DeepSouth
Sapling
Mine is geography-based, as one might suspect.
Whats your Username Origin or meaning?
- Thread starter Michigan Tree Murderer
- Start date
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
I have a ton of different user names I use with games. Back when I used to work at Interplay (on games like Baldur's Gate, Fallout) I went by the name of Big Tuna. None of the press knew my real name - they just knew me online as Big Tuna
Teacup bonsai
Sapling
My initials are TCP and I like to drink tea while I work on my bonsai.
Wulfskaar
Omono
Jim Halpert will always be Big Tuna to me.I have a ton of different user names I use with games. Back when I used to work at Interplay (on games like Baldur's Gate, Fallout) I went by the name of Big Tuna. None of the press knew my real name - they just knew me online as Big Tuna
WNC Bonsai
Masterpiece
I think mine is self explanatory since I live in western North Carolina.
The Barber
Chumono
Been a barber for 26 years, self explanatory i guess lol.
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
Bill Parcells was a Big Tuna. My nickname came from swimteam in the 1970's. There are a million Big Tunas.... but only one Bonsai NutJim Halpert will always be Big Tuna to me.
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And we're all thankful that you did!
Gabler
Masterpiece
I always thought it was Western Nevada College.
You are like royalty to my son to have worked on Fallout!I have a ton of different user names I use with games. Back when I used to work at Interplay (on games like Baldur's Gate, Fallout) I went by the name of Big Tuna. None of the press knew my real name - they just knew me online as Big Tuna
He wants to know what was your favorite moment on one of the original Fallouts.
Orion_metalhead
Masterpiece
BTW, @Bonsai Nut, you should reformat the left panel where our names are to be like.... 2 or 4 pixels wider. I just realized the "D" is on the next line when viewed in a normal web browser. LOL.
ardent_gardens
Seedling
I always wanted to name my home like how Thomas Jefferson named “Monticello”… I also fancied the name “Ardency”. It follows that Ardency’s gardens would be Ardent Gardens (which features a sick rhyme)
Gabler
Masterpiece
I think it varies by screen resolution. You could adjust your resolution settings to fix it.
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
It was a strange time to work in the games industry. At the time I started at Interplay, the business was still 100% retail. There was no such thing as online - anything - other than basic email and forum sites. It was a transitional period between the old pen and paper gaming days - and when games would become larger than motion pictures. I was at the press event where Bill Gates announced the development of the original X-Box. As such, game development teams were much smaller - and more tight-nit. My fondest memories were not of the games so much as the people who worked on them. Amazingly talented and creative people who were successful despite a difficult professional/financial setting. The industry was much smaller. It took the original Baldur's Gate more than a year to sell 1 million units. Fifteen years later, when Grand Theft Auto V launched in 2013, they sold 11.3 million units in the first DAY.
So my favorite moments were things like sitting in Eric Demilt's office (the producer of Fallout2) and playing Guillotine at lunch with other development team members. Or talking with Wizards of the Coast (before they sold the Dungeons & Dragons franchise to Hasbro) about AD&D game rules. Or meeting with other industry insiders for beers at big trade events like the Game Developers' Conference. But the industry was very hard, and tended to be long hours without a lot of reward. The majority of people I worked with left the industry over the years for one reason or another. After Fallout2 Interplay ended up selling the entire franchise to Bethesda for $900K. All their intellectual property, the brand, the setting, the Pip Boy... $900K.
Ironically, the old Black Isle Development group at Interplay morphed into Obsidian Entertainment (after Interplay collapsed). They were bought by Microsoft in 2018. Then, Microsoft bought Bethesda in 2021. So the Fallout franchise is back under the same umbrella with some of the same people who created it. The more things change, the more they stay the same!
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The Barber
Chumono
Man, those titles bring back some memories. Did a lot of pen and paper games back in the day, AD&D, and GURPS later on. Gamed a lot in my early adulthood, Baldur's gate and Fallout were great. Baldur's Gate 3 was mind blowing on how well developed it was. Really amazing how much they've come along, I'm glad they are still developing them. Everquest was the game I did the biggest grind on in the 90's, pretty rediculous to be honest, my main account had over 5 years of logged in time when I hung it up. Times have changed, no doubt! Thanks for sharing man.
Orion_metalhead
Masterpiece
I meant only my panel! Lmao.
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
When Everquest came out, everyone in Black Isle Studios was addicted to it. After I left Interplay I worked with Kevin McPherson, who was one of the original Everquest programmers, and who wrote the original design outline for the Kunark Expansion.
A lot of people don't know this, but the day Everquest launched, it crashed the Internet in San Diego. They were running the game out of a data center in San Diego, and the game pulled more bandwidth than the entire San Diego metro area had available.
The Barber
Chumono
I was pulling down around 8-15k a month farming items to sell in Everquest when I was 19 years old. Was working shifts with a buddy, had 6 pc's side by side multi boxing a group taking turns with my friend. I'd go work my full time job cutting hair, then farm items in Everquest making more money. Way more money than a 19 year old in the 90's should have had access to lol.
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
I didn't do anything at that scale, but I did sell a manastone to a guy in Korea for $450
I had ShowEQ up and running on a Linux PC right next to my main PC - a pretty sophisticated packet-sniffer that would decode encrypted network traffic coming into my house - so that I could see all the network traffic that I wasn't supposed to be able to see; stuff like rare spawns, and even things like which mobs might have rare drops on them. I learned a lot about networking trying to hack that game A couple of years ago I went back and played Project 1999/Everquest Titanium for a bit - soloing with a bard - just to feel the rush. It isn't the same, but I still remember how it felt. Note that Everquest, for all of its success, was never a mass market game. At peak they had about 100,000 active accounts. Still, for the time, it changed the industry. When World of Warcraft released in late 2004 it more or less crushed all online RPG competitors, and was easier and much friendlier. World of Warcraft was pulling down numbers 100x as large as what Everquest ever achieved. I played WoW for quite a while with some of the old Everquest development team members. The fact they haven't developed a WoW II is almost criminal, in my opinion. I've been waiting for one for over a decade
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