April 2018
This person is such a noob, they had to be featured on the main page!
| Shane | |
|---|---|
Wouldn't you like to see this?!? This is a prized possession and will be released at some unknown point in the future. | |
| Clan Quest | |
| Positions | |
| Guilds | |
| Joined Clan | May 2015 |
| Gaming Info | |
| RuneScape Username |
Shane12088 |
| Star Trek Online Username |
@shane12088 |
| Battle.net Username |
Shane#1555 |
| Steam Username |
Col. Sanderson |
| Personal Info | |
| Name | Shane |
| Age | 31 |
| Sex | Male |
| Location | Wild Rose Country |
| Signatures | |
| |
Shane is a member of Clan Quest and a current Clan Councillor. Shane has served as member of Event Thugs United, Low Council, and Honour Council. Of note is that Shane was promoted to Honour Council before becoming a member of Low Council, this is not uncommon and is often encouraged within Clan Quest. Shane was promoted to Honour Councillor only 69 days after joining Clan Quest. Shane also hosts the largest and first RuneScape podcast, RSBANDBUpdate! RSBANDBUpdate! releases every weekend and many Clan Questers have appeared on it.
Contents
Digital History
Prior to the internet the world was a cold and dark place. Lack of connectivity prevented many young souls including Shane from experiencing what the world had to offer. At this point you’re probably wanting some kind of information or to learn something about Shane. Shane didn’t own his own computer until well into the early 2000s but we did have a family PC. The first family computer was a Packard Bell 160MHz Pentium (no II, III, 4, etc.) with 16MB RAM and a 1.6GB hard drive heralding from the era of mid-1997. It wasn’t until a couple years later Shane first experienced the internet (summer 2000).
Pre-RuneScape (Pre 2004)
Following this lead a slow adoption of internet life. Slowly but surely gaming with friends online became normal (mini-golf, Scrabble, and Monopoly) and then gaming on the internet in general. Shane’s first step into online gaming was with the RTS (real time strategy) game Star Trek Armada II. Star Trek Armada II was set after Voyager’s return to Earth after the events of the TV series, Star Trek Voyager. The game featured a watered down RTS style environment (compared to StarCraft) but yet still had an upward learning curve. It was this upward learning curve and the possibility of changing gaming styles that made Star Trek Armada II appealing.
In addition to Star Trek Armada II, Tribes 2 was also played heavily by Shane and his friends. Tribes 2 was initially gifted to Shane by his best friend Mike. Tribes 2 was a first person shooter that was groundbreaking for the time. The game featured open terrain, buildings, vehicles, and air to air combat. What made Tribes 2 all the more interesting was that at the time it was one of the few games that could host large servers (64+ was not uncommon in Tribes 2). Tribes 2 is still looked back on today as what game developers should strive for in terms of ground breaking technology. All too often today it seems games are simply a copy and paste of what the competition is doing. Tribes 2 didn’t do that and was groundbreaking in its own right in the early 2000s.
Tribes 2 also had its own community clans with Tribes. Shane and co. joined one of the larger ones available in game. This gaming community was focused around a laid back casual atmosphere. Tribes 2 also brought Shane his first experience with online community events. The administration would host monthly gatherings in game where it was not uncommon to have 50+ people in a single game server. Rather than playing and attempting to kill one another we would do crazy things (much like in Clan Quest). One of our activities involved flying air vehicles into the side of a mountain for a video shoot that was taking place.
Star Trek Armada II provided many helpful internet lessons. These internet lessons were as a result of many poorly designed clans. These lessons included but were not limited to dealing with trolls, internet etiquette or lack thereof, dealing with power hungry clan leaders, and gaming clans (or guilds). It wasn’t long until Shane ended up in a leadership position that lead to leading one of the prominent clans of Star Trek Armada II. Duties around leading a Star Trek Armada II clan focused around recruiting new members, training new members, and devising new game strategies to keep the clan on top of the competitive stack. Star Trek Armada II’s popularity started to wane in late 2003 and 2004 as the game developer stopped supporting the game. Technical issues started to appear as computers became faster (ask if you want to hear this story). Shane gradually stopped playing Star Trek Armada II in mid 2004 as another game he was playing on and off caught fire with him and gained prominence.
RuneScape and Beyond
Shane’s RuneScape account is old. Upon release of the 15 year veteran cape, the cape was purchasable. This means that the RuneScape account, Shane12088, was created on or before February 27, 2002. This puts the account creation of ‘Shane12088’ in the RuneScape Classic era. Shane was introduced to RuneScape by his best friend Mike. Shane tried out RuneScape classic but only got to level 23 combat and the number you’re probably all waiting for… 5 Quest Points. RuneScape Classic was played on and off but then the release that would change everything happened.
In March 2004 the RuneScape 2 Beta was released and Shane participated actively in the beta test program. The improvements brought in by moving from what is now known as RuneScape Classic to RuneScape 2 were phenomenal for the game of RuneScape at the time. It was the scale of these improvements that sealed the deal for Shane playing RuneScape 2. Over the next few months Shane spent a good deal of time learning what was RuneScape at the time, skilling, doing combat, and of course doing quests. On June 29, 2004 Jagex released Priest in Peril — the first quest in the Myreque storyline. This was a catalyst, also on this day the decision was made that would change the course of many lives… Shane purchased RuneScape membership.
July 2004 was filled with quests, skills, combat, and wonder. It was during this time that one of Shane’s RuneScape interests, Herblore, took growth (Farming was an instant hit when it came out on July 11, 2005 as it synergized with Herblore). RuneScape was here to stay as it provided a laid back gaming experience that could be enjoyed in either short or long gaming sessions. What is one thing that’s guaranteed to occur while playing RuneScape?
Goal planning! And what do you need to do while goal planning? Figure out how many logs you need to get to get to 60 Woodcutting!
Shane’s friend Mike had started working on a suite of calculators since at the time it was hard to find up to date calculators for RuneScape. Following this they both noticed a dynamic signature on a RuneScape fansite that was ugly and could be improved. This lead to a couple dynamic signatures being created that were intended for personal use. What happens when you have calculators and dynamic signatures in hand? You make a website!
On August 6, 2004 RuneScape Bits and Bytes (RSBANDB) was officially launched. RSBANDB was launched with calculators and dynamic signatures. In September 2004 the forums were launched. June 2005 saw the launch of RSBANDBUpdate!, the podcast that many in Clan Quest have appeared on and numerous Jagex employees have listened to. If you’re interested in a full rundown of what RSBANDB offers or more history, check out this Questaholic piece from the July 2017 issue.
For the next 9 years or so much of Shane’s online focus was around RSBANDB. Occasionally other games were played but purely for leisure. From 2004 to 2013 Shane was content with focusing to build up RSBANDB. A sampling of other games played during this period include Half Life 2 Deathmatch, Counter Strike Source, Unreal Tournament 2004, the Call of Duty series, and other associated Xbox action oriented games. None of these games had as strong of a grasp as RuneScape. RuneScape is important.
Early level progression for the character of Shane12088 was determined by what looked interesting at the time. A question that was often asked was, what is something that others might be interested in that can be done? For a long time questing also drove levels and goals on Shane12088. This lead to numerous after school and evening questing sessions back when quests could be completed together and not in an instanced area. This progression then lead to some light bossing at the Kalphite Queen when that was the top level boss in game. This yielded 1 Dragon Chainbody in 444 kills.
As mentioned previously the game update of July 11, 2005 saw the launch of the Farming skill. When launched Farming was a skill that was severely misunderstood by the RuneScape community. It was not uncommon to see players standing and waiting for their early crops to grow, suffice to say, this doesn’t work at level 80. In the span of a week or so after the release of Farming, Shane12088 got to level 50 Farming. This lead to the assertion that while many viewed Farming as a skill that was hard, it was actually quite easy and fulfilling. Shane viewed Farming as easy and fun because it didn’t require active gameplay consistently and the Farming route could be changed to see different parts of the game world. Farming was and still is largely unique in RuneScape and that made Farming Shane’s favourite skill. With the 2006 release of Capes of Accomplishment and knowing that the Farming cape was green, the future was once again set.
Farming was Shane’s first 99 on September 23, 2007. Other 99s were either as a result of truly enjoying the skill (Herblore, Woodcutting, Fletching, to name a few) or by being challenged to a race by a friend (Woodcutting and Agility). For the longest time Shane resisted the community pressure to max and focused on just enjoying the game. Never once did Shane feel pressure to max or get 99s for the sake of getting 99. This is still true today. You can find a full list of Shane’s RuneScape accomplishments here going back to summer 2007.
As mentioned previously one core feature of old RuneScape that drew Shane in was questing with friends. Questing at the time with friends was a great way to break up the gameplay experience and was very fun. Priest in Peril was released on the same day that Shane bought membership in June 2004. This was a quest that could be played with friends and was not instanced. Following the release of Priest in Peril, Shane made the effort to complete every new quest the week it was released. A quester was born.
Along with questing comes lore. Quest series that caught the attention of Shane early on were the Plague City series and the Digsite quest. As anyone can attest in 2018, both of these initial small quests had huge ramifications for RuneScape. The Plague City series of course lead to Underground Pass and the Elven Lands and later Prifddinas. Of course Digsite would become symbolic of Zaros and lead to many great quests such as Desert Treasure and the whole coming about of the 6th age. Early upon completing Digsite and Desert Treasure, Shane knew that Zaros would be important and became an instant fan well before the modern era Zaros hype caught on.
It is this love of questing, unique game unlocks, and skilling in general that keeps Shane playing RuneScape. This combination has lead to an uninterrupted involvement in RuneScape from 2004 through 2018. During this time over 660 episodes of RSBANDBUpdate! have been released. Shane has missed only a handful of episodes due to vacation or illness. The journey continues today.
Star Trek Online
In February 2010 Star Trek Online was released. Initially Star Trek Online was not a free to play game requiring a $15/mo subscription fee. This was extremely off-putting and as a result Shane only played for the initial 6 months of membership purchased with the game launch. It wasn’t until January 2012 that the game finally went free-to-play. The free-to-play model allowed Shane to have another look at the game and bring two of his good friends, Earth (from Clan Quest) and Trekkie (from RSBANDB) into Star Trek Online.
As with Shane’s early RuneScape experiences, there were certain aspects of Star Trek Online in addition to the Star Trek nature that made the game a staple. The first half of 2012 was spent deeply learning the game’s mechanics. This then lead to a keen interest in the game’s PvP game mode. As one may guess, an interest in PvP meant that the game was about to become competitive.
Star Trek Online PvP focuses on two teams of 5 in the standard arena mode. There are other modes such as capture and hold but 5v5 arena is the most popular. Shane’s first fleet (similar to a clan) was an all purpose fleet but had very little interest in competitive PvP. This fleet met its unfortunate end once the fleet leaders decided that they were no longer interested in running a fleet. This lead Shane to follow a friend who he met while running PvP matches to join a UK based fleet with a dedicated PvP division.
At this new fleet the task not only included running PvP matches and finding a path to victory but also training. A good majority of the members of the new fleet were interested in PvP but had no idea where to start. This fleet provided a good mix of casual gameplay and competitive PvP. Throughout this venture Shane was able to continue to fine tune his experience with the game mechanics and apply those to PvP and PvE gameplay.
This went well for the tail end of 2012 and January 2013 but ultimately personalities got the better of the group and the PvP division leader was kicked. This unfortunate event happened while Shane was away on vacation in New Zealand. This effectively left Shane with no PvP fleet upon return. After this Shane went searching for a dedicated PvP fleet and after consulting with friends found one. For the purposes of this article the fleet shall be abbreviated TRPH.
While Shane was already adept at the core game mechanics, TRPH taught tactics. TRPH was a gaming organization that fostered an ordered competitive gaming experience. This meant practices that occurred at least twice weekly and everyone who joined had to have a willingness to have their gameplay picked apart to enable their improvement. If someone did horrible they were called out and helped to improve. This was expected from everyone who was a new member all the way up to fleet leadership. This is what allowed TRPH to become the best PvP fleet in Star Trek Online (the fleet won numerous tournaments and often beat teams 15-0). There were very few other fleets that could challenge TRPH.
Over time TRPH recruited new members and some of them decided that this competitive environment wasn’t for them. This lead to a rift forming between some members and the leadership. The situation reached a critical point in the summer of 2013 while Shane was away on vacation. The result of this was one fleet founder leaving over the dispute and the entire future of the organization was put in doubt. To rectify the situation it was determined that an administration separate from the fleet founders was needed. After managing the fleet bank for the last 6 months Shane was promoted to head of the fleet operations becoming de-facto fleet leader.
This continued for roughly 6 months. Over the span of this time the amount of people participating in the game’s PvP community slowly diminished. Also, Shane found himself performing more administrative tasks than actually participating in the game. At the end of February 2014 Shane resigned from the leadership team and moved Star Trek Online back to the casual gaming stack. Shane continues to play Star Trek Online today in a casual way focusing on PvE gameplay and maximizing his various starship’s performance.
Clan Quest
Moving forward into 2015 after many close collaborations with Clan Quest, Shane decided it was time to finally join Clan Quest. Shane joined Clan Quest on May 13, 2015. Shane’s early months in Clan Quest focused around helping the ETU plan and host events as well as bringing many favourite RSBANDB events to Clan Quest. After the July 2014 Honour Council election naming Seb as Head of Honour Council Shane was appointed as the third Honour Councillor. On May 15, 2017 Shane was promoted to Low Council (now known as Guild Council).
While maintaining the position of Honour Councillor and Low Councillor Shane became increasingly involved with the Offsite Revamp Project. The Offsite Revamp project involved moving Clan Quest to a new and faster web server, designing a new forum theme, and later, implementing the Clan Wiki. During this project Shane consulted heavily with Cireon, Earth, and the Content Editors to determine the requirements for the project and how in general, the new website was to look. On June 18, 2017 the new forum theme was revealed while the wiki was implemented on September 1, 2017. The wiki theme them arrived on February 12, 2018 marking the official transition to the Clan Quest Wiki for content creation. On March 1, 2018 the wiki and its intent was announced officially in the Questaholic magazine.
With the approval of the new Clan Quest Constitution on March 12, 2018 being imminent Shane was promoted to Clan Council (formerly High Council) on March 11, 2018. As with Clan Quest tradition Shane was promoted in an obscure manner. Shane was told by Earth that he had some potions for him on RuneScape and in return Shane was to provide Magic logs for Earth to train the Firemaking skill. Upon finding Earth, Shane also discovered Sirapyro waiting with him upstairs in Lletya and the promotion ceremony began.
Today Shane continues to work on advancing the Clan Quest wiki and website. Meanwhile his interest in RuneScape and Star Trek Online remains strong among other things. RSBANDBUpdate! is progressing and continues to publish new episodes every weekend.
As Shane said in his message to Clan Questers after his promotion to Guild Council he said, “I can honestly say that my time here at Clan Quest has been and continues to be one of the highlights of my gaming life. I am very proud of our organization here and the people that inhabit it. You are all great and make Clan Quest what it is today and what it will be in the future.” If you ever want to chat feel free to send Shane a private message!