“I mean to retire, where
Nobody will have heard about my special skills
And conversation is mainly about the weather.”

Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin (b.1942), Irish poet.

This quote really sums up the irony in both an Internet video game retirement, but also the straight truth.

I have been playing kdice for over a year and a half and in that time have learned many things about great people, and a game that is constantly evolving. In the beginning kdice was a close-knit community of players who began to see greatness in a game that so many played as children. Risk was always a fun game for friends, and I, the best part about the game was that it rarely ended. I can remember the first time I played the game for over 6 hours, and that was in middle school at a ‘school lockin.’ Kdice was the first time I had really played a risk based game since I was a teenager. To be honest, I did not find kdice, it was introduced to me. A co-worker and I had begun to play Taro Ito’s dice wars, but wanted more out of the game, so we decided to google, “Dice wars +multiplayer.” An interesting budding website came up as the first and really only result in March 2007. My co-worker quickly exclaimed that he had found something and I was hooked.

Early kdice was much different than the kdice we see today. Although the competition still exists, it is far different than anything from the early days. As a young player, as most of us were, there weren’t teams, or relationships that had begun to take place. There were maybe 40 or so regulars, who began to frequent the site more and more. You began to recognize names, but I actually remember people’s avatars more. Call me a visual learned, but I could probably tell you your original avatar, and not how to spell your name. Game play was young; there were no strategy guides, no rules about flagging, and certainly no one telling you how to play the game. Several styles began to develop. You could be aggressive, you could be passive, you could be both, or you could be diplomatic. Within these broad groups there are obviously subgroups, but for the most part they are the varying styles that we see today. As kdice began to evolve, so did the players. Early kdice players tended to become more ‘elitist’ and focus on killing younger players. I remember, and this is of course in the days of ELO, refusing to play with players who had less than 2,000 points. Because of the way kdice was designed with ELO, it seemed that breaking certain barriers became the goal of the players. Since there were no monthly resets, and a win with the highest ELO produced a +1 to your score, early winner may have had as few points as 40. The goal became to get the top ELO, sit on it, and wait for a new month so you could take a commanding lead. Rnd played to this style beautifully. He would obtain the highest rank, win a few games, and end up very high on the ladder. This always struck me as interesting, mostly because I couldn’t have that high rank. So I began to study various styles of game play to see how he could do this. When it became apparent that he used a very aggressive style, then forcing players off the map, and to flag, I began to use it. Even today I still use very aggressive tactics to secure my territories, and I would suggest everyone does this. The first barrier that was broken was the 2k. After a month or so it became the 2.1k, all the way up to 2,3k. This took nearly 6 months of working to get from 1900 to 2300. But because your score didn’t reset every month, you could pick up where you left off, and you would most likely not be pushed down to such levels as the dreaded 1800’s. I don’t think players today, who joined after the point system have any idea how few games you had to play to win the month with ELO. In May 2007, Rnd took down 48 games, and won 2nd place. There are only about 3 more recent players who have come close to numbers like that, and they don’t come close to the points needed to win the month. Those players are Jurgen, dasfury, and myself. Jurgen had 50 games played, and ended up 40th. Dasfury played 76 games, and ended up 5th (by far the least amount of games played to rank, ever, and probably always). I played 40 games and ended up 75th. My point is that early kdice is significantly different than the one you see today, but it is the GREAT players who have evolved with the game.

It is sad to finally be throwing in the towel on such a great game. I feel like Brett Favre shortly after what would not be his retirement (I promise you, I am done). Although I had a tough month in August playing over 200 games for the first time in many months, I came back strong in September to prove to myself that I could still play with the “youngin’s.” What I notice now worse than ever is a situation beginning to develop that was mentioned many months ago, and has recently been proposed again through new authors. That is the Prisoner’s Dilemma (http://kdice.com/discussion/topics/44756297). JeremyS warned us and showed us that this is actually a very large part of kdice. Success does not come from playing many players that you don’t know or are unacquainted with, so you begin to have relationships with players. Over time you begin to lean towards liking, or hating a certain player based on current games, and past encounters. XCRobin has brought up the point again, and I think we are finally starting to see the peak of this problem (http://kdice.com/discussion/topics/44764769). Today we live in a post cabal kdice. I want to let everyone in on how this came to be.

My background in gaming is First Person Shooters (FPS). Kdice, was my first and probably last java based competition game. Online FPS’s in my experience, or at least the ones I favor, are based on team play. When kdice was still young, there weren’t moderators or bans, I felt that a team style play might reward players and give them a heightened chance of success. I can remember the day I pmed dasfury, montecarlo, integral, Vermont, jpc4p, bcmatteagles, and rnd (please pay attention to who was asked and when and how, because I did all the asking and approving for the very early Pre-game Alliances (PGA)). I met with several of these players in empty rooms, before spying and chat logging were big, to discuss the possibility of an open favoritism. The reason I chose to ask these players was because we each had something in common. We either laughed at each other’s jokes, or were from the same town, or had a house in a state where others had homes. Most of us were young college grads from America, so it could be easily seen how such a bond was formed. We began to sit together maybe 1 or 2 of us, to kill other players before each other. Often this resulted in a deep buried territory and killing of someone who was flagged. The pinnacle of these actions was when several of us, including non-members PGA’d integral in to first place during the last day of competition over X_Luck_X. To be honest we did it for the laughs, but also because we needed a gold dice in the group. Integral was chosen because he had the #1 ELO for that time, and it would be easy to catch up to X_Luck_X’s commanding lead. When we succeeded I don’t think any of us had a clue what would happen in the following months. It is possibly, and probably the biggest kscandal ever. A flurry of posts began to hit the forum, a video on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1at-xanEzXg) and the beginning of the end of teams. I’m not sure who coined the term, but we began to be called the cabal. The cabal quickly began to sit with only members, and prey on players who didn’t have an affiliation, and we even began to pick up members. Dasfury and I thought that it would be fun to go down to the 1800’s, with 2k each and play some games. This is where we met MadHat_Sam, a great friend and lifetime member of the cabal. I chatted with him, found he was funny, and loved his style of game play. He was the first new addition to the cabal. Dasfury and I PGA’d him from about 1800 even all the way to 2k. We then proceeded to include him in the 2k games, winning, placing or showing in every game we played. With all of this in mind, and only over a short period players became outraged. Players like Leekstep, Mikeypoo, Nuflis, Zosod, Shevar, Jurgen, Hatty, Unlucky9999, Canarioz, Cleopatra, Nexon, Yellowfin, etc etc, began to form other ‘anti-cabal’ groups. There were the belgiums, the French, the Americans not included, too many groups to count. There sole purpose was to out-thwart the cabal. To no avail, we were able to produce some of our highest placing months with these epic and memorable days of kdice. It was fun to sit with friends at a table and begin to realize that there were teams, and that you had to think like your partner, use the chat box, cut, stack, and play as a team. I enjoyed these few months of kdice more than any others. These few months also paved the way that kdice is played today. Terms like PGA, Pre-game Enemy (PGE), cabal, virtual flag (VF), MSAK, and several other commonly used terms began to take form during these months.

Today much has changed from these ‘defined’ team games. Programs like AIM, and MSN messengers allow players to chat outside the game to plot a PGA. There are no longer clearly defined players who will help or treat players differently based on games in the past. Alternate accounts have taken over kdice, to the point where a player might have several accounts, just to chatlog, or PGE a certain player or players. This is all as a result of the cabal era. Alternate accounts have always been a way that a player can remain anonymous and still continue to play, unfortunately this also means they don’t use their main and may get treated differently. There have been several attempts over time to create accounts that would in fact defeat all stereotypes of kdice, and the relationships that exist between players. A select few took it upon themselves to create [classified], probably the best attempt ever. They used a new player to try and break in to the ‘elite’ groups without having previous ties or relationships to any player. When the experiment was finally unveiled it made a lot more sense than when it was going on. Since no one knew that [classified] wasn’t actually one person, but many, I think that it really let a lot of players down. The top1% of kdice is and will most likely always be between a select few players. They continuously help each other, because of the extremely large number of games played between them. Everyone at that level has or will reward someone based on past play. This is the best advice that I can give to new players. Develop relationships, reward people who reward you, and use the chat box. If players tell you previous games don’t matter, than they are lying.

On to first place, the most coveted and elusive place one can earn at kdice. Since only one is given any month, only about .00001% of kdice players all time have ever received one. I just would like to discuss several first place finishes. Although you get a gold trophy you don’t always actually win. Proxies were the first real attempt to cheat at kdice. By using multiple accounts controlled by the same person at one table, it was very easy to win games. Even easier than PGAing. Riser, aka hayal ,aka hayal2, Wayne Rooney, Leekstep and hordes of alternate accounts have attempted to cheat to win. In succeeding they have only made the first place trophy more coveted and desired. There are only a few months in this game where players have actually won the month outright and fairly. Almost always there is a discrepancy, or fight that comes out in the forums and chatboxes. I think this actually strengthens the core of kdice. Players want to do everything in their power to win first place. Integral was possibly the first of a long list of gold trophy winners to be scrutinized. Wayne Rooney, rnd, wishbone, Linch and Pat Whalen used separate ways to win, but each has been upheld. Wayne used proxies, rnd, had alliances, wishbone bought his, Linch was given it and Pat Whalen got voted in. Throughout the history people have played the game to win, but only recently have players who aren’t actually in first place decided 1st place. When Ryan asked montecarlo to step down in January of 2008, it ushered in a new era of kdice. It now became a popularity contest. Players towards the end of the month began to favor the players that they wanted to win. Sometimes rewarding them with places in games, or straight up PGAing them. Pat Whalen got voted in, Vanilla Dice got voted in, Diceygirl almost got voted in, UpmaxM got voted in. As you can see players begin to use this “Prisoner’s dilemma” well before the last day of play. Throughout the month forerunners emerge as players who are going to run the marathon that is first place. You need many games, you need a high winning percentage and you need to be diplomatic. In not so many words, you need to have powerful allies in powerful places. I don’t know if kdice will ever peak but right now it is riding a high. New blood on the tables, new top100 players, and a fierce competition that might be turning for the better. With Longhair’s win this month I can hopefully and honestly say that he played a great month without cheating to get there. Congrats to him on that.

This long story is to summarize how I feel as I retire from kdice. It has been a good time, but with a job change in my future, and no time to play games, I can honestly say that I am done. I have proved everything that I needed to on the tables, and want to retire on a good note. I think this month was a great month to retire after. I posted some of my highest percentages, including domination, 1st place percentage, number of games played, and points per game. I will continue to check in from time to time, and use the chat box to say hi to players who I consider good friends. Best of luck to everyone, and I hope that I have left a positive mark on kdice.

I have always wanted to thank players who I consider both true friends of the game, and formidable opponents, those players include: dasfury, MadHat_Sam, montecarlo, jpc4p, Vermont, bcmatteagles, integral, rnd, grunvagr, kwizatz, kehoe, Johnson213, CaptainLAGER, X_Luck_X, XCRobin, rabbidmonkey4, wowimbad, Comik, r0n, JeremyS, Nuflis, nexon, petomni, vohaul, jubi, XxDiceyGirlxX, Cleopatra, jurgen, shevar, hatty, vicsf, Zosod, Yellowfin, Optical, fishnetangel, tajmtoedaj, Bigjumblies, AMO, uukrul, Linch, Ssergio, fish28, fiero600, El D, mikeypoo, uyd, stoude, Mr B, Snews, pizza_the_hutt, yce, joex, anmonida, HB, kamik, g00b, TDD, orlafede. Just_jack, dancerr, Mr K, panzer, CK, JEBL, Oni, shadolin, smirk, realkind, upmaxm, ching, bombardier DS 65, habit, sypgo, hcdug, rsquared, heels, miguelz, thraxle, hans, potato27, shadowz, and if I forgot anyone that mattered, sorry.
I leave you with this:

“Not every end is a goal. The end of a melody is not its goal: but nonetheless, had the melody not reached its end it would not have reached its goal either. A parable.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

note:ignore all grammar, and spelling, and the &23234% that are bound to come up.