A VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

[Onyx]

Well done Jarrod and Fly!

I can feel the excitement brewing inside.

Seems like this will be quite a year to remember. nyx:

Proudly [grrr]

[Paul]

Suggestion... Admins, could we have a new sub-forum in the private section for "Digital Life" please.
This is a long topic already and maybe we could highlight some main points and deal with each in its own topic.

Agreed, this has now gone beyond the "Announcement" stage and is a full blown topic/venture. Once the initial excitement and "I love everyone in this clan because we are so awesome" stage has passed we will need to come up with concrete plans on how to move forward, what our goals are, any further concerns/suggestions etc.

[NiteShade]

Again, thanks to Fly especially and to Jarrod for making this a reality. Kudos to you both!

Firstly, I'm glad that Jarrod has deemed Martin as a "cool guy". I could not imagine [grrr] dealing with some stuffy, suit-wearing oke.
In regards to the offer of writing for DL, her editor definitely has an eye for talent. Jarrod, your letters are absolutely amazing!

My first concern is in regards to the website hosting (think: Jono's initial reaction to censorship.) Although they mentioned swearing is not a problem, there is a big difference between swearing casually (i.e. This game is the fucking shit!) and our common "Paul is half a doos!". Besides that, I like to think that our 'pryfart' chats are actually private! Therefore, would there be a DL admin/moderator on our site? If so, I wouldn't be happy about that. I agree to umm agreeing to a basic code of conduct, but I want the website totally in control of [grrr]. If this is not feasible to DL, then I suggest keeping our website as is (they can always put a link to our site) and pushing instead for a [grrr] BC2 server. I agree with Thor in thinking this would create a lot of publicity. They can even have it say in da message "hosted by Digital Life" or something. Furthermore, has DL/Martin actually visited our website? I want to know if they see how we are actually.

In regards to going to a PS3 launch, since I'm in Joburg I am sure I can wangle that. Weekend/week day? I grew up with consoles so do have *some* background. However, I haven't played on a console in years. (Playing a few games on Wii at my parent's house doesn't count.)
Would be great if a couple of grrr ppl could go and exchange ideas.

I do not have a problem attending LANs. I just need to give work a decent notice before doing so.

Funneh enuff, I also thought about Scico when it came to the writing blogs and such. He'd be a def plus! With regards to myself having to blog, I think I can write decently; my problem is creative content! So, we'll see where that goes. Initial ideas for Odi and I are to do bits about being female gamers.

Overall, I think this is a pretty win/win situation and I'm stoked about it. Where this leads to will really depend on [grrr]'s level of commitment and how far we want to take this!

EDIT: Also meant to say that I'm willing to give it my all to make this a reality!

[SloDaz]

Yip - just about every1 has hit the nail on the head. This is a great thing that is happening. Well done guys and if they want a spelling challenged, two fingered gimp to write a blog to promote games or the life of a married gamer then i am sure there are several people that are more than willing.

[Stu]

I don't think I could accurately and articulately sum up my feeling regarding this right now. I think I will take 30 mins during lunch tomorrow and write up my feeling and thoughts.

Thank you to Jarrod and Mike for making happen!

@Lee and all admin's I am more than happy to bounce off a couple of ideas re branding and web design but we can discuss this in more detail...

I am very keen to contribute in any way possible!

[s3xy_j0nny]

This all sounds fucking awesome. I'm keen to chip in, and will have a lot more time to do so in the winter months. Fantastic effort all round.

Huge thanks to Mike for sparking all this off, and following through on everything. Also to Jarrod for being a leader with the kind of dedication to get involved.

[Megageth]

Wikkid!
I'll be back in March and able to contribute more.

In the meantime Ion's idea for a gaming server is an awesome idea. A BC2 clan/games server under our admin called 'Digital Life BC2' or summin.

[J_Th4ng]

I did include gaming server rental on the cost breakdown given to Martin last week, but no mention has ben made of this as a sponsorship option thus far. Personally, I don't see it as a major priority for them (although it may be so for us) as I don't believe that it will increase the Digital Life readership significantly, or gow us as a brand within the existing DL readership.

Also, it's kinda difficult to discuss a game server hosting option when we don't have a game to host? BF2 is dead, we don't play COD4, and BC2 has a couple of issues of it's own:

1. It's not been released yet
2. DICE have stated that there will be no publicly available dedicated server code. All servers will be hosted by DICE partners

Now hopefully there will be a method for public servers to be hosted (otherwise we can count out LAN's for the game at all), but it may just be that you need a retail copy of the game to host a server. In which case, getting a server hosted is as simple as buying a retail copy and giving it to the server host to run.

This is all speculation at this stage though. We don't know what's going to happen with BC2 servers as yet.

The good thing though is that we have included sever hosting as a potential cost, and highlighted to Martin that having our own server was instrumental in our best BF2 AGASA league performance to date. I think that we will revisit the sever discussion once he has met with partners and seen what sponsorships can be arranged. I don't have great hope for this though, as I don't think that DL have the server capacity to host a game for us themselves, and no mention was made of partners that could do hosting (although Axxess could be a possibility, I guess?).

[gr@v1ty]

Another idea to promote their magazine is to host another competition like the one Lee organised before.

People get to write up a review and as a prize, their review gets published?

The timing of a competition like that will be important. I remember the lack of interest in the last competition where only a few entries were submitted, but I think that was during a dead phase in online gaming. Everyone was waiting for something new and the good ones that were released already had some great write-ups from the previous competition.

[flycatchr]

I do have a feeling that Martin may be thinking of 'hosting' as one word, and not two entities. so we may need to remind him that hosting for us means both the forum and a server. NOW - i do know he talked about a relationship with iburst, and IBURST has servers, so we may be able to specify that as an option.