.:blam:.

.:blam:.	A Quake III Arena: Urban Terror Team (Retired)
Web Site	http://www.theblam.net
IRC Channel	#blam @ irc.gamesurge.net
Game Server	blam.q3ut3.com:27962

Date	News
8/2/05	It is finally time for blam to take off our helmets and retire our spacebars. We have come a long way in this game. We went from absolute nothing to the best in the world. What little this amounts to in real life makes little difference as the satisfaction one gets from this hobby is what is important. We started out as a bunch of pub players who thought we were the best, said we were the best, and acted like we were the best. We went into every single match not only thinking that we could win, but expecting to win. Not enough teams do that these days. A new team starting out will play blam or Ecstasy and submit to defeat before the first capture is made. The key to our improvement has been our ambition and our heart. We weren’t the best shooters, but we had the best teamwork. We got out-killed in so many of our games but somehow still managed to take the win (including our two championship matches). We were able to keep many of the same players that started blam, all the way until we retired. The first 4 players in blam were 4/6 of the players who played in our last finals. Over time, 8 members of blam were from the same town. Also, Players like C-X, Chapel, glass, and ratkandy have been with us for a long time. These players were the reasons we have stayed around so long, and gave us our much needed depth to be able to win in matches where no one thought that we would. In the last few seasons we have lost much of that ambition and our heart. We struggled during our first few seasons to find our rhythm, our shooting ability, and our teamwork. Eventually, we found all of those things and were able to reach the top. The ambition that took us here and is required to keep us here is running low. After we won the championship we no longer had that drive. Throughout season 9 we would have arguments over TS2 on who would be the lucky one to sub in a match, assuming everyone showed up. It was not until the last two weeks of the playoffs that people actually wanted to play and nobody wanted to sub. Looking into season 10, we did not want to go in with that mentality. We did not want to play 11 weeks just so that we could be in “blam-mode” for 2 weeks. In addition, we lost a good chunk of our team. a-F, KKilleR, and indecision will be retiring from the game. glass, C-X, and ratkandy have also lost interest and would only be around sporadically. Now, we have been in worse positions before. This is nothing new to us. After every season besides for season 8 we almost retired. Most of our team left and we were stuck with the core of blam. We were faced with the same decision that we are faced with now, whether to start recruiting new players for next season or to retire. We chose the latter this time, and that is for a few reasons. 1) We lost the ambition to go out and actively recruit. 2) Most of the players that we got in the past were straight up pub players who have never competed before. Urban Terror almost has no pub players that are at the level of the rest of our team. 3) Most competition players are sticking to their respective teams or retiring. There are not enough free agents. 4) We will never have a better team than those that we played with in season 9 (and honestly, I doubt the game will ever see a better team). 5) The competition isn’t what it used to be. While we honestly feel that every season has been more competitive since we started playing, we feel that the next season will actually be less competitive. In season 8 there were a bunch of strong teams hungry for the championship. In season 9, there were even more, especially with the return of Ecstasy and NN, VeX, and Ven getting so much better. We feel that the past two seasons we have easily been able to handle all of these teams. Sure, we’ve had a loss each season early on, but when it came down to matches that really mattered, we usually won by decent margins. Unfortunately, we don’t see much glory for us in winning a 3rd title in season 10. It wouldn’t mean as much to us as it would not be nearly as big as an accomplishment as winning the previous two seasons. Now, would we have played if our season 9 lineup was in tact going into season 10? Probably. That is not to place blame on those who are leaving. We fully have the option to get new players but we have chosen not to do so. Would we have played if we got 3 amazing players from other teams? Perhaps. After the season 9 championship we were about 50/50 on whether or not we would have played. Getting 3 talented players that would have fit in with blam would have changed those odds to 75/25, in favor of us playing. We asked a few players if they would like to come to blam. These players were either retiring or staying on their respective teams (we did not want to foff players, we only wanted them if they were already leaving). We have also looked at a few other players but we didn’t want to accept players that were either not of the same skill level as the rest of us or players that we would not gel with well. That’s not to say that we could not have put a great team together that would most likely have won another championship. That was a very real option for us, but with all other things considered it was not worth the effort. Instead of looking at the reasons not to play, we started looking into the reasons to play. We no longer had our hunger for the championship. We no longer had our hunger to beat teams that people thought were better than us (we are pretty much the favorite going into every match). We no longer had our interest in the game. So what is left? 1) We don’t want to see another team take our championship when we know that we could have taken it again. 2) We would like to get the three-peat. 3) We are all addicted to the game and competition. It is incredibly hard to leave Urban Terror. It’s been a joke in the community that people always end up coming back and that no retirement is final. The game itself is addicting, the competition is addicting, and the community is addicting. Quitting Urban Terror is harder than kicking a heroin habit. We all know that after we put in the retirement that we will miss the game, and more-so, miss the people that we are used to playing with. 4) If a big name like .:blam:. leaves it will hurt the game and the community. So our reasons for playing are 1) Not to let someone else win that we are better than 2) Want to complete the trifecta 3) We are scared of “missing” the game 4) We don’t want to hurt the game. Honestly, those reasons aren’t good enough to put forth the serious effort of 4 months for 2 weeks of enjoyment. In the end it came down to the reason for playing was that we didn’t want to stop playing, where in the past it was that we wanted to play because we wanted to play. So what is the future for us? We won’t be moving on to a new game together. Most of us wont be playing in another game at all unless it is under the .:blam:. tag. If in a few years down the road that the core of blam all agree on a new game to play then we might bring blam back. Unlikely, but possible (not any time soon). I can pretty much say that we are done with Urban Terror. Unless ET:UT:MX comes out and is a totally kick ass game with a much larger community, I don’t see us coming back. As for our members, most of us won’t be playing competitively. I know of 4 that will be looking for a team to compete with next season (Chapel, sweetz, CaMar0z, braindamage). We’ll all probably still pub every once in a while just to keep in touch with everyone. We’ll still be in IRC. We’ll still be around. The hardest part, of course, will be saying good bye to everyone. We have dealt with a lot of people who we didn’t like in the community, but we have also have met a lot of good friends through the game. We will be keeping a mailing list for blam and invite all (except for one or two) blam alumni back into our channels. blam is more than just a team, we are more like the blam family. The most rewarding part of the hobby has been the people that we have become good friends with through blam. Win or lose, that made it all worth it in the end. We came from players who have never played competitively before in any game. We set out to recruit other players who have never played before. We had no idea what we were doing, but we made up the rules as we went a long. We have never had a dispute filed against us and have never filed a dispute against another team. In the end, only a few blam members have ever played competitively before being in blam. Even less have ever played Urban Terror CTF competitively before playing in blam. We went from nothing to legends in the game. We are the only team to ever win a championship that wasn’t some all star team put together from existing players. We dominated this game for a long time and created the era of blam. Well, the era is now over. We started in June 2003 with 2.6a and lasted until July 2005 with 3.7. We played OGL CTF, OGL TS, TWL CTF, STA CTF, and STA Bomb. When we started blam most people said that we wouldn’t last past August 2003. It’s sad to say good bye to the game, but it is the right decision for us as players and as people behind the keyboards. Total Wins: 95 Total Losses: 39 CTF Wins: 67 CTF Losses: 26 Bomb/TS Wins: 28 Bomb/TS Losses: 13 Maps For: 165 Maps Against: 98 CTF Maps For: 124 CTF Maps Against: 69 Bomb/TS Maps For: 41 Bomb/TS Maps Against: 29 Points For: 1992 Points Against: 1362 Caps For: 1083 Caps Against: 580 Rounds For: 909 Rounds Against: 782
7/24/05	Tonight we played in the STA CTF Finals against VeX. VeX put up a great fight but in the end .:blam:. came out victorious once again. un4 made us a trophy, which can be viewed by all by clicking here. The now 2x champions will be taking a two week break and will be deciding on what the future will hold for .:blam:..
4/13/05	We are looking forward to competing in ClanBase this summer. As of right now, the clan is being created in their system with the email of rashly@gmail.com. More information will be provided later.
2/20/05	Tonight we played in the STA CTF Finals against Team Veneration. Veneration put up a great battle but in the end .:blam:. took the victory and became STA season 8 CTF champions! Great games to Veneration and all of the teams that we played this season. We look on to play Ann Clan for a friendly matchup between the STA and Clanbase champions.
10/31/04	The new season is upon us and we are still looking for one more player to fill our roster. Please contact us if you would like a try-out.
9/5/04	Tonight we played in the STA CTF finals against Ecstasy. Ecstasy came out with an impressive win over us, 11-2, and gained their 3rd STA CTF championship. Great games to Ecstasy, Enigma, I See You, and all the other teams we've played this season. We are actively recruiting for next season, so come by our channel for a tryout.
7/13/04	We are no longer competeing in STA Bomb or TWL CTF. We will be concentrating on STA CTF on Sundays.
5/23/04	We are actively recruiting for the start of next season. If you would like a tryout, please contact us in our channel or by email.