Section 8 Clan Forums

Hello all. I’m probably the only one left from the early days of Section 8, so I should put our heritage into text. I was not there from the beginning, and I probably have most of the years wrong. But what follows is an approximate chronicle of the early days.

When I first joined in around 2008, the clan founder EcHoDaWg (https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197996898935) was large and in charge. We had two servers, the “main server” and the Psych Ward. The Psych Ward was our only HC server, and was rarely used. The main server was a top-100 server. I still remember the IP – 8.12.97.100. People mostly hung out in in the small Ventrillo server or on skype calls. Xfire was the primary way to chat – most members didn’t have Steam.

The clan website was not hosted on its own domain, instead using some free create-a-website service that I cannot remember the name of. It was terrible.
There were no tiers of admins. You either had the rcon password, or you didn’t. No member application process. Echo either had you tag up or not. He didn’t even care to have you apply – he’d ask why you weren’t wearing tags. Usually in a playfully aggressive manner (“hey MrD, where are your tags?”). The only rcon tool used was Modern rcon, since the illustrious Bullet hadn’t joined and written Auto Rcon yet.

I played heavily during high school, switching between CoD4, Left 4 Dead, Killing Floor, and Fallout 3. Echo continued to be the leader, and people came and went. Some of the heavy hitters in the clan joined, left, drifted away, stuck around, etc. Optic, Echo’s second in command, drifted away and eventually disappeared. Switch left, who had been around since before me. Not sure when that was, could have been much later. Dime left in a blaze of glory/infamy. Played many games with him. Whancrar (https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197982742936) was always in and out (“UHHHHH guys its got the copper cooling! Copper cooling! C O P P E R C O O L I N G ! !”).

The Psych Ward really took off, mostly because of a group of players that decided HC was the only mode worth playing and that SC was pretty useless. These intelligent players were always sitting on TS3 and/or Skype shooting the breeze and playing on the Psych Ward. I could be very wrong, but I believe M joined around this time? Or earlier? Or later? I have trouble with memory and especially with marking the passage of time. Sorry I don’t remember M!

Life eventually caught up with Echo and he made his departure, leaving me in charge. I was probably a freshman or sophomore at Iowa State at the time, so 2010-2011 ish. It took everyone by surprise, myself included. I remember that night very vividly. Since Echo was no longer paying the bills, it was mostly up to me and whatever we could scrape together with ClanPay. There were some months where I went down to pennies in my bank account keeping the two servers running. It was someplace in here where we moved away from the free website hosting to a dedicated domain name. Maniac set up b3 of-and-on for a while. We had some KF1 servers, we had some BFBC2 servers, maybe even a L4D server.

Section 8 has always been a second family for me, and shaped much of my life from the ages of 17 to 21. I spent many very long nights/early mornings playing round after round with people from all over the world. Some are still here, some are inactive ghosts inhabiting my steam friends list. Echo was last online 5 years ago. I hope I get to speak with him someday and let him know his clan is still around, and still upholding his values. A few of the faces may have changed, but the spirit of the clan, the friendliness and welcoming of new players, has stayed the same. It’s what caught my attention over a decade ago, and it’s what I see still today in the forums and in game.

Thank you, everyone, for being who you are.

_________________
Contact me on everything (steam, xfire, skype, and @gmail.com) at Mr D3a7h (one word)

Awesome to hear about all of the stuff that happened way before I joined and honestly hearing stories like that and some kind of the history behind the server and all the people connected to it is why I pledged the idear of starting this little chronicle. So everybody, keep your stories coming!!

Thanks for popping up, MrD! I was also there from the beginning, I'm the son of Daedelus and the brother of Pharaoh, who both have fond memories of being shot by you. There has definitely been a lot of players that have left or otherwise have become inactive, which sucks, but as it is, life happens.

I remember the old site, section8clan.spruz.com, which was so glitchy that it was nearly impossible to even find the forums. It's crazy how much time has past, and how many people we have lost in-game, and those few we have lost outside game (Rest peacefully, [s*8].Liverpool and [s*8].Forgotten+-)

It's been a crazy road, but thanks for all that you've done to keep this clan running, MrD, and best of luck in all of your life adventures!

_________________
"If I can't do it.." -NobodyCan

_________________
That which doesn't kill you, disappoints me.

Need Version COD 4 v1.8? Click

Thank you for taking the time to post this, it means a lot to know where the clan has been, and the amazing people behind the clan.

Makes me proud to be apart of this clan.

_________________
Semper Fi is my moto...Not because the Marine corp made it popular, but because of its meaning...It's how I live my life, Every, Single, Day.

_________________
Contact me on everything (steam, xfire, skype, and @gmail.com) at Mr D3a7h (one word)

@MrD-Fair enough, it has been quite a while! I'm glad to know you're doing alright.

@Nilrem-Officially, not yet. Life is crazy for him right now. Unofficially, yes. I've given him one of my extra CD keys, and when he gets the chance to set up, he will. At that time, I have already gotten permission to reinstate him to Full Admin, due to the fact he was one of the original admins of the clan.

_________________
"If I can't do it.." -NobodyCan

Cool, I remember you telling us that but forgot if he had any form of time frame. It’s always exciting to welcome back resurrected members

_________________
That which doesn't kill you, disappoints me.

Need Version COD 4 v1.8? Click

Always good to hear from you again, my friend! I had no idea you were Zurich tbh. You're always welcome to reapply to the clan, old friends are always good to have around

_________________
"If I can't do it.." -NobodyCan