No posts from any of us for a while, so I thought I’d think of something to post, and it hit me recently while playing on other servers while the WtFC Servers were down, how much our clan has grown and expanded since it’s conception in Spring 2008.
I remember when WtFC was first formed with me (Ben ‘LordBen5000‘ Hill), Alex ‘Randdalf‘ Gulliver and Leo ‘Relequel‘ Bowden (yes, HIM 
) on the 1st of April 2008 . We started it because we were all new to Team Fortress 2, and thought we should group together as noobs. And so, We three combined with the random name “Welcome to Flavour Country” was born. I’d never dream it’ll become as successful as it is today.
As time went on, others started joining for similar reasons (I believe Kireas and Gditz were among ‘The First’) we got to 50 members (a milestone, personally) and me and Leo thought we should get our own TF2 server. We spent ages looking around for a decent company who offered primarily a donation system of paying, and locations in the UK. And so, ‘GameServers’ was discovered. Leo agreed to pay the first month (although he cocked up the payment and seemed to sent a PayPal Cheque (I still don’t see how) which instead payed for the second month and I payed for the first.
We owned an 18-slot public Team Fortress 2 server!
Now, we were both pretty badly noobs at game servers and admining (if I’m honest, and Kireas will agree 
, I’m still a noob at it) so, being a bigger computer-nerd than Leo, I took up the task of Uber Admin. For a while the server was bog-standard, maybe a few custom maps, but that’s about it. I had experimented with addons like Mani’s Admin Plugin and BeetlesMod, but I sucked 
Then I found out Kireas was an experienced admin and so adopted him as my right-hand-man, taking out all the hard work to be done by me! Kireas quickly got the server up and running happily with SourceMod (still used today) and some plugins for easy admining.
the rest of the story is pretty well known; I got a forum going at FreeForums.org, and soon after that Kireas got our own hosted phpBB forum running on wtfcountry.com, and soon after shelled out some cash for HLStatsX Premium. After a couple of months (seems like a lot longer though) the >Home overhaul took place, and the forums and stats got a sibling, the blog!
Well, that’s about it, a brief overview of how WtFC got together, and how quickly a small group of noobs can expand into a successful established clan like WtFC is today.
Sure brings a tear to my eye…..
Tags: clan, community, gameservers, history, lordben5000, randdalf, relequel, server, skill, steam, WtFC Links
Tags: clan, community, gameservers, history, lordben5000, randdalf, relequel, server, skill, steam, WtFC Links
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Wow, I thought WtFC was older than that!
Good job guys!
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Indeed, time sure does fly!
Also, you get Fastest Reply award
December 4th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Hehe, indeed we were small at the start, I remember inviting in everyone to get a game going. We really have got a hell of a lot bigger only over a few months… wow. Incidentally, I wouldn’t say we were that “noobish”, I’d say we were all pretty decent at the time.
Who knows, maybe in a year or two it’ll be time for a wtfc convention ^^
December 4th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Well, we’ll all be old enough then lol
December 4th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Also, Ben’s hairstlye has gone from carpethair, to, as Leo describes it, “afro-like” during this brief history. I’d say it was more bouffant than afro.
December 4th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Didn’t know it was started on 1st of april
.
December 5th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
I wonder what member number I was (I joined in May, I think).
December 6th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Yes, WtFC was conceived on the first of April… What a joke
Oh, how I remember it as if it were yesterday (primarily because I just woke up from a coma 20 minutes ago…)
And Alex, I didn’t say “Afro”; I said “Marge Simpson”. Seriously though, Ben, I think your hair is smashing.
December 12th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I was number 3 I think, or was it 2…
December 12th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
I remember joining. Ah, good times. We’ve come so far!
January 4th, 2009 at 11:22 am
i think i joined some where in may as well, i remember it was before the summer, cause at first i was still in school, then my pc broke down for a month and after that there were loads of members already, since i really wasn’t here for a month like weeks after joining, i think people think i joined in july since i got my pc working in july again.
February 15th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I joined WtFC in June.
Squad B in July.
No. 189 I think. Lol.
Good Times, awesome when we can finally beat NERV