b1a0tGathering 1998tMicro/DCthpf2s2c11          The Gathering 1998
f1c12   A party report in five chapters
    by Micro/Digital Corruption


c11             Introduction

c13For those who still don't know what TG
I  there  simply  is  no  hope.  TG is
considered  as  one  of  the three BIG
Scene  parties  every  year,  and  has
grown  so big that they currently uses
Vikingeskipet    (which   some   might
remember  from the olympics in -94) on
Hamar,  Norway to keep shelter to over
3.500   more  or  less  sane  computer
freaks every year.


c11     Chapter one: Still the same?

c12Over  the  years  I  have been to many
more  or  less  successful  parties in
Norway, and even this year I was going
to the biggest Scene event in Norway.

Even  though  all the tickets was sold
out a month before the party opened, i
still  packed  my bags, and took of by
train  on  Wedensday.  With no ticket.
The  organizers  opened their doors in
the  early morning hours that day, but
when  I  arrived  the clock had ticked
way  beyond midnight.  On the train my
thoughts  where  reflecting  over what
this party might bring.  I attended TG
in -96, and like most other places all
over  the  world  I took notice of the
decreasing   range   of  amiga  users.
Would  this happen this year too?  .or
was  the  amiga  people  to show up in
wide  ranges  to  take  over  what had
become    the    biggest   PC   gaming
conference  ever?   I  hoped  for  the
best.   But  I must admit I feared the
worst.


c11  Chapter two: Nightmares come true

c13When  I  arrived  to  the partyplace I
soon realized that my nightmares about
TG  had  come  true.   The  place  was
simply  overcrowded with Quake lamers,
as we amigans tend to call them.

Their  only  mission  on TG is to play
Quake over the network, and sit in the
internet.  Just outside the hall I met
Numen  and  Leia.   (Some of you might
know   Leia,  as  shes  a  swapper  in
Apathy,  while Numen is a more or less
retired  modem  trader.)  Good thing I
met  some fellow amigans that fast, or
else I might have turned around in the
door.

When  I  got to the ticket sale, there
was almost no people there.

(Which is not so wierd, when it was in
the middle of the night) I asked about
getting  a  ticket,  which  I  thought
would  be  a  small  problem.  But no.
Even  though  I hadn't got any machine
with  me,  the organizer dude wouldn't
let  me  in.   He just kept saying the
same line over and over again.

f4 "There  are  no  tickets left, and if
you  want  to get in, then you'll have
to  buy  a daytime pass, but we do not
sell  them  until  10.00  am."f1  and  I
watched  my  clock.   02.00 am.  Eight
hours.   And  then  the guy told me to
get lost and find a place to stay over
night   (which  is  VERY  hard  during
Gathering).

Sleep out in the cold, and then coming
back  only  to  be  let  in  for a few
hours.   I  don't  think  so.   I  had
compos to attend, so I just decided to
go  straight  in.  And so I did.  Past
all  guards,  with  no ticket.  Almost
too  easy.   Just  like  that.   BAAAD
security.

But  since  I  had no tickets I had to
"stay  low", or else I might be kicked
out.   I joined Baffle/Delirium, Numen
and  Madsen  at  row 6 for a while and
enjoyed  that.   We  sat there playing
N64 for several hours.And suddenly the
clock   was   9.55  am.   Finally!,  I
though.

Now  I  could  get  a ticket.  But no.
Still  only  daypass available.  After
arguing  with  the  organizers  for  a
while,  and  demanding to speak to the
boss, I bought some tickets from a guy
not needing them.

Finally I was through with the shit.


c11     Chapter three: Party feeling

c12After  collecting my badge, I was told
to  register.   The  only  problem was
that  all  registering  could  be done
through the internet.  Which internet?
As  usual the organizers had failed to
create  a stable internal and external
network  connection,  so  they  had to
setup   registering  PC's  nearby  the
entrance.   With  4  computers,  3.500
visitors   and   a   unstable  network
connection  you  can  imagine yourself
how fast the line moved.

A  snail  would be running compared to
it.  I decided to skip that part for a
while.

Instead  I  joined  the  Ephirena  and
Spaceballs crew, that where working on
their  contributions  to  the 4k compo
that  had deadline later that evening.
Slummy/SPB had started to redisign his
palettes  for  the  4k and 64k intros,
because   he   had   seen   Ephidrenas
contributions   and  he  thought  they
would be tough to beat.  He simply HAD
to  beat them, because he had no money
left   to  pay  his  rent.   Beeing  a
student  can be hard at times.  Slummy
had  gathered  many Spaceballs members
this time.

Zack,   Useless,   Dominei  and  Major
Asshole  was  there,  but  it was only
Zack  who  actually  helped him in his
work.   At  this  time  it seemed like
Spaceballs and Ephidrena was to battle
for the first position in the 4k intro
compo.

I had a 4k intro aswell, to compete in
the compo, but we never really had any
belief  that  it  would  give anyone a
great deal of competition.
Anyway, I borrowed Frequent/Ephidrenas
machine  to finish of the release .NFO
file,  and some readme stuff so that I
had it delivered before deadline.  The
deadline  was  imminent, so I was in a
hurry.

The   contributions  was  also  to  be
delivered through the internet, but as
there   still   wasn't   any   network
connection,  this  was  rearranged  to
handing  in  the  disks.   (Which  the
organizers  seemed to care VERY little
about,  as  they  just throwed all the
disks  into  a big bag.) You could get
nervous breakdowns of less.

Row 29, where Ephidrena and Spaceballs
had  gathered  was  actually a more or
less  Amiga  only row.  or atleast the
one half of it where they sat.

Apathy,  Instinct,  After  Eights  and
Contraz  was some of the groups around
us.   This  helped  to get that really
party  feeling, which I thought I lost
when  I  arrived to the main entrance.
Some really dedicated Scene people did
the trick.

After  the deadline for the 4k intros,
Shade/TRSI  and  Sixpack/Haujobb  came
over   to  test  TRSI's  latest  demo,
"Rise",   which  was  supposed  to  be
released  at The Party last christmas.
As  we  tested  the  demo on different
configurations,  this  demo turned out
to  be one of the best in a long time,
even  though  the  routine was done in
2x2.   The  Mellow  Chips  division of
TRSI  could  turn  out to be the thing
that  will  put  TRSI  back  on top of
what's  happening  in the amiga Scene.
Sixpack  also told me that Haujobb was
supposed  to  be  competing at TG too,
but  this  plans  was  scrapped due to
most   of   the  Haujobb  members  was
attending     Symposium/Mekka     that
weekend.   He  seemed  very  confident
that  Haujobb would succeed in winning
the  first  price  at  MS  (And he was
absolutely right).


c11  Chapter four: The legends arrive.

c13Late  Thursday  night  TBL arrived.  I
had  spoken  to  Rubberduc  on  IRC in
front  of  the  party,  and he told be
that they where going to contribute in
the  64k  intro  compo.  Originally it
should   have   been   a   demo,   but
Rubberducs  harddrive  suddenly failed
to work, and in a desperate attempt to
rescue    it,   he   smashed   Digit's
harddrive  too.   Half of a year worth
of  coding  goes  down  the drain like
that.    Just   like  that.   Too  bad
really.

Anyway.  When they arrived they showed
that   they  had  put  the  recent  HD
breakdowns  past them.  They worked on
something  that  looked like a "not-so
-stunning",   but   yet   wellpolished
intro.  Spite, Digit and Rubberduc was
coding  like  hell, while the old guys
Equalizer  and Offa just sat in behind
and  was  offering their moral support
and  advice.  Tudor and Louie was also
there,  but  Tudor  was busy trying to
win   the  Raytraced  gfx  compo  (4th
place),  and  Louie  was  far too busy
playing  Starcraft  on  another not so
well known computer.

The  guys  in  Sonik:Clique  was  also
working  on  a demo, which seemed like
somewhat alike the TBL intro.

Just   before   the  deadlines  Digits
computer  broke  down  yet  again, but
with  Frequent/Sphidrenas  help,  they
switched the hd cables, and managed to
get  out  the most important data from
the   harddrive.   A  operation  which
probably saved their contribution.

All  productions was delivered in time
for the deadline at Friday evening and
night,  and  everyone  was  happy.  In
fact  Offa,  Tudor,  Equalizer,  Louie
some of the others went to town to get
drunk,  while  Rubberduc and Digit had
to do the last fixing on the intro for
themselves.   Tudor and Rubberduc told
me  that they missed the finnish guys,
because  they  sure knew how to party!
Me  and  Tudor  drank some Vodka each,
and  then  they  was  off to the city,
while  I drank some beer I had hidden.
Party On!


c11Chapter  five:  Another party, another
end.

c12Saturday  night  the  big  compos  was
shown  at  the bigscreen.  In the demo
compo  we  soon  realized  that "Rise"
where  going  to win, as all people in
the hall.  Even the Quake lamers, that
had  their  five minute break, cheered
and  was  very  pleased.  The graphics
compo  shown  that  there  where  many
great  pixelers  in  the crown, and in
the  64k intro compo it was clear that
it  was hard to beat TBL this year too
.

At  the  price seremony Slummy was the
winner,  with  two  1st  places in the
Fast  intro compo and in the 4k compo,
and  a  good runner up position in the
64k compo.
4.500  NOK  (about 650$) was enough to
pay  his rent until July.  and he also
got  a  N64 and some clothes with him,
and  two  nice thophys.  He celebrated
with  smoking some weed and getting to
stoned that he almost missed his bus.

In  the  Raytrace  compo 3D Addict got
the  first  place,  as  so  many times
before,  whil  TMK/Inf was the best of
the  pixelers,  and  TRSI  and TBL got
their not so surprisingly first places
in  the demo and intro compo.  3 years
of TBL dominance on The Gathering.

Maybe  was  this the last year we will
see them at TG? Who knows.

After  the  price  ceremony Rubberduck
was  very  pleased,  and  Tudor was as
much pissed as Rubberduck was pleased.
Turning  up  4th (which he didn't know
at that moment) wasn't exactly what he
had  hoped  for.   Slummy was so happy
that  he  wondered  about retiring the
whole  Scene, just to play on his N64,
and  the  rest  of  us just sat there.
Without   any  prices.   But  somewhat
richer on memories.

... maybe next year?


c11            Last Words.

c13TG  1998 will most certainly not go in
as  the  best TG every, atleast not on
the amiga side.  What the quakers, and
ircers mean I don't know, but they are
certainly  not  helping  it  to  be  a
better  party.   Too few amiga Sceners
attended.  Let's hope 1998 will be the
turning  point of the machine with the
most dedicated users of all.  And lets
hope  the organizers of TG will make a
better  effort next time.  With fixing
the network connection, and follow the
program.

As  of  now the best thing about TG is
probably  that  all  the  quakers  and
others  help  raising the price money,
and  that  TG sctually is a nice place
to  meet  old  Scene  friends, but the
question   is:    Will  all  the  real
Sceners go to MS next year?

Already  just  after I had come home I
discussed      the      party     with
Speedevil/RBS^LFC^etc.   and  we found
the perfect solution:  To make a party
nearby  TG,  and  go  to  TG  just  to
recieve  the  prices.   Or maybe we'll
all  go to MS?  Who knows?  Who cares?
Time  will  show  what  happens.   The
organizers  have  screwed TG long time
ago.  Too much commerse.

Still  there  are  qualiy  releases.
Still there are amiga Sceners.

May  the  Scene  feeling last forever,
because TG won't.

c12? R.I.P The Gathering ?