The Rising AMA - Clugred, Des Troyer, Hscrusader07, Monkeyfbi135

[Zafia14 2]

Hi @Monkey 

Hope life is treating you well.

Good old read this. 

[Monkey 50]

8 minutes ago, S3lvah said:

As a reply from someone who also was a Fools official for most of the 2010s –
Can't comment on the crashing since I don't know or remember the origins of it. (Starved of GMT action?)

 

But for what it's worth, after CU closed the last time and Eomeri (and later RKoF and NG members) rejoined Fools leadership, I don't recall us partaking in that anymore – except maybe some retaliatory instances with RoT. So, for most of its existence, Eomeri's Fools eventually became as "honorable" as was reasonable for a large clan in the clan world of the time.

I understand that Fools was not a crashing clan for most of its existence, but that was actually one of the more annoying things about their decision to crash us. It wasn’t like Fools went around crashing everyone, or even other GMT clans who declined their fight offers. It was more like “Well we’re bored, let’s just go crash TR”. There was never any justifiable reason for the escalation, nor any pattern of similar behavior from Fools.

1 hour ago, Lander said:

oh TR vs Fools one of the best memories for me. It was big rivarly especially for me when me and my brother Tonberry1 (rip) joined to Fools from TR.

@Monkey Honest opinion for that? I know ppl were angry but what did u think about that?

 

I think a lot of people, including me, felt a bit betrayed when you guys left. I’m sure you had your reasons but I don’t remember them ever coming to light, so naturally people were upset when you guys left for one of our biggest rivals.

 

Of course, in hindsight you had every right to leave for any reason or no reason at all. But in the moment people were certainly upset.

[@True 2k8 3,220]

@Monkey

 

I remember you joining Genesis after TR, could you tell us about what that experience was like? How did it compare to TR?

[Dundaine 9]

We didn't exactly always get along abut it was always a pure and fair rivalry as you eluded to. It was kept on the battlefield for the most part and I'm glad we chose you as our final fight, as fitting as it was.

 

Genuine question - why did you never branch out into EST timezone? Too heavy on Europeans? Your members were more than willing to stay beyond 10 GMT so I always belived you'd try it and attempt to climb the ranks.

 

As a side note, it's great to see such stalwarts of the clan world still kicking about, makes me feel like a teenager all over again lol.

[Monkey 50]

Just now, true said:

@Monkey

 

I remember you joining Genesis after TR, could you tell us about what that experience was like? How did it compare to TR?

The easy answer is that Genesis didn’t compare to TR, nor did the second iteration of TR (which was pre-hotgun/crest, for the record).

 

Genesis to me was kind of bland. There were some people I liked there, but there was nothing that made it special for me. The warring aspect was pretty unbearable given that Genesis was in a crash war for basically its entire existence. Ultimately I think Genesis can be defined by its failure to get off the ground, which I attribute to its leadership’s inability to navigate the crash war (either by winning it or ending it).

[Monkey 50]

19 minutes ago, Dundaine said:

We didn't exactly always get along abut it was always a pure and fair rivalry as you eluded to. It was kept on the battlefield for the most part and I'm glad we chose you as our final fight, as fitting as it was.

 

Genuine question - why did you never branch out into EST timezone? Too heavy on Europeans? Your members were more than willing to stay beyond 10 GMT so I always belived you'd try it and attempt to climb the ranks.

 

As a side note, it's great to see such stalwarts of the clan world still kicking about, makes me feel like a teenager all over again lol.

This was always a goal, but it’s much easier said than done. While we didn’t have the hard cutoff like TRWF did, our numbers did drop precipitously as 10 GMT passed. We would sometimes have capped fights going to 11 or 12 GMT or uncapped fights going even later, but our European members made it very clear that it was not an ideal situation for them. So every time we tried to branch out into EST,  we’d have a lot of frustrated Europeans and then we’d struggle to get EST recruits because the GMT fights didn’t work out for them due to school/work. It was hard to keep those EST members around because they’d get bored of the 1-2 events per week that they could attend.

 

If we had pushed harder towards EST, it’s possible we could have been successful, but it would have been at the expense of a large number of valued members who wouldn’t have been able to keep up. Basically, it would’ve been more like starting a new clan rather than just shifting our strategy. 

[Gochance1 507]

Thank you to the 4 of you for doing the AMA!

 

First off, hi @Monkey hope you are doing well. I remember first meeting you on Downfall teamspeak in 2010 I believe? I remember both you and Sooz coming on downfall teamspeak every so often and thought that was pretty cool having two leaders from another clan on our teamspeak. 

 

What were your thoughts on Downfall at the time and did they ever change? If so, why?

 

Questions for all:

 

Favorite runescape fight and why?

 

Favorite runescape achievement?

 

Least favorite runescape fight and why?

 

When you guys started clanning was there anyone you guys looked up to? Who and why?

 

Was there any particular person either in TR or from an opposing clan you disliked? Who and why?

[MILAD 204]

in the fight where you won in an uncapped against EH, what made you go the distance? What incentives were there? 

 

 

glad to see some old names here. Hope everyone is doing well.

[≈Flukejiver 1,182]

Of all the callers in TR, who would your starting 3 be? What was so special about each of them?

[Lander 150]

3 hours ago, Monkey said:

I understand that Fools was not a crashing clan for most of its existence, but that was actually one of the more annoying things about their decision to crash us. It wasn’t like Fools went around crashing everyone, or even other GMT clans who declined their fight offers. It was more like “Well we’re bored, let’s just go crash TR”. There was never any justifiable reason for the escalation, nor any pattern of similar behavior from Fools.

I think a lot of people, including me, felt a bit betrayed when you guys left. I’m sure you had your reasons but I don’t remember them ever coming to light, so naturally people were upset when you guys left for one of our biggest rivals.

 

Of course, in hindsight you had every right to leave for any reason or no reason at all. But in the moment people were certainly upset.

Yeah thats totally understandable. Myself I just liked the idea of joining country clan and I was very proud being in fools I really liked it that it was Finnish.

[Smooth Edge 2]

I'm thrilled to see a TR AMA. I was wondering when it would take place; thanks for letting this happen! I hope all is well with you Dan, Steve, Claire and Mike.

 

I just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the first iteration of TR back when I originally joined. I'm grateful that you guys had given me a chance at only 16 years old to call for you guys and eventually end as Commander. At the time it was a dream of mine to join and become affiliated with a top clan that not only had a mature community, but would perform well against the top 5/10 clans, never yield or compromise our principles of keeping things in game and attempt to keep whatever was left of honourable behaviour.

 

@Monkey @Des Troyer

 

I cannot praise these two enough.

 

First off, Dan - You are the nicest and most humble person I have ever met on the internet. The example of 'not me, us'.  If it weren't for you and your vision of what a strong, principled foundation for a clan and community could look like, none of us like minded individuals would have had such a great and memorable experience on Runescape. By the time I joined in early 2011, those very principles were at that point, set in stone - a testament to your influence. Always the eloquent speaker and distinguished optimist. I think I can speak for everyone here - we miss you. Keep fighting the good fight.

 

And secondly, Steve - The very definition of stable leadership. If he's in your clan, you know you're in good hands.  It may feel a bit embarrassing to say this, but I did look up to you back then.  The fact that you could go from your cute, mischievous sense of humour (making fun of my innocence 😅) to taking whatever serious challenge head on with a strong intuition, sixth sense or maybe just common sense (which is lacking nowadays!), made you perfect for the top job. Your ways of interacting with other clans always felt diplomatic and fair, even if adversaries would try to bait you into pointless crash wars. I always felt comfortable and at ease when you were around.

 

@HsCrusader07

 

Before EOC and OSRS, we barely crossed paths with each other, if at all. However, there was a brief period of time on OSRS where we got to know each other. You were a fun and vibrant guy to be around and I enjoyed your company and the stories you would share with us about the good 'ole days. Or the stone age. 😉

 

@Clugred

 

Unfortunately, I never got to meet you since I joined in March of 2011 after you had moved on from TR. However, thank you for founding the clan that I have the fondest memories of.

 

--------------------

 

As for questions:

 

What were your genuine impressions of me in TR?

 

@Monkey What made you want to join TR and eventually become leader? I find it interesting that we had 2 Americans (EST and PST) lead a somewhat GMT based clan.

 

Do you think it would have been worth it to become a smaller EST based clan earlier on, effectively starting over and then grow bigger, even at the expense of some quality GMT+1/+2 members and officials? (Personally I always wanted to become more EST based, not just because I live in that timezone but because that's where the action and longevity of the clan world is. I recognize however, that it's easier said than done and it might not work.)

 

Who came up with the slogan 'Onwards and Upwards'?

 

Here's a tough one. Do any of you regret playing Runescape for as long as you did? Was it time well spent within the TR from 2007-2012?

 

@Monkey How's Erin doing? Tell her I said hi, hope she's doing well.

[Monkey 50]

5 hours ago, Gochance1 said:

Thank you to the 4 of you for doing the AMA!

 

First off, hi @Monkey hope you are doing well. I remember first meeting you on Downfall teamspeak in 2010 I believe? I remember both you and Sooz coming on downfall teamspeak every so often and thought that was pretty cool having two leaders from another clan on our teamspeak. 

 

What were your thoughts on Downfall at the time and did they ever change? If so, why?

 

Questions for all:

 

Favorite runescape fight and why?

 

Favorite runescape achievement?

 

Least favorite runescape fight and why?

 

When you guys started clanning was there anyone you guys looked up to? Who and why?

 

Was there any particular person either in TR or from an opposing clan you disliked? Who and why?

Hi Tim! It was definitely sometime around 2010, although I don’t remember when exactly or how I ended up on your Teamspeak. I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with you guys until one morning I woke up to see two Downfall members had quit and applied for TR. I remember apologizing to Amateurnoob and telling him that it was never my intention to recruit off of you guys. I don’t think he was too bothered by it, but to me it was an important and unfortunate reminder that I had to be careful when hanging around other clans. 

 

At that time I really loved Downfall, but over the years my opinion of you guys became very negative as you started crashing and engaging in other… let’s call them “undesirable activities”.

 

My favorite RuneScape fight was probably beating EH uncapped. Tensions between us and EH were so high at that point, and having joined TR from EH I felt like a loss would have been devastating.

 

Favorite RS achievement? Quitting the game 🤷‍♂️

 

Least favorite fight was probably some of the TR vs LDK fights. Or maybe TR vs TMC where they tried to outlast us and then we outlasted their outlasting attempt. It was great to win but it was a miserable experience overall.

 

When I first started clanning in Rune Raiders I really looked up to Sic Mick. He was a great official - always calm and understanding. Looking back, I was an obnoxious little shit, but he never held it against me (or maybe he did, but he didn’t treat me differently).

 

As for people I disliked, there aren’t many of those in or out of RS. The closest I came to disliking someone in TR was probably Fire Sk8er. He was ranked in TR for a while early on and then left. He later came back to the clan world and made a new clan (with Tukuruk I think) that was supposed to kill us. It was almost comical except that he was so incredibly fixated on us. He would randomly show up in IRC every once in a while to spout off some bullshit. There were other people with similar obsessions, but his always felt more serious. Like if The Rising had been a workplace, he would have shown up with a rifle.

[Monkey 50]

4 hours ago, Smooth Edge said:

I'm thrilled to see a TR AMA. I was wondering when it would take place; thanks for letting this happen! I hope all is well with you Dan, Steve, Claire and Mike.

 

I just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the first iteration of TR back when I originally joined. I'm grateful that you guys had given me a chance at only 16 years old to call for you guys and eventually end as Commander. At the time it was a dream of mine to join and become affiliated with a top clan that not only had a mature community, but would perform well against the top 5/10 clans, never yield or compromise our principles of keeping things in game and attempt to keep whatever was left of honourable behaviour.

 

@Monkey @Des Troyer

 

I cannot praise these two enough.

 

First off, Dan - You are the nicest and most humble person I have ever met on the internet. The example of 'not me, us'.  If it weren't for you and your vision of what a strong, principled foundation for a clan and community could look like, none of us like minded individuals would have had such a great and memorable experience on Runescape. By the time I joined in early 2011, those very principles were at that point, set in stone - a testament to your influence. Always the eloquent speaker and distinguished optimist. I think I can speak for everyone here - we miss you. Keep fighting the good fight.

 

And secondly, Steve - The very definition of stable leadership. If he's in your clan, you know you're in good hands.  It may feel a bit embarrassing to say this, but I did look up to you back then.  The fact that you could go from your cute, mischievous sense of humour (making fun of my innocence 😅) to taking whatever serious challenge head on with a strong intuition, sixth sense or maybe just common sense (which is lacking nowadays!), made you perfect for the top job. Your ways of interacting with other clans always felt diplomatic and fair, even if adversaries would try to bait you into pointless crash wars. I always felt comfortable and at ease when you were around.

 

@HsCrusader07

 

Before EOC and OSRS, we barely crossed paths with each other, if at all. However, there was a brief period of time on OSRS where we got to know each other. You were a fun and vibrant guy to be around and I enjoyed your company and the stories you would share with us about the good 'ole days. Or the stone age. 😉

 

@Clugred

 

Unfortunately, I never got to meet you since I joined in March of 2011 after you had moved on from TR. However, thank you for founding the clan that I have the fondest memories of.

 

--------------------

 

As for questions:

 

What were your genuine impressions of me in TR?

 

@Monkey What made you want to join TR and eventually become leader? I find it interesting that we had 2 Americans (EST and PST) lead a somewhat GMT based clan.

 

Do you think it would have been worth it to become a smaller EST based clan earlier on, effectively starting over and then grow bigger, even at the expense of some quality GMT+1/+2 members and officials? (Personally I always wanted to become more EST based, not just because I live in that timezone but because that's where the action and longevity of the clan world is. I recognize however, that it's easier said than done and it might not work.)

 

Who came up with the slogan 'Onwards and Upwards'?

 

Here's a tough one. Do any of you regret playing Runescape for as long as you did? Was it time well spent within the TR from 2007-2012?

 

@Monkey How's Erin doing? Tell her I said hi, hope she's doing well.

Wow, this is some high praise. Thank you for the kind words 😊

 

My impressions of you in TR… you were an interesting combination of maturity and naïveté. You were well intentioned and calm (alarmingly calm…), but I always wondered if one day you would crack and just be an immature little shit like the rest of the people your age. I was secretly hoping you would.

 

I knew of TR while I was in EH, but my first real exposure to TR was when Sooz joined. At the time she and I were good friends and although I had no intentions of joining another clan due to college starting, I figured I could hang around and be supportive. Once I started hanging around TR’s community, people were so friendly and welcoming (Elipsix, Tuesday, and Nebharperr come to mind as some of the first to welcome me) that I couldn’t stay away.

 

Would it be worth it to have pushed more towards EST? Maybe, I guess it depends on what your priorities are. It’s easy to say that we could have been more successful as a clan if we had done that, and it’s quite likely to be true in some sense, but how much does that matter? When I look back now I don’t care about #1 GMT and I wouldn’t care about #1 EST either. What mattered most to me - and what still matters most - is the people that were there. People like you, @Icedragon D, @Steikas, @Woot, and so many others made TR what it was. I would not have wanted to sacrifice that for the chance to achieve greater RuneScape glory. I also think our timezone helped us in some ways, namely that GMT clans had a much easier time staying out of clan world drama than EST clans did.

 

I always assumed “onwards and upwards” came from Dan. It sounds very Dan-esque, doesn’t it?

I don’t regret playing RS for as long as I did, but I wish I hadn’t been quite so addicted. I spent way too much of my time in high school and college on this game.

 

Erin is doing great 😊 Thanks for asking! Hope all is well with you.

 

[Monkey 50]

5 hours ago, MILAD said:

in the fight where you won in an uncapped against EH, what made you go the distance? What incentives were there? 

 

 

glad to see some old names here. Hope everyone is doing well.

Things were getting so heated between TR and EH at that point that it would have taken a lot for us to not finish that fight off. That aspect, in combination with how evident it was during the last couple hours that you guys were on your last legs, and how tired a lot of TR members were of being outlasted by EST clans, meant that we were not going to end just because it was getting late. If the tides were starting to shift at some point and EH was taking the upper hand, maybe we would have ended. But it was not going to happen otherwise.

[Peter 3]

Was a very good read. Enjoyed reading some details again I almost had forgotten.

Hope you all are well 🙂 

 

@Monkey HI PAL

@Des Troyer READ DISCORD

@HsCrusader07 Hey, long time! Hope you doing well!