and last :) ) Q2 league, called MGL (Moscow Gaming League). The Kick clan refuses to participate in the league, and in the absence of the main competitors, NiPs easily take the first two places in the league, simply scattering everyone else, and the ‘oldies’ from NiP-2 defeat the duel-meat champions from NiP-1 :).

NiP-2 (GL, PoWeR, ViS)
NiP-1 (3D-BUG, A-xa, NoiSe)
TNP (Falcon, Tial, Mozart)
ASP(Alrick, Ogre, UnF)

June 1999.

Just a terribly hot June of 1999, devoid of any epoch-making events :).

July 1999.

K3-CooKiE is organizing a teamplay championship at the Nirvana Club. The Cold War between NiP and Kick is reaching its climax at this point. Due to the absolute information vacuum regarding the prizes and conditions of the championship, NPCs decide to boycott it. Firstly, under conditions not announced in advance, there was a high probability of a set-up, because the organizer was a member of Kick, and secondly, no one wanted to participate in the championship without prizes. Individual members of the clan, however, take part in the championship as mixed teams. The situation with MGL is repeated, and in turn, in the absence of NPCs, Kiki take 1st place:

Kick (K3-CooKie, K4-Crusader, K7-InfiDel)
X.3 (WolTroN, [NiP]-GL, RaptoR)
TEXHO (CruZadeR[TEXHO], Lar[TEXHO], [NiP]-A-xa)

A couple of weeks after the championship, WolTroN joins the clan, and after some time RaptoR. The Moscow club Lavina hosts the FFA championship. The best player in Moscow [NiP]-A-xa becomes the first for the umpteenth time, but in general, NiPs occupy 8 places in the top ten:

[NiP]-A-xa
K4-Crusader
[NiP]-3D-Bug
[NiP]-PoWeR
[NiP]-Woltron
[NiP]-GL
[NiP]-VIS
[NiP]-NoiSe
[NiP]-GrieG and Diablo

NiPs call kicks to a clan war to determine the title of the strongest Moscow clan. However, it is not possible to agree on the terms. Kiki only want to play in Nirvana, NPC offers to play in neutral territory (or half of the games in Nirvana and half in AstalaViSt) are rejected. In the end, kicks generally begin to set unthinkable conditions (like a one-sided cash bet on the part of NPCs), as a result, after long mutual insults, the clan war did not take place, and the cold war between the clans turned into just a banal desire to fill each other’s faces :).

BOOK THREE
HEGEMONY.

August 1999.

In St. Petersburg, ‘Novak’s club,’ one of the most epoch-making championships is held: Quake Ring 99. The best duelists of Moscow and St. Petersburg receive invitations to this closed dueling tournament. A-xa and Polosatiy were supposed to go from the NiP clan, who played at that time practically on an equal footing and equals, which at that time did not exist in Moscow. Unfortunately A-xa couldn’t go to this championship (probably because of troubles with studies), and Polosatiy went there alone. And became the duel champion of Russia:

[NiP]-Polosatiy
SiD

The sensation of this championship was the victory of the young Quaker SiD over the highly experienced Gribnic’om, on q2dm1, with a score of 1:0. Moreover, SiD earned his winning frag in overtime, at the 30(!) minute.

September 1999.

The teamplay championship is taking place in the Moscow club ‘Polygon-1’. The first of the team championships, in which they switched from the usual Russian 3×3 teamplay scheme to the more popular 4×4 scheme in the West.

The strongest teams in Russia are invited to this championship, and in particular St. Petersburg, but either the season was chosen unsuccessfully, or simply no one dared to challenge the Moscow teams… in general, as a result, the championship turned out to be intra-Moscow.

Nevertheless, the championship turned out to be papal, and the three strongest Moscow teams at that time – NiP , Kick and Alliance fought for the title of champions of Moscow. NPCs defeat Kick for the first time in an official team competition and take first place. But the blows of fate for the Kick clan do not end there, and the Alliance clan inflicts the last fatal blow to the Kick championship in teamplay. Losers match between Alliance and Kick on q2dm8 ends with a convincing victory for Alliance, and they move kicks to third place. Championship results:

NiP (3D-BUG, A-xa, GL, PoWeR, ViS)
Alliance (Alrick, MaD-DaeMoN, oGRe,VaRaN)
Kick (Crusader, Cookie, Mikes, PsyLocker)
NiP-2 (HaMMeR, NoiSe, Raptor, WolTroN)

Everyone really liked the 4v4 game, and starting from this championship, 4v4 teamplay becomes a universally recognized standard. 3×3 championships are a thing of the past, at least in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

October 1999.

Another teamplay tournament is underway, again 4×4, this time in the ‘Ghz’ club. The club turns out to be not ready for holding competitions of such a scale, and it has to be played out in the same Polygon-1. NPCs are already firmly on the throne, and Kicks only manage to take revenge on the Alliances and take second place:

NiP (Polosatiy, PoWeR, NoiSe, GL, A-xa)
Kick (Crusader, Cookie, Mikes, PsyLocker)
Alliance (Alrick, MaD-DaeMoN, Jackal, Kj-Leon)
NiP-2 (3D-BUG, WolTroN, GrieG, Call-911)

At the very end of October, the Moscow Computer Sports Federation organizes a team championship with the loud name Kvadrenalin, which attracts teams from all over Russia. Despite the extremely unsuccessful organization and scandals associated with the championship, nevertheless it was one of the largest and most representative team championships.

After Stripes takes a little break from duels and starts teamplaying, NPCs finally form a competitive second line-up capable of placing higher than 4th :).

November 1999.

Nov. 1. Quadrenaline-99 ends with a triumphant victory for NiP, who immediately take 2 first places in the pro group:

NiP-1(ViS, PoWeR, A-xa, Polosatiy)
NiP-2 (GL, NoiSe, 3D-BUG, WolTroN)
Petersburg Kiilers (PELE, Slider, Hypnotic, Lexx)
Alliance
Kick, Eldorado

Clan PK by that time, it is finally reborn and becomes stronger than ever. NiP-1 literally gnawed away the victory from them in the match for reaching the final, with a score of 2:1 in sets, and with an advantage of only a few frags in the decisive games. Interestingly, the victory over PK in the first round was a little easier for the somewhat weaker NiP-2 roster.

In the amateur group, the junior team Kick (Kj) becomes the first, and then the match for the title of the absolute champion NiP-1 vs Kj ended with a more than convincing victory for NiP, with a sevenfold gap on the first map and minuses on the second one. Thus, the title of the absolute champion of these competitions also remained with NiP.

NPCs decide to leave Quake 2 and switch to Quake 3 completely, but the announcement of a major championship to be held in St. Petersburg forces them to reconsider their decision and return to Q2 training again.

December 1999.

The NiP clan enters into partnership with Formoza, and as a result, a professional team is born, called NiP-Formoza.

The Professional Association of Computer Clubs (Saint-Petersburg) holds the LAST championship of the golden age of Q2. The BEST championship ever held. The championship is held in two disciplines: teamplay 4×4 and duel. Players and teams come from all over Russia, but everyone understands that the main battle will be between St. Petersburg and Moscow, between the teams PK, Eldorado, NiP-Formoza, and Alliance.

NiP again defends its title of the strongest clan in Russia and wins the teamplay championship. In duels, PELE[PK] becomes the first, having defeated nip.Axа in the final duel with a score of 2:1 in meetings. The cup for the best combination of results in duels and teamplay goes to NiP. Also, the high point is coming for the Moscow clan Alliance, which, having defeated the St. Petersburg clan Eldorado, take second place in the team championship. The PK clan, unfortunately, does not perform very well in the teamplay, having lost matches against Eldorado and NiP, it becomes only the fourth. Championship results for the teamplay PACC Cup:

NiP-Formoza (A-xa, GL, noise, Power) – Moscow
Alliance (Alrick, BlackGhost, MaD-Demon, Varan, nip.3D-BUG) – Moscow
Eldorado (Gribnic, Koluchiy, Negative, Zlo) – St. Petersburg
PK (PELE, Slider, Hypnotic, Lexx) – St. Petersburg

Duels:

PELE [PK]
nip.Axa
E2/Zlo

EPILOGUE OF BOOK THREE

Immediately after the championship for the PACC Cup, the strongest Russian clans officially announce their transition to Quake3:Arena. The era of Quake2 has come to an end. Quake2 was a great game and gave us a lot, it started the development of computer sports in Russia, the first professional players and teams appeared in Russia since Q2. Such powerful organizations as the Federation of Computer Sports and the Professional Association of Computer Clubs were formed. Computer sports in our country have a future. Bright future :).