MeFightClub: Per Rotato Ad Astra October 11, 2022 6:57 AM Subscribe
15 years ago today, MefightClub was born when herrdoktor posted about hosting a private Metafilter Team Fortress 2 server. Not that much later, stavrosthewonderchicken put up some forums and started the ball rolling on providing a home for the best little gaming community ever.
On the one-year anniversary, we all sang Happy Birthday and basically crashed the server – kicking a bunch of people off briefly. There was the Inept2 Maneuver, where a HUGE sentry farm acted as bait for a spy to sneak-cap the point. There were whole Minecraft worlds built together, runs through L4D2 in realism vs. mode, hunting and evolving monsters, building ults together, and too many other games to recount. The Club has held tournaments, conducted many charity drives, done cookie and gift exchanges, held meetups, and chatted on a variety of platforms. Many of us have made true lifelong IRL friends, and there’s been at least one Mefighter marriage!
After 15 years, we have spent uncountable hours of gaming and having fun together. MefightClub may have fractured over the years since it first began – particularly as TF2 is now a shadow of its old self - but many of us are still playing games together and keeping the Rotato spirit alive every day.
Happy Birthday, Maggots!!
- First Anniversary post
- Fourth Anniversary post
On the one-year anniversary, we all sang Happy Birthday and basically crashed the server – kicking a bunch of people off briefly. There was the Inept2 Maneuver, where a HUGE sentry farm acted as bait for a spy to sneak-cap the point. There were whole Minecraft worlds built together, runs through L4D2 in realism vs. mode, hunting and evolving monsters, building ults together, and too many other games to recount. The Club has held tournaments, conducted many charity drives, done cookie and gift exchanges, held meetups, and chatted on a variety of platforms. Many of us have made true lifelong IRL friends, and there’s been at least one Mefighter marriage!
After 15 years, we have spent uncountable hours of gaming and having fun together. MefightClub may have fractured over the years since it first began – particularly as TF2 is now a shadow of its old self - but many of us are still playing games together and keeping the Rotato spirit alive every day.
Happy Birthday, Maggots!!
- First Anniversary post
- Fourth Anniversary post
Happy birthday! I haven’t played in the club for many years but I’ll never forget the fun I had staying up far too late in the UK to play TF2 with y’all…
posted by adrianhon at 2:18 PM on October 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by adrianhon at 2:18 PM on October 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
HELL YEAH! I'm not as active over there as I used to be, but I'm the main cheerleader for our annual charity fundraiser, which Stav and I usually launch right after American thanksgiving. JOIN US!
posted by vrakatar at 2:49 PM on October 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by vrakatar at 2:49 PM on October 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
A dark day indeed. ;)
(I can't log in there anymore!)
posted by tittergrrl at 3:08 PM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
(I can't log in there anymore!)
posted by tittergrrl at 3:08 PM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
Man. I would not have the job I have now (or have moved to Rhode Island or have met any of my local fiends!) without MeFightClub. I miss playing TF2 all the time with you guys. Back when I was feeling pretty isolated in my early twenties, it was nice to have so many friends on the internet.
posted by JDHarper at 3:26 PM on October 11, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by JDHarper at 3:26 PM on October 11, 2022 [7 favorites]
What a happy thing! Congratulations!
posted by mochapickle at 4:20 PM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by mochapickle at 4:20 PM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
A bunch of us are still playing Overwatch every night. But if you log in, I will probably remember what class you played in TF2. Oh, I haven't forgotten you spies, no way.
posted by zompist at 4:27 PM on October 11, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by zompist at 4:27 PM on October 11, 2022 [5 favorites]
I kinda sucked at TF2 but man o man it was fun. I got pretty good at pyro.
posted by vrakatar at 5:50 PM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by vrakatar at 5:50 PM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
Pyro is such a fun class. In particular, that joy of setting invisible spies on fire. Awww yeah.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:03 PM on October 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by rmd1023 at 6:03 PM on October 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
MefightClub has been so great over the years. Getting TF2 spun back up early in lockdown was a balm. There's the DCSS games, reading what people have been playing lately, the occasional Minecraft threadbump... really glad it's stuck around.
posted by curious nu at 6:15 PM on October 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by curious nu at 6:15 PM on October 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
MefightClub helped me during a very difficult time of my life and I met some amazing people because of the site. I will forever be grateful to Stav and the wonderful community of like-minded gamers.
posted by Diskeater at 8:27 PM on October 11, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by Diskeater at 8:27 PM on October 11, 2022 [6 favorites]
Yay happy birthday!
posted by DiscourseMarker at 8:51 PM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by DiscourseMarker at 8:51 PM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
MeFightClub was such a wonderful place to hang out! So many hours spent enjoying TF2 and Left 4 Dead 2. While I drifted away ages ago for who knows why, I am so pleased that the rotato spirit lives on. Happy Birthday nerds!
posted by lazaruslong at 6:19 AM on October 12, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by lazaruslong at 6:19 AM on October 12, 2022 [3 favorites]
I occasionally throw a hopeful [MFC] or [MeFi] on my Steam name if I’m showing up somewhere new or playing something new. Just in case somewhere new has someone awesome in it.
posted by majick at 6:44 AM on October 12, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by majick at 6:44 AM on October 12, 2022 [11 favorites]
I had a lot of fun playing TF2 with MefightClub, even though I absolutely suck at first person shooters. I have fond memories of being killed regularly by people like zompist, and my one absolute moment of joy where I took off an invisible spies' head with my claymore as a demoman.
posted by nubs at 3:06 PM on October 12, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by nubs at 3:06 PM on October 12, 2022 [4 favorites]
I miss the pissyness every time Snofort came up in the rotation.
posted by Cyrano at 3:53 PM on October 12, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by Cyrano at 3:53 PM on October 12, 2022 [6 favorites]
I've only ever been the most distant of Mefiters, but it sure did help get me hooked on D&D in a game run and crewed by a bunch of you lowlifes.
I am so incredibly grateful.
posted by coriolisdave at 5:14 PM on October 12, 2022 [4 favorites]
I am so incredibly grateful.
posted by coriolisdave at 5:14 PM on October 12, 2022 [4 favorites]
We're all real active on the mefightclub discord server too! I constantly forget that the forums are still active too.
Come and join us on discord! https://discord.gg/RmbtVjJU
posted by VTX at 6:26 PM on October 12, 2022 [5 favorites]
Come and join us on discord! https://discord.gg/RmbtVjJU
posted by VTX at 6:26 PM on October 12, 2022 [5 favorites]
I am absolutely not a gamer, but I remember hearing about this back in the day and I am so stoked for y'all that it still exists.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:02 PM on October 12, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:02 PM on October 12, 2022 [4 favorites]
Gonna temporarily drop back in (thanks for the pointers, folks) to say that I am immensely proud of the MFC community and its members, and even if forums as an internet thing seem hopelessly archaic these days (which is why a lot of MFC folks hang out in the Discord), it continues to make me happy that still exists, and is still a calm friendly laidback place for game likers like us to hang out.
But the greatest thing of many things to come out of MFC over the years is our annual charity drives, which we've run for the last 10 years or so. Somehow (OK, because I am old and brain not work so good no more) I forgot to update this page after our most recent one (they come around the end of every year), but as of early 2022 we've raised a total of $82,173.64 for charity:water, RAINN, Eden Projects, Direct Relief and Child's Play. That just fills my heart every time I think about it.
Per rotato ad astra!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:42 PM on October 12, 2022 [27 favorites]
But the greatest thing of many things to come out of MFC over the years is our annual charity drives, which we've run for the last 10 years or so. Somehow (OK, because I am old and brain not work so good no more) I forgot to update this page after our most recent one (they come around the end of every year), but as of early 2022 we've raised a total of $82,173.64 for charity:water, RAINN, Eden Projects, Direct Relief and Child's Play. That just fills my heart every time I think about it.
Per rotato ad astra!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:42 PM on October 12, 2022 [27 favorites]
(I can't log in there anymore!)
I mean, if you want to log in, just send me an email @mefightclub.com and I can reset your password or whatever!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:51 PM on October 12, 2022
I mean, if you want to log in, just send me an email @mefightclub.com and I can reset your password or whatever!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:51 PM on October 12, 2022
stavros, thank you so much for that wonderful update. truly excellent that on top of everything else, you managed to turn the human energy of MFC towards charitable causes. 5 out of 5 astras you beautiful chicken you. 🌟🐓
posted by lazaruslong at 1:12 AM on October 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by lazaruslong at 1:12 AM on October 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
I was most active in MeFightClub about ten years ago, when I moved back across the Atlantic after spending most of a decade in the US. It was a weird time for me, and one way I kept my mind on the level was to play Minecraft on the Aporkalypse. Some friends and I built a "notional park" inside it, which essentially meant staking off an enormous amount of extremely weird early-days Minecraft landscape and making it look like a national park. It was probably the most fulfilling thing I've ever done in a computer game, and I feel ever grateful to the MeFightClub community for letting us do our weird park ranger roleplaying on the server. MeFightClub is an incredibly welcoming and friendly place, and I'm incredibly happy that it's still around. Good job, stav, and good job everyone else too.
posted by Kattullus at 2:19 PM on October 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 2:19 PM on October 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
When telling tales to my kids, who didn’t really get to see much Aporkalypse because Minecraft was an old people game back then, I always mention the notional park as my favorite place to just wander around.
posted by majick at 2:28 PM on October 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by majick at 2:28 PM on October 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
[this is most excellent]
posted by dg at 11:08 PM on October 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by dg at 11:08 PM on October 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
I was just talking with some (non-mefites) friends the other day and trying to explain Ankh-Mopork and the whole thing (they are big Discworld fans like me) and man, I just....MeFightClub rules.
posted by lazaruslong at 1:30 AM on October 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by lazaruslong at 1:30 AM on October 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
Per potato ad astra!
posted by Splunge at 4:11 PM on October 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Splunge at 4:11 PM on October 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
Oh man, it's been so long. I don't remember why I dropped off — probably because I moved or the computer broke or something — but I still see some of the old folk pop up from time to time. It was so damn fun to have a bunch of people who leaned into the ludicrousness of TF2. I do miss it, the ROTATO of it all.
posted by dw at 9:54 PM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by dw at 9:54 PM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
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posted by rmd1023 at 9:10 AM on October 11, 2022 [2 favorites]