Brief background information:
Final Fantasy is a video game originally released in 1990 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). A highly addictive though simplistic role-playing-type game, it soon developed a cult following. Squaresoft released a sequel game, Final Fantasy II for the newer Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1991. This game was also a role-playing game, but featured excellent graphics and sound, and a great story line which far outstripped the original. Finally, Square released Final Fantasy III in late 1994, which contained a larger "world", drama, intruige, and even better graphics and sound, as well as more characters.
In mid-1994, the unmoderated newsgroup alt.games.final-fantasy was created to discuss the games in the Final Fantasy (ff) series, and especially to lust about upcoming release of "ff3". It was also created to reduce the frequency of ff-related questions on the more general group: rec.games.video.nintendo.
Everything went smoothly thru the release of ff3, after which traffic was heavy about it. Soon, though, everyone had figured out all there was to know about Final Fantasy III, and postings to the group became sluggish.
One thing which Final Fantasy III did suffer from, though, was a poor ending to the game. The whole net community was in agreement that the final enemy was far too easy to beat, and many also argued that the denoument was weak and left too many questions unanswered. Thus a single literary soul <shadow00@netcom.com> decided to write a short story, a new ending for the game. He wrote (and posted) his story in several small parts, each no longer than a page or so, but never finished it. Someone had a better idea.
"Let's start an on-line RPG based on the FF3 characters!" There was much discussion, and eventually the posts began. Readers of the alt.games.final-fantasy newsgroup began to pick characters from the game, and when they ran out, moved to characters in FF2 and began creating their own. Soon long stories dominated the newsgroup, and those looking for tips or help on the games couldn't sort the tips from the fiction.
There was a clear need for a new newsgroup. Here was an example where the original purpose of a newsgroup was being ignored, albeit by members of the newsgroup itself. The pleas began: "Move the RPG to another group!" Discussion about how badly a new group was needed abounded on alt.config. But no one seemed to be able to post the simple control message which would do the deed. And then, an answer.
From: algeo@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu (the virtual valkyrie) Subject: alt.games.final-fantasy.rpg scheduled for 4/21 Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 17:09:29 GMT Unless there are last-minute objections, or unless somebody else beats me to it, I intend to create the following on Friday, Apr 21: alt.games.final-fantasy.rpg Storytelling in the Final Fantasy universe Note that only objections from people who have read the proposal and subsequent discussion will be considered valid. -- Melissa Anne Algeo algeo@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu | Fun with anagrams! algeo@monolith.mit.edu | #7 in a series aa575@seorf.ohiou.edu | Mat Hostetter > Mate Test Thor
There was much rejoicing, but there was still a valid question: what to name the new group? Alt.games.final-fantasy.rpg was overwhelmingly favored by members of the original newsgroup, who knew what it was all about. However, some of the news admins. in alt.config thought it would be better named alt.games.frp.final-fantasy (once they figured out what all the fuss was about). FRP stands for fantasy role-playing, and several other alt.games.frp groups already existed. It seemed that alt.games.frp.final-fantasy (a.g.frp.f-f) would fit more readily into existing heirarchies and would be more likely to be picked up by the various sites.
Finally, all the arguments were exhausted on both sides, and a vote was taken. The result? alt.games.final-fantasy.rpg defeated alt.games.frp.final-fantasy by a margin of more than two-to-one. The result was mailed to <algeo@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu>, who sent the necessary signal. The new group appeared on the fastest sites at around 10pm on Saturday, April 17, 1995, just one day after it was originally scheduled to be created.
The story now? The group has still not appeared on many sites, and many of the original players are dealing with their local news administrators in order to get the group added. But the group has appeared on most sites. There is now a game master who oversees arbitration and even a FAQ for how to join. And the RPG posts to alt.games.final-fantasy have slowed to a trickle.
Life is pretty much back to normal in alt.games.final-fantasy. Perhaps they are now eagerly awaiting Squaresoft's next release: Chrono Trigger
Note: I know that Chrono Trigger has long been released. But I've been out of the Final Fantasy newsgroups for over a year now, and can't now tell you what's going on. So this story will stand as written, unless someone feels like sending me an update.Check out
alt.games.final-fantasy.
Check out
alt.games.final-fantasy.rpg.